Dog Attack and House Renovations

Having a swim at lunchtime means I can usually have the pool to myself. Today there is a man standing in the water looking at his phone: just reading the news, he said. That just tells you how hot it is. (35 degrees).

Another pleasure of being back home is enjoying my own shower. Travelling the world is great, except for having to get used to temperamental showers wherever you stay. This reminds me of when I was working in Singapore, living in university accommodation. An American colleague had his father to stay, who announced that the shower was the worst he’d ever had. The water just trickled out. 

The colleague’s wife was from mainland China. Her father said that their shower was the best he’d had in his life. The water was hot!

After that digression, I’ll progress to the terrible dog attack incident. C and Rocky were out for their usual early morning walk at 6.00 am. Rocky was on a lead. (That’s the law here for greyhounds). Suddenly, a Staffy rushed up to them and bit Rocky. The owner apologised and said his dog was on heat. He offered to pay for the medical treatment, probably not realising how expensive that would be.

C had to walk her injured dog home, in pain and limping, then get him in the car and take him to the Vet Hospital (where he had been a regular blood donor in the past). Before he could be admitted, they required a deposit of $1500. It was Saturday and an emergency surgical team had to be called in. Fortunately, the owner of the aggressive Staffy agreed to pay this. The total bill came to well over $2000.

These gruesome pictures show the wound just after it had happened. Greyhounds have extremely thin legs, with little to protect them. They were bred to run, that’s all.

A week later and he is almost back to his old self except for a slight limp. The incident was reported to the local Ranger (himself a greyhound owner co-incidentally). So we’ll see what happens…

As well as all this, C is having major renovations done in the house: a new bathroom, toilet, laundry room and kitchen. The tradesman starts work at 7.00 am, not the preferred wake-up hour for a teenager. E complains that he starts banging away and puts on his pop music as he works, or talks loudly on his mobile. I advised E to escape to the university library for the day. Rocky has to be shut in at the other end of the house while all this is going on. He must be traumatised as well.

A few photos of the work in progress follow:

The floor tiles are a grey colour and C will paint the walls in a matching shade.

The last one shows some of the kitchen units stacked in the living room.

Reflections on my Holiday

Back home now, where there is non stop sun and a heatwave forecast. Quite a change from the Portuguese weather.

A few reflections from my holiday follow. The Lisbon Lounge Hostel was in a really good location, once you had mastered the maze of small streets in which it was situated. The staff were friendly and very helpful. The major drawback for me were the stairs: it’s an old building so they can’t install a lift. I always had to rest half way up! Another issue were the doors. Every room had a noisy door that banged as it opened and shut. My private room was next to the bathroom, so I heard a lot of opening and shutting.

The location was excellent, a few minutes walk from the Metro and from the major Rua Augusta which led down to the river. There were lots and lots of eateries nearby and ATMs everywhere. I don’t know why Lisbon needs so many. Most eateries had an outside area, where the Portuguese love to sit even in the coldest, wettest weather:

The amount of rubbish which accumulated every night was astonishing, but it was always cleared away by the morning.

I went early in the season, hoping to avoid the crowds, but there were crowds in all the major tourist spots. The weather was really changeable and unpredictable: the forecasts often wrong. But I made the best of it!

I had my swimming costume with me, but it never came out of my backpack. Now it’s getting lots of use at home.

Severe Weather Warning

Depressao Martinho: Chuva forte e persistente dias 19 e 20-MAR. Vento forte. Risco de inundacoes. Fique atento. Info: www.prociv.gov.pt / 800 246 246 / ANEPC

This warning popped up on my phone. I thought it was for the afternoon, so I ventured out at about 10.00 am. The storm came early! At Belém on the river it was difficult to stand up or walk in a straight line. Fortunately I had my Camino wet weather gear on. I took a few photos and then retreated inside:

Monument to the Discoveries:


Looking towards the bridge:

Tower of Belém, built as a fortress in 1514 - 20:

I couldn’t really see what I was doing, it was so unbelievably stormy:


This seemed like a better option:

Back near Cais do Sodre, I decided to have lunch in the market: along with a million other people. It was hard to find a seat, even for one:

I ordered fish soup. It really warmed me up!

The fresh produce part of the market was closing down, but I managed to buy some mandarins from a young Nepalese man and chatted to him about trekking in Nepal years ago:

Sintra and Cascais

This is the most popular day trip from Lisbon. I had such a good day! The weather improved and it was even sunny for most of the time. There were 7 of us in the minibus plus the driver, Juan.

