Some friends say I travel a lot so I've decided to do some statistics since it's been almost a year I moved back to London. So, in
12 months I've made
40 flights in
19 trips, from which
12 times to Portugal and
7 outside,
3 new places and
0 new countries.
Same will say it's a lot but I do know some people who travel more than that, usually professionally or academically. On average I went to Portugal once a month for festivities, birthdays, weddings and to visit family and friends. Ironically I don't know the UK that well which is a shame.
Showing posts with label viagens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label viagens. Show all posts
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Juhannus
Juhannus is Finland's celebration of Midsummer (equivalent to S. João in Portugal) and it's their most important holiday after Christmas. During Juhannus Finns flee from the cities into wood cottages near the water. This year I was fortunate to be invited to celebrate Juhannus in Finland with 20 people from all over Europe.
My trip didn't start the best way, my first flight (to Helsinki) was delayed 40 minutes. Upon arrival I had to run full speed to my next flight's boarding gate barely arriving on time to find out that flight was late 40 minutes. Life has its ironies... From Helsinki I flew to Tampere from where part of our group drove to the eastern coast, somewhere around here (google maps).
We reached a peer and took a boat to my friend's cottage which is in small island with some other 10 cottages.
The cottage has no running water or toilet but it has a sauna! The toilet was located outside in another sort of cottage. And it has a window so one could contemplate nature while he did his thing :) Quite relaxing!
But life in the cottage implies working, usually before doing sauna, or as the Finns say sauna Hiki (to sweat before sauna).
Here is a boulder we dug up to move it to the lake. It took some 5 or 6 of us, a couple of heavy metal rods and two logs used as levers and a hour or so. But after that hard work the sauna felt sweeter :)
Juhannus is all about tradition, so we had Karelian Pies for breakfast (pastries filled with rice and covered with egg butter).
We also had our Juhannus birch tree.
On Juhannus night we did a big bonfire near the sea, of course.
We also had 90 liters of Sima, a typical Finnish homemade brew ranging from 5% to 9%. Very pleasant and refreshing :)
And on Juhannus day we had pea soup! Not the best tradition...
Another Finnish tradition, the vihta, made of boughs of birch tree it's used in the sauna to beat oneself on the back for relaxing the muscles and calm the skin after some mosquito bites (which were huge there). We ended up beating each other not very gently :)
After sauna we usually went to swim in the sea which felt quite good. We usually alternate between sauna and sea some three times. Here's the access we used to dive in the sea.
We usually would this till quite late. At that latitude it never really became dark so we never quite knew what time it was... The sun rose at 4:30
The rest of our cottage life was relaxing, some traditional games, some barbecues...
Enjoying nature...
And of course, drinking.
My trip didn't start the best way, my first flight (to Helsinki) was delayed 40 minutes. Upon arrival I had to run full speed to my next flight's boarding gate barely arriving on time to find out that flight was late 40 minutes. Life has its ironies... From Helsinki I flew to Tampere from where part of our group drove to the eastern coast, somewhere around here (google maps).
We reached a peer and took a boat to my friend's cottage which is in small island with some other 10 cottages.
The cottage has no running water or toilet but it has a sauna! The toilet was located outside in another sort of cottage. And it has a window so one could contemplate nature while he did his thing :) Quite relaxing!
But life in the cottage implies working, usually before doing sauna, or as the Finns say sauna Hiki (to sweat before sauna).
Here is a boulder we dug up to move it to the lake. It took some 5 or 6 of us, a couple of heavy metal rods and two logs used as levers and a hour or so. But after that hard work the sauna felt sweeter :)
Juhannus is all about tradition, so we had Karelian Pies for breakfast (pastries filled with rice and covered with egg butter).
We also had our Juhannus birch tree.
On Juhannus night we did a big bonfire near the sea, of course.
We also had 90 liters of Sima, a typical Finnish homemade brew ranging from 5% to 9%. Very pleasant and refreshing :)
And on Juhannus day we had pea soup! Not the best tradition...
