5th June. Costa Nova
It rained all night with occasional thunder, It settled a little with sunshine and showers. We can’t complain as this is the 1st poor day for a long time. We stayed on the site. I went online at the “on site internet cafe” to check emails and to see if we had any money left? Look out for the hat!
6th June, last nights rain was something else, the night before was like gnats pee by comparison, the noise was terrific, as I lay looking through the window I could see the rain coming down in sheets, never seen anything like it. Guess what? Mary slept through it without a stir.
The following day was a day of reckoning as I paid the 1st part of our camp site fees, 321 Euros pays for our stay up to the 17th June, that's 19 days. They require a further 527.77 Euros for storage fees up to the end of August. That includes the car.
Just about ready for bed when faint music floated over the camp site. A well known Beatles song, I couldn't resist, I left Mary and followed the sound. I finished on the beach where a party was going on, batteries supplied power to an amplifier as a group of 6 young musicians rattled off mostly sixties music. They were very accomplished and their harmonies were spot on. I would have stayed much longer but for the smell of “wacky backy” which was getting to me. Don’t know what time they wrapped up but it was past my bedtime. Not sure how much empty bottles fetch these days, suffice to say they would be worth collecting.
Sunday 7th took us to the promenade because there was an annual Artisans fair in full swing, at least Mary thought so.
Most of the home made articles, toys, metal work and other odds and sods were a load of rubbish, not even colourful rubbish, but the makers showed no sign of embarrassment.
You could close one eye if a charity were to benefit. They didn’t. The saving grace was the people who had taken the trouble to dress up in local costume.
We purchased an odd tasting loaf, some fresh peas in their pods? and a keep sake, a cloth bag to put plastic bags in, (as I pointed out, it frees a kitchen drawer so we can buy something else that we couldn't manage without?) Who say’s I'm a cynic? I did enjoy sitting across the Promenade drinking coffee watching other people throw their money away! The weather is still a bit dodgy and is not going to improve until the 10th, totalling five days of wet weather, enough time to forget those hot sunny days when you saw markets in a tolerable light!
8th, we were told that Viseu was a nice city, so we had a day out there. It’s 70 miles on the A25, going east on the road we had already past over to get to Aveiro. We didn’t mind because as I have already said the scenery is beautiful. The city was a bit of a disappointment however, the new Cathedral (built 1842) is pretty,
I preferred the old one (Built in the 11th century) across the road, both were surprisingly small.
We had lunch in the Cathedral square, a little walk back to the car and then we set off back to Aveiro. We hadn’t got far when we came across this gigantic building which housed shops on 8 levels, and a huge supermarket to boot.
It also housed cinemas and a car showroom. A roof garden that encircled the building would take at least 15 minutes to walk around it’s extremities. The whole area had tables and chairs and was serviced by numerous cafes, bars and restaurants. There is a big problem however, there was hardly any people there.
Even in the shopping areas people were sparse. The pictures tell it all, showy but no one looking.
There is a fountain, which paints pretty patterns in the pool, it also shoots water right to the top of the building. Very impressive, although I suspect the takings for the whole day wouldn't pay for the electric consumed. Didn't do a numbers count, you can see from the photos what I mean.
We were late home that night, not from the distraction of shopping but because we lost one another!! I saw Mary 5 or 6 times on different levels as I looked up or down to other floors, but by the time I got there she had gone. One and a half hours had elapsed before we were united, no hugs and kisses, but a generous helping of abuse!! We have two telephones to help resolve such mishaps, but Mary likes to keep them both in her bag, she thinks I might loose one? That makes sense, doesn't it? Who am I to argue?
We watched an old CD, “An audience with Ken Dod” and chuckled our way to bed and sleep.
The next day was a do nothing day!
The 10th brought many rigs to the site as it’s a national holiday, it’s called “Portuguese Day” and it was the Portuguese who filled the site up.
So long as you have air conditioning, who cares about a leaky roof?
It’s now Friday, just 6 more days and we will be in old blighty. Marys in her ferreting mood, if you're not wearing it, she washes it.
We have been into Aveiro a couple of times this week, in a shopping centre, there are well stocked shoe shops and a free Wi-Fi area, suits us both, until the PC battery runs flat, that is! I then go on a seek and rescue mission! I usually get there before the big decision to buy is made? Mary does take her time! On our way home yesterday we stopped just short of the camp site as we saw a family collecting something from the bushes, they seemed pleased, because whatever they were collecting were in abundance. I had to know more, so I stopped and asked. They showed me bags full of small snails, mini escargots I guess. The young girl explained, we remove them from the shells with a pin (not easy) then serve them with spaghetti in a tomato sauce. She didn’t say, but I assume she boils them first, yum yum she said! I translated to English for her, yuk yuk!
Back to today, we strolled to the beach, 200 yards away, sat on a sand dune for a couple of hours and watched the humans playing in the surf, very nice.
An English couple arrived who reside in Bath, so we had lots to talk about. It turned out that they live within walking distance from Matthew (our grandson) when he’s attending Bath university.
They have a trailer tent which opens up to provide two double beds, It’s like Pandora's box! They brought custard tarts around this morning, Mary made coffee which gave us a good excuse to stop our cleaning chores for a couple of hours, Not only did Mr R’ and Mrs H’ live close to Matt but before retiring he worked at the university for many years. Mrs H’ taught but I'm not sure where.
It’s now Monday so we decided to start packing up as the weather is good, I don’t want to pack canvas when wet as it will be ten weeks before we return.
17th, all packed and parked in the storage place on site. I washed her down before putting the cover over, the MH not Mary.
It has been decided to go to the airport at Porto in the car instead of a taxi. Airport parking costs 95 Euros a month, so for the 75 days it should cost us 240 Euros or there about. We will save 135 Euros on car storage fees at the camp site plus 200 Euros on taxi fares, an overall saving of 100 Euros and we don’t have to worry whether the taxi is going to be on time.
We set off at 6am and were home for 1pm.
The holiday? Can't wait to go back.
