Tag Archives: Number 3

Day 6 – Recuperating

After yesterday’s long drive to get to Italy, it was officially our rest day today. Unfortunately, the kids don’t understand the concept of “sleeping in” and thus, we were awake way too early again.

It was a bit chilly when we got up but breakfast is a good way to cheer everybody up. Afterwards we just went to explore our immediate surroundings: The waterfall of Acquafraggia first of all. It is a five minute walk from our campground and we can see it from here through the trees. On the way there, we found a cool place with access to the river where Number 3 put his feet in already. He was generally amazed by the rapid flowing water.

The waterfall itself was loud and there was a lot of spray so Number 3 stayed back a little, while both Flo and I got ourselves a little refreshment when we got close. 🙂 The Agent of Entropy had no choice but to go with Flo but since she didn’t complain it couldn’t have been too bad.

With our spirits high and the temperature rising to a lovely 21 degrees, we started to walk to the next village over to see if we could find a little restaurant for lunch and a shop to buy some groceries. Though the walk was basically along the main road but on a pedestrian footpath, we saw lots of animals. The lizards especially fascinated Number 3. There was also a little chicken hut where we spent about 15 minutes trying to convince Number 3 to keep on moving.

The village of Prosto di Piuro is rather small. We still found the artisan bakery/cookie shop for me to buy some fruit bread, cookies, jam and a bottle of red wine in.

To be honest, Flo and I didn’t know how travelling would be during the pandemic and if we’d feel unsafe. We are really impressed with Italy at the moment as everybody seems to be “no nonsense” about the rules. EVERYBODY wears a mask. And correctly, too! Not just covering mouths or such silly business as I often see in Frankfurt. Everybody keeps their distance if possible and they just get on with it!

Shopping was a pleasure even if I had to stretch my almost non-existing Italian. We didn’t find a restaurant in our price range that was open but we found the little supermarket to buy some groceries.

We hurried a little on the way back as it was time for lunch and everybody was hungry. That turned out to be a bit of a drag for Number 3. Even so, he refused to have a midday nap after lunch. Chilling on the campground in the afternoon was an exercise for our patience. Only when Number 3 observed the guy on the lawnmower and started role playing it did things improve again.

By dinner time the Agent of Entropy was causing havoc while Number 3 redeemed himself by being a superb sous-chef.

Day 42 – Off the record

When we got up in the morning, it became clear: The trailer right behind us wasn’t abandoned. Oh no, we had camped right in someone’s “frontyard”. No wonder the voices seemed so close and also so amused last night. So far, nothing moved inside. We decided to pack up and have breakfast somewhere else, feeling very uncomfortable with staying in the spot we were in.

It took us until 8.15am to get ready to go…when we were halted by a closed gate, a closed reception and no one around. Flo suggested to leave 10€ as payment and then just go but the gate turned out to be locked. We couldn’t get the car out. A door for pedestrians was open however so we decided to wander around, looking for a café to have breakfast in. “Pastelaria da Ponte” was exactly the kind of thing we were looking for. It provided much needed coffee, treats and some space to get over the embarrassment that we invaded someone else’s sphere with camping last night.

We were back at 9am, sure that now we definitely could leave. The reception was still closed but miraculously, the gate was now open. Plus, a lady arrived at the same time as we did and she offered to take our payment. So we left. Having at least paid someone.

It was our last day in Portugal. Flo had picked a route through the mountains of the National park as our last bit of route and a pastelaria at the end as well. The drive was scenic and full of surprises. Suddenly everything seemed wetter, lots of green plants and waterfalls around. Number 3 slept through all of it so we just enjoyed the ride.

He woke up when we stopped at the pastelaria. I think, he’s got a motion sensor in his bum or something stupid like that. As soon as we stop, he wakes up. Flo had made sure that it was a decent bakery where we would buy our last pastel de nata but everything looked so good that we ended up buying a little extra as well as bread for our picnic lunch.

It felt like lunch time already so we had an eye out for a good spot. Flo then found a sign pointing to a picnic area. Following the road which turned into a dirt road and then into a rugged dirt road…we decided we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. But the landscape was beautiful just maybe a bit of shade would be nice for our break. Finally, we arrived at the picnic area which was by a stream with patches of birch trees and…cows. Well, young steers. Luckily, they were a bit away from the benches. I am not sure how interested they’d gotten into our lunch otherwise. We thoroughly enjoyed lunch, ending with an orange as dessert. Number 3 had a language update and does now repeat words. Oranges in particular seem to be to his liking so he often asks for them. For some reason he has decided that they are called “ayah” and cannot be dissuaded despite Flo’s and my best efforts of telling Baby that this is an orange.

Soon after, we crossed the border back into Spain. The border was ridiculous. Just a tiny, single lane bridge with the letter “E” carved into it. We are officially on our way back. It feels weird and also appropriate at the same time. Seriously going to miss pastel de nata though.