Another Finnish tradition, the vihta, made of boughs of birch tree it's used in the sauna to beat oneself on the back for relaxing the muscles and calm the skin after some mosquito bites (which were huge there). We ended up beating each other not very gently :)
After sauna we usually went to swim in the sea which felt quite good. We usually alternate between sauna and sea some three times. Here's the access we used to dive in the sea.
We usually would this till quite late. At that latitude it never really became dark so we never quite knew what time it was... The sun rose at 4:30
The rest of our cottage life was relaxing, some traditional games, some barbecues...
Enjoying nature...
And of course, drinking.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Koninginnedag
Koninginnedag or Queen's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 30 April (the 29th if the 30th falls on a Sunday), Koninginnedag is Queen Beatrix's official birthday. (...)
Koninginnedag is known for its nationwide vrijmarkt ("free market" or flea market), at which many Dutch sell their secondhand items. It is also an opportunity for "orange madness" or oranjegekte, for the national colour, when the normally straight-laced Dutch let down their hair, often dyed orange for the occasion. -- Wikipedia
This year I went to my first Queen's Day. I flu to Amsterdam on a Thursday (gladly Prince William got married on Friday so no need to waste a vacation day) and got there in time for dinner and then a techno show featuring Richie Hawtin & Marco Carola!
Next day there were some preparations for Queen's Day such as buying beer and lastly there was Queen's Night. Queen's night is like the warm up for next day. We had dinner at a friend's place, went out to a square where there was a stage with live music and lastly we hit some bars. The streets were crowded and a general good mood with most people dressing orange. In the end riding our bikes home was quite an adventure :)
Finally Saturday. We all put on our orange shirts, mine already had a few years but was the first time I wore it. We managed to go out around 14h which was rather late as festivities start in the morning. On Queen's Day the streets are full of stands selling all sorts of things, everybody is dressed orange and most people are drinking and carrying beers (we had backpacks full of them).
Every other square has a stage with music and people dancing. The atmosphere is fantastic!
People celebrate not only on the streets but also at home and in the canals.
And dress in all sorts of ways...
At 20h all stages close down (strangely early) but I suppose it's because there is a lot to clean...
For us the party continued indoors where he had music and some 80Lt of beer for 40 people! Surely an unforgettable day...
Koninginnedag is known for its nationwide vrijmarkt ("free market" or flea market), at which many Dutch sell their secondhand items. It is also an opportunity for "orange madness" or oranjegekte, for the national colour, when the normally straight-laced Dutch let down their hair, often dyed orange for the occasion. -- Wikipedia
This year I went to my first Queen's Day. I flu to Amsterdam on a Thursday (gladly Prince William got married on Friday so no need to waste a vacation day) and got there in time for dinner and then a techno show featuring Richie Hawtin & Marco Carola!
Next day there were some preparations for Queen's Day such as buying beer and lastly there was Queen's Night. Queen's night is like the warm up for next day. We had dinner at a friend's place, went out to a square where there was a stage with live music and lastly we hit some bars. The streets were crowded and a general good mood with most people dressing orange. In the end riding our bikes home was quite an adventure :)
Finally Saturday. We all put on our orange shirts, mine already had a few years but was the first time I wore it. We managed to go out around 14h which was rather late as festivities start in the morning. On Queen's Day the streets are full of stands selling all sorts of things, everybody is dressed orange and most people are drinking and carrying beers (we had backpacks full of them).
Every other square has a stage with music and people dancing. The atmosphere is fantastic!
People celebrate not only on the streets but also at home and in the canals.
And dress in all sorts of ways...
At 20h all stages close down (strangely early) but I suppose it's because there is a lot to clean...
For us the party continued indoors where he had music and some 80Lt of beer for 40 people! Surely an unforgettable day...
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Pearl Jam Live x5
Almost one year since my last post! It's been a long time... Interestingly this almost looks like the continuation of my previous post.
New year, new Pearl Jam tour and more concerts - Escalation! as my good friend Luís puts it. This idea started very stupidly as all great ideas do. Pearl Jam announced an European tour and I told Luís "I'm planning to watch Oeiras' concert and London's so I can visit some friends. Why don't you pick another concert and I'll go with you". His answer: "Why not watch more?". I told him to pick which ones he wanted and we ended up with 5 in continental Europe (we skipped the London one). By January we had all tickets except for Portugal.
