The Rain in Portugal Falls Mainly on the Vineyard

Shoutout to my travel pal for the post title-hi Aud! Day 3 of our little getaway rolled in with the rain. All day rain, but fortunately we had mostly indoor activities planned. Not completely of course so by day's end we were all soaked and chilly, but it was still a really interesting and enjoyable day. Also this post is heavy on the words and pictures, but we squeezed a lot into a single day. 

A few in our group really know their wines. I am not one of them, and go along mostly for the history, the people, the peek into another culture, the food, and all the sites along the way. I enjoy learning new things and wine plays a huge role in the Portuguese economy. 

Since there were fourteen in our group, we'd booked a small bus for the day and ventured out into the countryside to visit three different wineries. Our first stop was my favorite-Quinta Do Sanguinhal.  What a beautiful spot! We were greeted by Ana, who is the owner's niece.  

The first thing you noticed was the soft beauty of the buildings and the enormous hydrangeas and geraniums all around. We had planned a tour of the gardens and vineyard here, but it was raining buckets so we opted to head inside instead. Judging from the flowers and plants we could see I imagine the gardens here are beautiful. 

Before we went inside Ana had us stand beneath one of their big cork trees, and she explained a bit about them. I didn't even know cork was a tree, but I guess I never really thought about it before.  There are cork forests all over this part of Portugal and we were fascinated by the trees themselves.  They make everything under the sun out of cork including purses, wallets, shoes, and corks. Obviously. 

This tree was on another property we visited, but it shows how the cork is harvested. The trees can live to be about 200 years old, and once they get to be about 25 years old the cork is stripped every nine years. No I don't remember Ana saying all that, but isn't that why we have the Internet? She told us a lot of information in our visit, and her knowledge was impressive. I was distracted by the sheer beauty and age of the place upon which we were standing.  

Our first stop was the barrel room. That may not be it's official name, but that's what I'm calling it here. We moved on to the distillery housed in a separate building...

...and then the best part-lunch. Not just any lunch either, but lunch eaten in this amazing space sitting beneath the old wine presses. 

When you sit in this space you think, hmmm...maybe I'd like to own a vineyard? 

Lunch was prepared for us by Ana's mother and it was positively amazing. There was a wonderful homemade creamy vegetable soup to begin, just right for a cool rainy Portuguese afternoon. This was followed by an enormous assortment of dishes including marinated pork, tomato salad, scrambled egg, fabulous breads and cheeses, and a flourless chocolate cake for dessert. We also tasted some of the wines made here and I think everyone would have been quite happy to stay put for the rest of the day.  

We reluctantly bid Ana farewell and braved the raindrops to get back on the bus and head to stop #2. This particular place is known for something called The Buddha Eden Garden.  

Really there are no words to adequately describe what greets you as you step outside into this expanse of Portuguese countryside on the Quinta dos Loridos estate. It was practically a monsoon the day we were there, but we didn't want to miss it, so opted to ride around the grounds via their tram. The driver sped over hill and dale, hitting the squeaky brakes on three different stops so we could hop out and take a few photos.  

Most of ours were taken from inside the tram, with water streaming down the camera lens, but still I think you get an idea of what's here. It's the kind of place you need to see to believe.  

The garden was created as a result of the destruction of the Buddhas of Banyan in Afghanistan, which you can read about here. There is a long and complicated history associated with these, but suffice it to say, the owner of this winery in Portugal wanted to create a garden of peace in response, and thus The Buddha Garden was born. It's still a work in progress, so he's not through yet. It feels completely touristy and more than a little amusement park-like, but you can't look away. It's fascinating.  

We were now thoroughly drenched, considered briefly skipping the final stop of the day, but figured we're already dripping, might as well trudge on. And we were rewarded for our efforts by the most charming young Portuguese wine maker who was the most gracious of hosts. The bus had to park at the top of the property and we all had to make our way down this little dirt road.

Totally worth it. 

Wine has been made on this property for over 500 years.  

Not by Rodrigo's family, but by someone.

