Thursday, August 7, 2014

Julio!


July was a whirlwind of a month. It started off in Cornwall, ended in Porto, and somewhere in the middle was a ferry crossing into Asturias. It was hard spending the remainder of July in Cornwall knowing that our impending departure was rapidly approaching, but we definitely made the most out of our time there cramming in as much family/friend time as possible.

On July 1 we accompanied Pete to her weekly trip to Drogo Castle, a National Trust site that she has been volunteering at for a few years now. It was a good excuse for her to introduce her co-workers to Dave, and to have a nice walk around the grounds, and followed by a nice walk in the nearby gorge for a pub lunch to top it all off! It was a lovely day.
The castle is largely under construction at the moment, yet you can walk up some scaffolding to have a peek at the massive undertaking they're doing to keep it secure.
Walk through the gorge.
Other happenings included Katie's birthday party, which falls on the 4th of July, therefore I naturally took it upon myself to excessively wear red, white and blue - like any true patriot would do. And Dave similarly embraced his American roots, and then took it to the next level. 
He went for the white trash look, and I would venture to say that he succeeded.
I will also happily take blame for introducing everyone to my new favorite card game, Cards Against Humanity. But then I reminded everyone that it stemmed from another, PG rated game, Apples to Apples. When Rae had her birthday Dave and I got her the Apples to Apples Junior version, and it was a big hit with all the kids. 
Everyone gathered around for an intense game of Apples to Apples.
There are always lovely walks to be had, and they always provide for good conversation, and gorgeous photos. 
This could be your standard Windows desktop image.
The Atlantic Ocean, looking mighty blue.
They walk through the fields on a picturesque day.
We walk out onto the rocks at Boscastle.
He walks into Jurassic Park.
There was also a wonderful party down at Anne and Pat's (the neighbor's whose garden I worked on) the weekend before we left, and it made for a really nice send off. A bonfire, friends, food, drinks, and a view of the sea! And we all camped so it was a nice morning the day after with all of the kids gathered around for their cereal breakfast.
Gathered round the fire at dusk.
Connor and I the next morning; coffee to bring the adults back to life. Side note: Connor became my biggest fan this past trip to Cornwall :-)
To round out the stay, Dave and I spent a nice night to ourselves out on Steeple Point with a tea light as our fire. I always hate saying goodbye to this lovely corner of the globe.
Farewell Cornwall.
A gorgeous night sky on the drive back from Bradworthy.
Oh, and as mentioned in my last post, I promised photos of Anne and Pat's garden, where they graciously let me 'intern' for them. I wish I would have done more for them, but alas, I still had a lovely time working in their polytunnel, their vegetable garden, and creating their herb patch. And my absolutely favorite bit was getting to change the pigs water, because it meant you got to hang around with the adorable, squealy guys for a bit. I also loved watching the ducks grow at an unfathomable rate. I also can't thank Dave enough for coming down with me every day, and graciously helping me out.
The polytunnel from outside, with the ridiculously crystal clear view of the sea.
Inside. I can proudly say that we made those yellow strings to guide the tomato plants with. I planted out that bok choy you can possibly see on the left. But mostly just watered in here.
We planted out quite a few rows of the veggies, but not before Dave rotavated the soil. Then there was some weeding and watering that accompanied the work here.
Dave and I laid out these beams to block in the herb patch. Then hauled up some soil from the veggie garden to create the now herb patch.
Those blindingly white fellas in the back there are the ducks that I loved to watch waddle about.
These guys making me smile.
Look at that nose!!!!!
Then it came time for heading to Spain. Pete and Mark generously drove us to Poole to catch our ferry, where Dave loaded up their car with tons of stuff for his solar panel endeavor he was to embark on upon arriving to Spain. The ferry crossing was ever so smooth, thankfully, and we arrived to Gijón where Dave's uncle and aunt met us to retrieve both us and all of our things. 
I finally managed to snap a photo of the World War I commemorative scarecrows on the way to Poole.
Loaded up and ready to go to Spain with our bicycles.
When we got back to Cerezaléu it was a nice relief to put down all of our things and take a deep breath before plugging away for 11 days of hard work. 
Bienvenidos otra vez.
We got to spend a couple of evenings visiting with Dave's aunt, uncle and cousin who were over visiting from the Netherlands, and that was really good. Then, it was time to plug away at the house for a brief time before our trip to Portugal. I spent the first few days cleaning the house really well, while Dave feverishly worked on his solar panels. 

