the stories that I'm telling.

Tag: family

  • We learned how to make pierogi this Christmas!

    We learned how to make pierogi this Christmas!

    Every year for Christmas, my Nana Helen (mother of my mother) makes pierogies. My mom’s side of the family is Polish/Ukrainian, and while we dabble only very lightly in Eastern European holiday tradition, pierogies and sour cream are staples at all family events (along with cabbage rolls and borscht, but pierogies are the undeniable fan favourites).

    My brothers and I have discussed making pierogies and stepping up to learn, take over, and carry forward some family traditions, and this holiday season was one of our first collective steps in that direction.

    In addition to learning how to make pierogi (according to Wikipedia the word is already plural… why would you have just one?!), we also made dinner on Christmas Day. It was a significant group effort… despite only needing to feed 10, we made enough food for nearly twenty: butternut squash/pear soup from scratch, turkey according to the Gordon Ramsay method (lemons are the key to having a delicious and juicy turkey), green beans with bacon, baked cod with tomatoes/potatoes/onions, garlic mashed potatoes, seasoned carrots, cabbage rolls, homemade gravy, and our very own pierogi!

    For dessert, my mom ordered us the most beautiful Happy Birthday Jesus cake imaginable. That’s a new tradition, but it’s one that we’ll be keeping.

    Anyways… back to the pierogi-making. My grandparents are famously early risers, and always quick to get things done. So when the four of us arrived at their house around 10am on the 23rd, we expected the pierogi-making process to be half done. To our surprise and delight, they really had waited for us before beginning!

    We donned our babushkas and our aprons, rolled up our sleeves, and got started.

    For the dough, I mixed 1 cup of room temperature water into a 6 cups of Red Rose white flour, along with a couple dollops of regular sour cream. Once it was mixed I had to knead the dough into a nice round ball. I then put the dough aside in a bowl and covered it with a towel. The dough needed to rest on the counter for approximately 30 minutes before it would be ready for use.

    In the meantime, my brothers were getting the filling ready: grating old cheddar cheese, and peeling and quartering old yellow potatoes (just old enough that something’s growing out of them). We then boiled the potatoes to prepare for mashing.

    Next: lunch break! Heaven forbid we work without being provided lunch!

    After lunch, the potatoes were boiled. We mashed them up and added the grated cheese. We also added a few scoops from a jar of sautéed onions that grandmother had made ahead of time. Once the potato mix was ready, we put it outside in the lanai to cool to room temperature-ish.

    Once the potatoes had cooled, we started rolling out the dough: time to make pierogi!

    We rolled out the dough on the kitchen table, aiming for 1/8 inches in thickness. Then we used an old tuna can to cut circles out of the dough. To make the pierogi, you take a circle of dough, add in a spoonful of filling, and pull the sides together around the filling. Pinch the dough together on both sides in such a vigorous way that you’re sure it won’t pop open when boiling.

    We placed them on a towel-covered platter, side by side. When the platter was full, we covered it with another towel, and continued lining up pierogi. They actually looked pretty darn cute. Once all the dough was gone, that’s a wrap! The trays went out to the lanai to freeze a bit. Alternatively, the trays could’ve been placed into the freezer (a deep freeze, obviously… this is the ‘burbs!).

    Anyways, I doubt most of you read all that, but I needed it written down somewhere, so there it is. See below for our photos from our holiday adventures in Grimsby!

    making pierogi like a proper baba!
    Christmas hiking!
    dinner is served!
    dessert!
  • In Honour of the Mitsubishi

    In Honour of the Mitsubishi

    The somewhat unnamed guest (or host, rather) on all of our Portugal adventures was the purple and silver Mitsubishi, the pick-up truck of Kevin’s late grandfather, Avô Eugenio.

    This mammoth of a truck represents countless memories for Kevin and his brother, who spent their summers in the Algarve with their grandparents.