In good Portuguese fashion we started planning our trip one week before. Plane tickets were already too expensive so we bought InterRail passes. As we were both busy that week we barely managed to plan our outbound trip. The rest would be done while travelling. On Friday I took the SudExpress and then the TGV to Paris and met Luís on Gare du Nord as he had job training in Switzerland the day before. Took some typical Portuguese food with me :)
Paris. On our thin plan we intended to meet Vivi, spend the night in Paris and take the 1st TGV to Brussels but the seats were all taken, damn! Alternative: 3 normal trains and spend the night in Brussels. That allowed us to see Lille before we anticipated and a little ghost town called Tournai. I call it ghost town as we barely saw any people till we arrived the centre.
Brussels. How to spend a night in Brussels without spending too much money on lodging? By spending it drinking some of the 2000 beers available in Delirium! They even have Sagres and Super Bock! By 7am Delirium was closing and we were on our way to the station to catch the train to Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, beautiful Amsterdam. Here we met our limp (due to teared meniscus) friend Ivo who welcomed us to his place and took us to our first concert - Rock In the Park, Nijmegen. We didn't go immediately as I forgot the tickets and we had to go back:$
Upon arrival we had this brilliant idea of filling our camelbaks with wine and martini to avoid dehydration during the concert. Unfortunately the festival's organization didn't agree with this and they threw all of it away :( A horrible sight... Apparently it was forbidden to bring alcohol inside so they can capitalize by selling their own, bastards! Apart from that we watched Ben Harper singing Under Pressure with Eddie Vedder. Pearl Jam opened the concert with "Evolution" setting the pace for a breathtaking concert. Things only calmed down when they reached the 6th song "In My Tree". Vedder didn't lose too much time talking and they were able to squeeze 19 songs in 90 minutes. When their time was up we could see on their faces they didn't want to leave so early... Setlist
Tuesday morning was spent in Düsseldorf sightseeing.
By 19:30 we were in Berlin. Found a hostel, checked in and ran for a biergarten to watch Portugal lose against Spain. Seeing Portugal leave the World Cup took all our motivation to go out so we got back to the Hostel.
Next day we strolled a bit around Alexanderplatz and then we went to Wuhlheide. We had fan entrance which gave us early entry and also access to a fan area where we could talk with other fans. Because of that we were able to secure a nice place right in front of the stage. First Ben Harper which performed brilliantly, he really is an amazing guitarist! And then Pearl Jam. Here they played a more "relaxed" concert, more songs (31) and more talk with the audience. An amazing setlist including "Spin the Black Circle" which I heard for the second time and its terrific live. The most incredible moment from all the concerts we've seen was the way Black ended. The crowd kept on clapping and singing tut, tu-ru-ru, tut tut tu-ru-ru for a long time while Eddie put his hands on his face looking very touched. Afterwards he thanks the crowd and at some point, while talking he stops and cries. Then, by Gossard's suggestion he asks for a moment of silence for the Roskilde victims who perished 10 years before. Unforgettable!
Youtube: Moment of silence.
Next day was spent walking in Berlin which is much bigger than I ever imagined, totally worth it!
At night we caught the night train to Amsterdam to spend another day with Ivo after his knee surgery. Watched Netherlands beat Brazil and spend the evening in the park with new friends. Before going to bed we still had time to check some train schedules for the next day.
Saturday morning we left early. It was pouring so we took a taxi to the train station. How come on a 10 day trip the only day it rains is the day we are camping? Murphy's law I guess... Stopped in Brussels, ran to our next train which we barely caught and a few hours later we were back in Lille. Here we had another TGV ticket reservation adventure, this time to get back to Portugal. Initially there weren't any more InterRail discount tickets available and they wanted to charge us 72€. But later after playing around with the computer they got us TGV tickets going through Paris with discount. Still each one of us paid 36€. From Lille we caught a train to Arras.
