Raiding Gardens - Portuguese Style!

We have thoroughly enjoyed another awesome day, spent entirely in Tavira and the country-side along the Rio de Gilao. Once again we had a bright blue sky and the temperature was in the high 20's. The 14 day forecast says this is the predicted weather for the next 2 weeks!!! Wow!! I feel kind of bad saying this when I know there is still lots of snow and - temperatures at home. Wish you all could be here, enjoying this with us!!

This morning we were drawn to our balcony by a tidal wave of sound that was created by an entire school of students ( looked like grades 1 - 12) heading down the street to the centre square, each carrying a reading book in their hands. We thought it might be 'literacy day' here and that they were,maybe, on their way to the square to spend the morning reading outdoors. Within about 10 minutes we heard music and then the sound of a band effectively priming their young crowd and getting rewarded with grand cheers!! We hurried out to the square to see a teenage rock band on an outdoor stage and many, many students in the audience....more than what had passed down our street. It was clear, they had come to the square from other directions as well!! What a great buzz of energy! We learned that it IS literacy Day here and the entertainment was all delivered by local school students. The teen band was clearly the most popular but there seemed to be some choral speaking by younger student groups as well. The rock band sang all their songs in English and the kids were crazy for it! ( They did a great job of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah') It was a fun and entertaining outdoor concert!

Yesterday's beach day brought us some fairly sizzled skin issues, so today, we decided we needed to give our skin a break from too much direct exposure. That means it was a shopping/ lunch out day!! Yippee! Didn't buy that much but we scouted out some good shops to return to and some we are clear we don't have to waste time going into again. These are good things to know!! :) We had the most fantastic lunch at this tiny street cafe called....

First they brought us this appetizer of bread, olives and sardine pate. (It tasted like the mashed sardine, onion and mayonaise sandwiches from my childhood!)......

Then came this AMAZING lunch.....fried Dorado fish ( not deep fried...it was lightly coated and crisply fried) with rice and a salad + a house salad that had hunks of beautiful, mild cheese, pineapple and other fresh vegetables.....

Then, for dessert we had this EXTREMELY tasty and interesting Portuguese cake, which ended up being meringue cake....yes!...a giant meringue cake that looked like angel food cake until you bit into it and found perfect melting meringue!! It was drizzled with a glaze made out of the yolks and brown sugar! It was soooooo good!! Here it is.....

 

This evening we had the MOST INCREDIBLE bike ride out into the country!! OMG.....it was sooooo beautiful biking along the river and out to the orange groves! It was an absloutely perfect summer evening here.....you know the kind......the perfect temperature....just warm enough but cool enough to be able to bike and not be sweating uncomfortably. Fish were jumping constantly in the river! The smell of orange blossoms was beautifully intoxicating ......there was very little road traffic......dogs would park protectively as we cycled by orange groves. They were likely there to protect the orchards. It was, honestly, a magical ride and one that we will do many more times, while we are here. It was like a dream come true to be cycling a European landscape surrounded by orchards bearing amazing fruit and the scent.....OMG....it was so very, very beautiful! Plus....NO MOSQUITOS!!! A perfect night!

 

We wished we could reach some of that orange gold but .....no go..... :)

So, we felt really excited when we saw a couple of spots that had fruit hanging over the fence......

And then, there was the 'drive by' picking spot!! ......

Such fun!! We got about 9 oranges from the literal millions,on the trees, we saw!! We think it is a lot like taking crab apples from the trees, at home, that hang over fences and onto streets.....at least that is how we rationalized our exciting expedition, tonight!

When we got back into town, we went for another walk because the evening air is soooo warm and inviting! We found an AMAZING bakery and made a new friend, who gave us a 'welcome to Tavira' gift. This interesting cornmeal bread, which she said was tasty with butter.....

She knew what she was taking about! We enjoyed it with the supper we made in our little suite. Here is a picture of the supper we totally enjoyed, which included 3 decadent pastries (a pastel de nata= custard tart, a coconut tart and a carab-orange roll) from this bakery! We will definitely be going back for more yummy treats!!

We are heading to sleep early tonight because tomorrow we are leaving early in the morning to bike to the tiny fishing village of Santa Luzia, which is the 'octopus capital' of Portugal. It is supposed to be a very pretty little town, with great beaches, shops and restaurants. Neither of us are keen on the octopus meals but it is definitely a favourite for many people, we hear ordering it in the restaurants we have been in. The Brits seem to really go for it. Anyway...we are looking forward to our biking adventure and a day of playing in a new place!!

 

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