Portugal vs. U.S.

 No... this is not a soccer (or more correctly futebol) match that I am describing. It is a fundamental difference between the U.S. version of coffee lovers and Portugal.

A bica or "coffee"

Here, a "coffee" is just a single shot of espresso. Often referred to as a "bica", that is what you get when you simply order a coffee. You may drop by your local cafe and have a bica any time of day and sometimes have several in a row. The other morning, just before our language class, the lady at the table next to us was just finishing her 4th coffee. 

However, I was recently informed of another unique difference, when attending assemblies of Jehovah's Witnesses. For many years, now, food service, which had been a staple of conventions in the past, have been discontinued and each attendee brings their own food. It has allowed more time and effort to go into providing "spiritual food", rather than taking time to prepare meals.

Portugal, however, being the coffee loving country that it is... has provided a coffee service, at it's assembly hall.There, during the breaks in programming, brothers and sisters line up to get a coffee provided by barristas in the common area of the hall. Here is a photos of two of these barristas and notice the aprons they have... And check out the professional coffee machine in the back...

Our barristas in action

Viva la difference!

A Specialty of the House

 

Yesterday, after our language class, we went to a new restaurant, for us. It specializes in bacalhao. Of course, at the time, we didn't know that, but when the first 3 pages of the menu all contained the word bacalhao, it became evident. There was, however a dish with beans, which I have been missing... A Feijoada de Samos de Bacalhau. Of course, the server explained what the "Samos" was, but I thought it was the flesh on the ridge of the fish, kind of like a pork loin.

When the dish came, we realized that we should have looked up the dish on Google translate. Turns out the the Samos, are the swim bladders of the cod fish. These tubes run down the back of the fish. The texture was not to my liking, but the taste was good. I would not order it again, but to every man his own taste.

So, if you have a hankering for fish bladder, remember "A Feijoada de Samos de Bacalhau"

Finally A Driver's License

 Portugal offers a foreign driver's exchange program, which eliminates the need to take a driver's test in a foreign language. It is, however, not an easy path to follow it requires quite a few steps in order to take advantage of it. You need to have the following documentation:

1. Your US driver’s license. This must be an original card, not a copy.

2. Your Portuguese Residence Permit (Titulo de Residencia Temporária) Card.

3. The original confirmation of your Portuguese address (Comprovativo de Residência) from your local Junta de Freguesia (some IMT / Lojas accept your Residence Card as proof of address if it is your current address, but you won’t know that in advance)

4. A copy of your state driving record, usually called Driving Record Abstract, apostilled by the Secretary of State for the state in which the license was issued.

5. Your NIF (Número do Finanças) paper (some IMT / Lojas accept the NIF shown on your Residence Card, but you won’t know that in advance).

6. The Certificate of Authentication of Driving License (Certificado de Autenticação de Carta de Condução) issued by the Portuguese consulate.

7. A health certificate electronically transmitted by a medical facility to the IMT system.

8. €30 in cash or payable with Multibanco (Portuguese bank card).

Item #6 needs to be obtained from the consulate in your home country. It cannot be obtained in Portugal.

After submitting all of these documents on the website (IMT Driver's License Exchange), you wait for about a month, in our case, until they request your current valid driver's license to be mailed to the IMT, after which they issue you, via email, a temporary driver's license.

Then, a month or so later, they will send you an appointment to show up for a photo.

After that, only time will tell how long it takes to receive your license. Two months, in our case.

All told... it was a 5 month process. Your experience might be longer or shorter. It all depends on where you are.

But... whoopee! Now, when will mine be processed?

In Search of Clubs

We went to Leiria, yesterday, in search of a cheap set of golf clubs. There is a course about an hour away, and the green fees are such that I might play once a month, or so. It all depends. But I wanted to have a set of clubs, just in case. So I found what I needed in Leiria and took the 1 hour trip to buy them.

Municipal Pool

Leiria is quite a lovely city. When we arrived, we found ample free parking in the lot across from the stadium and right next to the municipal pool. We went inside to use the restrooms and found a fantastic pool for public use. 