Arras, a small city in France. Upon arrival we went to the camping park to set the tents. Luckily it wasn't pouring any more, just some drizzle. Afterwards we went to the Main Square. The festival area is located in a sort of old town which Vedder would later tell us it was some sort of military facilities. Military or not it was nice scenario for the concerts.
When we arrived Julian Casablancas was playing but the sound was terrible. It was so loud everyone was buying ear-plugs (which the organization sold for 5€!!!) and the highs were distorting. We couldn't get close to the stage and at that point we feared the other concerts would be like that. Luckily we were proven wrong. Phoenix gave a very good concert and Gomez was good as usual. Then we saw a bit of a French aberration called -M- which his music resembled some of Pink Floyd and Queen classics though the lyrics were French. And then Ben Harper. This time he started the concert alone and slow, just playing his guitar. You could feel the crowd was anxious and a lot of excitement was piling up. When he started singing there was a burst of joy. Great reception from the French crowd, it made that concert amazing. Later Pearl Jam. Highlights: brand new song called "Of The Earth", looks promising. After the encore Ben Harper joined the band to play Red Mosquito with the characteristic sound of his guitar. One of those moments... The concert itself was short, only 17 songs. That night the tent floor felt more comfortable than usual, maybe because it's better than sleeping on a train seat:D
Next day we were up early to catch our train to Lille. Unfortunately the train was late and ruined all our scheduling. We would end up arriving Werchter 2h later than planned which cost us the Alice In Chains concert:( In Gent we took the chance to leave our backpacks and stroll around a bit. It was almost deserted though they had lots of bikes!
Inside the festival. The barriers were set in a funny way. The area near the stage was confined between barriers and to access it there was an entrance similar to road tolls with green/red lights. Basically one could only access this area if it wasn't too crowded. Luckily we were able to get there before Them Crooked Vultures started and they gave an excellent concert! After that and still on the same spot we watched Pearl Jam. The setlist was a bit similar to Arras', but still a very good concert full of energy. Highlight: Alain Johannes and Dave Grohl collaboration on "Kick out the Jams".
As the concert finishes I receive very good news, a friend of mine got me a ticket to Pearl Jam in Portugal, they were sold out at that time:) From then on we started our retun home. Slept on Leuven's train station while we waited for the 5:30 train to Gent. Picked up our bags which we left in a locker and got on a train to Lille. Bought some groceries and had breakfast on the station. TGV to Paris. TGV to Irún. Went to ticket office and we're told the SudExpress to Lisbon was full. The other SudExpress would leave 24h later, trains to Madrid only in the morning, argh. We asked for an alternative and he suggested we ask the train controller to let us in and so we did. First the guy told us he wasn't sure if we could go in. We stressed and put our best abandoned dog faces. 10 min before the train left he told us to get in and warned us we might have to go up if there were no seats at a given time. Well that never happened and we had a nice trip home. Arrived Lisbon at 10:20, had some time for two Super Bock Minis and then bus home :D Never a shower felt so good!
4 days later, Luís discovered he didn't actually have a ticket for the Oeiras concert but only a voucher which was already too late to exchange. Sometimes life is unfair... I ended up going alone and it turned out to be a fantastic concert, quite different from the previous four. So many good songs which are not always played like: Release (one of my top 3 opening songs), In Hiding, Glorified G and Smile. During the past concerts we were always watching the technical team tune up an standup bass but Ament never used it and we keep wondering for what song was it. In Oeiras I got the answer: Nothingman:) The whole concert had great moments with Vedder talking a lot to the crowd. "You guys are the best singing crowd in the world!" that was really something special and a confirmation of what me and Luís had been saying all along. In Portugal Pearl Jam doesn't sing for the crowd but sings with the crowd! There was the scary/sad part where he sad it would be the last show in a long time. Hope it's just a pause for their personal different projects and Cameron's Soundgarden. The end of Black was great. The most magical moment was Betterman. Vedder let us sing more than usual and before he "joined" us he says "Can't find better crowd". And then of course, there is the good old "Portugal Portugal Improv" (lyrics below) which I heard live for the first time, but was the third they played. Beautiful concert. Setlist.