He greeted us with a big smile, I'm sure he figured we'd bail, and then escorted us into a tasting room. He promptly cut up a ridiculous amount of bread and produced a fabulous cheese, and we talked and laughed with him for far longer than we intended staying. 

His vineyard is completely organic which was interesting to hear about, and also something a little different.

Before we left we took a picture. Honestly, hubs and I stood admiring the view from his patio and we  were both thinking, what an interesting, totally different kind of life this would be.

To wake up every day and check on your grapevines. To slow down while nature sings a lullaby. It's my favorite part of travel, this glimpse into all the many ways the world lives.

There's more because of course there is.
Tomorrow the sun shines and we talk medieval ramparts and the sea.

Portugal Day Dois

So once upon a time we lived in England. And we made a few friends, and these friends are now quite literally scattered to all corners of the globe, which means getting together requires a bit of planning. It was decided last year, that this year we'd all meet up in or near the medieval town of Obidos Portugal. Let the flight booking and continent hopping begin!

There were seven couples in total-one came from China, one from France, one from the UK, one from Chicago, one from D.C., and of course hubs and I, representing the delightful Garden State. The seventh couple also arrived from D.C., but returned to the UK since they keep a foot in both places. Actually three places, but whatever. Like I said-not simple.  

Everyone made their way over in whatever time frame suited their schedules, but we all agreed to be in the hotel for a Thursday evening dinner. Which was fabulous, but I'll get back to that in a minute because first we had some time to kill.

Four couples headed to the nearby village of Caldas da Rainha on Thursday morning. We chose this town because one couple in our group lived in this area several years ago, and the Mrs. half of that couple happens to speak my love language-ceramica. She knew Portuguese pottery was for sale in the town of Caldas so we had a plan. As you might imagine the guys were not quite as thrilled, but they knew of a go-kart track in this same town, and concocted a plan of their own. 

All's fair in love and pottery.

Be still my heart. I could just walk around this little shop all day long. I saw a pitcher and a great big bowl I really wanted...they looked like a cantaloupe.  I knew we'd see more pottery later so I waited, and ended up buying just the bowl in Obidos. By then we'd made a couple of other purchases and hubs was getting twitchy about how we were carting all this fragile stuff home.

Simple. We buy another carry on bag. He may be a seasoned traveler, but he's an amateur when it comes to matching wits with a team of women determined to get their pottery across an ocean. One friend purchased some inflatable water wings in the US and brought them with her. Just inflate and wrap around wine bottles or fragile souvenirs, and voila! No broken glass. Obviously a bowl this size wouldn't fit into a pair of water wings, but know that shopkeepers the world over are always at the ready with a hefty bit of bubblewrap too.

One of my favorite things about meandering around these little towns is connecting with people who live there. Stumbling across a fabulous place to eat while doing so is a bonus.

We rounded a corner and found just such a place. Our lunch was made better by our delightfully spunky server. She had a great sense of humor, and I think she enjoyed our little visit as much as we did.

Essentially we sat at a table in the middle of a 'street', ate local dishes, and laughed a lot.

That evening the whole big group enjoyed an elegant Vintner Dinner served in a special dining room in the hotel. I don't think anyone was expecting such a lovely event. Everything was absolutely wonderful, beginning with the way the hotel staff made this large dining room feel intimate.

The Vintner was a charming and knowledgeable Englishman who's been living in Portugal for a number of years, with his wife and their seven children. Later we found out the children are all boys, so bless her heart. Anyway James chose the wine, and shared stories of his life as an expat, the Portuguese wine industry, and his own vineyard. The food was not like any hotel food we'd ever sampled, and the cheese course at the end of the meal was just right.

Well the cheese and the macaroons.

In other news I returned to boot camp today. This feels like the right time to insert that piece of information, and wrap up a day of eating and walking and then more eating. In Day 3 we get wet, contemplate buying a vineyard, and try to work out why a replica of the Terracotta Army sits in a Portuguese field. Stay tuned!