The camp ground of choice was close to a National park, not too far from Santiago de Compostela which we want to visit tomorrow. We arrived there at 3pm and looked forward to some planning of what to do on our way back. The camp ground was closed down. Not closed just now, not for the season, no just permanently closed down. The forest was very pretty though and a little river ran next to the road. We shortly discussed what to do and looked up the city camp ground in Santiago de Compostela which was the only other reasonable option. So we drove on for another 50 meters and then Flo turned around. It was 3.30pm now, the optimal time for coffee and tea and we even still had the last pastel de nata with us. So we stopped and had the best coffee break in a prime location just for ourselves. An hour passed, then nearly two. We kept finding reasons why we needed to stay a bit longer: It was so nice here, Number 3 needed to run around and explore a bit longer, the city camp ground was probably ugly and loud so it is better to spend some time here…

Finally, I stated the obvious thing. If we ever wanted to wild camp on this trip, this was probably it. We wouldn’t find a more convenient place or time to do it. It was one of Flo’s not so secret wishes that he wanted to wild camp as we had done on Home to Home. Here was the chance. Probably the only one I would grant him, so he leaped on it.

While exploring the track with Number 3, he came upon the picture perfect camp spot, next to a little waterfall. Other people had used it as a camp spot in the past as there was a little fire pit made of stones and a tiny play hut made out of dry branches.

So we stayed there. For one night off the record.

our gate crashing site
one of the two briges from here
just a great day
green all around, with springs to boot
down there, we camped
a great road as well
one of many waterfalls on the way
we actually crossed the border three times today – portugal – spain – portugal – spain.
more granite formations
reminds me of menhirs
views on the hilltops around, back in portughal
great road through the high mountains
final village in portugal
off road commuter car? Go go Blue George!
Nina loves cows 😉
no time to waste
everybody enjoying our lunch spot
right, finished
Number 3 testing his new skills
Who? Why .. this is for kids?!
I love europe. This is how we leave Portugal
perfect spot for a break, right?
first, some hot beverages
where might this track lead to?
the perfect camp spot!!
With our own private waterfall for the night!
almost cover shot material? It was a great spot, anyway!

Day 40 – Good bye Douro

We had a lovely morning at the camp site and before we left we even got to chat to the owners one more time. Number 3 patted more dogs and then hung out on the swing for a while.

To make this trip east worthwhile, we decided to keep going for one more hour until Pinhão. It’s the second city in the region called Alto Duoro, the first one being super touristy. Now, we were in the wine region proper, even if we didn’t spot Graham’s vineyards. We did however see Sandemann and Taylor’s name pop up in the landscape.

I think granite formations are becoming my new favorite after …

Pinhão was “on the wrong side of Rüdesheim” to speak in Flo’s terms. Very touristy still, quite pricey and really just our point to say goodbye to the river Douro. It was lunch time though so we sat down to have an underwhelming, expensive meal somewhere at the riverfront (Flo: I know codfish is a national institution, but dry, overly salty grilled “cod-loin” is nothing to recommend).

From here on, we go north until, eventually, we leave Portugal and enter Spain again, in a couple of days. After lunch, we drove towards a camp ground on the other side of the Parque natural do Alvão. The park was super pretty again and we were glad to have come that way.

When we left again around 4pm, we found another cute café in Mondim de Basto to have pastel de nata. Again. We have to have them a couple more times before we leave. 🙂

Afterwards, we looked for the camp ground. It took us a while to find the signs leading us there as the navigation was no good in this case. The Quinta do Rio was probably the closest we have come to a DOC camp site on this trip. And we had it all to ourselves, no other guests had made their way here. Setting up our roof tent with a lovely view onto the river, we were wondering why. Is it because power is limited to solar energy and thus big camper vans are not allowed? Or simply the fact that you have to actively look for it to find it? Or is it too rustic for European tastes?

True hospitality for the whole family
Hmm, lemons fresh from the garden …
The road went up an down …
… allowing for some great vies of the valley
cool statue 😉
Almost gone …
the vinyards contiue far past the Douro valley, though
I think granite formations are becoming my new favorite after …
… so much limestone on our big trip
A little reservoir high up in the park
hmmm … I almost look human again after the Porto haircut (and some pastries)
he ate almost the whole thing …
Keeping wee one from stepping right in
I tried to force him to go barefoot again but stopped after stepping into thorns 10 seconds in …
just us – I mean even “full” this would be a great site
The pool was a spring fed old trough …
… just perfect for number 3 to explore

Day 27 – Lisboa encore

You’d think that with not much packing required (staying put and not even chairs to be used) we’d be quick as to get going. Well, no is the answer. Maybe it is the missing drive of a travel day. We did a bunch of things in the morning, though. Breakfast no.1, some more blogging preparation and the attempt of a shower. I say attempt, since the solar heated water reservoir had been thoroughly emptied by party goers last night.

That was not the only thing going a bit off script. We had a late start to begin with, since Number 3 had another bad night – at least he extended official rest time till 8 am to compensate. Long story short, it was maybe 11 am by the time we hit the bus. Good thing we were not going as far today.

