Well, we are at it again, here is a bit of background information for you! We’ve been in Trancoso for two years now and we’ve been wisely using our time to further explore South America and a bit of North and Central America and the Caribbean. But of course, you know that if you’ve been following us. We’ve been feeling a bit restless and we are always talking about the possibility of new places to live, where we would be closer to other places and that would suit our lifestyle better. We kind of narrow it down to 6 places, Portugal, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia and Thailand. We do a bit of research in relation to visa possibilities and narrow it down to Portugal and Greece. We call both embassies and suddenly Portugal feels like a real possibility. We put in a visa application in December and in March Paul gets his visa and I will come as family reunion. So, it is time to pack again, Portugal, here we come!
So we leave Trancoso on the 13th of April for another long road trip, it is going to be our 4th in just four months, no wonder we’re are so tired… We have been to Salvador, Bahia twice, once for the interview at the Portuguese consulate and once to pick up the passport, and that’s our second trip to Rio in a month, so that would be all together approximately 8,000 kilometres in less than four months. This time we also have the added stress of a long road trip with Jack and Penny on the back seat, we worry a lot as they never travelled for so long and are not that fond of travelling by car in the first place. Well, we obviously underestimated how awesome our dogs are. They are so cool, get a bit tired but behave so well and settled in just like royalty at our friend’s place, where they are going to stay until they can come to join us.
You would think one gets used to packing and organising as this is kind of the 5th time we do it, well, think again! We are so tired from sorting things out, packing things away and ongoing massive exercises on detachment, adding up a few going away parties with our friends and family, both in Trancoso and Rio, we are almost delirious by the time we board the cruise.
We leave Rio on the 21st of April, on board the Splendour of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship we’ve been on before (when we came back to Rio from Barcelona at the end of the long trip in 2012). You know the deal if you’ve been following us. It is a relocation cruise, so we don’t stop in many places, it is kind of boring but convenient as we have no baggage limit and can take a lot of stuff with us. So used to travelling light, this time we have 4 huge bags besides our trusted backpacks. Well, in case you haven’t guessed yet, we are going to live in Portugal. Paul applied for a resident retirement visa and I am coming along as a family reunion. Well at this stage, boring feels really good as we rest and eat and sleep and rest again for the first 3 days and then some more. Also, we are seated for dinner with 3 couples, all of them around 30 years of age, pretty unusual for a cruise, right? Maybe the cruise guys are finally realising how immature we really are, so we fit right in!
We have a stopover in Tenerife, Canary Islands in Spain, where we rent a car and go for a drive around the pretty historical towns and the volcanic beaches. We also get reunited with two of our favourite things, red wine and the internet. One more day at sea and then we reach Malaga, in Spain, our final destination on the cruise which actually ends in Barcelona. As we have way more luggage than usual, we get a bit worried but the guys on the ship, the Spanish customs and the taxi drivers who take us to our car rental place are unbelievably helpful. We get our car and drive around 6 hours to our destination, Portimao, in the Algarve, south of Portugal. We check in at the Atlantic Choice Apart Hotel, very nice and spacious one bedroom apartment with pool and very close to the beach. We rest on the Sunday and have lunch at the Bacalhoa restaurant, don’t miss it if you are ever around, an awesome little famous place in the historical town, On Monday we put our things in storage and are free to explore the place. We are initially a bit shocked how overbuilt with holiday apartments the places are and the lack of historical sites, which attracted us to Portugal in the first place. We start thinking that we may have to come up with plan B in terms of location. We also need to get things going in relation to our visas with SEF, the Office for Foreigners and Borders. So we get there and ask the nice lady what we need to do to get the ball rolling and it all seems pretty straight forward and we seem to have all the documents required all duly notarized by the Consulate in Brazil, thanks guys!
On the second day we go to Silves and start thinking it is not that bad as it has at least a bit of history and a bit less over-roasted tourists. We also have an “arroz com polvo”, rice with octopus, at the Barril restaurant where we talk to Cesar and he reassures us a bit about the Algarve and the weather. Well, let’s give it another shot! Lets get back home and check out a few new places. We spend a week exploring the Algarve - Portimao, Silves, Sagres, Lagoa, Lagos, Tavira, Cacela Velha, Aljezur, Monchique, Albufeira, Alvor, Manta Rota, Vila Real de Santo Antonio, etc There are as many sunburnt Northern Europeans as there are holiday flats, the prices are going insane as it is almost the beginning of the summer season, and the more we explore, the more we think the Algarve region is not for us, time to move on, but first, a short break in Spain.