    Until recently, Avo Maria kept the Mitsubishi in her garage, where it took up approximately 95% of available space. I’ve never seen a truck-to-garage ratio like it, and I was impressed both times I watched Kevin park it back in there.

    During our time in Portugal, we also made our fair share of memories in this truck. A thoroughly Algarvieu vehicle, we’re not sure it had even seen rain until we road-tripped north of Lisbon with my brother, Tyler.

    It was the driver of many interesting off road adventures, allowing us to explore and appreciate the Algarve in all of its glory. It took us across the Algarve, and north into Lisbon several times. Its rear gearing wasn’t exactly highway tolerable, so we always took the slower country roads all through the Alentejo. Thanks to the truck, we know an outrageous amount of back roads and countryside routes.

    Through most of our time in Portugal, Kevin drove me everywhere in the Mitsubishi – roadtrips, dinners, beach days, and more. When Kevin’s best friend Mark came to visit, I actually learned to drive a manual transmission so that I could chauffeur the two of them to and from the Algarve night life.

    My adventures with Kevin and Mark popularized the phrase “give it the beans” in my life, and also resulted in one of the funniest events I ever witnessed in the Algarve: Kevin and Mark soaking wet eating and drinking out of the back of the Mitsubishi as Albufeira morning traffic began. After a night at a Kiss Night Club foam party, we couldn’t go home without snacks. So I parked the Mitsubishi (a foot away from the curb) and they turned the back of the truck into a dining room. I’ve never seen two people laugh so hard in my life.

    This amazingly pristine vehicle, a 1999 Mitsubishi pick-up truck, was recently sold to a British expat. And so ends our adventures with the wonderful purple and silver Mitsubishi. Pretty sad, actually, but we’re both carrying a ton of memories forward.

    Photos below of our adventures in the truck:

     

    hey buddy!
    look at them, just chilling out!
    we saw some goats running across the road!
    Then we drove there, and Kevin sniped this wicked parking spot directly in front of the entrance
    chilling beside the truck… let’s gooooooo
    siblings at a non-existent archeological monument
    Kevin’s truck enjoying the ride (I’m inside the truck at this point)
  • Back in Grimsby :: An update on what’s happening with this here blog

    Back in Grimsby :: An update on what’s happening with this here blog

    If you’re reading closely, 2 things are clear:

    1. Kevin and I are back in Canada
    2. Most of the posts about our travels are describing things have taken place a few months ago

    At the end of July, Kevin and I booked one-way tickets back to Canada. We’d been in Portugal since early 2015, and had been travelling/living in Southeast Asia before that.

    We didn’t anticipate coming back to Canada nearly this soon, but here we are. So, what happens to a travel blog when you’re no longer “travelling”?

    The immediate plan is to continue writing. There are still tons of photos and stories to share from our adventures in the first half of 2015. I’ll be posting those as a “Throwback Thursday” entry, once a week.

    Alongside the Thursday posts, I’ll be writing about what we’re doing and exploring in Canada, along documenting with any other shorter trips that we get to.

    When we left Toronto and set out on our ‘big international adventure’, we chose to plan a long period of travel because we like to take our time. In Portugal, we *really* took our time, exploring many nooks and crannies of the Algarve, often seeing the same place or thing many times, and yet appreciating it all the same.

    One thing that we learned very quickly is that it’s next to impossible to see all the incredible and beautiful and interesting things/places out there, because the opportunities to do so are limitless. If the opportunities to explore beautiful experiences abroad are so numerous, it stands to reason that the same thing applies wherever life finds us. Right now, we’re living in Grimsby, the quickly growing small-ish town where I grew up. Much to my surprise, there are plenty of things to see and explore here, as long as you look for such opportunities.

    As someone who has started and abandoned many projects, I’m still a bit shocked that I’ve maintained this blog for so long. Though I’m geographically back where I started, I’ll keep documenting Kevin’s photos and our stories. (Beside, this blog was started to share our adventures with friends and family. With most of our friends in Toronto, being in Grimsby can feel so far away that we might as well still be in a foreign country 😉 )

    I’m not at all looking forward to winter, but Kevin and I will be doing our best to get into some winter sports and activities, making sure we get the most out of the unique experience of a Canadian winter.

