Ola from Portugal

Beginning in April of 2022, my partner and I set sail on a transatlantic cruise from Florida, USA, to Barcelona, Spain, with plans of slow-traveling and backpacking through Europe while writing.

June 2022 – We are watching the American news and our hearts go out to those affected by the flooding in Yellowstone. I spent the summer of 2018 working at Reservations in Mammoth Hot Springs and we lived in our RV in the town of Gardiner for five months. Now, seeing the floodwaters do so much damage is a tough thing to watch, and we send prayers to those brave souls affected.

 It’s been an extra-warm June in Coimbra, Portugal, a hilly and beautiful university town with a long and fascinating history. Our Airbnb is on the outskirts of the main city area, which is just how we like it. Less congestion and tourism and a more casual feel, offering insight into how the locals live everyday life. It’s a condominium with a spacious kitchen for Mr. Rogers to experiment with yummy recipes, and a sixth-floor deck where I love to veg with my coffee in the morning, or a glass of wine in the evening. My sister is map-challenged, along with myself. The picture above is a screenshot I made for her so she would know where we were. LOL

So… there’s this awesome Italian restaurant only a few steps away. We ate there the first day we arrived while waiting for check-in time at our Airbnb, after a red-eye flight and lugging a million pounds of luggage. I’m sure we looked a sight, but the owner/manager treated us like royalty and the food was to die for! So was the icy-cold Italian beer which I’m embarrassed to have slugged down. Reservations seem to be more of a thing in Europe, and when we decided to go back a few days later, I went online to book dinner reservations.

Easy peasy, right?

Not so much. After closer inspection, I realized the pictures on the web didn’t look familiar. As it turned out, I had made reservations for an $$$$ Italian restaurant coincidentally by the same name in ROME.

…Whoops.

I tried to do the right thing and cancel the reservations, since (duh) we weren’t going to make it to Rome. Yes, I did recently learn how to zip around the neighborhood on a Bolt electric scooter (pretty proud of myself). But that wasn’t going to get me to romantic ROME by dinner time. 

Unfortunately (palms sweating), I wasn’t able to cancel the reservations in time and can only assume I am now officially on the restaurant mafia hit list. The terror is real. If I disappear one day, you’ll know what happened. We told our manager friend about my faux pas and he laughed along, impressed that there was a restaurant by the same name in Rome!

~~~ In other exciting news:

• The Portuguese people are awesome, and though we totally butcher the language, they are so forgiving and helpful. Obrigada!
• Markets all have an abundance of bacalhau or dried and salted codfish, and your nose rebels as soon as you walk in the door. It’s an acquired smell, trust me. We were told that bacalhau is the basis of many staple recipes in Portugal and over the centuries the ocean was overfished and alas, no more cod. Nowadays, the bacalhau is imported from Norway. I apologize if this isn’t completely correct, but it is what we were told. 🙂
• (City of) Porto wine caves are the bomb. Take a tour if you ever get the chance. The authentic caves are across the river in Gaia, and we visited one called Sandeman. I saw reserve bottles dating back to 1908, and I understand they have some much older than that. 
• “Reserve wines” can be hundreds of years old and don’t turn to vinegar. Imagine that. Never know when you may need that particular piece of trivia. 
• We have been hard at work with several writing projects, including Origin of the Rose (A Prequel).
• Time-travel romance Journey of the Rose (Book 2 of the Twisted Rose Saga) is now available on Amazon in Kindle Unlimited, as well as eBook, paperback, and yes…hardback!