Quelfes, Portugal 14-03-2023 to 12-04-2023

Here’s the thing: it was the best of trips and it was the worst of trips.  Hence the delay in getting this postcard out.

The Good:

The weather was perfect by our standards.  22-25 every day.  Thermometer left in the sun would get to 35-40.  Almost always clear blue skies. No rain for the four weeks.  Wonderful, helpful hosts (e-mail for their contact info), roomie upper floor of a house in the middle of an orange orchard with lemons (and later in the year, pomegranates).  Wander out before breakfast and pick a few oranges to juice for breakfast, go our later for lemons for cocktails as the sun goes down over the swimming pool.

 Fast internet connection, pool, fish tank with the food needed to feed them supplied, friendly dog, short walk to where the village's monthly flea market  and soups and tapas festival take place.  Lots of balconies, roof terrace, two bathrooms...perfect for us at this point in our lives.  Not the near-random itinerant wandering-by-train trips we have done mostly in the past but perfect for now.

In 2018 (see the entry for that trip HERE) we had a few weeks in the same spot, really enjoyed ourselves. The only down side is that in October-November each day the weather gets a little cooler and a little cloudier.  Not that it was ever unpleasant but the trend was a bit...almost depressing.  Not really but kinda.  We thought, rightly as it turned out, that it would work a bit better for us if we went in the spring, when the weather gets better every day but before it gets really hot.

Add Geri's son David for a week and the usual attractions of Olhao, the very nearby fishing town, the beaches on the barrier islands, great little restaurants and bars in an only recently ‘discovered’ bit of the Algarve (so recent that many don’t consider it a part thereof), meetings with some local union folks, the planned overnight trips to Sevilla and elsewhere in western Spain, other bits of Portugal…shoulda been great, right?

Wrong.

The Bad:

Geri’s back is always a problem after a long (the definition of which has been shrinking over time) flight.  But until this trip it has bounced back after a day or two.  Especially when, as we did this trip, we book her a business class seat.

This time it didn’t bounce back.  I will spare you most of the details.  A very painful time for her.  We got to explore the Portuguese medical system a bit.  We bought a wheelchair (our one souvenir of the trip) and Geri, though she made an extraordinary effort while David was with us, spent virtually the whole time after his departure at the house, leaving only for medical appointments and one lunch at a place only a few minutes drive away on our last full day there, just on principle but also in pain.

The wheelchair was even needed for short distances in the house is how bad it was.  Host Martin built a quick and dirty wheelchair ramp so that Geri could more easily get onto her favourite of the five balconies, the one off the kitchen.

We regularly talked about coming home early but in the end Geri decided each time that being in a wheelchair and in pain in sunny, warm weather was better than doing the same at home in the cold.  So we stayed.  The back problem had an impact on some others of her medical conditions as well, just to add the misery.

Since we returned home Geri has been undergoing pretty intensive, almost daily, physiotherapy, been seeing her MD regularly and getting 2 massages a week so getting back to normal or close to it we hope.  Not in the wheelchair as much.  So bad days but the good days are more frequent and getting better.

On Balance:

I feel particularly bad for David, Stepson #1, as his week with us might have included more excitement than the day trip to Sevilla that we were able to fit in and much more of the local seafood.  He travelled all the way from Radium Hot Springs to Olhao just to sit, read, and drink beer, get a bit of sun.

We wanted to do this trip as we REALLY enjoyed it all in the fall of 2018, had cancelled it in March of 2020 for the obvious reason and had been waiting for things to open up enough that we could relive a previous visit to the same house of a few years ago…so hard to say that we shouldn’t have gone.

But for the first time ever I think we can say that we didn’t really enjoy one of our long trips.

But of course nothing can stop me from taking hundreds of photos in and around Quelfes, which you will find HERE and of Sevilla with David HERE.

London and Tolpuddle July 2022 - Scratch One Bucket List Item

This was a solo trip as, for some odd reason, the prospect of joining my in re-living my egghead (academic) time in London and then heading to the countryside for three days of a British union and labour history circus/festival didn’t appeal much to Geri.

 Pearson was a nightmare.  My travel date was right in the middle of the giant mess that the airlines created by trying to fly a normal schedule whilst leaving as many employees on layoff as possible, just cause the pandemic losses needed to made up somehow.  So flights were being continually delayed or cancelled.  On the up side, my Air Canada return fare with one piece of checked luggage (reading the news made me go carry-on only), was less than $700.

 There were lines to get into all restaurants and bars and people were sleeping on the carpeted floors in the duty-free shopping area in Terminal 1.  I eventually got a seat at a table of elderly folks on their way to Israel.  They had been at Pearson the whole day (my flight out was around 19:00) after their connecting flight arrived from Winnipeg.

