we all arrive and the Villa

We all, Jane from Chicago IL, Vicki from San Diego CA, Catharine from Portland OR, Denise from Calgary Canada, and I from Houston TX, arrived within two hours of each other Thursday morning at the Lisbon airport where Catharine had rented a car and after introductions we piled our luggage (just barely fit) and ourselves (also just barely fit, lots of butt touching trying to get the seat belts fastened in the back) into the car and after a bit of comedy and frustration trying to figure out the shift pattern on the standard transmission, how to open the rear of the car, how to navigate the main huge roundabout outside the airport with 7 exits and 5 lanes (a white knuckle experience), and later, how to get the gas tank open in order to fuel the car up, we got on the road to the villa Vickie had arranged for in the countryside outside Porto in the village of Fornelo, a nearly 3 1/2 hour drive. And thanks to Catharine for doing all the driving on the trip which turned out to be quite the adventure in rural Portugal with their curvy narrow cobblestone roads with no shoulder that were mostly lined with high walls.

the last road to the villa

The villa, Casa d'Quinta (link to the rental site for pictures of the inside), is a gorgeous home on a gorgeous estate of gardens of flowers and fruit trees and lawns immaculately kept (must be 10 acres at least, maybe, probably, more). It was the vacation home of the family when Pedro (our contact) was growing up. His mother lives now on the property in her own house further back from the villa while Pedro and his family live in Porto. We were met with fresh flowers on the table and a bowl of fruit and pastry in the kitchen and a cake his mother had made for us. She and Pedro would show up occasionally, knocking gently on the door with small gifts of pastry or sweetbread, checking to make sure we were enjoying our stay or if there were any problems or questions which they would deal with immediately. They were warm and welcoming which was pretty much our experience with all the Portuguese people we encountered.

the villa: the section on the left is where we stayed, the section in the middle is a long term rental and the section on the right is the barn for the equipment to maintain the grounds

all the water to the houses and the grounds is provided by a spring on the property

some photos of the grounds...

the path to the tree garden

for Ms Moon...that hedge is camilla bushes

espaliered apple and pear trees

By the time we got there and finished our check-in and divvied up the rooms (Jane and I, our first time to meet, both volunteered to share a room and as it turned out were probably the two best suited to do so and we laughed a lot prompting Catharine and Vicki to poke their heads in now and then to see what all the hilarity was about), we were all hungry and tired and so decided to go to the local restaurant in the village that Pedro recommended which was family owned, run, and staffed (mom and aunt cook, son Emo (who spoke English) waits tables, godmother makes the deserts which were fabulous and other family members pitching in now and then. No menu, just a verbal list of what was on offer that day depending on what they bought at the market (different kinds of fish or meat) served with boiled potatoes and cabbage, soup, dessert, wine; the food was wonderful and inexpensive by American standards and it became a favorite place, visiting four times in all during our two week stay at the villa. When on our third visit (before Emo arrived his mom was trying to communicate what was on offer that night and we ordered) we asked Emo if they ever had octopus and it turned out that only on certain nights and this night had been one. We only had a few more days in our stay (leaving before they usually had it on the menu again) but because we asked, they made a special trip to the market so that when we returned on the following Monday, our next to last night at the villa, they cooked grilled octopus for us.

from the left: Catharine, Denise, Jane (Vicki is hiding behind Jane)

Emo and his mom

As it turned out, food and wine and coffee was one of the highlights of our trip as it was all so good and very affordable. I found it interesting that while bread and olives were nearly always set on the table, there was never any salt or pepper or other condiments. No matter since the food was so good you didn't need it. Also, in Portugal, seafood means shellfish, of which there is a lot. Fish is fish, of which there is also a lot. Since I eat plenty of beef and pork and chicken at home, except for the few times we had toasted ham and cheese sandwiches or vegetable soup for lunch or our lunch at a local restaurant on our drive-about day in which there was no menu and she just brought us two platters of what turned out to be pork with boiled potatoes and some sort of cabbage and carrots or the one night in Lisbon I had rabbit, I ate only fish and seafood.

next: the first few days

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I'm back y'all