  • Canadian Thanksgiving traditions in Grimsby

    Canadian Thanksgiving traditions in Grimsby

    It’s American Thanksgiving, so it’s as good a time as any to write about our adventures during the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

    A couple of years ago, I went to Ottawa and spent Thanksgiving weekend with Kevin. While there, I ate the most delicious Thanksgiving dinner that I’d ever had. Since we’re back in Grimsby, room-mating it up with my parents, we cried “dibs” pretty immediately on preparing Thanksgiving dinner. My mom was away for a wedding that weekend, so we had free reign over the kitchen. Of course, there were some other antics afoot before we got the oven running.

    We were making our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, so on Friday I set out to buy a turkey. I’d attempted to purchase a turkey on Thursday, to no avail. Apparently everyone buys their turkey at least 2 weeks early, and I had missed the memo. On Friday morning, Kevin told me “go to Lococo’s, they’ll have a 10kg Butterball for sure”. With Thursday’s empty turkey freezers in mind, I drove my parents to the airport on Friday, and proceeded to spend 3 hours driving all around Mississauga and Oakville in search of a 10kg+ Butterball turkey. I could barely find a 7kg turkey, let alone a butterball, so I began to panic. I bought the first 10kg turkey I could find, Butterball be damned.

    Then, to stock up on veggies and stuffing and all that other Thanksgiving goodness, I went to Lococo’s. As Kevin had promised, they had multiple Butterballs over 10kg. So what did I do? I bought one. As of today, we still have an extra turkey just waiting it out in our basement freezer.

    Double turkey purchases aside, Thanksgiving weekend in Grimsby involves just one tradition: Attending the Balls Falls Craft Show. So before we got to cooking, Kevin agreed to indulge me and attend the craft show. Balls Falls is a conservation area in Vineland, ON, that also happens to be the home of several old/historic buildings. It’s a wedding hotspot these days, which makes sense because it’s quite lovely.

    Fortunately, the craft show is not just about crafts. There are several historical displays that showcase 20th century technologies. There was also a “raptor” display, where we saw some really cool birds, most importantly, a Bald Eagle!!!! The next best thing to a Bald Eagle was seeing a genuine Military Band Organ from 1911. Still in full working order, this was a pretty cool site to see. It was restored and maintained by a gentleman named Captain John Leonard, who toured it all around the great lakes regions, in the United States and Canada. Though Captain John has since passed away, his wife and and his friend continue this great tradition, bringing a taste of early 20th century musical technology to the masses.

    Here’s a quick video of what the inner workings of the machine, as seen through the back, looks like:

    Surprisingly, we got quite into the whole craft scene, and went through to see every vendor there. While I’d planned to check out the festival for 30 minutes, once we saw the food tent, we got sucked in, and ended up spending more than 2 hours crafting about. I’ve been to this festival in some terrible weather, so the bright sunny day was a real treat.

    The next day, guided by some tips from Gordon Ramsay, we embarked on our Thanksgiving cooking extravaganza. With Kevin leading, me sous-chefing, and my brothers assisting, it was a pretty big production. I can honestly say that we could not have pulled this off without the help of Tyler and Kristopher, who helped with all the preparation, and made dessert. Tyler also ran point on serving the wine, which is essential for family holidays. We kicked off dinner by toasting with a glass of sparkling wine for everyone at the table, then proceeded to dig in.