We arrived at Belém only 20 minutes later. The main draw here is a 15^th century monastery, build on the riches of Portugal’s Indian trade routes. It was actually officially commissioned in honour of Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a route to said India. Interesting parallels to our last trip come to mind, where we saw multiple times the other end of that golden age in Timor Leste and Oman.

Before we would do any of that, though, a spirit boost was in order. The lines in front of the monastery made us anxious. We wandered a brief while considering our options and decided on 2^nd breakfast and a later lunch in town. There was another line in Belém full of tourists – the one in front of the famous pastry shop that claims to have invented the Pastel de Nata, here called Pastel de Belém. But we skipped the line for the much better option of sitting down inside the labyrinthine place and getting served our pastel and coffee like proper people. They were good – but a place that churns out maybe 10,000 of them in a day can only do so much. It was worth it for the crazy atmosphere.

With enough sugar and caffeine in our bellies, we were ready for the lines – and they were gone. Somehow we managed to slip into the adjourning church as the very last two people before it was closed to the public for a wedding. We saw Vasco da Gama’s grave while the choir already warmed up.

Out again, we bit our pride and got in line for tickets for the monastery proper. It was rather late, but we managed to push lunch out. As we stood in line we got tapped by two ladies telling us that people with little kids can skip the line and go to the special service counter. We could not yet quite believe it when the security guy saw us and pulled us out. It was true! In our cheerful mood, we even thought of looking out for another set of parents in the now much longer line and made one couple out in the bright noon sun very happy indeed.

The monastery was impressive, but most is probably told in the pictures. Once we felt we had taken in the place, it was time for lunch. Something that could best be come by back in central Lisbon. There would be time on the tram to figure out the details. After a bit of deliberation, and ruling out a bunch of places too far out of where we wanted to go, we decided on Indian food. Hey! First of all, big cities are food free for all, and secondly Portugal has a colonial history in India. I even ended up going for the Goan speciality (lamb in tamarind sauce) – it was great!

After that, we had only one more item on our list: Ginjinha shots! I had seen it yesterday but felt like this might be not the best idea before gaming, so today it was on. The drink, apparently first served in the joint we picked (A Ginjinha) is a super sweet cherry liqueur served with or without a soaked cherry. For some reason, I managed to talk Nina into a round of 3 pm shots in 28° C heat. It was decided afterwards that the best next step would be coffee and another bite to eat. We managed to get offered weed three separate times on the same square in the space of a minute. Do we look that much in need of a fix?

Coffee was excellent, but it was time to head home. Days with the little one in the carrier are tough. Plus, the bus ride is still almost an hour and we had some blogging to catch up on. All of it worked out surprisingly well.

Belém has retained a very small town feel
Guard in front of the presidential palace
Yeah, nah …
… much better
Authentic twist is cinnamon on top – not a fan
Some real money went into this …
super detailed stonework
much better preserved than most we have seen
obligatory church shot
little one impressively quiet
Grave of the great navigator … for a european 😉
Portuguese coat of arms
Number one and three on the loose
They had their meals here …
… under the watchful eyes of Hieronimus
inward perfection, hm?
two stories
this wing houses a museum, nowadays
they can do pompous in 17th century style as well
Asleep just before lunch … hmmm …
The elevator had a line like the cable car during cruise ship visits … all it does is skipping the hill
SHOTS!
COOOFFEEEE!!!
they managed a solid flat white!
I had no appetite left, but apparently Number 3’s was fine …

Day 0.2 – Hard to get going …

Since this is a relatively short trip for us, only two month for what will roughly be around 10,000 km, we had initially planned to make the most of our time and start on the first real day off. That would be today.

To cut right to the chase though, we will not start today. We could, if we really wanted to, but there are a few threads left hanging that we want to finish up before heading off. It proves true once more that anything takes just that bit longer when you add a child into the mix. So what are we waiting for?

Go Vote!

First of all, given the political climate at the moment, we really want to make sure to be able to vote in the European parliamentary elections. Few things count as much as casting your vote when you are as worried about some current trends as we are. Unfortunately, ballot papers for early mail-in voting are only made available 6 weeks ahead of time, which will be on Monday, 8 am, in our case.

Health

We timed it just right for Number 3 to get his final round of vaccination shots before we had to leave, but it seems he might have developed a mild reaction. Nothing to worry yet, but better to have an eye on it at home with our family doctor close by, just in case.

It is probably a good idea as well to take a minute or two to take a breather at home and see how the two of us are holding up. In all the hustle and bustle of everyday madness, certain things get overlooked. Now is a good time to get checked out and just relax a day or two more.

Loose ends

As any traveler would know, there is always another thing that you could do before getting off. A few audio books to decide upon, fine tuning the sleeping and blogging arragements and the like.

Finally, we might take the time to take care of some long neglected little bits. Seeing that exibition that we wanted to go to for months now, sorting some stuff in the house and so on.

So Monday seems like the day now. One cannot leave these things for too long, there will alway be reasons. Time to get moving …

Chaos roaming the world

random pieces of life of Nina and Florian