Revolução dos Cravos/The Carnation Revolution

One of the more important days in modern Portuguese history was the Carnation Revolution, a military coup that took place on April 25, 1974. Now, April 25 is a national holiday, also known as Freedom Day, when government offices close and many locals have the day off work.

We didn’t really have any plans for today but as it turned out, it’s been a rather full one for us.   It started early morning when we headed out to the courtyard to wish a fond goodbye to Louis Denis, Joanne, Jean, and Louise who headed off for Lisboa then onward tomorrow morning for Canada.  We will be missing their lively presence in our Quinta.

 It was such a lovely morning that Marc suggested a walk and not being one to pass up on a lovely walk with company, especially Marc,  off we headed.  The countryside continues to astound with the abundance of wildflowers still in bloom or blooming since our last outing.  We both enjoyed it immensely.

What a truly beautiful rose bush!!!! I would love to have been able to get in the garden and close enough to smell these.

The fields were aglow with the colour purple……I do think it’s a form of thistle but not 100% certain.

Bougainvillea is absolutely everywhere right now, and deeply rich in colour

The lantana is making a home in the cactus.

This is my second favourite colour of bougainvillea.

I am still amazed to see the various flowers on the aloe vera.

Succulents are popping up all along the roadside and also throughout the stone walls.

The white is my favourite bougainvillea.

This is called a Globe Thistle and they are in abundance right now. They are used in many of the cheeses here.

The broom is peppered throughout the mountainside.

My happy fella, enjoying the morning stroll, which was almost 7 kms.

This is the house that our friends Carole and Andre rented a couple of years ago. A couple of great parties were held here!!!

Jerusalem Sage.

These red berries are covering a vine, all the stone walls are covered in them. I can’t find out what it is and birds don’t seem to bother the berries…..perhaps not a good sign?

This cluster, looking like tiny grapes, is just starting to turn red.

Wild roses growing profusely throughout an abandoned building and up an olive tree.

Marc picked a rose for Patricia. AHHHHHH how cute!

This is about the size of a dollar coin!

The common poppy, which to my eye is anything but common.

Wild gladioli were all along our route. I thought they would have been done by now but they seemed to really love the sheltered roadside.

Marc sitting in a bed of Spanish Iris. They were growing along the side of the road.

Poppies are never boring.

Four of these lovely fellows, and yes, they were all fellows, were grazing near the Quinta as we arrived home.

I love the look on his face.

This is just around the corner from our house.

Just as we arrived home Marc announced to me that he had a project he wanted to work on related to his art and I had a sudden thought that maybe Patricia and I could head off to Silves and Alte.  It worked out for all of us and within minutes of arriving home we two were headed off into the mountains and Marc had the solitude of the house to accomplish his task.  Win win!!

The drive was simply breathtaking today.  We’ve had a couple of days of necessary rain and the depth of green and other colours throughout the countryside was brilliant.   We arrived in Silves around 14h00, went immediately to eat at a Taverna I knew of then we hit the streets.  The day couldn’t have been more perfect for our chosen activity.

We both devoured grilled turkey breast with an egg…I love that tradition…..and extremely delicious homemade chips!

Bottle brush and a very happy Patricia

I’ve walked past this doorway many times but it was never open. These are all geraniums.

I couldn’t have posed this one if I had tried!!!

The main square was a blaze of pink from the flowering trees.

In a hot pink…..and then….

in a lovely brilliant white.

The trees were enormous and full of blooms.

I liked the pink flowers against the pink building.

The main square pointing towards the old medieval gate.

Tell me this isn’t one happy soul?

This would make a lovely coat rack!!

I love to visit this gallery. Was surprised today to find he has closed off half the store and significantly reduced his work and display space.

This was inside a tiny garden down a narrow street I had never wandered before.

I thought the tilework quite beautiful

The Cross of Silves.

Look at the textures in this wall.

For Gwen McCauley!

Yes, Patricia walked all the way to the top and practically jogged down!!! Oh wait, that was gravity!!!!!

The commemoration of the day.

I loved this colour.

Delightfully painted and decorated Moorish doorway.

The window to match the last photo.

OK…green is my favourite colour and this shape kind of spoke to me.

The thorn amongst the roses???

I thought Patricia looked great in this hat. You can’t see the brim but it’s all floral and hat made of cork.

Another thorn amongst the roses!!!

WOWSERS

This photo was taken right next to the other one. Your eyes were confused!!!

A flowering chestnut tree.

We popped into the celebrations to listen to the musicians.

I thought this was an interesting mural to have painted on the side of the local fire station. They use this building for training purposes.

This lovely chimney was in Alte. I can’t say I noticed it before, and I’ve been here many times. Am thinking maybe, just maybe, it was recently painted.

Local musicians in Alte working the crowd and getting toes tapping and hips a shaking!

A perfectly marvelous and very spontaneous day.  I think usually those are the best kind of days.   We took a slow mountain route home in order to extend the experience and both of us ohhing and ahhhing at the colour along the route.   We arrived home to find that Marc had had great success with his “project”, dinner was well under way and within moments our afternoon drinks were prepared………pastis and sparkling water for me, white port and tonic for Patricia and Campari and soda for Marc.   The light was dancing all around the living room, the music was lively and we three toasted to the good life and how blessed we all are.