    The menu included:

    • A 10 kg turkey, perfectly prepared
    • Garlic mashed potatoes
    • Green beans with bacon
    • 3 types of gravy
    • Stovetop Stuffing (yes, from the box – don’t mess with a classic!)
    • Gwyneth’s roasted cauliflower and chickpeas
    • Pumpkin pie
    • Homemade Gingerbread Cookies
    • Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie (courtesy of Nana Ev)
    • Wine, wine, and more wine (all from Niagara’s 20 Valley Region, of course)

    And that’s it. The secret to a great Thanksgiving weekend? Wine and teamwork. Hopefully Christmas will be similar entertaining! Check out the various photos of our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, below:

    A steam engine display at the craft show!
    checking out the natural landscape – that’s “Balls Falls” behind me.
    Standing in front the Military Band Organ
    classic!
    One of the many great vendors we met at the festival
    In front of the big barn at Balls Falls
    The dessert table. Cookies made by Tyler & Kristopher.
    Turkey on the table, “resting”, as per Gordon Ramsay’s instructions
    Obviously, we were watching the Jays
    dinner is served!
  • Visiting Sagres

    Visiting Sagres

    Throughout the duration of Tyler’s trip to Portugal, I was incredibly ill. I slept most of the time and felt terribly shivery and gross for most of the time that I wasn’t sleeping. As a result, I didn’t get out for too many excursions, and Tyler’s blog posts have covered the majority of his second week with us in Portugal, where we relaxed in the Algarve.

    There was one trip for which I did manage to drag myself out of bed: a day trip to the Fort at Sagres.

    Sagres is the most south-west point of Portugal, with a large landmass that juts out into the ocean. The Fort of Sagres occupies this space, a place connected to Portugal’s history of exploration. The Fort may or may not have been connected to the work for Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator:

    It is traditionally suggested that Henry gathered at his villa on the Sagres peninsula a school of navigators and map-makers. However modern historians hold this to be a misconception. He did employ some cartographers to chart the coast of Mauritania after the voyages he sent there, but there was no center of navigation science or observatory in the modern sense of the word, nor was there an organized navigational center.[7]

    Referring to Sagres, sixteenth century Portuguese mathematician and cosmographer, Pedro Nunes, remarked, “”from it our sailors went out well taught and provided with instruments and rules which all map makers and navigators should know.”[8]

    The view that Henry’s court rapidly grew into the technological base for exploration, with a naval arsenal and an observatory, etc., although repeated in popular culture, has never been established.[9][10][11] Henry did possess geographical curiosity, and employed cartographers. Jehuda Cresques, a noted cartographer, has been said to have accepted an invitation to come to Portugal to make maps for the infante. This last incident probably accounts for the legend of the School of Sagres, which is now discredited. (Wikipedia)

    The location was stunning. Walking along the cliffs, watching birds fly above the waves, and looking back at the rather flat, open space of the fort, it was a beautiful scene. As far as museums go, it was fairly unimpressive. Very little information was offered about what we were looking at, though Wikipedia has suggested that the Fort’s importance is up for debate, which may explain the lack of concrete information at the site.

    In either case, it was a lovely day, made even better by a really fantastic seafood lunch. We dined at A Sagres, the closest restaurant to the Fort. While those around us were eating spaghetti and other such nonsense, we requested the daily specials, and were treated to an amazing seafood stew and freshly caught fish.

    On the way home we took a scenic route along the coast. We stopped at a beautiful beach, and took a detour for a supposed ‘archaeological site of interest’ that was actually just a field.

    Check out our photos to enjoy the view:

    but first, we lunch. Clams to start!
    seafod stew!
    sea bream!
    deliciously fresh fish
    taking in the scene
    walking on a nearby beach as part of our scenic route home
    this was supposed to be a “point of interest”
    so we made it interesting!
  • Road Trip Day 3: Evora & Illness & the Algarve

    Road Trip Day 3: Evora & Illness & the Algarve

    After waking up in Marvao and spending our morning exploring, we set off to Evora. Of course, Tyler rolled his ankle on those beautiful cobblestone streets the night before, and I woke up feeling the beginning of a fever. Still, we had 2 more stops on our road trip, beginning with the city of Evora, followed by the nearby Monsaraz, then the city of Beja. By the time we had lunch, Kevin realized his couple of Pages were too ill, and he promptly drove us the last 3 hours home to the Algarve.

