Saturday, March 12, 2011

Roman Ruins, Caravals, a Palace and Conger Eels.

I’ve been slow on the updates to my blog because it’s taken me some time to get back into gear after being away for so long. I’ve found it really hard to pick up where I left off however I think I am now getting back on track again.

To finish off about Portugal. We both like it there a lot. We love the outdoor life style and even though it was winter, most days it was sunny and warm enough to sit outside and watch the sea while we drank the great coffee that you get in Portugal. Now my husband won’t drink the stuff we make in the Bodum at home any more! After all this nice weather it was a bit of a shock to return home to Toronto and the snow and cold weather.

I have added a few pictures of places we think are interesting to visit near Albufeira. The first one is the Harbour of the Caravels in Spain. It features replicas of Columbus’s three ships in a lovely setting. It takes about and hour and a half to drive there from Albufeira but I think it’s well worth the effort.
 The next place is a lovely hillside town called Evora. The picture shows the Roman ruin right in the center of the town. This UNESCO world heritage town is a great place to visit and you will see the inland area of Portugal where a lot of the wine is made on the drive to get there.
Finally the Roman ruins at Estoi and the newly restored palace which is now a hotel. http://tinyurl.com/45cafty and http://tinyurl.com/6yacv79



We also liked the market at Loule and wished we had made it to the Gypsy Market there but perhaps another time. The photo shows conger eel which I took because I thought the patterns on it were beautiful.  I find all the fish on sale pretty awful and I can't see how the sea can sustain itself if so much is continually being taken out. After being a vegetarian for thirty years these things concern me.
One thing that was disappointing was the lack of small art galleries to visit. I am always looking to see art but only found one gallery and that wasn’t very exciting. There must be artists there somewhere but we never found them.
On the art front I have been making some collagraph plates this week and I hope to try printing them today. My next post will be about those.

5 comments:

Eva said...

Interesting pictures. Sounds like you really took advantage of your time in Portugal! The rapid increase in population and pollution will deplete even the grown foods of the world.Guess the future food will be entirely artificial, if humans survive that long.

Susanne said...

Glad you liked the pictures Eva. When you think how much energy it takes to produce meat and how rapidly the fish supply is going down, there really is a good case for becoming a vegetarian, especially as the developing countries become more affluent and want to eat a western diet. Plus if you read the book "The China Diet" I think it will put you off eating anything with animal protein in it.

Deborah Younglao, Silk Painter said...

Beautiful place! I agree it's disheartening to see those beautiful eels laying there lifeless. Things that used to be plentiful are just no more. But how do you change centuries of tradition? It has to be done but it's so hard.

Susanne said...

Yes Deborah it is hard to change tradition especially as it's more work cooking vegetarian than just doing meat and two vege.

layers said...

Hi thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment- you have beautiful pictures on Portugal- you had a wonderful trip there for sure. I have been to London and Scotland and Japan- and hope to travel to Europe some day.. this is the next best- visiting blogs.

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