Where am I and what day is it?

When you travel for this length of time and your day is jammed packed with new sights, sounds and smells, it’s easy to be confused.  Today’s post really represents what we did on weds., I think. 

This was an 8 hour tour (I hope you’re singing “an 8 hour tour to the music of Gilligan’s  island”!)

We visited Castelo de Palmera.  Although the castle was bare bones, it sat high up in the hills of Palmera and the views were stunning.  If you’ve followed the blog this long, you have surely realized that I like to catch weird shots that make me feel good or ones that I think are funky and cool.  You’ll find some in this photo dump! 

Headed to see a traditional market In Setúbal, Portugal.  As we traveled through Spain and Portugal, I rarely saw what we would call a supermarket.  I’m thinking 🤔 “where the hell do these people shop?”   First, they shop much different than us.  Apparently, they don’t need 100 rolls of toilet paper, 8 different bags of snacks, and every type of pasta there is.  

They shop fresh and often.  Hmmm…what a concept.  We walked in the market and I was blown away.  

There was so much I was unable to capture; beef eggs, fresh fruits and veggies.  all fresh! Why was I unable to capture it? Everyone was staring at the blue haired chick with a very bright outfit on. I’m one of a kind.  😆 Thought I should stop with the tourist act.  

Happily, our guide is as addicted to mid morning espresso as I am.  Also in the market was this tiny pastry shop where we got (re)caffeinated and enjoyed a few local pastries.  🥮 

We’re off to the hills of Arrabida for lunch and a wine tour/tasting.  I must admit that I was bummed that we were going to a vineyard that specializes in the grape variety Moscatel.  Yuck.  Fortified wines are not my thing.  I know what you’re thinking, didn’t YoU pick this your?   Why, yes, yes I did but clearly, I missed the part about grape variety.  The story ends well.   They produce a number of great tasting wines from a number of other grape varietals!!!  #winning

We definitely had to capture the beauty of the coast. It’s so stunning, it literally takes your breath away.  The heights, the rocks and the color of the water makes me happy.  😃  

PS.  Told you my outfit was bright.  

Off to lunch!  We went to a place called Wine Corner; owned by the winery we were going to tour later in the afternoon. 

So wrapped up in conversation that I forgot to take picks of the actual lunch.  We split a burrsta salad, chips (fries) and cuttlefish with garlic aioli.  Never had cuttlefish but I liked it.  

Not a long walk to the winery 😂. It was right next door!  Winery is called Jose Maria Da Fonseca and has been family run for 5 generations.  

We’ve been to a number of wine tours and I always learn something but this particular tour was super interesting in that they described different ways to speed up the aging process and two of the ways is sending barrels on a boat for a long journey and the other is to pipe music in the wine cellars.  Apparently, independent research has found that the movement of the wine using these two methods dramatically reduces the hold time for producing delish wines.  

They were playing what I’d call church music in the cellar when we were there.  Our guide, never missing a beat, leans over and whispers “wonder what wine would be like if they blared Black Sabbath throughout the cellar?”   At first I laughed and then 💭 wondered “what if?”

Their wines, both red and white, were yummy.  I’m still not a fan of moscatel wine but I tried two of them and ironically, I liked the sweeter wine better.  

What really shocked me was the fact that they also sell Lancer’s wine.  🍷 Do you believe they still package it in those weird bottles?  I’m glad I didn’t know that going in because I wouldn’t have given their “real wines” a chance.  Like I said, their red and whites were very good.  

We ate at the hotel’s restaurant called Infame. Like the hotel, the restaurant’s decor was funky and fun!  Split mushroom risotto and black rice with pickled veggies.  Not pictured-the most amazing chewy chocolate cake with caramel and toffee chips.  Finger lickin good!  I’m a carbs girl and don’t typically eat dessert.  Bill said “just have a bite!”  Yeah, one turned to 4; it was that good.