Greetings from Portugal

Well actually New Jersey, but I've just returned from Portugal, so greetings! What a fun-filled few days shared with friends from around the globe, and jam-packed with ancient sites, stunning views, cork forests, lush vineyards, narrow roads, the roaring sea, and the scent of eucalyptus. Fantastico! 

We took an overnight flight last Tuesday, and arrived in sunny Lisbon Wednesday morning. We were meeting six couple friends we've known since our days in the UK, about an hour outside the city, but not until dinnertime, so hubs and I spent the day playing tourist. 

We'd rented a car with a GPS which was only slightly confused by the small slip roads of Lisbon and the surrounding countryside, and headed over to Belem Tower. The Tower is situated on the banks of the Tagus River, and was built as a fortress back in the early 1500's. This was the starting point for the navigators who made Portugal famous.

It's been a while since hubs and I climbed too narrow circular stone steps that go up and up without a railing, but turns out it's like riding a bicycle. We meandered to the top and soaked up splendid sunshine and beautiful sea and city views.

Hubs was a little antsy which I chalked up to Portuguese espresso (the absolute best by the way!!), but turns out it was something else entirely. As I perched on this ancient stone balcony he pulled a tiny gold box out of his pocket and produced a most extravagant early anniversary gift. The sunny skies made it all the more sparkly, and I was completely overwhelmed. Obrigada hubs! Eu te amo!

Once I'd sufficiently recovered to re-navigate the steps going down, we walked over to another landmark, the Monument to the Discoveries. This was built in 1960, so you take an elevator to the top.  The monument was built to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator and is in the shape of a caravel, which is a small Portuguese sailing ship.

Jacaranda trees were in full bloom all over Lisbon, and the streets lined with these trees are amazing. We saw these from the top of the Monument.

You could also look back and see Belem Tower, which may not look like much of a walk, but coming off a 7-hour flight and six hour time difference, kind of felt like one.

There is an enormous mariner's compass in the pavement outside the monument. This was a gift from South Africa and shows the routes of the discoveries made back in the 15th and 16th centuries. The dates we encountered on this trip were mind-boggling.

One thing on our must-do list while in this part of Lisbon was to try the famous Belem pastry.  The crust is delicately layered around the most deliciously creamy custard-like filling you've ever had the pleasure of tasting.  We tried them in other towns throughout the week, and while they were all wonderful, these were definitely the best.

The shop sits beside The Mosteiro dos Jeronimos which dates back to the early 1500's. The monastery  was commissioned after de Gama returned from his first voyage, and was financed mainly through a tax on spices and gold. It was cared for by the Order of St. Jerome until the early/mid-1800's.

Hubs has always been interested in the story of Vasco da Gama, and his tomb is in St. Jeronimos. The bravery of these early Portuguese explorers is staggering when you really stop and think about it.

We knew we'd need a nap if we wanted to stay awake for dinner, so we made our way back to the car, and out into the Portuguese countryside. Normally with this particular group of friends we stay in local boutique hotels, but this time we opted for a Marriott right on the Atlantic. There were fourteen of us all together, and we knew we'd need space and a relatively central location for some of the side trips we'd planned.  

The view from our balcony was not too bad, and honestly I could have enjoyed a few days plopped right here with a good book. But there were places to go, and people to see...yes, there were people. It's only Day 1 here, and I haven't even gotten to the people part yet. Or the walk around the scary ramparts with no railing, fifty feet above the medieval town of Obidos. Or the lovely Portuguese wine maker whose mama made us lunch. Or the oddly out of place re-creation of the Terracotta Army plunked down in the middle of nowhere. Or the fascinating cork trees.  Or...or...or...

I'm going to spend a few days recapping our trip, because I snapped some 500 photos, and it's my blog so that's allowed. How about we wrap this up with a sunset on the sea? Come back tomorrow for Day 2 where I'll talk pessoas, ceramica, and vinho. In English though, because Portuguese is really hard. 