We both succeeded in our endeavors, and felt quite proud at the end result. I was proud mostly because I made my own cleaners out of non-toxic substances, in my measly attempt to be more 'green.' Basically combinations of wine vinegar, baking soda, water, borax, and castile soap can cure any dust or grime, how cool! The next tip I can give is that it turns out you have to clean about once a week in order for the dust and grime to stay away... 
My penmanship is going downhill in my old age.
Dave, on the other hand, can be remarkably proud of his attempt to be more 'green,' because he goes as far as to self teach how to run a home off of solar energy. He not only succeeded, but went above and beyond, putting in light switches, and rigging up a fuse box and the whole nine yards, I'm well impressed! 
Dave and his solar panels, soaking up solar rays as we speak! 
A terrible picture of his really thoughtful fuse box.
The lamp is running on solar! Yay! This is my favorite, it's the fist lamp that Dave's buddy Gareth made last summer.
Once I finished my deep clean of the house, I got back to my thesis, so I don't have much to say for myself, other than I sent off yet another draft to my professor of my thesis a few days before Portugal. But Dave can say that he has done lots of odd end jobs, like making a coffee table, getting his car ready to sell, preparing the exterior of his house for painting, resealing the well, and the list goes on and on. He's quite the handy man! That said, we still found time for evening walks and time to admire Johnny's fabulous garden. 
Johnny has some veggies that he's let gone over so that he can harvest the seeds for next year, and these leeks look amazing!
I've never in my life seen artichokes gone over, and they produce the most brilliant purple flowers! And attract tons of buzzing bumblebees!

Adios sun, hasta mañana!
THEN finally came the long awaited trip to Porto! When Dave was living in Serbia, he met Nuno, who was also doing a year of European Voluntary Service. To cut a long story short, Nuno is Portuguese, and has since moved back to Portugal with his Serbian girlfriend Olja. Nuno has been begging Dave to come out for a visit, and it was well-timed because Nuno had his birthday while we were there. So not only did Nuno have the great pleasure of hosting Dave, Pete and myself, Nuno's mom and sister also flew up from Lisbon for the occasion. 

We spent three nights in Porto, and it was a lovely trip. The first night we were there Pete hadn't arrived yet and Nuno, Olja, Dave and I spent the evening at their apartment enjoying Olja's amazing cooking, and Nuno's fabulously articulate explanations of port. Since arriving to Porto only in February, Nuno has landed a job at one of the premier Port Houses of Porto, and has learned an immense amount about port. We had a lovely sampling of ruby, tawny and white ports over dinner, and rounded out the evening with a nice walk around the city.

Day two was an absolute scorcher, with temperatures soaring up to 36 degrees Celsius (that's something like 97 + plus some gnarly humidity). Dave and I zipped over to the airport to pick up Pete, and then drove back to the city center for a wander around town while Nuno was at work and Olja was sneakily working on Nuno's surprise birthday party. Due to the heat, the three of us wandered from shady spot to shady spot to avoid heat stroke, but the city was still buzzing with life, and the views were great. That evening we went back to Nuno's for yet another lovely meal cooked by Olja, and more port samplings The night was nicely rounded out by convincing Nuno that we were going to his friend's for a drink, but really there was a surprise party awaiting him when he walked in the door appropriately timed at midnight! 

Day three was Nuno's actual birthday, and he had the day off work, and his mom and sister arrived in the late morning to spend the day with all of us as well. Twas a fabulous day including breakfast, a tour of a port cellar, a walk along the river (Porto is a city with the Duro River at the heart of it all), a proper port sampling at Nuno's work, a lunch in an authentic Portuguese restaurant, and a dinner at a lovely tapas style restaurant with a group of Nuno's friends. 
Porto is on the right, and Gaia is on the left. The Duro River is the city line.
Darwin gives Porto a thumbs up.
Beautiful tiny streets of Porto.
The many bridges crossing the river reminded me so much of Portland, and the great pride everyone takes in the amazing architecture of each one.
Porto's houses/building are covered in gorgeous tiles. I became quite obsessed with photographing these, and felt it only appropriate to make a collage of them.
It is also not uncommon to find hands for door knockers on the houses.
More cool tags in Porto. Playboy girls read books in Porto.
Gorgeous Burmester port cellar.
These massive barrels are storing tons of port for future consumption.
Port tasting round one. Olja and Dave are excited!
All along the river are the beautiful old boats that used to carry the barrels of port down from the Duro valley into Porto. Sadly this is no longer the method of transport, but rather they use trucks nowadays.
I snapped this picture for Lauren - I want mermaids holding up my doorway in my future home, duh.
We're trying to keep cool.
Photo opp here. Me, Pete, Dave, Nuno, Nuno's mom and sister.
Even the less affluent parts of town look absolutely stunning here.
Round two of port tasting at Nuno's work - Kopke - high five for a sample from 1935!
I was apparently having a good time.
This place was the real deal. We had lovely Portuguese soup, and everyone else had some nice fish, and cheesy rolls. The older gentlemen next to Nuno just invited himself to sit down with us, because why not?
And so rounded out or trip to Porto! It was great fun, and Nuno and Olja were excellent hosts. After 3 nights it was time to hit the road, and slowly make our way back to Cerezaléu via Galicia. But technically the remainder of the trip falls in August, so you'll have to bear with me until then for the remaining pictures from our journey. 

I think my favorite part of the trip was that Nuno and Olja had 8 week old baby kittens, and I absolutely fell in love. I hate to admit it, but I think I'm officially a cat person after Maqsum in Barcelona, and these two guys. Thanks July for being ever so lovely.

These two doing dishes, and melting my heart.
How can you not fall in love with these tiny things that fit in your lap like so?