Assuaging the Artist

An outing to Tavira, the objective, stocking up on canvases and art supplies for my resident artistic creator. Success! And now the madman is set free!!! LOL

I have to correct something I said the other day. I mentioned that we have not seen any “menu completo” since arriving. Both our lunch yesterday and today was in fact a “menu completo“. Therefore I stand corrected, they do still exist. Today we ended up at one of our favourite stops.

The “menu completo”, for 10€ each…..olives/bread/butter/salad/half a litre each of whatever you want to drink/main/dessert/coffee. It was fun to see Dinis, to be greeted with such enthusiasm with enquires of our health etc. and a big “welcome back”. And the usual, “if you finish anything and you want more, just wave”. In all the years we’ve been going there, we have yet to be charged extra for any of the extras we’ve asked for.

As a side….today would have been the birthday of Marc’s sister, Lucie. We drank a toast to her memory. We miss her all the time.

While Marc shopped for his supplies I parked, enjoyed a small walkabout then sat on a café in the sun enjoying a bica , people watching, and of course, listening to try and improve my Portuguese skills. I experienced a few more “pinch me” moments as I basked in the sun and recognized how deeply I was relaxed. Zen is my new frame of mind.

We decided not to hang around and explore more of Tavira today but instead to head back towards Fuzeta and enjoy a walk through the salt flats. What special memories that area holds for me as it was my first introduction to Portugal many years ago.

Today has been as predicted, sunny morning and clouds moving in for the afternoon. It did hit 19 degrees in Fuzeta but the wind was up a little, which made us decide to head home to have lunch. Our minds changed as we neared Dinis’s and as it turned out, a very good decision as we had the outer patio virtually to ourselves right up until we were ready to leave.

Arriving home we found a delightfully, festive wrapped package hanging on our door handle at the Quinta. Upon opening it we discovered a selection of homemade cookies from Konrad and Ewald (I guess you could call them our landlords). Needless to say, the kettle was plugged in and tea was prepared. Just one more thing to make us feel welcomed and at home.

And finally, years ago I was given a present and was told to always keep it with me. It “lives” in my travel wallet and today when paying for our bicas, it popped out to make itself known. Thank you PM!!