Treats - Saturday May 4

This weekend is the end of a school holiday, the end of the Queen’s celebration and a long weekend for Brits, so the place is super busy.  Lines to get on the shuttle, lines to get on the tour bus (mass confusion), lines at all the museums, lines at the markets-- all made for a tiring day in which we did not get done all we wanted.

The city bus tour went into some of the districts that we had not yet walked or boated: to the diamond processing house; beside the Anne Frank house which neither of us have any desire to visit; into the southern part of the city where there were actually single family homes; a brief jaunt into the countryside where we drove on the dike between the Amstel River and the polder 4 meters lower; and by the central Bank where the gold reserves are underground in vaults that flood if anyone tries to help themselves.  There was a short stop by the Rembrandt windmill in the middle of some farming land just by the outskirts of the city.

Well, I led Joan through the red light district with the ladies of the afternoon displaying their charms in the windows.  I suspect at night time it might be perceived as sexy, but on a sunny warm afternoon, it was fairly ridiculous.

The lines at the museums were more than an hour and we decided that we might have better luck on Monday or Tuesday, so we wandered off to the 2 km outdoor market where you could buy everything from cashews to shirts, fish to bicycles, ice cream to tablecloths and anything else you could imagine between.  Having poked through another market yesterday, this wasn’t such a novelty and I even resisted the garlic chopping gadget, and the french fries with mayo -- a Dutch treat!

It is going to be a quiet night in for us as tomorrow will be a long tour day.  Lots to see and only a short time.

Today’s picture is a typical lunch spot with savoury and sweet pastries.

Boats, Bikes and Beer

Air Transat didn’t have the latest information, so when we arrived the prescribed 15 min. early for our Amsterdam tour, the departure point had been changed and we couldn’t make it there on time.  So, the nice lady at the desk traded our Saturday tour for Friday and we go on the bus tomorrow.

So instead, we had a day of hop-on-hop-off on a canal boat.  There was a bit of information given in three languages, but for the most part, it was just look.  We travelled to the old harbour, saw a few of the 2,400 registered houseboats, saw locks and bridges and museums and of course, the full variety of houses along the canals.

There is an unusual flee market close to city hall and the opera house which yielded some nice items.  A tapas bagel lunch was a nice (and reproducable) experience.  The weather was even nicer today than yesterday, so the windproof layer was not necessary.

The other part of our canal boat day was a Heineken experience -- tour, information, “being brewed”, tasting.  An excellent marketing scheme and a tasty gentle beer -- even Joan said so.

Yesterday I mentioned that bicycles rule here.  Well, I have started a collection of bicycle pictures.  What would be really eye-opening would be pictures of the people who ride bicycles (green velvet shorts and jacket with 6 inch platform spiked green boots), but I can’t really do that, so let your imagination run wild -- it still will pale to some of the riders we have seen.

And, pancakes for supper-- not the fluffy ones we have for breakfast, or even the french crepes, but a heartier crispy flat one with savoury or sweet filling. Yum.

Orientation -- May 2

After a good flight and arrival, we navigated the bus system and, with the help of other riders, we got off at the correct stop and checked into the hotel by 10 am.  NH Amsterdam Centre is an classic building on the outside, but very modern inside.  We grabbed a bit of breakfast and then headed out for orientation -- that necessary walk with map to get an idea of the area.  We are just outside the inner set of canals, but though the wind was substantial, we were well attired and comfortable strolling along some of the streets along with crowds of people.  

In Dam square, the workers were dismantalling scaffolding and crowd control barriers after the coronation of the new king 2 days ago.  The New Church was open, but the line-up was snaked about a kilometer around the square, and we were not in a mood to wait.  And so we settled for walking through the flower market, a long block along one of the canals which sells seasonal plants.  Currently everyone had tulip bulbs of all description and some exotic bulbs we had never seen.  Cannabis seeds anyone?

There was a little shop dedicated to Delft pottery.  A tulip vase (the seven tiered one) sold for 24K euros -- yes, that is 24 thousand euros.  We chose not to take it as a souvenier.  

Many of the stores we have seen in other capital or major cities are, of course, to be found in Amsterdam also.  But the bicycles -- more than anywhere else I have been, -- parked, zooming through traffic both human and mechanical -- were very impressive.  A coffee on the bank of a canal was a wonderful way to watch the boats, admire the architecture and enjoy the sunshine.

I found out where the tours leave and a grocery store.  I think that’s a good start to finding my way around the city.

Taste of Portugal

Well, the cycling tour is over and after breakfast it was first goodbye to the early group who were heading out to catch a flight back to Canada and then the 'later' group made the 1.5 hour trip back to Lisbon through intermittent rain.  But once dropped off in the old center by my hotel, the rain stopped and though I had my umbrella with me the rest of the day, it was not needed.

I secured a ticket to "A night with Amalia", a musical play featuring many of the songs of Fado singer Amalia Rodriguez.  The play is set in the mid 1960s and is an evening at Amalia's house with poets and other musicians.  There are political discussions which were only hinted at in the English subtitles.  The play was a very interesting look into Portuguese culture, not only from the actions and music from the stage, but the behaviour of the audience -- from the pushing to get into the theatre, the people who sat in seats other than their own and gave the ushers a very hard time when they needed to move, the talking throughout the performance, the cheering of some audience member who also signed autographs during intermission, etc.  Quite strange for a Canadian to see.

And, of course, the theatric taste of the culture was not the only one.  Today's picture is of me enjoying a shot of a type of cherry brandy that is sold in tiny little holes for 1.25 euro.

