Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

A wooden boat from Nazaré

@brittarnhild

Stumbling over local artists is something I love when travelling. That´s the way I met Mauro you know :-)

One of our last night we decided to have dinner up in the hills, with a great view over the Atlantic, the sun and the village Nazaré.

While walking around we suddenly passed an open door, we looked inside to find an old man making small traditional wooden boast.

We had to buy one of course, it will be perfect for our cabin.

Before leaving we asked if he could recommend a restaurant for us, and he followed us outside the workshop, around a few corners, pointing out The Place.

There we had the best dinner of the whole vacation, but that´s another tale......which I hope to tell one day.

 

By the way, I simply love the twinkle in the carpenter´s eyes :-)

You have the bacalao, but we know how to cook it

@brittarnhild

We stood in line in front of the bankomat when the man behind us started to chat.
"Are you English?"
"No, we are Norwegians"
"Oh, Norway. I don´t think the Norwegians have discovered Portugal yet"
We agreed, we said what a pity, it is such a wonderful place for vacations, we love the food, we love the people, we love.......
"Yes, our food. I am glad you like it. You said you were Norwegians? Well, you have the bacalao, though we know how to cook it!"

Yes, the man is so right, the Portugese know how to cook the bacalao, that´s for sure.

I have had bacalao, or cod fish as they translate it in English on the menues, almost every day during our two weeks here. Bacalao, in Norway a special dish, dried codfish prepared in a special caserole. Here bacalao simply means dried, salted cod, and most of the cod comes from Norway or New Foundland.

 

We are spending the last couple of our days in Portugal in Nazaré, the fishing village on the western coast, and after some hours on the beach today we had lunch in one of the small, local restaurants, Resturante O Veleiro.

The main kitchen was inside, but outside, just around the corner from where we sat, a grill was set up, and two old men were busy grilling fish.

O Veleiro served the best bacalao I´ve had in Portugal. Of course I told the waiter, and when he heard that we are Norwegian he said: "From Norway, the land of the cod fish. May I give you one of our plates to bring back to Norway as a souvenir?"

The hottest day and such a lot to see

@brittarnhild

The roses are almost done in Portugal now, but still we find a few of them, and in between seeking out touristic sights I stop to smell them, and to photograph them.

We are in Guimaraes for a couple of days. Guimaraes, the birthplace of the nation, and the first capital, for a few years.

We started the day with a cable car ride up to the Penha mountain and the holy sites up there. The day was hot and humid and a mist covered the town from the morning.

After kunch we drove out of town, to Citania de Briteiros, a hilltop where archeologists have found the remains of a town inhabited by celts around 300 years BC.

The humidity, the heath.....it really made me wonder how life was for a middle aged woman here abour 2300 years ago. No air-condition, no cold shower, no facebook, not even blogging!!!!!

To be serious, history is fascinating, isn´t it!
We do know a lot about the celts living here. But what about the things we do not know, and will never know. Their thoughts, how they communicated, how they treated their children and their elders, how they dreamed.

How a woman missed her man when he was out hunting. How they made love. How she gave birth. What the family talked about when they ate their meals.

To think of life as it might have been fascinates me, and as I am a romantic I tend to hide the hardship, to see the beauty.

I left the area with a whirlwind of thoughts in my head.

 

Our exploring continued. We still had places to see,

But my thoughts were left with the celtic woman.

As I go to bed now, I will take her with me into my dreams.
And who knows, may be she will come for a visit.

 

Back in time

@brittarnhild

 

 At first the fishing village looked like another modern Portugese village, sun, beach and a million tourists. But as we let our feet take us away from the main street, away from the beach, we found ourselves visiting another time.

A time when the fishermen were still out with their boats, the fishermen´s women still wearing their traditional clothes, busy with their everyday tasks.

 Nazaré is the most picturesque village in the Estremadura area, and unlike so many other villages along the coast, it is not yet completely destroyed by tourisism.

 The narrow cobbled, steep lanes were quiet. Here and there the women could be seen. Alone, chatting together, hanging their washing.

 

The black and white photos are a trick of course. The village and its people were filled with bright colours.

Both up in the narrow lanes,

and down by the beach.

 

The old fishing boats lay peacefully on shore,
for us to admire.

 

Portugal today is filled with hidden treasures.

 

 

 

The Buddha Eden Peace Garden

@brittarnhild

When the Taliban destroyed the buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan in 2001, the millionare art collectorJosé Berardo became so sad and angry that he decided to do something to balance the evil. He decided to create a sculpture park on his winery land in Carvalhal, a couple of hours north of Lisbon. The Buddha Eden Peace Park.

 I had never heard about the park until I read a framed note in my Lonely Planet Portugal book last night, and since today is our wedding anniversary and we were to do something special, we put the park first on our list.

