Friday July 23, 2004 10:05pm Figueira da Foz, Portugal
Every day we love Portugal more. Mike and George headed out by 9am today to Batalha, Alcobaca with their wine museum and the battlefield of Aljubarrota (but closed).
Marucia, Patrick, Kyle & I went to the beach. We had two tasks – one to change our 500 Euro bills and 2 to buy map for M&GL – no luck on either account. The bank sent me to the credit union (wow – my first pen ran out of ink! hope I have enough pens to get through the trip!) The Credit Union only takes 500E notes for deposit – they can’t change them. We need to go to the Bank of Portugal in Coimbra – means we wait till Monday – sure hope that works out. Also – no maps to buy at the tourist info –so we just beached it! Had lunch back at the beach cafe (24E). The boys had tons of fun in the waves. Kyle figured out the “boogie board”. They also dug a hole and buried Kyle – along with a boy from France who’s parents were English. Later they built a sand pile – but the tide washed it away despite their efforts to shield it via human shield. The neighbouring Portuguese kids had more success since they were up beach from P & K.
Met back up with M&GL around 7:30pm. After us beach folks all showered, we started on our quest for dinner. Started by visiting the restaurant on the water side – but it was totally empty and the menu looked a bit slim. Decided to try another place in M&GL’s book – took a steep hill in Buarcos to the top only to find it under final repair prep for the August tourist season – closed right now! So back down the hill to where we started. It turned out better than expected. The boys shared the seafood with rice, I had grilled fish, MIke had pork loin. We also had seafood soup – sopa da mar. 75E total – then back for cafe & dessert. Fig / choc / anisette / almond / orange / sugar – but not sure of the name! This one is different than Marucia knows, but similar. Will have to try her recipe at Christmas.
And now after much objecting to my not writing about his day, Mike is asleep – guess he’ll have to keep his own memories – perhaps he can write tomorrow…..
Not sure what tomorrow will be – if good weather maybe beach at Mira – or else Coimbra.
Good Night – time to sleep! 11:40 pm