During all concerts I noticed two sets of microphones pointing to the crowd. Does this mean they are doing bootlegs of all the tour like they did on previous years? Certainly hope so.
We have a many friends from here
Makes us feel like home
Since the first time that we landed
Here in Portugal
Portugal Portugal
And now it's coming to the end
I dont wanna know/go?
If you let me I will move here
and live in Portugal
Portugal Portugal
Blitz report
New year, new Pearl Jam tour and more concerts - Escalation! as my good friend Luís puts it. This idea started very stupidly as all great ideas do. Pearl Jam announced an European tour and I told Luís "I'm planning to watch Oeiras' concert and London's so I can visit some friends. Why don't you pick another concert and I'll go with you". His answer: "Why not watch more?". I told him to pick which ones he wanted and we ended up with 5 in continental Europe (we skipped the London one). By January we had all tickets except for Portugal.
In good Portuguese fashion we started planning our trip one week before. Plane tickets were already too expensive so we bought InterRail passes. As we were both busy that week we barely managed to plan our outbound trip. The rest would be done while travelling. On Friday I took the SudExpress and then the TGV to Paris and met Luís on Gare du Nord as he had job training in Switzerland the day before. Took some typical Portuguese food with me :)
Paris. On our thin plan we intended to meet Vivi, spend the night in Paris and take the 1st TGV to Brussels but the seats were all taken, damn! Alternative: 3 normal trains and spend the night in Brussels. That allowed us to see Lille before we anticipated and a little ghost town called Tournai. I call it ghost town as we barely saw any people till we arrived the centre.
Brussels. How to spend a night in Brussels without spending too much money on lodging? By spending it drinking some of the 2000 beers available in Delirium! They even have Sagres and Super Bock! By 7am Delirium was closing and we were on our way to the station to catch the train to Amsterdam.
Amsterdam, beautiful Amsterdam. Here we met our limp (due to teared meniscus) friend Ivo who welcomed us to his place and took us to our first concert - Rock In the Park, Nijmegen. We didn't go immediately as I forgot the tickets and we had to go back:$
Upon arrival we had this brilliant idea of filling our camelbaks with wine and martini to avoid dehydration during the concert. Unfortunately the festival's organization didn't agree with this and they threw all of it away :( A horrible sight... Apparently it was forbidden to bring alcohol inside so they can capitalize by selling their own, bastards! Apart from that we watched Ben Harper singing Under Pressure with Eddie Vedder. Pearl Jam opened the concert with "Evolution" setting the pace for a breathtaking concert. Things only calmed down when they reached the 6th song "In My Tree". Vedder didn't lose too much time talking and they were able to squeeze 19 songs in 90 minutes. When their time was up we could see on their faces they didn't want to leave so early... Setlist
Tuesday morning was spent in Düsseldorf sightseeing.
By 19:30 we were in Berlin. Found a hostel, checked in and ran for a biergarten to watch Portugal lose against Spain. Seeing Portugal leave the World Cup took all our motivation to go out so we got back to the Hostel.
Next day we strolled a bit around Alexanderplatz and then we went to Wuhlheide. We had fan entrance which gave us early entry and also access to a fan area where we could talk with other fans. Because of that we were able to secure a nice place right in front of the stage. First Ben Harper which performed brilliantly, he really is an amazing guitarist! And then Pearl Jam. Here they played a more "relaxed" concert, more songs (31) and more talk with the audience. An amazing setlist including "Spin the Black Circle" which I heard for the second time and its terrific live. The most incredible moment from all the concerts we've seen was the way Black ended. The crowd kept on clapping and singing tut, tu-ru-ru, tut tut tu-ru-ru for a long time while Eddie put his hands on his face looking very touched. Afterwards he thanks the crowd and at some point, while talking he stops and cries. Then, by Gossard's suggestion he asks for a moment of silence for the Roskilde victims who perished 10 years before. Unforgettable!
Youtube: Moment of silence.
Next day was spent walking in Berlin which is much bigger than I ever imagined, totally worth it!
At night we caught the night train to Amsterdam to spend another day with Ivo after his knee surgery. Watched Netherlands beat Brazil and spend the evening in the park with new friends. Before going to bed we still had time to check some train schedules for the next day.