And the other foods that have been tasty experiences this last week:
-the custard tarts (national dessert I think)
-different cookies, many of them made with almonds and almond paste
-spaghetti squash -- candied and in tarts (strange)
-chocolate salami
-almond tarts
-sweets made with almonds and eggs
-roca pears -- fantastic
-portuguese buns and chewy bread
-cod with spinach
-cod with carrots
- migas --side dish of bread and asparagus
-quail eggs
-black eyed peas salad with tuna
-sheep cheeses
-black pork fed on acorns
-cured ham
-olives and olive oil
-vintage port
-roasted chestnuts with wild deer
-muscatel wine
-different olive oils

I'm sure that I have forgotten some, but they will come back to me sometime. And certainly some of them I will try and duplicate and put into my cooking repertoire.

My taste of Portuguese culture, countryside, foods, drink, hospitality, history, plants, etc, etc,  certainly has me hoping for more.

High Fives!

Yes, there were congratulations and high fives all around as we pulled into the Timeless Charm Hotel in Evora.  Aside from the driveway at the convent (I walked up the same part that I had not dared to ride down yesterday afternoon), it was quite an easy ride today and short -- only 24 km.  The countryside is predominantly in farms, the most unusual feature being the huge rock piles around the base of the olive trees.  I guess centuries of clearing the fields have resulted in these unique farms.  The serious ploughing was being done with a tracked bulldozer!

Evora has been declared a Unesco World Heritage centre.  There are many churches, a serious aqueduct, a medieval wall all around, narrow cobble streets, and lots of little souvenir shops focused on cork products.  The main design motif for Portugal is the rooster.  There is a legend about a pilgrim wrongly accused of a crime and about to be killed.  He declares that if he is innocent, then the chicken dinner of the judge should stand up and crow and of course, it does.

We had one local activity before our final dinner together -- it was a wine tour and tasting at a local vineyard owned and run by a foundation whose mission is to promote sustainability and interest in Evora.  May of the things I have seen before -- French Oak barrels, videos of production etc., but never before have I done aroma analysis.  There were liquids to simulate five different grapes, you stuck a little strip of paper in each and then smelled it.  Quite remarkable differences and preferences.  Afterwards, we tried some of their wines and olive oils --also a unique experience.  And by the time we had finished there, it started to rain.

It rained all evening and is scheduled to rain all day tomorrow.  We have been incredibly lucky with the weather and I am very glad that I will not be trying to navigate a narrow road tire on wet cobbles tomorrow morning. Some of our group fly out tomorrow and have an early date for the airport.  I have one more evening in Lisbon and so do not need to be in the first transport.

Art asked me what I found most surprising and I had to admit that it was my ability to climb.  I don't like it any more than before this trip, but I can do it and it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the ride!

For all the Saints

There is a song for every situation, and, today being All Saint's Day, the song of the above title has come to mind several times.  That could also be that my mind needed something to concentrate on other than the climbing.  There was 'only' 900 m today, but I guess the cumulative effect is having its toll on my legs.  However, the only point where I have walked, was last thing this afternoon on the way DOWN into the converted convent where we are staying this evening.  The steepest hill and cobbles were too much for me and I did walk about half way down that driveway.

And today is the birthday for my sister Elisabeth, my son-in-law Sham and for Roseanne, one of the ladies here on our cycling tour.!!  Happy Birthday all and I wish you "good luck and blessings on the next year of your life", (my Mom's wish to the birthday people, translated from the German).  And so, of course, the passage of time and friends and family has been on my mind from that point of view also.  I sat in the chapel of the convent here, still a 'working' church, and thought of the nuns who inhabited this place -- their joy and work in the gardens, walking the cloisters, and working on the tapestries.  This particular area is renowned for its handmade tapestries and there are old and new examples of the work around the hotel.  The one thing about a convent like this is that all sounds echo, so maybe that's why the vow of silence.  Just had to think of that as the waiter dropped a glass and it resounded everywhere.  Today's photo is the chapel of our convent hotel.  (the chapel is the old wonder, but my bathroom done in black and white marble is the modern wonder).

The Portuguese have much more of a sense of history than Canada -- comes with a much older country.  I don't know if looking up at medieval walls helps them put things in perspective, but it sure makes me think in a longer time frame.

Mishaps, marble, mountains

Technical problems to start the day.  The guy on the ebike was having some difficulty as the battery was not charging, so in the end, the leader took the problem bike, and Paul rode Jose's bike.  Now Paul had not been planning to ride seriously, but he did a great job and only opted out at the very last climb.  Way to go Paul!

Well, we certainly warmed up quite quickly with some climbing (a total of 1020m) today.  The countryside has become much more green and there are pastures everywhere with mainly cows now, attesting to the improved fertility of the soil.  The fences are actually wire and the farms are a lovely white dotting the green hillsides.  Trees of cork, are roadside and in the field, with their numbers to show the year of the last cutting.  There are lots of olive orchards too, and many vineyards.  It seems a very productive area.

Lunch was in Vila Viscoa followed by a nice warm cappucino while we were waiting for the marble museum to open.  Some incredible sculptures and samples of the marble from the hills of this area were on display along with old and current machinery used to cut the blocks.  But not even the video showing the extraction process could prepare me for the mindboggling experience of looking into one of the working open pit mines with huge excavators down about 30 stories, Art figured.  It's the only video I have taken so far because otherwise I just couldn't get the scope of the blocks being cut.  Picture today will tempt you!

Up another mountain and then into a pottery studio to see forming and painting and then pick up a sample of the beautiful, handmade wares.

Last 10 km of today's 62, finished with 2 km up to our hotel, a former convent.  The place has over 54,000 blue and white tiles lining all the walls and depicting life here and in monastaries elsewhere.  There are oil lamps along the walls, and the cloisters have orange trees.  Sampled a tiny windfall -- tangy!

I have been quite delightfully surprised by my ability to get up the hills -- not fast or beautifully, but thanks, kids, for the spinning suggestion which I have passed on.  I made it!