Coming Up Roses in the Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge! I'm glad you joined the fun today, and be sure to add your link at the end of my post.  I  say this a lot lately, but please-only link here if you've answered the questions. Thanks!

Also, a reminder the Hodgepodge is on summer holiday next week (June 11th), so no link party. Look for its return the following week-June 18th.

Here we go-

1. I've read several posts and status updates recently describing end of year school field trips. Do you remember taking school field trips as a kid? Where did you go and do you recall a favorite? For any parents responding today, have you ever chaperoned a school field trip, and if so where?

I definitely remember field trips from my childhood, but those memories are a little fuzzy. Two that came to mind were a trip to the Campbells Soup Plant (I can still see those enormous vats of tomato soup), and a trip to a facility where bread was baked and packaged. It was more of a plant, than a bakery. I remember the smell of yeast and that we each got to take home a loaf of white bread, the soft squishy kind that makes me gag now. I guess I liked that when I was six.  Not even going to mention both of these field trips were food related-ha!

Have I chaperoned a school field trip? Yes, too many to list, and most were enjoyable. The one that stands out in my memory is a middle school show choir trip to Disney. Let's just say that was thirteen years ago, and I think I'm almost over it. I might turn this question into its own post one of these days.

2. What's something you're tired of seeing online?

I'm weary of status updates trying to convince me of the evils of fracking/corporate America/the oil industry/guns/George Bush/blah blah blah, and implying I'm an idiot if I don't agree with whatever opinions are posted. Not saying there's nothing to debate there, but for every 'news' story posted on a social media site, an alternate example could also be posted. Most of the time those pieces only tell a part of story, and the information is often interpreted in a way that's questionable. It's just not what I personally want to see in the social arena, and by that I mean Facebook. I don't mind the occasional blurb now and then, but mix it up people. Don't turn your Facebook feed into a giant rant about all that is wrong with the world. 

3. June is the month for roses. Which of the following expressions would you say could most recently be applied to your life-'everything's coming up roses' 'there's no rose without a thorn' came out smelling like a rose' or 'wearing rose-colored glasses'? 

Well, this past weekend it certainly felt like 'everything was coming up roses'. And I pretty much walk through life wearing rose-colored glasses, although they've been smudged a little by some things here recently-non family related. (I'm gonna leave it at that). Still they are mostly intact, so either of those two would apply. 

4. When grilling outdoors do you prefer gas or charcoal? Who does the grilling at your house? What's the last thing you ate that was cooked on a grill?

I love a charcoal grill, but at the moment we don't own one. We use a gas grill and that's good too.  Hubs is the grill master, and most recently grilled salmon which is always delish.

5. Are you afraid of the dark?

Depends. The dark of a quiet summer night spent stargazing on my patio? No. The dark of an unfinished basement anytime? A little. 

6. Share a favorite song with a number in its title.

10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman. One of my favorite songs, number or no number. 

7. "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding about ourselves."(C.G. Jung) Do you agree? Why or why not?

This was interesting to consider. I'm not sure it's true in every instance, but it's certainly true some of the time.  For instance, if someone is completely self-centered I find that irritating. So what does that say about me? Maybe nothing precisely, but it does make me want to be more other-focused, and that's a good thing. Chronic negativity gets under my skin too, and when I'm forced to spend a lot of time with negative people I feel grateful for my sense of optimism. Negative people in their own way, make me look for the bright side, they inspire me to hunt for the silver lining in any given situation.  

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

After we made our dress purchase on Saturday, my girls and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in a comfy space situated in the center of a condo-retail-restaurant park in the middle of a city. Sounds odd, doesn't it? 

It was really lovely, and I think I've mentioned how truly fabulous the weather was that day.  We'd gotten some coffee, and intended to sit while we drank that, but it was too nice to leave so three hours later there we were. Still sittin', still talkin', still lovin' life.

I need more days like this one with my girls.

Days where we're face to face and we talk about everything and nothing. 

Say Yes To The Dress for Reals

If you're here looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions, you'll find them here.