Saturday morning we left early. It was pouring so we took a taxi to the train station. How come on a 10 day trip the only day it rains is the day we are camping? Murphy's law I guess... Stopped in Brussels, ran to our next train which we barely caught and a few hours later we were back in Lille. Here we had another TGV ticket reservation adventure, this time to get back to Portugal. Initially there weren't any more InterRail discount tickets available and they wanted to charge us 72€. But later after playing around with the computer they got us TGV tickets going through Paris with discount. Still each one of us paid 36€. From Lille we caught a train to Arras.
Arras, a small city in France. Upon arrival we went to the camping park to set the tents. Luckily it wasn't pouring any more, just some drizzle. Afterwards we went to the Main Square. The festival area is located in a sort of old town which Vedder would later tell us it was some sort of military facilities. Military or not it was nice scenario for the concerts.
When we arrived Julian Casablancas was playing but the sound was terrible. It was so loud everyone was buying ear-plugs (which the organization sold for 5€!!!) and the highs were distorting. We couldn't get close to the stage and at that point we feared the other concerts would be like that. Luckily we were proven wrong. Phoenix gave a very good concert and Gomez was good as usual. Then we saw a bit of a French aberration called -M- which his music resembled some of Pink Floyd and Queen classics though the lyrics were French. And then Ben Harper. This time he started the concert alone and slow, just playing his guitar. You could feel the crowd was anxious and a lot of excitement was piling up. When he started singing there was a burst of joy. Great reception from the French crowd, it made that concert amazing. Later Pearl Jam. Highlights: brand new song called "Of The Earth", looks promising. After the encore Ben Harper joined the band to play Red Mosquito with the characteristic sound of his guitar. One of those moments... The concert itself was short, only 17 songs. That night the tent floor felt more comfortable than usual, maybe because it's better than sleeping on a train seat:D
Next day we were up early to catch our train to Lille. Unfortunately the train was late and ruined all our scheduling. We would end up arriving Werchter 2h later than planned which cost us the Alice In Chains concert:( In Gent we took the chance to leave our backpacks and stroll around a bit. It was almost deserted though they had lots of bikes!
Inside the festival. The barriers were set in a funny way. The area near the stage was confined between barriers and to access it there was an entrance similar to road tolls with green/red lights. Basically one could only access this area if it wasn't too crowded. Luckily we were able to get there before Them Crooked Vultures started and they gave an excellent concert! After that and still on the same spot we watched Pearl Jam. The setlist was a bit similar to Arras', but still a very good concert full of energy. Highlight: Alain Johannes and Dave Grohl collaboration on "Kick out the Jams".
As the concert finishes I receive very good news, a friend of mine got me a ticket to Pearl Jam in Portugal, they were sold out at that time:) From then on we started our retun home. Slept on Leuven's train station while we waited for the 5:30 train to Gent. Picked up our bags which we left in a locker and got on a train to Lille. Bought some groceries and had breakfast on the station. TGV to Paris. TGV to Irún. Went to ticket office and we're told the SudExpress to Lisbon was full. The other SudExpress would leave 24h later, trains to Madrid only in the morning, argh. We asked for an alternative and he suggested we ask the train controller to let us in and so we did. First the guy told us he wasn't sure if we could go in. We stressed and put our best abandoned dog faces. 10 min before the train left he told us to get in and warned us we might have to go up if there were no seats at a given time. Well that never happened and we had a nice trip home. Arrived Lisbon at 10:20, had some time for two Super Bock Minis and then bus home :D Never a shower felt so good!