    Before our trip was cut short, we did get to explore Evora. We also had an incredible lunch at a restaurant that only serves 9 people at a time. “Botequim da Mouraria” is run by a welcoming Portuguese couple. In their small restaurant, there’s bar seating only, which means that we were incredibly lucky to arrive in time for lunch and find 3 empty chairs waiting for us. The service and the food were excellent. This was one of those places Kevin had found in the course of his detailed research, and it was very much worth the hype.

    After lunch, we explored Evora and its incredible history. A very old city, Evora still has Roman ruins and an incredible variety of historic architecture. On all our other stops, I read aloud to the guys various historical fun facts. Being sick in Evora meant that I didn’t really do this, and so we learned a bit less there than everywhere else. The city is more than 2000 years old, and was occupied by the Celts and the Moors before becoming the #2 city in Portugal for a time, becoming the site of much lavish spending on the behalf of Portuguese rulers.

    Here are a couple of other fun facts about Evora:

    Évora has a history dating back more than two millennia.

    It was known as Ebora by the Celts, a tribal confederacy, south of the Lusitanians (and of Tagus river), who made the town their regional capital.

    The etymological origin of the name Ebora is from the ancient Celtic word ebora/ebura, plural genitive of the word eburos (yew), name of a species of tree, so its name means “of yew tree.” The city of York, in northern England, at the time of the Roman Empire, was called Eboracum/Eburacum, named after the ancient Celtic place name Ebora Kon (Place of Yew Trees), so the old name of York is etymologically related to the city of Évora.[6]

    (Wikipedia)

    Évora is also remarkable for reasons other than its monumental heritage related to significant historic events. The 16th century was a time of major urban planning and great intellectual and religious influence. While Évora also has many noteworthy 16th-century patrician houses (Cordovil house, the house of Garcia de Resende), the unique quality of the city arises from the coherence of the minor architecture of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. This unity finds its overall expression in the form of numerous low whitewashed houses, decorated with Dutch tiles and wrought-iron balconies and covered with tile roofs or terraces which line narrow streets of medieval configuration and which in other areas bears witness to the concentric growth of the town until the 17th century. It also served to strengthen the fundamental unity of a type of architecture that is perfectly adapted to the climate and the location.

    Évora remained mainly undamaged by the great earthquake of 1755 that destroyed many towns in Portugal, including Lisbon. The monuments of the Historic Centre of Évora bear witness to their profound influence on Portuguese architecture in Brazil.

    (UNESCO)

    In retrospect, while we recognized how beautiful Evora was, I was a bit too sick to recognize and appreciate the signs of its long storied history. It was also clearly packed with tourists from all of the world, which became a bit of a distraction itself. All the same, we managed to take a few photos. Enjoy!

    our amazing lunch!
    tourists taking photos of local students on a field trip
    being holy
    standing near some incredibly Manueline architecture
    drinking in front of the Temple of Diana
    siblings & roman ruins, no big deal
    can you tell we’re both all messed up?

     

  • Road Trip Days 2 & 3: Visiting Marvao

    Road Trip Days 2 & 3: Visiting Marvao

    Ok, so the last few posts have detailed some fairly magical sights. But to be honest, there’s more to come here. This trip was pretty surreal, and we saw many memorable places.

    The driving on the trip may also have been a bit much, but in this case it turned out to be worth it. After driving 2.5 hours to Piodao, we spent a couple of hours exploring this small yet remarkable village. And then we got back in the truck and Kevin drove us another 3 hours to Marvao, a city on a hill right on the border of Portugal and Spain. About an hour into this trip, I was really questioning this decision, but when we drove up to this walled-city on a foggy night, all doubts were forgotten.