In Sintra, we visited the Pena Palace. Juan had us walk up through the garden first. It was an artificially constructed garden (something like Araluen) with lakes and duckponds. Originally it was the summer palace of King Ferdinand. It was quite a steep slope, but when I was flagging, Juan gave me his arm so that I wouldn’t slip on the cobbles and steps. He was very thoughtful.

The palace is at the top of the garden:

At the top, there were views on all sides. It was apparent why they had chosen to build the palace there.

The gate in Moorish style. Juan is on the right in the black jacket:

Inside the palace was a treasury of periodic furniture and porcelain:

Cloisters:

The parts of the buildings painted red denoted it was original, as opposed to later additions:

Bottom right of the stained glass in the chapel is the homage to Vasco da Gama:

After the palace, we drove down into the small town of Sintra for lunch. Several recommendations were given to us, but I chose one with plenty of inside seating:

The waitress was doing a flambé of some kind. This was mine:

Small broad beans featured in many of the dishes. Someone must have spent all morning shelling them!

Back in the minibus, we drove to the most western point of Portugal:

There were warnings to stay on the right side of the fence, or you would be breathing your last!

An enterprising person had set up a pina colada stall.

Usually this place is really, really windy. We were lucky today.

Next was a scenic drive to the seaside resort of Cascais. Juan recommended an ice creamery. This was the first time on this holiday that I felt like one:

It was delicious: pity about the hat!

The Marina at Cascais.

Some lads were playing football on the beach. I was sitting on the sea wall when their ball hit a woman on the head just below me on the sand. She took it very well but it must have hurt her.

This was our vehicle. I got the front seat, as I was the last to be picked up in the morning. All in all, it was €90 well-spent!

Shopping

Only two shops were on my list this morning, but they were both interesting and historic establishments: a bookshop and a glove shop.

Bertrands claims to be the oldest bookshop in the world:

They have a big English language section and I was keen to find something to read on the long journey back to Australia. I was really pleased to spot a new Elizabeth George that I didn’t know about: Something to Hide. Just the job!

The bookshop goes on and on, till you arrive at a little cafe right at the end:

I sat reading my book over a coffee for a while, hoping no earth tremor would bring down the dodgy ceiling!

The glove shop was not far away. I walked down the street with H and M on the right. The walkway of the Santa Justa lift is up above.  Luvaria Ulisses is on the left. It’s tiny! I was alerted to it by Michael Portillo on his Long Weekend in Lisbon and I really wanted to be fitted for my own pair of leather gloves:

Customers are served individually with great care to ensure the perfect fit. A Portuguese man waited patiently behind me. He was buying gloves for some friends who were celebrating their 50th birthday. I got him to take my photo:

My gloves are black, trimmed with red between the fingers and lined with cashmere. Very posh!

The proprietress wanted me to take a photo of the ceiling, too:

Lunchtime was coming up, so I dropped into a quiet Vietnamese place for some pho.

Trams

Lisbon is famous for its trams, which keep on running past their sell-by date. They are real bone-shakers as they negotiate bends and go up and down the steep hills. The streets are narrow, and parked cars are in danger of getting scraped if they stick out an inch too far! 

I took a tram “tour” (i.e. not a regular public transport one) which went on a non-stop circuit for an hour. Most people want to go on the popular Tram 28, but this gets absolutely packed like the proverbial sardines. In fact, my tourist tram was following a 28 around for much of the time. There was often a traffic jam, when the driver had to jump out and assist the one in front. I wouldn’t want his job because pedestrians often cross the rails without looking; not to mention taxis that suddenly pull up to pick up or deposit passengers.

This was the start:

I had a front seat, ideal for taking photos:

Michael Portillo pointed out these warning signs, advising which way to run in the event of a tsunami:

Fortunately, there was no need for that today.

I had a quick lunch of a bacalau pasty and a glass of port:

You get to keep the glass! It has today’s date on it.

This is the establishment:

The weather has suddenly taken a turn for the worst: pouring with rain. I needed to go out in it tonight to get dinner; but Lisbon has so many eateries (and ATMs every 10 m.!) 

Just on the next corner, I saw a restaurant called The Fullest, where I enjoyed grilled pork strips w. pumpkin purée and broccoli:

Dessert: custard tart w. cinnamon ice cream:

Bottles of rosé used for decor: