Cool Connections......

Today was our 'organizational day'! We delivered flowers to our landlady, Melanie and to Elia, the woman who rescued us after my bike spill, last Friday.........We went for a long walk.......we located restaurants we have been told are very good and .......... we booked our rental car, for tomorrow morning!

This is Elia.....our Good Samaritan! We tracked her down at her workplace, this AM.

We enjoyed the music of this busking band as they played for people walking over the Roman Bridge.

The tide was high as we made our way over the bridge, this afternoon...it looked so beautiful!

We found the Padaria Venezuela, which is considered the best bakery , by many, in Tavira. It is owned by the brother of the man from Hamilton, that we met the other evening. We bought some treats for our road trip tomorrow morning!

Our day started off in the best possible way! As we were having breakfast, we saw our Scottish friends walk up to our window area, scouting out which apartment we are in. They wanted to tell us about another great place to go in Spain, seeing as Kenny (the fellow) had gone there yesterday, as part of a bird watching expedition. Then as we were talking to them, from our balcony, our landlady, Melanie and her beautiful baby, Madalena walked by and greeted us warmly, as if we were neighbours and friends.....then, when we went for coffee at our little cafe, just below our apartment, the young owner, Pedro, greeted us like we were 'regulars' and the waiter, from the East Indian restaurant stopped to have a full fledged conversation as he was walking by and saw us sitting there. We really felt like we were known and a part of the the community here!! Nice feeling.....made both of us smile warmly and feel good!!

We enjoyed making tapas and supper at home and then we got dressed up and went to the Garden Square to enjoy a bit of artisan shopping and the FADO concert that is part of the Freedom Day weekend long festivities! The concert was phenomenal.....I really wish everyone, we love, could hear this incredible Portuguese traditional music......it is powerful and haunting and penetrating and oh, so engaging!! Tonight the group consisted of a Portuguese guitar player and a regular guitar player along with 2 female Fado singers. One of them was the same singer from the other Fado evening we spent in Santa Luzia last week. It was soooooo beautiful! Unfortunately, I could not get good pictures so I will only post a couple of them to at least give you a bit of a visual.

After the concert, we went to Tavira Lounge for a glass of vinho tinto, where we toasted Kathy and Gerhard, for their anniversary!!

Inside Tavira Lounge, which is a very nice, family friendly place, with really good food and very friendly owners.

We are heading to bed soon because we are moving into a busy week with lots of plans to tour around with our rental vehicle, which we pick up in the morning! Tomorrow we are going to a famous gypsy market in Loule and from there we will explore other coastal towns in the Algarve. We hope to be back for another evening concert in the park.

The weather, every day since we arrived, has been in the mid to high 20's with sun shining. We were told this evening that we are in for a few cooler days...... We'll see what that will be like!

Ciao!!

 

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