Fall and Winter are the best time of the year in the Algarve. Tourism has slowed, although there has been less of a slowdown this year, and it feels like we have gotten our village and surroundings back for us to enjoy for a few months. The weather feels fall-like, with a few days of rain, a few days cloudy and grey, and a few with brilliant sunshine and mild temperatures.
Late in November, we traveled to Copenhagen for a few days. Our first trip this far north in Europe. You can check out our trip here.
In the gardens this time of year, Teresa & Luis are pruning, burning piles of leaves & trimmings, tilling the soil, and preparing to plant the winter crop of Fava Beans, Potatoes, Carrots, and Radishes. Because of the mild weather this month, Mary's Flowers and the Birds of Paradise are showing off their fall colors. The winter Orange crop is ripening, so once again, we get to experience fresh orange juice by stepping out our door, grabbing a few ripe oranges, and bringing them into juice. It doesn't get any fresher than that!
This year, we see more lights and decor in our village and earlier, as many are up well before Thanksgiving. It was bleak when we first arrived; we were one of only a few houses with lights, but each year, we see more and more lights and festive decor in the houses and apartments. One of our neighbors in the Condos near us has outdone everyone. His bright white lights illuminate the entire neighborhood.
Together with a group of friends, we went out to cheer on our friend Mark, who participated in the Portimao Granfondo, a 64-mile bike ride/race from the riverfront up to the foothills of Monchique and back. He prepared for this ride for many months, not bad for a retired guy, Congrats Mark.
Walking along the Portimao riverfront, there's always something cool to see:
A new sport happening near the Yacht Club Marina. In Kayaks, there are high nets on each end, a Soccer like sport using hands and paddles to get the ball into the nets.
Old steel rings in the concrete along the ramparts where the Sardine boats tied up to unload their catch.
As an homage to the maritime culture in Portugal, there are images of Sea life in the cobblestone walkways throughout most towns; this one is a depiction of an old Caravelle the Portuguese explorers used during the age of discoveries.
A few stormy days this month. These are from a few walks along the Praia da Rocha beach. Rough seas, Portuguese Man o' War Jellyfish, and crazy-looking storm clouds add another layer of beauty to our already spectacular beaches.
We were saying goodbye to good friends who are leaving Portugal on a new journey through South-East Asia. We decided to do so over lunch at a new Taco Bar restaurant in Portimao. Good for Portugal Mexican standards. QuesaBirria Tacos, Quesadilla, Gran Latino tacos, and Yucca fries
Wine tasting at Quinta Sentidos. The project was started from scratch by a couple from Switzerland who worked on the land to create a spectacular oasis in the foothills near Silves. Initially, they planted 14,000 new vines and numerous Olive trees; in addition, today, they have over 500,000 bees for Honey and pollination, and they've planted more than 300 other plant species, including 110 fruit-bearing plants with origins ranging from temperate to tropical climate zones. About 40 of these are different citrus plants! In addition to Wine, they now produce olive oil, Honey, and Verjus, an ancient by-product from grapes used by the Romans to provide a touch of acidity to their meals.
It's been interesting to watch the changes in wine production in Portugal. The Douro region in the north has always been the predominant focus and is well known for providing grapes/juice for the production of Port over the years. In the past ten years, growers and vintners have begun developing other options. Focusing on growing regions/classifications, table wines vs. Port, terroir, varietal-specific plantings, and modern winemaking techniques have produced higher-quality table wines. Most winemaking was traditionally done by the farmer/grower using a "field blend" of grapes to make something that was only sold/traded locally. In the Douro especially, many of the "old vine" vineyards were planted with mixed varietals to combat the impacts of disease, which results in "Field Blend" wines today that are a mix of native grape varietals. Today, you will see more single-varietal wines or carefully crafted blends, mostly remaining true to the 250+ native grapes of Portugal but some involving newly planted French or foreign varietals. It reminds me of the burgeoning wine country of Santa Barbara or Paso Robles twenty or so years ago when they started becoming a force in wine production.
Enoturismo (Wine Tourism) has also become a focal point for showing the world what Portugal has to offer. In the Algarve specifically, it has become a motivation to add to tourism options enticing visitors. Each year, the second weekend in November marks World Wine Tourism Day, and again this year, the council of Lagoa has arranged several all-day events to educate and celebrate.
We joined one of the events that started that day at Convent Bio. Once a Convent of Carmelites Calçados d' Alagoa, dedicated to Our Lady of Socorro and founded in 1551 under the influence of Queen D. Catarina. Today, it serves as a small cafe, a bio (organic) grocery store, and an event facility. Here, we participated in a blind tasting of select area wines and were asked to rate them, identify the grape varietals, and guess the price. Still a challenge for us due to our limited knowledge of the vast number of Portuguese varietals, and price ranges.
Our second stop for the day was lunch at Quinta dos Santos. It is one of the area's nicer (and more expensive) wineries, with an exceptional restaurant and microbrewery on the premises.
Our last stop for the day was a tasting at Arvad, a winery we have visited many times. It is a go-to when visitors are in town.
There were no opportunities to take the boat out this month. Our boat time will have to wait for the right conditions between storms, rough seas, and travel.
We attend a wine dinner with one of our wine groups for our Portuguese Thanksgiving day. We were two of the four Americans present tonight out of the group of 70-ish attendees. No one gave a second thought to it being Thanksgiving night in the US until it was mentioned. We're getting used to not celebrating American holidays and are adapting to Portugal's. The restaurant paid a little homage to Thanksgiving by serving roasted turkey leg for the main course (it was delicious). We sat next to a Swedish couple, Bengt & Birgitta, who were fun to converse with and get to know.
The wines tonight were presented by John Graham of Churchill Estates. John and his family are the founders of Grahams Port, which they sold many years ago, and founded Churchill Estates (Churchill is his wife's family name), where they produce high-quality Port (one of my favorite Vintage Port producers) and, more recently, Douro wine. The wines were delicious, my favorites being the Grafite Tinto and the Quinta da Gricha (Named after their Vineyard).
Dinner consisted of starters of Cod Croquette, Mackerel on toast, and marinated sea bass strips. The soup course was a fantastic Sopa de Feijao, and the main was roasted turkey leg; the meal was finished with traditional Algarvian sweets and Churchill's 20-year-old Tawny Port.
What do you do with all the used Corks Portugal generates? Our friend Scott is very crafty and makes good use of them.
On a recent trip to Costco in Seville, we bought a wood-burning Pizza oven to use outside. After several assembly steps, it's ready to fire up! I found a local wood provider who has nicely seasoned Oak in perfect small cuts. I could easily maintain between 700-800 degrees during the test run today. Tomorrow, we'll try Pizza!
Barney and Sonny continue to provide us with great entertainment. Sonny has to supervise packing for our trips by climbing into the suitcase. Barney doesn't quite understand the paper tunnel Mary made for him. He had one in Carpinteria that he constantly played in? The cats that live in the neighborhood come by frequently and are closely monitored by both Barney and Sonny, Barney hides behind the curtain so they won't see him them jumps on the screen at them as they start to walk away, he's such a tough guy. The black cats that visit look identical to Sonny so I frequently have to check that he's still in the house what I see them outside.
As always we hope everyone is doing well, healthy, happy, and thriving. We miss you and love you all...A lot!
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