Home Sweet Home....Studio 39!!!!!

After another great night's sleep, we woke to Lisbon, enveloped by fog and I (Betty) with very sore calves (from all the cobblestone, up hills street walking we did)!! :)

Once again, we enjoyed a great breakfast, visiting with other B & B guests. Then, we picked a souvenir lemon from the terrace trees, and said good-bye to our beautiful guest house, until our return to Lisbon, in May, the night before we fly back home......

 

 

We took a cab to the train station and caught the 10:20 train to Faro....

The lady in the red shirt and man beside her are from Vancouver Island! It is always so nice to meet other Canadians! We also met a couple, from Ottawa at "The House", whose daughter works in PA at the Pen as a teacher for the inmates. We enjoyed visiting with them and once again, we were reminded about what a small world it really is!!

The train ride was very interesting! The sun began to shine about 1/2 hr out of Lisbon. The country side is quite lush, very green and sports an amazing array of vegetation! We saw trees that looked a lot like Jack Pine (but with a round shape vs. a looking tall and lean); cacti; orange and lemon groves; grape vineyards; beautiful/colourful wild flowers including ditches full of wild red poppies, white & yellow daisies and some other brilliant yellow flowers. There were so many other forms of lush vegetation I can't even begin to describe!! We saw very impoverished hillside shanties as well as incredibly beautiful and well kept hacienda-style homes with walled court yards, terraces and turrets. There was surprisingly little livestock...we did see a few goats, sheep, cows and one yard with horses.

The train ride was very smooth and soothing, lulling both of us to sleep, for a short nap, even though we DID NOT want to miss a thing! As those who have travelled through Europe, by train, know.....the train system is so incredibly efficient and such a great way to get places in comfort and affordability!

We had to transfer trains in the city of Faro, which looks very interesting! We definitely will take the train back there,one day, just to explore it further! Today, we enjoyed a cerveja, coffee and a pastry (of course!!) while we waited for our last train. The small, quaint train station, has a small bar/coffee shop, where a lot of locals seem to gather to watch who is coming and going from their community!!

Now, comes the VERY BEST PART OF OUR TRIP SO FAR!!!!!......our arrival in Tavira, which OMG!!!.....is the most beautiful place imaginable!! We were told by MANY people,in Lisbon, that Tavira "is paradise!". It is true!! We are both so very, very excited, but I can only really speak for myself on this one. I Am indescribably excited about everything we have seen and experienced, since our arrival!!

Our landlord, Valter, kindly met us the train station and toured us around, by car, before bringing us to our absolutely beautiful little apartment! Valter is an agricultural engineer and he works for the biggest orange producing company in Portugal. He took us to one of their orange groves and OHHHHH MYYYYY GOODNESS, I was soooooo excited to: a) be envelpoed by the exquisite smell of orange blossoms all around us and..... b)pick & taste the most beautiful, sweet, juicy, incredibly amazing oranges I have EVER had!! I still can't stop feeling the excitement as I remember this afternoon's experience!! It was a 'hook, line and sinker' experience, for me, in that 1/2 hr. we spent there....I wanted to move here!! Who wouldn't?!?!....They grow oranges, HERE, all year long!!! Different varieties grow at different times of the year and in varied stages, which is incredible because, the grove we were in, had trees filled with blossoms and fruit at the very same time as well as at various stages of ripening! Have a look at these pictures!!!!....

 

 

 

THEN....we saw a 'volunteer' avocado tree, right in the orange grove, so we picked a couple of avocados as well!!! OMG, again....I almost peed myself with excitement....I actually could hardly contain my excitement! I just want to scream with excitement about the whole fresh orange/avacodo experience! Vàlter told us to pick as many oranges as we wanted for our apartment and we could have picked more avocados, if we could have reached them! He was very generous and somewhat amused by our excitement....okay....MY excitement!! Lawrence was just as excited and,in awe, as I was......he was just 'cooled' about it, but me....no way, I was sky-high excited and did not want to contain it!!! We also met the people, whose land is being rented by Valter's orange producing company....they are Portugese-Canadians! They lived in Quebec for many, many years of their life, moving back to their homeland of Portugal, later in life! they ere very excited to meet us but I think a bit disappointed that we did not speak French! :)

Just another point to note....they grow figs, olives, grapes, lemons, grapefruits around here, as well as the fabulous oranges & avocados!!

Here are more pics....(how can you tell how excited I am about this grand experience?!?!.....

 

 

THEN....we came to our beautiful Studio 39.... Our Portugal home!! OMG!!!!....(again!!)....we thought this place was going to be great, but....."great" does not even capture it!! This studio is out of this world fantastic!! It is located in an apartment building right on the main central street of charming Tavira....there are quaint coffee/bakery shops, pubs, and stores right out our front door!! It is 34 steps to the opening of the gates to go up a stone walled path to the 'Castelo' (castle)!! It is about one walking block, on cobble stone streets with trees and flowers blooming, to the Rio Gilao....a very lovely river that must be crossed by ferry, to get to some of the most beautiful sandy beaches in the Algarve (southern portugal). The apartment is 'fresh', pristine clean, chic, roomy and soooooo charming with 2 street windows that open to a typical Portuguese architectural structured balcony (not very wide....just wind enough to offer you a chance to stand outside, from inside.) we absolutely LOVE our little apartment that costs us a mere $35.00/night!!!! It is hard to believe!!

Here is the street view from our balcony......

 

 

When we arrived, it was sunny and hot at about 24 degrees!! We excitedly unpacked, got our shorts on and went touring,on foot, for a few hours, stumbling onto a street market that was just finishing up as we arrived (but...we were on time to buy some home made pastries!!) We stopped for supper and enjoyed a curried, east Indian, vegetarian meal, which was soooooo tasty and cheap!!! We walked well into the night on such beautiful streets, the river path, up and down the tiered, cobblestone streets and we only came back in, because we thought we should settle in to blog/read & reflect on our amazing day!

I really don't mean to rant but.....this is TRULY one of the most beautiful, relaxed, quaint, charming, friendly, amazing places either of us have ever been to! Tomorrow we are going to a morning market to buy some fresh fish, vegetables and fruit, then we are going to check out bike/scooter rentals and continue our walking tour to savour this place, we now, too, are calling "paradise"!!!

As I am finishing this blog, it is 11:45 PM and Lawrence is sawing logs! :). I will wake him so we can end our amazing day with a game of crib and the shared sense of how blessed we are to be experiencing this!!!

Goodnight Everyone! Tomorrow I will post more pictures of our neighbourhood!! And....by the way....thanks soooo much for your comments and emails that let us know you are enjoying the blog!! Chow!! :)

 

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