And now for the rest of the story. Weekend. Wedding dress tale. If you missed the part where I almost told the story but then left  you hanging, you can read that here.

So, the dress. I mean The Dress.
A wedding dress should have capital letters don't you think?

A lot of expectation goes into a planned day of wedding dress shopping. To be honest I was prepared for a little bit of anxiety/tears/snippy snip snips because a. I'd been up traversing the nether regions of D.C. until 1:30 in the morning, and b. girls and their clothes.

My daughters are sweet as pie by the way, but girls and shopping and mothers and opinions...well, sometimes those things collide in cataclysmic ways.

And sometimes they roll into each other with such perfection that you have to think hard to remember a day that was better than Saturday. Right now I honestly can't.

In spite of the ridiculous amount of sleep we didn't get, we all woke up feeling cheerful. We had a 10 am appointment at a bridal salon so off we went, no coffee and a bag of pretzels in hand, which I have to say made for a less than stellar beginning, but still...it's DRESS DAY!

The sun was shining, and a gentle breeze was blowing, and it was like God smiled on us all the day long. Daughter1's roommate is getting married this summer, and she bought her dress in this particular shop, so we were hoping for the same consultant. Daughter1 thought she was so sweet and liked her manner.

Sure enough, she was ours, and she was a gem. She spoke directly to the bride first, but also asked what I had in mind. Mostly I explained that Daughter1 always cares a lot about my happiness, and today I would like her to get the dress she wants. Barring something scandalous in design or price, I wanted to hear Daughter1's opinion before I weighed in with my own.

Shopping this particular weekend was a bit of a last minute plan decided upon after looking at my too-full June calendar. Flying Daughter2 in was definitely last minute, and worth every single solitary cent it cost. My girlies have dreamed about this since forever, and it was important to have her there to share in the looking and deciding, the reassuring and all the oohing and ahhing. Plus I needed someone sitting close beside me as I braced for what was coming, and she's used to me.

I guess nothing completely prepares you for the sight of your daughter in a wedding dress, but there she is. It's the first dress that does you in, at least for me it was. That's not even the dress we bought, but it doesn't matter. In that moment you accept the reality of the little girl in your head standing on a dais before a three way mirror. She's smiling at herself in a wedding gown like a full grown woman, and your heart beats a little too fast or maybe not fast enough. You take a picture in your head because you know you'll want to return to it again and again and again.

When Daughter1 waltzed out in dress number four, I knew.

I knew because in that dress I recognized her, my girl.  The bride. The daughter I birthed who loves music and art and words and Jesus, not in that order. The girl who can make me smile when I want to cry and cry because she makes me smile.

She spins and turns and smiles and steps up and down and back up again. She dances and laughs at her own happiness. What do we think? Do we love it? Is this the one? We say we're going to have some lunch and a think and we step outside into the glorious sunshine and she says, 'I think I want to go back in and buy that dress.'

We go to lunch anyway, and we talk and everyone exhales, and we know. We cancel our later appointment in the city and we go back in and buy that dress.

The consultant didn't try to press us, but one thing she said stuck with me.  She said in her experience, when a bride doesn't want to take off a dress, then that's usually her dress. And she was right.

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 177

Hi Hodgepodgers! And everybody! You'll find this week's questions below, but one quick item of business before we proceed-I'm super busy, coming and going upside down and sideways too, these next couple of weeks. I'm declaring next week summer vacation because I need a breather, and this feels like a good space to take one.

Let's review (because I like to)-answer this week's questions on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow, and add your link to the party. There will not be a Hodgepodge link up next week (Wednesday, June 11th), but we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming the following week (Wednesday, June 18th).  Thanks for understanding!

Also, I set this to post last night, and realized this morning there was no #5. Oops! I've edited to include one now, but as you read answers tomorrow you may notice some bloggers don't include that one.

Here are this week's questions...all of them! See you tomorrow-

1. I've read several posts and status updates recently describing end of year school field trips. Do you remember taking school field trips as a kid? Where did you go and do you recall a favorite? For any parents responding today, have you ever chaperoned a school field trip, and if so where?