    Here’s what you need to know about Marvao (courtesy of Wikipedia):

    Commanding spectacular views across the Tagus basin (the same river to connects Lisbon to the Atlantic) and Serra de Estrela (highest point in Portugal) to the north, the fortified rock of Marvão has been a site of significant strategic importance since the earliest human settlements. Today lying on the ‘raia’ that divides Portugal and Spain, Marvão has consistently stood on a frontier zone between peoples: Celtici, Vettones and Lusitani (4th-2nd century BCE); Lusitanians and the Romans ofHispania Ulterior (2nd-1st century BCE); migratory Suevi, Alans, Vandals and Visigoths (5th-7th century CE); conquering moors and Visigoths (8th century); muwallad rebels and the Cordoban emirate (9th-10th century); Portuguese nation-builders and Moors (12th-13th century); Templars and Hospitallers (12th-14th century); Portuguese and Castilians (12th century-present day); Liberals and Absolutists (19th century); the fascist regimes of Salazar and Franco (20th century).

    Marvão’s natural assets have contributed to the ‘uniqueness’ of this remote village as perceived by visitors today: (i) as nigh-impregnable ‘eagle’s nest’ fortress – perched high on a granite crag, and bordered on the south and west by the Sever river; (ii) as vital lookout-point towards the Alcántara Bridge (70 km (43 mi) away), a wide stretch of the Tagus basin and the Serra de Estrela; (iii) as a gateway to Portugal from Spain via the Porta da Espada (‘Sword Gate’) mountain pass of the Serra de São Mamede. These assets have ensured its status as the ‘Mui Nobre e Sempre Leal Vila de Marvão’ (Very Noble and Ever-Loyal Town) into the present day.

    As with other 11th-13th-century castles, the early medieval improvements and development of Marvão castle reflect the innovations brought back by crusading orders from the near east (notably the highly influential Hospitaller castle in Syria, the Krak des Chevaliers). The medieval castle seen in Marvão today mostly post-dates the year 1299, and features numerous characteristic features of a crusader-era castle: a tall central keep with raised entrance on the first floor; a series of lower, outlying turrets (some semi-circular); high-placed arrow-slits; open spaces to aid the sheltering and assembly of villagers and troops; a well, and huge rain-collecting cistern to supply water to both keep and the wider castle in the event of siege; bent entrances (both on the village and castle gates) to slow down invaders in the event of breached gates; a series of narrow killing zones (notably, in the triple gate on the village-side of the castle); extensive crenellated battlements and curtain walls that enhanced the natural defences provided by the escarpments of Marvão’s rock.[22]

    That’s only a smattering of interesting information about Marvao, as this place is filled with historical significance. When we arrived at night fog filled the town, we had to park the truck just outside of the gates in order to walk to our hotel (we stayed and ate at the the Casa do Alentejo, where we were welcomed with the traditional and impressive Alentejo hospitality). With the characteristic preservation of the buildings’ historical style, it felt like we were walking back in time. After a lengthy dinner, we got some sleep, then woke up early for breakfast and further touring. We explored all through the town and the castle, and were constantly in awe of the view and the spirit of the region. Similar to Sintra, looking across the hills you could easily imagine what it was like to look across that view 1000 years ago. A very cool feeling that won’t soon be forgotten.

    Check out our photos below!

    Surprisingly, this is the only photo I have of Marvao at night!
  • Roadtrip Day 2: Piodao

    Roadtrip Day 2: Piodao

    When I say that Kevin researched and planned our road trip with Tyler, I don’t mean that lightly. As soon as Tyler booked his tickets to visit, the research began. And not just some simple google searches of ‘best sights in Portugal’. If Kevin has ever helped you with anything, you know that his research-style is all-in and he stops at nothing to get the best possible outcome. Nothing exemplifies this more than our stop off in Piodao.

    A few weeks before the trip, Kevin showed me a photo of a place that looked amazing, and told me that it was a must-do stop. When I convinced him to shorten the road trip from 6 days to 3, Piodao was one of those places that was a must-see, not to be compromised. And he was so, so right.