4 days later, Luís discovered he didn't actually have a ticket for the Oeiras concert but only a voucher which was already too late to exchange. Sometimes life is unfair... I ended up going alone and it turned out to be a fantastic concert, quite different from the previous four. So many good songs which are not always played like: Release (one of my top 3 opening songs), In Hiding, Glorified G and Smile. During the past concerts we were always watching the technical team tune up an standup bass but Ament never used it and we keep wondering for what song was it. In Oeiras I got the answer: Nothingman:) The whole concert had great moments with Vedder talking a lot to the crowd. "You guys are the best singing crowd in the world!" that was really something special and a confirmation of what me and Luís had been saying all along. In Portugal Pearl Jam doesn't sing for the crowd but sings with the crowd! There was the scary/sad part where he sad it would be the last show in a long time. Hope it's just a pause for their personal different projects and Cameron's Soundgarden. The end of Black was great. The most magical moment was Betterman. Vedder let us sing more than usual and before he "joined" us he says "Can't find better crowd". And then of course, there is the good old "Portugal Portugal Improv" (lyrics below) which I heard live for the first time, but was the third they played. Beautiful concert. Setlist.
During all concerts I noticed two sets of microphones pointing to the crowd. Does this mean they are doing bootlegs of all the tour like they did on previous years? Certainly hope so.
We have a many friends from here
Makes us feel like home
Since the first time that we landed
Here in Portugal
Portugal Portugal
And now it's coming to the end
I dont wanna know/go?
If you let me I will move here
and live in Portugal
Portugal Portugal
Blitz report
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Intense weekend in Portugal
Last weekend in Portugal was a blast! Still recovering from it...
Arrived to Lisbon and a friend of mine from university took me to his place where together with other friends we played a nice poker session till midnight. Next morning I got my repaired car from my grandpa and went to Lisbon for my last dissertation interview. After some annoying questions like "why are you taken so long to finish your Masters?" and a demonstration of their system I was told I would get the job :-)
Back to Setúbal, had some nice pizza at "Pizzaria Bonfim", bought groceries for dinner and hit the beach with a couple of friends. This time I went to Galapinhos beach, my first time this year! Went directly from the beach to the kitchen to cook a typical "Bacalhau com Natas" (cod fish with cream) for me and 5 close friends. Lesson from that day: cooking for 6 is different than cooking for 1 or 2! We had a beautiful wine to go with it: Reguengos 2005 Reserve. Everyone ate their food and no one died, which made me feel proud:) Afterwards we had some crepes with ice cream:)
We finished that night on the terrace of a bar called "Três 15 dias". My first time there and is not bad at all, lovely atmosphere though the staff is not the most welcoming one...
Saturday went south to Carvalhal. A 100km car trip (the ferry boat is now to expensive to be worthwhile) to meet a friend I haven't seen for 6 months! Last time I saw him was when he visited me here. The weather was not good enough to go to the beach so we opted to drink some beers in a esplanade and then had lunch in a restaurante just outside Carvalhal. Afterwards got back to Setúbal.
The night started out with a dish of "Secretos de Porco Preto" in Don Xicha and a nice bottle of wine in the company of a lovely friend. And then we went to a birthday party in our friend's house. Saw some old faces and caught up on lost time and some lost "minis" (20cl bottles of beer) :D Afterwards Kaneco and then Clubíssimo (used to be a nice big club, now it's just ridiculous. After Clubíssimo close (around 6 or 7) we went near the river where the birthday guy remembered it was a good time for swim. It has his day so I wasn't going to say no, so me and another friend join him in a morning swim. Hope it helped to make that day more memorable;)
After barely sleeping 4 hours the phone rings, an uncle of mine asks me to help him carrying some "boxes". The "boxes" included two baby beds and a cabinet. Nice exercise to cure a hung over:) After lunch with my brother I spent a nice afternoon by a friend's swimming pool. From there I went directly to Lisbon's airport where I caught my (late) flight home.
Can't wait for next weekend in Portugal which will include the company of some friends from London:)
Arrived to Lisbon and a friend of mine from university took me to his place where together with other friends we played a nice poker session till midnight. Next morning I got my repaired car from my grandpa and went to Lisbon for my last dissertation interview. After some annoying questions like "why are you taken so long to finish your Masters?" and a demonstration of their system I was told I would get the job :-)
Back to Setúbal, had some nice pizza at "Pizzaria Bonfim", bought groceries for dinner and hit the beach with a couple of friends. This time I went to Galapinhos beach, my first time this year! Went directly from the beach to the kitchen to cook a typical "Bacalhau com Natas" (cod fish with cream) for me and 5 close friends. Lesson from that day: cooking for 6 is different than cooking for 1 or 2! We had a beautiful wine to go with it: Reguengos 2005 Reserve. Everyone ate their food and no one died, which made me feel proud:) Afterwards we had some crepes with ice cream:)
We finished that night on the terrace of a bar called "Três 15 dias". My first time there and is not bad at all, lovely atmosphere though the staff is not the most welcoming one...