Lift to Castle

Just a short walk away is the castle and there was a free lift to the castle entrance. Something my wife assures me is rare. The castle, itself, compared to many in Portugal is small, but very nice and the ticket for 2 seniors was a whopping 2.10€. So it was quite a bargain.

View from below

Just before you enter the courtyard

View from the top of the old castle

Detail of an archway

The "New" Castle

And finally, at the end of the day, I contacted the seller and retrieved  a 30€ set of clubs, used, but serviceable. Now, if I can just find a putter, I am in business.

Porta to Porto a Day Trip

 We finally took our first day trip. This to Porto, the second largest city in Portugal and just a little less than 50 miles away, or a 1 hour drive. Porto is one of the 2 arrival points for air travel and it was where both Denise and I had landed, but I never even had a glance at the city, so while Denise had spent 3-4 days there, for me, this was all new.

This video give you an idea of the waterfront facing the Gaia side.

The scene at the top of this post was the little restaurant, where we could have a glass of port wine, a couple of pasteis de natas and enjoy the view of the Porto side of the Douro River, while sitting on the Vila Nova de Gaia side.

Port wine in Porto

Boats tied along the riverfront like the one on the left are reminiscent that Porto was where all of the wine was brought by barges to warehouses, which have now been converted to restaurants and condominiums. I am pretty sure that these boats are now just tourist decorations, but I could be wrong. They still have the famous brand names lining the Gaia side and you can take tours of their "caves, or wine cellars.

This is one of the establishments selling food for which Porto is noted. They sell pastel bacalhau which is like a fritter, filled with cod. the interior of this shop is reminiscent of the famous library you would visit in Coimbra. I am sure that is intentional.

Just down the street, you find little pieces of hidden art, such as this "rabbit" made from found objects, attached the the corner of a building.

And just a short distance you can walk across one of the best known sites of the city, the Ponte Louis I, one of the bridges connecting the Gaia side to the Porto side of the Douro River.

The top level of the bridge is for foot traffic and a beautiful train system that runs and the bottom level is where you drive across your car.

Douro River

A short walk from the bridge is Sao Bento, the main train station in Porto and site of beautiful tile work that depicts the history of some of the area. I have to say that the station is very well kept and clean. Remember to bring 50 cents, if you want to use the bathrooms, though.

Sao Bento Train Station

Driving to a restaurant for lunch, we headed down streets in our little car, that would have been impossible in a bigger vehicle. I couldn't believe that these streets were used for cars, but they were parked all along the way, so I kept going. I was happy to finally exit into a normal sized street though. 

Before returning home, we needed to try a francesinha. This is a sandwich made famous in Porto and sold all over the country. A francesinha is a heart attack waiting on a plate. It is grilled bread, with ham, sausage, fried steak slices, covered with cheeses, topped with an egg (if you desire) with a hot sauce poured all over. The secret is in the sauce, and apparently, everyone has a secret sauce. The one we had was good, but it was not the holy grail of francesinhas, so we will still be on the lookout for the ultimate experience.

The trip back to Ilhavo was without incident and the toll of 3,60€ was well worth the 45 minutes that it cut from the trip. Porto is a beautiful city, but I was happy to get back to our sleepy little town.

Finally A Car

 I have been holding out for almost 7 months. Seven months without a car! Having spent my wasted youth in San Diego, California, you should know that from the time I was 18, I have had cars. Let's take a little trip down memory lane.

Not my car... but just like it

My first car was an 1958 MGA. My Dad thought I was crazy, but I earned the money and bought it, anyway. About the 2nd or 3rd time driving, I had a little accident, but nothing big. I ended up driving it to San Jose State college, when I enrolled in 1965. A funny story about that. The car developed a starter problem and needed a shove and a popping the clutch to get it going. One night, coming back from my father's house to college, the car stopped and I needed help to get it going. Some nice fellows came along, with a gas can, looking for an open station because their car had run out of gas. I offered to take them to the station, if they would push the car for me. And off we went.

