Family Antics

I have been a little home sick these past few weeks as I’m missing family and friends, so it was with great excitement when we drove to Grandola train station to collect my sister Nicole and her husband Srul. We usually spend NYE together but this year they were in Lisbon and it was too difficult for us to join them with George in the moho, so we were meeting on 2nd January for a week in a house south of Lisbon along the Atlantic coast in a small complex near Melides.

It was also the first time that we had driven with passengers on board in the van, it is equipped with an extra two forward facing seats with seat belts. So, all was legal!

Once we collected them we headed to do a massive food shop and Nicole and I revelled in the supermarket buying lots of goodies! Loaded up we headed to our accommodation and were met by Renato and his wife who showed us around his house, a two bedroom house with cosy fireplace. It was going to be strange spending a week out of the van and back in a house with space to move around.

The house was in a nice setting with shared landscaped gardens and only a short walk to the cliff top where there was the most amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean and the long sandy beach that went on for about 40kms! It was untouched beauty with the orange rock sand cliffs that formed the most unusual shapes – they looked like rows of wizards with haggard faces and beards, in pointed hats and long wavy cloaks towering over the ocean. The sandstone looked smooth and you thought it would crumble in your hands but it was coarse to feel and when you walked along the beach it was impossible to be in a hurry as  each footprint made deep indents into the sand and you felt like you would never get anywhere.

The sunset over the ocean was very special to watch and we visited it each night that we were there when we could although sadly the last 2 nights it was cloudy and rained. We spent a lovely week walking, relaxing and eating. There were local walks along the cliff tops on terrain that was sandy with a mixture of flora and fauna – pine trees, some gorse and little flowers. One thing I noticed was the sound of birdsong in the mornings which seems strange in January but even recently we have heard cuckoos and woodpeckers amongst the morning chorus.

One of the days Srul had to work and Bob wanted to metal detect on the beach so Nicole and I took it upon ourselves to go on a massive trek. The nearest town was Melides about 10 mins drive along the main roads but we thought we could walk there cross country. It was an expedition and a half – climbing over gates and fences (lifting George over) following tracks through forests and then detouring back to the main road to check out each of the restaurants along the way – with only one roadside cafe being open. We finally made it to Melides after what turned out to be 7 miles (I originally thought it was 7km) where we were rewarded by the most delicious meal of fried squid and swordfish and the obligatory chocolate cake only to be confronted with the journey back and decided we would take a different route.

It turned out to be a really nice walk back, less roads more forest tracks and sand but it was 2 miles longer and the last 2 miles were along that beach I mentioned before that meant every step felt like we had lead boots on. We were so tired by now that we were hallucinating a landmark we knew meant we were nearly home, but when we got closer we would realise it wasn’t there…….the sun set and we eventually climbed the steps back up the cliff to our accommodation just as it got dark, absolutely shattered but with a great sense of achievement – 16 miles.

We visited two towns during their stay, one was inland called Santiago de Cacem with a very picturesque old quarter which looked like it was once an artistic area and the ruins of a castle with pretty attached gardens. Whilst in the town we visited the municipal museum and were given a private guided tour in broken Portuguese and English but enough to understand the different rooms. It became apparent that the building used to be a prison.

A large part of Alentejo is known for their cork production. Portugal is the world’s biggest cork producers and produces 50% of the worlds cork supply. We have passed many fields of cork oak trees and when I first spotted one of these trees with the bark stripped from it I thought maybe there were bears or wild boars in the area!! It turns out that the cork bark is very skilfully cut from the tree every nine years to enable it to grow back. They mark each tree with the last digit of the year so they know when to strip it again. Cork oaks are the only trees that don’t die when you strip them of their bark. We have passed lots of cork farms and seen piles of stripped cork drying out. Many tourist shops contain cork souvenirs in the shape of purses, bags, key rings, table mats, mugs, and some rough cork bark shaped bowls that we learnt at the museum were traditionally used as vessels for water to wash with. In the old days they used cork to make babies cradles and other different uses.

The other town we visited was the surf resort of Sines (pronounced Sin-esh) we were not overly impressed with Sines – it was deserted and very little was open but we did get to walk around the castle walls that gave us a great view of the port and we visited the statue of Vasco de Gama who was the first explorer to sail from Europe to India around the Cape of Good Hope.

It was very special to have the time with my sister and catch up on family gossip and for her to share some of our journey. I have had a lovely dose of family medicine and now we are looking forward to a visit from some good friends at the end of the week.