Today, unbeknownst to me, was Mother's Day in Portugal. It was not as widely advertised as it is in North America, so it really was not anywhere on my radar! Lawrence totally surprised me with a Mother's Day gift and I was so blown away by this surprise and his thoughtfulness, that I started to cry!! The gift......a beautiful pair of earrings that are designed with the Portuguese filigree....to represent how much my heart has been stolen by Portugal and especially, our beautiful Tavira!
We met our Scottish-Portugal-resident friends, Kenny and Christine, at our designated meeting spot and walked 2 km. to Santa Luzia to have lunch at one of their favourite restaurants. The reason they love it is because it is NOT fancy or touristy.....it is down home, Portugal cooking, no frills, bells or whistles and it is cheap! There is no menu.....when you come, you get told what choices you have and then that is what you get.....and lots of it! I ordered the home style, traditional beans with pork....Lawrence ordered grilled pork.....Christine had grilled chicken and Kenny ordered eggs and homemade fries. Our restaurant owner brought us the usual olive/bread tapas and then surprised us with a plate of polvos (octopus) and a dish of seasoned broad beans for extra tapas! Well!!!.....None of us were keen on the octopus.....people here LOVE it but, it grosses L & I out big time......Our friends don't love it either, but, we Felt it would be offensive to the host so we all ate some of it!!! :) :( It actually tasted alright but it looks disgusting and it seriously grosses us out! I had only one piece....Lawrence was VERY good and had about 4 pieces!! He is SUCH a good man!!!
The octopus, a tomatoe/cucumber salad, the broad beans.....we had already eaten a lot of these tapas before I remembered to take the picture!
Lawrence taking his first bite of Polvos!
(Dessert=Chocolate mouse-homemade....biscuit cake and a fruit salad)
It was a very tasty meal and with 2 pitchers of wine, all of the appetizers mentioned, the main courses and 4 desserts, the bill came to 10 euros each!
From there we walked to Barril Beach via Santa Luzia. It is on the same sandy Ilha de Tavira (Tavira island beach) that we had been to, in our first week here. (We went by ferry from Tavira to the island. We were told it connected to Santa Luzia's Barril beach, and although we had walked and walked the beach that day, we did not come to it.) Today, we walked the 4 km. from the Santa Luzia point to the Tavira point and then took a water taxi back to Tavira. The day was beautiful....warm, sunny, a light breeze....and the water was warm and refreshing on our feet. Nude sunbathers are common....always an interesting piece of life on these European beaches!!! In total,today, we walked 7+ kilometres (4 of which were on the beach)!
You can walk across a bridge-like thing to get across to the island vs. having to take the ferry from Tavira.
To the left, in this picture, are hundreds of rusty, old anchors in a big field. It is called ' The Anchor Graveyard'.
Once again......a beautiful beach! What a great way to spend Portuguese Mother's Day!
This evening, we have done laundry, enjoyed ice cream in the park, read our books and just relaxed! It has been a great day!
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Your earings are beautiful . .. so delicate . . . what wonderful memories you will have every time you wear them. The beaches look amazing . .. and the walking bridge looks really neat. The desserts, especially the biscuit cake, look mouth watering good. Kinda with you on the octupus . .. they gross me out looking at them, let alone eating them!!!
ReplyDeleteOh those wonderful days, the sun and beach and relaxation! And the walking!
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