Day 7 – 29 April 2011 – Olhão and Tavira Revisited and “A Recipe is Born”
Our last day in the Algarve before we headed to Lisbon, we decided to go back into Olhão for coffees and to see what was going on in the rest of the world via e-mail and Facebook. Café Canaloupe would be our hangout if we lived in Portugal – it is right on the oceanfront with great views of the water, all the fisherman, and the ocean promenade...and it has free WiFi. The Olhão market is right next door; the market is made up of two large buildings, one for the Fish Market and the other for produce and Algarve specialties. In the fish market, loads and loads of fresh fish and fishermen who will carve them up and fillet them for you while you wait.
The fish at the market is caught daily, in the wee hours of the morning. Doesn’t get any fresher than that! On the produce side of the market, fresh vegetables abound,
as well as cheeses, wines, and other fun things, like giant bags of escargot (notice the heads of the live snails poking out of the netting…ewwwww).
We decided to back to Tavira for lunch since our first trip there was overshadowed by itching, swelling, and a visit to the Farmacia. No troubadour sightings in Tavira that day (they were either in another city or had been arrested and jailed), but we had a delicious lunch by the river. Rossini tournadoes of beef in a peppercorn sauce.
We angered the waitress by sitting at the farthest outdoor table from the kitchen – this made her cranky, Portugese cranky. We don’t know why the extra distance to the table irked her so, given that we were her only patrons. Bless her heart, she persevered, and earned a tip in spite of herself.
With full bellies, we walked off our lunch, up and down the riverbank. We stopped to sit for a while on the edge of the river and watched the fishing boats and island ferries go by. Then we went to a souvenir shop to buy a toothpick holder modeled after The Cock of Barcelos (a legendary cock in Portugal and we know the tale if you want to hear it…or you can be self-sufficient and look it up on wikipedia).
With packing looming over our heads, a kitchen full of food from Pingo Dingo, and only a few hours left to deal with all of it, we decided to go back to the villa. Once at the Villa, we figured out how to address the excess food – we cooked it all in one big pot. It was delicious and our first “native” Portugese recipe was born:
Olhão Chicken a la Robinsons
· 1 Cooked Chicken – shredded
· 1 Head Garlic – minced
· 1 Diced Onion
· 2 Chicken Boullion Cubes
· 3 Can of Beans (we used Kidney, Butter, and Cannelini)
· Cooked Risotto (portion determined by amount of people or however much you have to get rid of)
· 1 Pot of Boiling Water and…
· 1 Kitchen Sink, Rinsed and Drained
Really very good!
We packed, ate, drank wine, played cards and passed out, ready to get up the next day to head to Lisbon.
Days 8 and 9 – 30 April and 1 May 2011 – Farewell Olhão and Ola Lisboa
Our second day of rain (not bad out of 9 days) came on Algarve departure day. Before leaving Olhão, we decided it would be a good idea to get directions to our hotel, the Albergaria Senhora Do Monte, in Lisbon (Lisboa to the natives), before we just hopped in the car and started driving. We knew only that it was in the Graça area of Lisbon, had 28 rooms, and was best known for its views – not much to go on in terms of navigation. So, we headed to Café Cantaloupe in Olhão to use their wi-fi one last time.
The rain was moderate, but not too heavy, so Jon dropped Debbie off closer to the café…with the umbrella…and went to find parking. The Saturday Street Market was going on out front so Debbie found a table and chairs inside and ordered 2 coffees. Jon was gone quite a while and Debbie started to get a little concerned; then a lot concerned when the deluge began! All the Farmers’ Market vendors and patrons ran inside the tiny café for shelter. Still no Jon. When he did arrive, he was soaked to the bone. Because of the market, he had to park very far away and got caught in the middle of the downpour, wishing he’d kept the umbrella.
We connected to the internet and found directions to the hotel. In the absence of a printer, we had to copy down the directions on the back of the hotel confirmation page we had in our travel documents – one full, hand-written page of detailed directions with no less than 24 different Portugese Street names…shouldn’t be a problem, right? So, we waited for the rain to subside, said goodbye to The Algarve, and headed north to Lisbon.
The drive to Lisbon is about 2 ½ hours. Our journey was 4 hours (due to our “excellent” directions). We crossed the bridge into Lisbon that looks just like and was modelled after the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. In fact, Lisbon reminded us of San Francisco, with its seven major hills and cable cars. We never saw the exit listed in our internet directions and had driven too far (completely through Lisbon). We turned around and drove back towards the bridge, of course missing our last exit into the city center; so back over the bridge we went…on the other side, we needed to make a u-turn to get back on the bridge again in the right direction. We had a new plan: Pay the toll, cross the f-ing bridge again, take the first exit possible, and just magically find the hotel. Lo and behold, it was a brilliant plan - we found it in spite of Google Maps.
After having our passports held by the front desk for 20 minutes (we assume they were cross-checking our records with Interpol), we settled into our room and enjoyed those advertised stunning views.
And one interesting view
Then it was time to try the rooftop bar for even better views. We became fast friends with Victor, the bartender, who had never heard of the Espresso Martini nor the Chi-Chi. He now has two new cocktail recipes from his crazy American/London friends.
Victor returned the favor and told us where to go for a great dinner. We told him we like to eat like the locals and his recommended restaurant, Satellite, did not disappoint. We had a traditional Portugese veal steak platter for two. Yummy! No PETA comments needed here.
After dinner, we took Tram 28 (a cable car) around Lisbon.
The streets are very steep at times and the tram very crowded. Sometimes, the locals cheat and hang on to the back of the tram to avoid paying. A risky proposition as the tram goes so close to the edges of the buildings, they literally take their lives into their own hands. We snapped a photo of one such cheater (who was apparently worried we were going to send it in to the Policia):
On our way back to the hotel we wondered, “Just how much is the doggie in the window?”
and enjoyed the beautiful evening view of Lisbon:
After a nice complimentary breakfast the next morning, we turned in our awesome car and flew back to London. Portugal gets four thumbs up from these travellers, even if some of those thumbs were swollen and itchy.
See, back in the olde days they made these things called "maps." Sometimes you can even find one in a store. Anyway you line up the map with the real estate you are driving over and keep turning until you arrive at where you are going. Or as Buckaroo Bonzai said where ever you are that is where you are going (or something like that), simple, no? Thanks for all the food stories; you know how that makes me crazy, right?
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