 My flight was delayed repeatedly so when we were told to go to our gate and line up it seemed as though it might happen and so I popped a couple of cannabis gummies.  Inevitably there was a further delay and so the weed had well and truly kicked-in by the time I boarded.

 Which was a good thing as a couple that had somehow gotten past the Air Canada staff checking luggage for size with two large suitcases masquerading, successfully (!!!), as carry-on, managed to cram their luggage into an overhead bin.  Which promptly collapsed at one end under the weight.

 Thanks to the gummies I found that funny, unlike the fellow who had been sitting under it.

 That generated another flight delay of about a half hour while a tech came and fixed it.  All in all I think the flight was delayed about 5 hours.

 Heathrow was fine in comparison (something I never thought I would say) and I was on the tube and headed into central London right quick as I had only a carry-on.  Long lines at the luggage carousels as a result of staff shortages made me feel downright smart.

 I try and have almost always succeeded in staying at the St. Athan’s every time I am in London.  A comfortable but cheap hotel in Bloomsbury.  I first stayed there in 1984 I think and as I like (am obsessed with?) being a ‘regular’ and because the London portion of my trip was meant to be a nostalgia binge, I had one of the small singles I stayed in for a couple of months in 1989 as well as a couple of times whilst there for shorter periods.

 How small you ask?  Take a gander HERE.

 I wandered around (but not in, as security is now rather tighter than it was in 1989) SOAS and UCL.  I finally, on foot even, made it to the Cable Street Mural (photos HERE), visited the pedestrian underpass at Blackfriars where I was once mugged…all the big tourist spots.  😊

 I also got out to Clapham to see a young old friend now working for the ITF and for a few pints at The Bread and Roses, photos HERE, run by the Workers Beer Company, a worker-owned co-op, one of my fave pubs in London.

 Speaking of pubs, I was able to meet up with David (stepson #1) and his Kate at The Lamb.  Been a regular (as in I drop by for a pint once every 5 years like clockwork) there since 1989 I think.  One of the few pubs in which snob screens (see definition HERE) survive.  Which I love.

 Whilst David and Kate weren’t as enamoured of the snob screens as I am, we did have, I think and hope, a fine time.  I certainly did.  There’s something really lovely about meeting-up with people you know when all are far from home.  We parted, me to continue my goofy farewell tour and them to sleep before heading to Scotland, David having won a lottery that got them tickets to the British Open at St. Andrew’s.

 Photos of our visit at The Lamb HERE and of them in particular HERE.

 Another couple of days of that and I decamped for Muswell Hill in North London for time with Eric Lee and Cindy Berman.  But before zipping up north  I horned-in on Cindy’s birthday dinner for Eric at a very nice Argentinian restaurant not far from my hotel.  Some fine and unusual cocktails were consumed before dinner.  On an embarrassing note, I hadn’t realized that Cindy was picking up the tab for the whole shebang and so ordered us a very pricy bottle of wine.  Despite Cindy’s protests I tried to make up for it over the week that followed but suspect that I failed dismally.

 Eric gave me the tour of his neck of the London woods (literally: some very nice park walks in MH), which on one day included a giant full English of course.  And we spent a day down on the South Bank catching me up on the food carts and restaurants that have sprouted there since I last visited.  One of the restaurants we used for a lunch with another old union fart, Roger Darlington, someone I see regularly about once every 20 years.  Photo HERE.

 An artist of some renown who lives in Muswell Hill hates gum on the sidewalks there and so decorates them, turning them into tiny works of fine art.  Lovely things really.  See HERE.

 Cindy, Eric and I then packed-up and headed to the village of Tolpuddle for the Martyrs Festival.  Cindy drove (I was very glad of this), Eric navigated (we got there, despite Eric never having had a driver’s ticket), and I sights-saw.

 Cindy had booked a lovely Airbnb outside the village (pop. 400).  Photos HERE.

 I don’t know quite what top say about The Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival.  Even though it was the first since the 2020 lockdowns began there were still over 5,000 paid attendees (normally it is close to twice that) plus the folks who don’t pay but who can join in even so. 

 Going to the festival the same year that I attended the London (Ontario) ceremonies at the monument to the Martyrs was near the top of my Bucket List.  Deservedly so as it turned out.

 Labour history workshops, current struggle panels, surprisingly good food, union banner displays, and of course the LabourStart table and presentation.

 It was a union geek and nerd circus all lubricated by the tent set up by The Workers Beer Company (operators of The Bread and Rose – see above).

 Best of all, the LabourStart table in the gallery was right across from the table occupied by a bunch of comrades from TUFAC, the Trade Union Football and Alcohol Committee.  Lovely folks who work at weaning young workers away from yobbism and the far right types who recruit footie fans into racism etc.  This they do with high-quality football gear, a brewery and their own brand of gin and vodka.  They do their own organizing on the side of good but also give away all their profits to support others with more expertise in anti-fascist work.

