portugal

In Portugal for two weeks and finding it hard to leave. We visited of the map places. Pinhal Novo is where my friend Alex lives with his wonderful Portugese wife, Vera, and gorgeous daugther Julia. I had not seen Alex since he was 18 years old! This is 18 years ago, so needless to say that it was hard to recognise each other! He is my mate from Costa Rica. A long time ago, 1991, I spend two weeks with his wonderful mother in Guanacasta, CR. Now Alex lives and works in Portugal. Pete and I visited Fatima, where the only thing worth mentioning is that in between all the religioso articles of very shitty, made in China, quality where the T shirts of Ronaldo!! Famous soccer player! Didn't get Holy though. I loved Sines, a small fishing village, where Vasco da Gama was born. The famous man who found the route to India. Columbus was looking for this route, but misplaced it, Vasco was on the ball and found it again. We are in Tavira today. Absolutely fabulous. tranquilla and pleasant with very cheap accomodation. A room without a view ,but quiet and cheap. We found one in Lagos too, but full of bedbugs, who only liked ME!! and I left my favorite pants in the "pica pica" room! Damn! I am sad to leave Portugal, but on Tuesday it is my birthday, and I want to eat Paella and drink Sangria in Sevilla! This is a place I would love to come back to. Highest praise from me. There aren't many places I would love to get back to at all. Portugal has been a pleasant and wonderful experience. Going out for grilled salmon tonight, with the local fabulous wine. Salmon here is cheaper than Nile perch. Figure that one out! I want to make a note that this will be without photos. I am having a hard time uploading photographs. Mainly because all the instructions are in Portugese. Could have something to do with the problem. See you in Spain.

ineke, peter, barcelona

Ah!Barcelona! What can I say? Wide streets, large walkways with big trees and lawns in the centre of the roads. Parking underneath very clever

planning. Often in the medium strip there are playgrounds for the children. Once we even saw a veggie garden!

Of course there is Gaudie! How quirky and weird he is. How exciting to see his work every where. We saw great exhibitions, mainly Picasso and Miro. Didn´t see any Dali, which I regret a bit now. (never been a great fan of Dali) Met up with my wonderful friend, Josep, and ended up staying at his place. Also met a wonderful new friend, Tineke, whom I chatted to at the airport in Eindhoven,and who ended up giving me a lift right to the frontdoor of my hotel! Isn´t life wonderful? The three of us shared a wonderful sunday in Barcelona