 Second on the list was lunch in the fishing village Peniche (charmingly situated on a small peninsula west in POrtugal, almost as far west as you can come on European mainland), and third was a couple of hours on the beach.

But first out was the peace garden.It´s hundreds of sculptures and its ten thousands of agapanthuses.

 Heaven.
Pure, bliss heaven.

And so much blue.
I am not the only one to love blue, am I?

Blue dreams of heaven.

 

The garden continued and continued. We were unble to see it all in a few morning hours, but before we left we had our anniversary photo taken :-)

 

 

If the world was black and white......

@brittarnhild

If the world was black and white.....

 and I was given the power to create two colours......

.....I know exactly what I would choose.

 Blue and tourquise as in the 16th century Turquise and Syrian plates we found at Museu Calouste Gulbenkian.

Turkish born Calouste Gulbenkian was only 14 when he started his art collection. Some years later he did a good deal with four major oil compnies which granted him 5% stake, and this made home a multimillionaire. During WWII he went to live in Portugal and when he died in 1955 the Portugise State inherited his collection in form of a trust.

 One of my instagram friends lives in Lisbon, and when he, in a comment on my blog, mentioned the Gulbenkian Collection I knew it was a place we had to visit. So after the tile museum we took a taxi up there.

And if it is possible to fall in live with a museum, with a collection of art,
well, that´s exactly what we did!

 China, tapestries, books, furniture, paintings, jewelty.........and more. I could move riht into the museum and live on its art for breakfast, lunch and dinner for ever.

Before going back to our hotel we discovered that the museum also has a garden. And what a garden!

But that is a post for another day!

Here is the link to the museum´s website.

 

A History in Tiles

@brittarnhild

 

 "Of the many sights, I´m most awed by the Museo National do Azulejo, housed in the former Convenmto da Madre de Deus. The history of Portugese tiles hangs on the walls......"

 The words are Frances Mayes´, in her book A year in the World, where she writes about the month she spent in Lisbon and Portugal.

The tile museum is situated a little outside the city cnter, or "further afield" as our Eyewitness Travel guidebook says, so without Frances´words I am not sure we would have found it.

We spend several hours here, finding almost more beauty that we manage to take it, we ohhhhhhs and ahhhhs in every new room we enter.
 

 

Along our way we pass a workshop where two women are restoring old tiles.

 

That´s a job I would love to have!

 

Before leaving I buy a book about the tiles at the museum. I want to learn more. About the introduction of tiles from the Moors, about the Spanish influence and about the developing of the unique Portugese style.

 

 

Time is relative......even in Lisbon

@brittarnhild

I am sure you know the feeling. Of time passing too fast when you are having a really good time. Tomorrow is our last day in Lisbon, Saturday our Portugal holiday continues by car out in the countryside, and I have no idea where time has flown.

Or....well, I do have some ideas of course, and as I am looking through Terje´s photos, which I just downloaded, I find more.....ideas of what we have done I mean :-)

Two botanical gardens, two days on the beach (Lisbon is perfect for beach days, 30 minues by train, leave the train, a few steps and you are there.......), bacalao or dried cod in a million ways, coffee shops, restaurant, fado music.......and a few tourist sights.

As a matter of fact we have skipped most of the tourists traps on this trip....well, all of them actually. We do have a museum plan for tomorrow though.

Twice we have queued up for the Elevador de Santa Justa, built at the turn of the 20th century by the apprentice of Eiffel, Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, both times we have looked at each other after a few minutes, shook our heads and walked away for another cappuccino and a pastéis de Belém.

 

Look at these pastries, doesn´t they look yummy :-)
There is a small cafe in Belém, Antige Confeitaria de Belém where they have made these small cakes in more than 100 years. We went to the cafe, but seeing the queue we bought our coffee and cakes nextdoor and walked up the road to Jardim, Agricola Tropical (worth its special blogpost another day)

Last night we went to the district of Bairro Lopes, searcing for fado music. We found, we fell in love and we will go back there tonight (again a special blog post, some day)

 

Lisbon

@brittarnhild

Yes, we are in Lisbon, a city where we have never been before. The thrill of coming to a new place, the first day of walking around, getting the feeling, smell, taste.....oh, I love it.

With cameras, guidebooks and a credit card we set best foot forward and let the day unfold.

We listen to the music,

we look for the unexpected,

and we smile back when we are smiled at.

We see different things,

we point out to each other,

And when we sit down to eat baccalao, the waiter comes over, asking in a very broken English: do you want me to take your photo?

Sure we do :-)

 

 

So, where are we now........

@brittarnhild

I would love to do a guessing game, but then of course it would be too easy for those of you who follow me on facebook, instagram and snapchat........

I am collecting some great tales though, and will blog about them of course.....

.....eventually.