2. What's something you're tired of seeing online?

3. June is the month for roses. Which of the following expressions would you say has most recently applied to your life-'everything's coming up roses', 'there's no rose without a thorn', 'came out smelling like a rose', or 'wearing rose-colored glasses'? 

4. When grilling outdoors do you prefer gas or charcoal? Who does the grilling at your house? What's the last thing you ate that was cooked on a grill?

5. Are you afraid of the dark?

6. Share a favorite song with a number in it's title.

7. "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."(C.G. Jung). Do you agree? Why or why not?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Say Yes To The Dress

Guess what we did this weekend? Ha! And what a fun weekend it was! Can I put exclamation points at the end of every sentence in this post?! 

We may still not have that wedding date officially written in pen, but we do have a bride-to-be with a dress. A beautiful dress. A be-still-my-heart dress. The dress. In the words of a long ago or was it just yesterday, fair-haired toddler princess, we have 'a spinning dress'. And for the moment, that's enough.  

When Daughter1 was a little girl her criteria for judging whether or not a dress was merely good or better than great was found in the answer to one question-'Does it spin?'

She has a great dress. 

I'm not going to post any pictures or give details, because despite living in the age of online everything, a bride-to-be's dress needs to be set apart, the image of her on her father's arm at the back of a church only imagined until the day she and her groom say I do.  

The middle of this post is a good time to start from the beginning so let's back up. Friday I drove down to D.C. with a pit stop at my mama's house for lunch. Such a treat! I parked at the Metro near Daughter 1's apartment and then trained it into downtown D.C., arriving just as she was leaving work. The weather was glorious, and we decided to hop back on the metro and walk around Old Town Alexandria before having dinner.  

If you've never been to Old Town, it's charming. The city feels a little southern which is probably why we love it, and yes I know it's technically Virginia, but it's Northern Virginia, and most of Northern Virginia doesn't feel quite so southern. No offense Virigina. 

We dined on the narrowest balcony ever, perched atop the second floor of The Fish Market, a great spot for people watching.  Funny story-as we were standing outside the restaurant trying to decide if we wanted to go in, Daughter1 saw a girl and said, 'I think she's a blogger I follow.' So we awkwardly asked her if she was indeed a blogger, and she was, and they read each other's blogs, so that was some random fun. Christa blogs at Forever Young, so everyone go say hi to Christa. You can tell her the blogger's mom she met at The Fish Market sent you. 

  

After dinner we walked around the waterfront...

...past the old Torpedo factory which now houses something like 82 artist studios...

then stopped for a bit to listen to this talented gentleman play the water glasses. Raise your hand if you're thinking Miss Congeniality right about now?

He didn't leap on the audience, in fact he was actually a bit of a theologian and told the story of Moses.  It was unexpected and sweet.   

We headed back to the Metro to collect Daughter2 from Reagan International. She was delayed (shocking I know!), so didn't arrive until about 10 PM. We then had to train it back to downtown D.C., change lines, and travel another 25 minutes or so on that line to Daughter1's apartment. 

Somehow we got to talking and realized two stops in, that we'd gotten on a train going the wrong way. No biggie (or so we thought)...we hopped off and waited on the correct track heading the right way. 

And we waited. 

And then waited some more. The train finally came, but once on board we sat for what felt like forever due to single tracking, and long story long-arrived back to Daughter1's apartment about 1:30 AM. Ugh! I am not at my best at 1:30 in the morning, in case anyone was wondering.  

We got back to Daughter1's apartment and collapsed. How much sleep does one need for a day filled with wedding dress shopping?! As it turns out, not a lot.  

And here we are many words later, and we haven't put so much as our perfectly polished toes through the door of that dress shop. I could wrap it up right now and say we bought a dress, but that's no fun, and I think you know that's not me. Why use one sentence when I can use twelve?!

Stay tuned for Part 2 Tuesday. The post where we actually say yes to the dress!