    After our morning at the Knights Templar’s Convent of Christ in Tomar, we got back into the truck and embarked on what I can honestly say is the wildest, most breathtaking and most nerve-racking road trip of my life. Before I get into too many road trip details, let’s talk about why Piodao is special and worth seeing.

    Piodao, known as the “nativity village” is a small collection of stone buildings, tucked into a mountain side. Unlike most of the places we’ve visited on this trip, Piodao, due to its remote geographic location, was almost entirely disconnected from Portuguese history. How disconnected? This village didn’t have electricity until the 1970s. This geographic isolation is what makes Piodao so unique – because they were limited to local resources, which is reflected in the architecture of the town itself, their traditions were well-preserved over the years, due to a lack of outside influences. Entering Piodao, picturesquely placed in between 2 hills in a mountain range, feels like entering a fairy tale. As you stand on the hillside, you can even hear the echo of jingling bells from the goat herds. My only regret of this entire trip is that we didn’t stay longer.

    Now, about that road trip. It was long and a bit harrowing. And as the trip went on, we felt increasingly alone. There were long stretches (on this 2.5 hour drive) without seeing other people and cars, though we did see a herd of goats crossing the road. We climbed up into the mountaintops, driving along winding roads, on the edge of cliffs, surrounded by clouds. I was both in awe of the view and in awe of Kevin’s patience & composure while navigating these roads. There’s absolutely no way that a bus could have made this journey.

    Visiting Piodao was a truly surreal and magical experience. I recommend it very much. And beyond being beautiful, the town itself offers great food and friendly people. Check out our many photos below!

    we saw some goats running across the road!
    look at them, just chilling out!
    hey buddy!
    a river
    and a dam!
    climbing up into the moutains
    climbing higher…
    … and higher
    … higher till we’re in the clouds
    soon we’re descending
    and as we come around the corner, we get our first glimpse of Piodao
    we get to to take a break
    and from where Kevin stands, you can see the town
    When we entered the town, we first saw the church
    We also took a little hike up the hill to get a great view of the town and its surrounding valley
    you can hear little goats’ bells jingling & echoing all around you here
    After staring in awe at the town from above, we embarked on a trek up and down and across all the little roads to see the homes.
    Piodao is now a protected heritage site, so the doors, etc must all continue to be painted blue.
    even in a town this small, there are 2 churches
    stopped for coffee, and then we headed out!
  • Roadtrip Day 2: An Aqueduct “just around the corner”

    Roadtrip Day 2: An Aqueduct “just around the corner”

    While we were visiting the Convent of Christ in Tomar, the map of the site said that there was an aqueduct attached. Tyler was pretty excited about this, never having seen a real aqueduct. Kevin and I had seen some in Lisbon, but agreed that it was pretty cool.

    While Tyler and I searched for the aqueduct ruins (which we found outside, attached to the Castle of Tomar), Kevin searched on Google. When we were done at the Castle/Convent, Kevin said he had one more stop he wanted to make. He handed me the phone with a seemingly random spot marked on the map nearby. He told me what we were up to but hadn’t said anything yet to Tyler.

    5 minutes of driving later, we came to the Pegoes Aqueduct, to which the aqueduct ruins at the castle were attached.

    But rather than just a couple of arches, what we saw was a full aqueduct crossing a valley. And the best part? It was open and also empty! From where we parked, we walked just a few steps to climb up onto the aqueduct through an old water inspection station. In the silent countryside, we walked along an ancient aqueduct, just the 3 of us.

    A quick little surprise, and one of the highlights of our trip. Enjoy the photos below!

  • A Trip to the Algarve – Kevin’s backyard

    A Trip to the Algarve – Kevin’s backyard

    The moment I told Kevin I’d booked my flight, he went into trip planning mode. Two weeks was a lot of time to fill, but it got booked up fairly quickly. We considered and rejected visiting the North & Porto (too far), some additional castles (I rolled my ankle), another historical town (Heather got sick), and a winery (we slept in). But still we ended up seeing a lot. A couple days sightseeing in Lisbon, a few days on the road being steeped in history, and finally a full week exploring the Algarve.

