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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