When we got back to their car, they were very messy, trying to get the gas into the filler tube, so I offered to do it, myself. Suddenly, we were surrounded by cop cars, flashlights and orders to put our hands in the air. It turns out they had just robbed a local business of their payroll and were attempting to flee when they ran out of gas. They admitted that I had nothing to do with their plan and the sergeant who was holding me in the back of a police car, let me go with a warning to make better choices.

Just like mine

Anyway, that was my first car, which got put up on blocks to store, when I went into the Air Force. Years later, when I came back from a tour in Vietnam, it was waiting for me, so I rebuilt the engine and used it for a while.

My next car, which I bought while stationed at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino was a little Nash Rambler. It don't know why I bought it, but I drove it for years. Then I went through a series of sports cars: TR3's, Austin Healey's, Jaguars... you name it, I bought it, fixed it up and sold them. The problem was... the price I paid, the materials I used and the price I sold them for always ended up losing me money. But I sold them fast. This is why I am not rich.

Much like one of my 3 TR3's

I eventually bought 3 TR3's at various times. Now these cars have
a unique system of locking the bonnet (hood for you Americans). They use a little square key, that turns 2 bonnet locks on the front of the hood. There is also a safety catch to prevent the hood from flying away, in the even that you forget to lock it down. Of course, none of my cars had that safety catch, and as a result, I damaged 3 hoods.

Here is what happens when you forget to lock down a TR3 hood. You are driving along after having filled up your car and checked the fluids. Wind is going through your hair with the top down, when suddenly there is a little rumbling, the hood begins to flutter and it suddenly goes straight up in the air, crashing across the top of the windscreen, leaving a nasty crease and it hits your head just hard enough to give you a splitting headache and breaks both hinges in two.

Hood Straps

Now you would think that having that happen once, you would never do it again. Except weeks later, while in San Diego looking to purchase a used hood from a junk yard, after having filled up the car and checked the fluids... driving along the freeway... rumble... flutter, but in this case, since the hinges were already broken - it just floats away in the wind to land somewhere behind me. This time, when I bought the replacement hood and hinges, I invested in a set of leather straps, which reminded me more than those little chrome buttons.

I would like to think this is the end of it, but several years later, when I found another 2nd hand TR3 in need of much work, while driving it back to my Mom's house... well you know what happened. But I was still thrilled and when I got home, I proudly announced, "Mom, come out and look. A Triumph!" Her reply was, "Over what".

Anyway... there are many more auto related stories, but I have gotten off the track. Back to my purchase in Portugal.

First of all, there is finding a car. There are several good listing sites (OLX and Stand Virtual) where you can search and determine criteria for your purchase. Then when you find a suitable vehicle, the fun begins.

2010 Peugot 107 Automatic

There is insurance to get (I bought mine from our bank). Insurance for the year (a basic policy with no comprehensive) cost me 372€. Then there is a transfer form to fill out and sign with the seller. Usually, you go to an attorney, and in this case I paid 70€ for the service.

After that, there is a yearly inspection (32€) and road tax, which I am told in 100€ for my 2010 Peugot 107.

After taking the train down to Lisbon and making the purchase, my wife and I drove back home very satisfied. We could have spent more and gotten a better car, but for the minimal use we plan for it, this little car should do just fine.

Denise's First Jab

Centro De Saude de Gafanha de Nazaré

Denise finally got scheduled for her first round of Covid vaccine. She was scheduled at a Centro De Saude about 14 minutes away, not at our local Centro, where I just went for my 2nd shot.

Gafanha de Nazare is a cute place. Across from the medical building is a park, with basketball, soccer and tennis facilities. And right next door is a cemetery. It is nowhere near as elaborate as the famous La Recoleta in Buenos Aires (here is a link to that visit), but it did have a number of mausoleums and we noted also that a lot of the tombs had pictures of the "residents".