We spent the first few weeks of the month traveling in Italy, you can check out our trip here.
Returning home from our trip to Italy to more rain. Apparently while we were away there was quite a bit of rain in the Algarve. The rain continued off and on for the month offering a few days of sunshine between then starting up again late in the month. The rain is very welcome to alleviate the drought conditions and provide much needed resources to fill our very empty reservoirs.
Not much happening in the garden this time of year. Harvesting the last of the Pomegranates (Roma), grapes for the neighbors wine, and Cherimoya. On our side Marys Hatch Chili's are finishing up, while the Sage and Lavender continue to grow like weeds here.
It must be wine week! The week we returned from traveling we have three separate wine events on the Calendar!
A rainy wine tasting with Friends at Vinha da Falesia ("Vineyard of the Cliffs") on the cliffs above the Atlantic near Lagos. The view is still spectacular regardless of the rain looking over the vineyards and cliffs to the Atlantic Ocean. The winery is small and only produces 4 wines, Reserva Tinto, Infante da Falesia Branco, Infante da Falesia Tinto, Infante da Falesia Rose, and 1st XV Tinto 2021. Our favorite is always the Reserva Tinto, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Touriga Nacional.
One of the wine club/groups that we are members of held their monthly dinner at Mesón Veneza. This months guest was Oscar Quevedo of Quevedo Family Wines, with the focus of the evening on the tawny-style ports produced red reserva and a 1976 Colhetta Tawny Port! https://quevedo.pt/en
Last one for the week was by far our favorite. For this tasting a small group of 12 are invited to About Wine in Faro where proprietors LuÃs and Alessandra help us to continue learning about Portuguese wine varieties, regions, and small producers. This week was no exception as Luis took us on a journey exploring some fantastic wines at real Portuguese prices. To give you an idea what he presents to us, the Bical Riserva Spumante is a blanc de blanc in the true French style only this one is Portuguese. To me it tasted like a Perrier Jouet Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne but this one retails for €9.95. After the tasting Mary and I wandered into the Old Center of Faro for a light dinner at Los Locos
Sunsets riverside at the Alvor harbor
A quick trip across the border to Seville Spain and the nearest Costco. I'm in search of a better price on eyeglasses since in Portugal for some reason my progressive lens prescription range between €600 and €800, but across the border at Costco cost about the same amount I paid in the US $225.00 for frames and lenses. Well worth the trip although typical of a trip to costco we managed to load up the car with stuff we really needed (Not). While in Spain for the day we sampled a few Tapas for lunch.
A few weeks ago we had a big storm straight from the Southeast Atlantic. This storm had high winds and big swells up to 10 feet. When we have these conditions it stirs up the invasive Japanese algae that is normally farther to the east in Spain. Large quantities of the Algae washed ashore creating a big mess for the beaches. Where crews can reach the beaches with large equipment the cleanup takes place. These photos will give you an example of the scale of the cleanup and amount washed up on the beach at Praia da Rocha by this storm
Morning walk along the Alvor Boardwalk, the clouds here can be so dramatic and beautiful.
I love it when Mary experiments in the kitchen (except for the clean up afterwards). Today she was trying out a new pizza dough recipe, it was a good one!
A Storm moving in over Portimao today. These were from one of my walks along the Marina and Praia de Rocha
It's Halloween in Portugal too...not as big as in the states, more for kids than adults here. My Scooter has become a favorite for two of the neighborhood black cats. I caught one of them sleeping on my uncovered seat so I placed the cover over the seat to deter them. Leaving this morning there was one sleeping and very comfortable on top of the cover, returning home there was two.
Since it's election season I thought that I would share an interesting article I found that provides a simple overview of the structure of the Portuguese Government. If you are interested click on the link below to download the pdf
Barney and Sonny continue to live the dream. Barney likes to play in the bed coverings chasing a stick under the covers. Sonny will wake up from a deep sleep in his bed to play with his favorite toy.
As always we hope everyone is doing well, healthy, happy, and thriving. We miss you and love you all...A lot!
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