 I had a really wonderful time and would happily go back, hopefully after the village pub and its rooms above re-opens.  Unless you camp (lots of spaces for it), booking a room there would be the only way to avoid having to drive back and forth each day.  And now that we know how things work LabourStart could have a much bigger presence there if we were to return.

 For more on the Martyrs see HERE.  For my many, many photos of the festival see HERE.

 The Great Heatwave was in the news when we headed back to London.  Put paid to my plans for more wandering.  Hung at Eric and Cindy’s.  The impact of over-40 temperatures (photo proof HERE) on a city where little is air conditioned was quite striking.  Trains cancelled or running slowly.  Most of the Tube trains sidelined.  Shops and other businesses closed. 

 Fab night at a play near their place that I REALLY enjoyed, a Turkish restaurant beforehand.  So, a fine time despite the heat on my last night before Tubing it to Heathrow for long lines on the way home.

 As Bucket List items go this was a great one, in large part because of the company (in order of appearance: David, Kate, Cindy, Eric and Roger)..  And the nostalgia bits fun as well.

 Next up at some point:  The Mother Jones Festival in Cork.

A Week in a Caibarien Casa Particular

Caibarien will be known to folks who have sent some time at one of the Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Las Brujas resorts as the last town before the causeway out to the islands.

We were long-time Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Coco fans.  We started heading to Cayo Coco in 1993, a little overwhelmed by the way Verdero was being developed (when we first started going there were kids camps and people had homes on the beach and you could walk it for an hour without running into anyone).  When the Sol CSM opened we were on the first flight from Toronto and there were years when we managed to fit in three trips there or to the Melia CSM or to the Melia Las Dunas.  We generally alternated between a 'lie down and read and drink for two weeks, then get up and go home' resort trips and a trip somewhere in Canada or to the USA, Europe or Asia for a more active holiday.

We have occasionally stayed at casa particulars elsewhere in Cuba (note on our memorable such are HERE) but we tended to think of Cuba as a place to go for a rest and a read in the sun.

But when I (Derek) retired two and a half years ago my interest in lying around reading in the sun for two weeks faded quickly.  Geri was already a bit tired of resort holidays. 

In short, we were on the verge of skipping our usual trip to Cuba to warm up our winters entirely.

But we 'owed' a visit to a longtime friend who had worked at the Sol CSM and the Melia before 'retiring' to Caibarien to open a casa particular (a Cuban bed and breakfast) a couple of years ago.  We had visited for a tour several years ago and had promised we would stay with Noemi and Roberto.  So last year we combined resort time with a few days at Hostal La Nena.  Details of that trip HERE.

Which went so well we thought we would try a week at Noemi's and see how it would go.

Plus it was the 30th anniversary of our first trip to Cuba as a couple, so of course we had to fit in just one more trip.  :-)

It went really, really well.  We are rejuvenated!  :-)  So much so that instead of saying goodbye to our annual trips to Cuba we're looking forward to a longer stay with Noemi and Roberto next year.

They are just amazing hosts.  It may not even matter that we have known Noemi for almost 20 years as a German couple of a bike tour who wandered in one day looking for a room got the same treatment we did.  The rooms are great (this may say more about me than Noemi and Roberto, but the rooms are the only ones in Cuba or Europe we have stayed in that had facecloths! :-).   Though I don't think we turned on the TV in ours even once.  Breakfast was SPECTACULAR. 

And rather touchingly, we were invited to a couple of family parties with some amazing food (finally!  Lobster stew right off the stove!).  Roberto's mother lives across the street and she came over for a meal and seemed to enjoy the cigar I offered her from my stash.  Noemi's father zips in most days on his motorcycle.  He's a hoot too.  The rest of family was around as well, including their daughter who now lives in Florida.  Some worries about her ability to visit in future given how the US has reversed itself and started tightening the screws again.

Noemi, Roberto and their Hostal La Nena get a rave review from us all.

So does the coffee shop across the street run by a lovely elderly couple from their front room, using a window as a counter.  Regulars (I think I almost became one) have to stop for a while as there are of course no disposable cups and the coffee is strong enough to require some time.  People chat, fix bikes, consult on various problems, then turn in their glasses and head to work.  I think Roberto was at first a little worried about me going over there for a coffee but eventually believed me when I said that I found it fun, it was no reflection on his coffee or the time of the (early) morning when he made it.  He even gave me some 'national currency' to use instead of CUC.  Which I sent off to some young friends who collect currency while using CUC to pay for my morning caffeine supercharging.

So, rather oddly, it looks now as though our pattern may be a month in a villa in Portugal 'resting' from the labours of retirement, alternating with a few weeks in Cuba having a more active holiday.  A reversal of our usual pattern.

