Behind the Seams

September 30th, 2013

 

Yesterday we visited the Musee des Arts Decoratifs at the Louvre.  There is a super exhibit on undergarments starting around 1660 through the present.  The commentary is excellent and Peg took photos of many of them as we went, until we found out that photos were not permitted.  There was an area where you could try on garments, I think only for women.  Several were doing just that while we watched.  I learned how women sat down wearing those huge hoops.  They sat on stools and the dress just fit over the whole stool.  Piece of cake!

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/111993279450383941292/albums/5929289867692302337?authkey=CIWQn7KH_qSqJg

A lovely evening on the Duoro in Porto (photos)

After another rather warm afternoon and a walk down Rua Flores, now in the midst of major renovations and a street filled with neat buildings in need,  it was lovely to be on the breezy river.   The Duoro here runs through the cliffs, upon whose sides Porto was built.  It is just a short way to the Atlantic, which you will also see in the photos.

 

https://plus.google.com/photos/111993279450383941292/albums/5926051122146900209?authkey=CLjajLyHpa-_wQE

Our first day in Porto

September 19, 2013

Went to the porto (which means ‘port’) of Porto today.  Nice views on the way-  we went to the church and cathedral. Had a nice lunch, a sort of tapa approach, with some crunch yet flacky crusts, some bacalau fritters or what have you, and too large an order of fries.  The white wine was rather frizzy but quite good.

A lot of decrepit buildings, which have not been cleaned up like in Valencia, so it gives a rather shabby appearance.  Nonetheless I liked the steep walks and great views.
Porto is a three hour train ride in a northerly direction from Lisbon.  We are in a small apartment until the 24th.
Porto is a World Heritage site.

A visit to the town of Sintra, a lovely World Heritage Site outside Lisbon

September 15, 2013

Sintra has been a World Heritage Site since 1995 for its Moorish castle on top of the mountain, its Romantic era architechture, lovely hillside homes and the wonderful view.  The area nearby has buildings from the 8th-9th century, as well as many from between the 15th and 19th centuries.  It is less than an hour from Lisbon on a slow train.

The views are wonderful, as you will see in the photos at  https://plus.google.com/photos/111993279450383941292/albums/5923931808631808017?authkey=CIjhkvGOgue87AE

 

 

 

A few thoughts on the cuisine in Lisbon

Our first night here we had dinner at a place nearby.  It took forever to get our meal and there were very few people there.  I ordered a grilled salmon and it was superb and worth the wait.  The lettuce and tomato salad, salada mista in Portuguese, was the standard effort with excellent ingredients; they even dressed it.  Peg’s grouper was poached and was totally tasteless.  Both fish portions were enormous.  With wine the bill came to about $40.

Last night we went to Moura Saluquia, which is ranked number 45 out of 1600 on tripadvisor.  Peg had a very good corvina (I do not know the English equivalent), which was grilled and served with a salad.  I ordered veal with mushrooms, also very good, the veal tender.  The bill with the house wine at $3.00 a 1/2 liter came to $23.  A much better meal overall, served in a very reasonable period of time, for half the price, very much as noted on trip advisor.

Nothing we have had so very we could not have had elsewhere.  The Portuguese are very fond of bacalau (salted cod) but neither of us are fond of it. Perhaps we could find a recipe we like here, as there are supposedly more than 300 ways to prepare it.  All involve a long period of soaking in water or milk to reduce the salt content.  In general fish and seafood in general is the big thing here.

September 13, walking around Castle St George

September 13, 2013

Another sunny and warm day here in Lisbon.  I walked around Castle St George.  There are lots of tourists in this area, about 1 kilometer from our apartment.  To get here I have to climb up a few hundred feet approximately.   Along the way I share the road with the street car, cars, people from many areas but I see a lot of Indians or Pakistanis here.   The locals are short and mostly poor it seems.    It is rather unkempt until you get near the overlooks.

I had a beer near the castle and it was only $1.40.

Photos with comments:  https://plus.google.com/photos/111993279450383941292/albums/5923099020415976433?authkey=CKe4pLmdv-KmNw

 

Visiting our host family

During our 10 week Peace Corps training we stayed with Junior and Margareta in the small town of Santa Clara in the township of Arriajan (there are several towns named Santa Clara in the country).    We finally made it back here to see the lovely people we got to know in 2009.

Junior, as everyone calls him, is around 60 and worked for the Panama Canal for decades handling the lines used to secure the ships traversing the canal.  He retired two years ago.  They have since visited Bocas Del Toro for the first time, and in addition went to Nicaragua.  They also bought a small pickup truck.  He is farming a small plot and sells some of his excess produce.  He has had conflicts with some of the other local producers who complain that he is selling at a low price.  He says that people here are of limited means and should not have to pay such high prices.

Margareta hosts a teacher as Peace Corps has not used this community for the past two years, although they are returning next year.  She continues to sew and showed us some of her creative work.  There was a workshop for the locals, and they were graduating the day we were there.  They’d been making small shopping bags with straps decorated.

https://plus.google.com/photos/111993279450383941292/albums/5394841364027633777?authkey=CMCyit32-5GQ4AE

The internet has arrived in Santa Clara using 3g dongle (usb port connection) technology.  A grandson now has hundreds of Facebook friends.  We’ll be able to stay in touch.

They took us to lunch.  The local representative now has a small restaurant in front of his house.  We sat in the shade of the 90 degree (31C) heat with 90% humidity and enjoyed a very good fish plate with rice.  The fish was deep fried, of course.  Panamanians deep fry almost everything, eat tons of white rice and have a both a very high sugar diet and lots of diabetes and obesity.  Small wonder.  Lunch for 6 cost $14.

Margareta and Junior have worked with Peace Corps for more than 10 years.  They have hosted mostly couples and a few single.  We are the first ones ever to return.  We were very grateful for the way they treated us when we were there.  Margareta is a very good cook, and knew we would not want to eat so much deep fried food, so we got a lighter diet.

We stayed a few hours then mounted the ancient school bus for the hot trip back to the capital, where we hopped on one of the new buses heading to Via España.  It was nice to be in the air conditioning.