Hi,
Sorry about the delay. I know Chris promised more updates coming soon on his previous blog, but he just didn’t understand what life was bringing. Chris has been putting in as many hours as he can each week in an effort to overcome recent money troubles. I want to thank everyone who helped us during this difficult time. You are truly, truly wonderful and we are truly, truly grateful.
We are getting back to calm seas, but that entails Chris working seven days a week with wildly differing daily schedules. He is coping, but we are not getting out to see things due to the unpredictable timing of his work hours. Still, we have been able to get out for a short time and see two things which I need to mention. Both things were free to enjoy, and the dogs were able to go with us without restriction.
The first thing is that we went grocery shopping. Yeah, I know, grocery shopping is a chore, not something to write home about. But the town where we shop is called Montemor-o-Velho (i.e., Montemor the Old) and, in addition to three grocery chains in a two-block radius, the town also boasts a huge castle named ‘Castelo de Montemor-o-Velho’ (58G8+7V Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal). It is a lovely castle in great condition (and not just for its age – it is in great condition all around), and it is visible from one of the grocery store parking lots. That’s where I was when I first saw the castle. Of course, we had to drive over and see what was inside the impressive walls of the keep.
The castle is located on a hilltop in the middle of the city. It is visible for miles around (which I appreciate while I am waiting in the car with the dogs while Chris shops). Because I didn’t want to only see the castle from afar (it is about ¾ of a mile to the castle from the grocery store) we drove over to see if the castle was open. It was, and our dogs were permitted inside the grounds. We walked around the inner wall of the castle. We didn’t see everything or even find out if the interior of the main tower area was open to the public, but we will get back to you on that. I did pop inside the church that was in there (Igreja de Sta Maria da Alcáçova; Pedra com inscrição) and take a video, hopefully that will be uploaded soon. We didn’t have time to see everything (we had groceries in the car), but I can assure you that we will go back.
Unfortunately, because we had not planned to visit a castle that day, we did not bring the Go-Pro with us. This meant I used my phone mostly for taking a video of the inside of the castle, instead of getting pictures. Chris took a few pictures on his phone, despite having his hands full with Opal and Onyx. But, we didn’t get as many as we would have liked. Also, the video is not very steady because I was walking and holding my camera in front of me without any stabilization program, but it is all we have right now. If we ever get it processed and loaded up, you will be able to find it here. With any luck, we will get back to the castle and film a better video in the not-so-distant future.
The second thing we have done this month (I know! An entire month and only two outings – it’s like we aren’t really retired!) was to visit Leiria to walk around the Christmas Market. Leiria Natal is held in the beautiful city of Leiria which is about an hour south of our home. The Market stalls are arranged in a park in the middle of the city, and the entire area (including surrounding streets) are decorated with Christmas lights. The market area has a train for the kids, a skating rink, various crafts and foods for sale, a tunnel of light, a carousel, and a sparkling Christmas tree. And best of all, this beautiful landscape of holiday splendor is overseen by Leiria Castle (P5WR+V6 Leiria, Portugal), which sits on a hill above the market below. It was quite impressive, and the holiday vibe was palpable. We all enjoyed ourselves, including Opal and Onyx (as they made friends wherever they went).
The reason we were able to get to Leiria Thursday was due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Chris had no hours to work, so we could roam further than the grocery store. I’m glad we got out, because I was reminded about how beautiful Portugal is, and how friendly the Portuguese are. From the Leiria dog park to the Leiria Christmas market, we met and spoke with folks who were all friendly and happy to make our acquaintances (mostly Opal and Onyx’s acquaintances, but I’m not jealous).
So, we are looking forward to the opportunity for Chris to wrangle a better schedule so that we can get out more often to see what Central Portugal holds in store for us. Once we do, I will let you know what we find. Talk to you later!
Nola
N.B. – The Leiria dog park is easy to get to (P6M3+V2 Leiria, Portugal). It is in a larger people’s park (which includes a skateboard area), so the parking seems to be plentiful. The dog park is smallish with no separate big dog/small dog enclosures but seems well-maintained and has agility training items as well as water for the dogs. The location was lovely, right next to a river and walking trails, so there is a choice – walk the trails with your dogs on leash or let them run off-leash in the fenced-off area. We were in a bit of a rush, so we opted to get the dogs into the dog park and then head on over to the Leiria Natal downtown.