The week was lovely, the weather about perfect.  We did spend one day in Remedios as a kind of stopover on the way to the airport and to see the casa particular a friend, Darlene, who had been with us for the week at Noemi's, had booked as she continued her trip.

Lots to see and do around Caibarien.  We became regulars at a few spots.  But the balcony just steps from our room and the comfie rocking chairs on it held their attractions as well.  Especially around noon on a hot day or before leaving for dinner (Roberto and Noemi will do you a dinner at a reasonable price but as they had family with them all week we stuck to eating out).  The balcony is not only shaded and comfortable, but it provides a good view of street life and so can be more entertaining than you might imagine.  :-)

For those who don't know, Cuban resort food is in no way, shape or form representative of Cuban food and so we ate rather well.  Did some walking about town to compensate.  We had good meals at Coliseo and another Italian spot right on the town square whose name we can't recall.  The nearby Pocurull was a fine spot for a beer or two and some fries, despite the potato shortage (an annual event in January we think) but, sadly, our experience there last year for dinner means we cannot recommend it.  Resort food and by far the most expensive meal we had by a factor of four.

The worst we can say about the Coliseo is that the servings are too large.  Once Geri and I split a plate of paste and we were both stuffed.  And one night the three of us each ordered a pizza and left stuffed and with doggy bags in hand.

One day we walked off the previous evening's meal by heading up past the rail works to the cemetery at the south end of town.  Always fun no matter where you are, but Cuban cemeteries have more ornate tombs than most.   Which of course took us past the giant statue of a crab (the town symbol) which some folks who travelled to Cayo Santa Maria more than a decade ago with remember as the airport bus would go past it before the bypass was built.

The plaza was only a few minutes walk from La Nena.  Pretty.  A classic.  Even a band in the gazebo in the centre one day.  Some restored buildings around it plus an hotel is going into a colonial (I think) structure on the north side.  Sadly, construction was on hold while we were there as there had been a death on the worksite a week prior.

The plaza hops at night.  And there is a giant kids playground right there should you have a few in tow on your visit.

One way for us to get there was to walk down a boulevard with a median that has statues scattered along it.  Mostly local notables from the 20 and 30's who paid to have them put up and a few heroes of the War of Independence.

A long walk for me (but Geri and friend Darlene took a short cab ride there) was the beach.  Nice spot for a beer on a sunny day, the bar (there are others in the two hotels there) pleasantly wacky.  Nice cats and chickens wandering around the place.  Beach seems nice enough but I have to admit I didn't go for a swim.  Next time. 

A highlight of our walks was the town market day.  Hard to describe, so check out the photos.  The snacks, especially the sesame seed bars, are killer.  Geri found her bliss in a bag of pork crackling.

On a couple of days we had friends who work at the resorts drop by.  Once even brought dinner for us to enjoy at La Nena.  Others managed visits for a drink or two and some chat.  And our longtime bud Yeuset not only dropped by but met us a few days later in Remedios, gave us a tour of the really very lovely hotel on the plaza where he now works, then invited us to his mother-in-law's birthday party at his house.  Which has been added-to since we last saw it and is really a lovely home in a friendly neighbourhood.

Remedios was a day in the rain (the last day of our trip and the only day that didn't have perfect weather, so no tragedy) but we still had fun wandering around.  There is a bar we have been going to for almost twenty years that we had to stop in on.

The only downside to this kind of stay is that I got in only a few hours of tanning on the lovely rooftop terrace at La Nena.  Mornings up there with coffee as the sun came up and evenings with a beer (La Nena has an honour bar in the dining area) as it went down made up for it.

We made a drop of medical supplies at the hospital thanks to the wonderful folks at Not Just Tourists.  They provide a shoulder bag or suitcase, your choice, fill it with medical supplies and depending on where you are going them can even provide a connection to a medical facility at the other end for the hand-off.  As always the drop was a highlight of the trip, a chance to see things you hopefully wouldn't otherwise, like a hospital or polyclinic.

The only serious downer was the flights.  We'll skip Sunwings next time and go straight to Transat or AC, even if it costs more.  But on a positive travel days note, the special services folks at Abel Santamaria were amazingly helpful getting us through things on the way home, including the Sunwings rep who helped get us into the VIP lounge (which was great as always.  Fun to see all the staff and catch up on stuff). 

Hostal La Nena is on Facebook HERE.

Not Just Tourists can be found HERE.  They have chapters with pick-up points scattered across the country.

Our photos can be found HERE.

A note on costs: Airfare, room, food, booze, the odd cab including too and from the airport (organized by Noemi and Roberto) all came to a bit less than half what it would have cost us to stay at the Melia CSM for the same week.