    2015-04-17 21.07.10
    🎶 “…One is a genius, the other’s insane” 🎶

    As Heather has recapped some of the Lisbon tour and the road trip, I’ll share a couple of our day trips exploring the Algarve.

    Avo Olimpia & Exploring Town

    Because Heather works remotely and at night (Australia hours) we usually get a pretty late start our day. We typically didn’t wake up, shower, have breakfast (a Canadian tradition apparently) and a cafe [Editor’s note, we now refer to ‘coffee’ in Portuguese, hence ‘cafe’], and head out until at least noon. Avo Olimpia, on the other hand, is much busier in the morning. Everyday when I would wander downstairs to scrounge up some breakfast around 10am, she would be well into her day – a trip to the market complete, laundry washed-dried-folded, and soap-opera watched. I’d get a “bon dia, bread’s on the table” and she’d be off yet again, now to the cafe with friends. She’s always on the move, and we rarely knew where to.

    One day I got the grand tour of the town and Kevin’s childhood playground. We walked to the pool, fed ducks in the creek, and saw the old-old church, the new-old church and pointed out every coffee place in town (there were many). There were some really cool sights too! Other than the history (“so the Romans built those walls”, “this buidling pre-dates Canada” etc.) my favourite sight was the giant Portuguese flag overlooking the entire town. Apparently during a previous World Cup (soccer…er I mean, football) some kids had scaled a nearby hill and painted a Portugese flag to cheer on their nation. This act of fan-dalism has since remained, and honestly looks pretty great!

    I thought Grimsby (pop 20,000) was a small town where everyone knows everyone, but Alte puts it to shame. Throughout the week of exploring we rarely walked down the street without stopping to chat with a neighbour, old friend, or relative because everyone knows each other. Case in point: Alte, it turns out, is so small you can accidently run into family. On one of our urban tours we stumbled upon Avo. We chatted for a bit with her friends (all in Portuguese so have no idea what was said, but assume my height and fair skin were questioned) but she was too busy for us (going dancing?) and we each continued on our separate ways.

    All in all I enjoyed seeing this small town.

    Avo Maria, The Farm, and the old House

    While we spent the week with Avo Olimpia, one of our day trips included a visit to see Avo Maria and some of the family farm land. If it was nice having fruit trees in the yard for fresh juice, then visiting Avo Maria was a delight. She has fruit trees as far you can see – grapefruits, oranges, lemons, limes, whatever – just sitting there ready to be picked! I got a tour of the farm (included more Kevin stories “used to climb this tree”, “had a tire swing here”) and we loaded up on fruit, all while dodging chickens underfoot.

    The most hilarious part of this day trip was meeting Daisy. Daisy is Avo Maria’s older but still very much active dog. She followed us around for the whole tour, chasing chickens and keeping us entertained. As we got back to the house though, she surprised all of us by hunting down and catching a pigeon out of mid-air before scampering off to finish her treat!

    The Beach

    One of my favourite Algarve day trips included visiting a beach hidden from the mainroads and mostly known to locals. Here we got to walk the beach for a little while with the sand, sun, and ocean breeze all to ourselves. Kevin knows about the place because he used to visit with his grandfather and fish for clams in the summer. We got a full theatrical explanation of how he would walk in neck deep water (“it was up to here!”) trying to keep up with his grandfather while fighting the ocean (“current was trying to suck me out the whole time!”) so they could eat fresh seafood for dinner. It was a neat story which gave a beautiful pit-stop all the more meaning.

    As were leaving the beach we noticed it had rained earlier (sidenote – apparently it rained so much during my visit I’m not allowed back, bad luck) and the dirt parking lot was now filled with mud. So while Heather rolled her eyes Kevin and I hooked up the camera and drove circles through the mud having a blast! Check it out:

    Doesn’t get any better than that.