Saturday went south to Carvalhal. A 100km car trip (the ferry boat is now to expensive to be worthwhile) to meet a friend I haven't seen for 6 months! Last time I saw him was when he visited me here. The weather was not good enough to go to the beach so we opted to drink some beers in a esplanade and then had lunch in a restaurante just outside Carvalhal. Afterwards got back to Setúbal.
The night started out with a dish of "Secretos de Porco Preto" in Don Xicha and a nice bottle of wine in the company of a lovely friend. And then we went to a birthday party in our friend's house. Saw some old faces and caught up on lost time and some lost "minis" (20cl bottles of beer) :D Afterwards Kaneco and then Clubíssimo (used to be a nice big club, now it's just ridiculous. After Clubíssimo close (around 6 or 7) we went near the river where the birthday guy remembered it was a good time for swim. It has his day so I wasn't going to say no, so me and another friend join him in a morning swim. Hope it helped to make that day more memorable;)
After barely sleeping 4 hours the phone rings, an uncle of mine asks me to help him carrying some "boxes". The "boxes" included two baby beds and a cabinet. Nice exercise to cure a hung over:) After lunch with my brother I spent a nice afternoon by a friend's swimming pool. From there I went directly to Lisbon's airport where I caught my (late) flight home.
Can't wait for next weekend in Portugal which will include the company of some friends from London:)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Fim-de-semana longo em Portugal
Fim-de-semana longo em Portugal: desta vez tirei a 6ª feira de férias. Foi um fim-de-semana terapêutico, fiz imensa praia e arrumei a casa no que toca alguns assuntos académicos, pessoais e emocionais. Ironicamente a casa literal, mais propriamente o meu quarto, permanece desarrumado!
O arranque desta pausa foi lento. Em parte por não ter combinado nada a priori, um grande erro quando se quer ver vários amigos e familiares, e porque houve mais uns percalços. O vôo chegou atrasado, perdi autocarros e acabei por ir de comboio. No comboio, via telefone, descobri que não iria ter carro pois estava avariado. A chave ficou presa na ignição e o meu avó, coitado, teve que tratar de tudo... além do stress numa idade em que não precisa deles. Acabei por ir a pé da estação de comboio até casa por (falta de planeamento) não ter ninguém para me ir buscar. A única parte chata disto é que a bela da calçada portuguesa não é trolley friendly.
Na Sexta tratei de um assunto académico pendente deste Junho, a atribuição da dissertação de mestrado. Tive uma entrevista com o meu, talvez, futuro orientador que ficou satisfeito e me passou à 2a fase: entrevista na Zon.
Ainda voltei a Setúbal a tempo de almoçar na casa dos meus avós, hospitaleiros como sempre. Ao final da tarde, fui dar um mergulho na praia de Galapos com amigos que não via há demasiado tempo. Para concluir o dia, um jantar de aniversário com muitas caras conhecidas e algumas novas que se revelaram ser pessoas muito agradáveis. A festa terminou numa discoteca manhosa em Palmela, mas como o grupo era porreiro isso não afectou a noite.
Sábado, almoço na casa dos meus tios mais novos em que se comeu o belo do frango da Crisbeta. Ainda houve espaço para uma conversa profunda sobre assuntos da alma. Calhou muito bem porque há tarde teria na praia dos Coelhos uma conversa de "arrumação sentimental" que já estava 5 meses atrasada. À noite, um jantar na companhia de amigos próximos de longa data na Taverna da Ladeira regado com tinto (excepto para os meninos) :P
Domingo, passei o dia na praia dos Coelhos com o meu irmão, "cunhada" e um outro casal. Estacionar revelou-se um pesadelo. Devido ao aumento dos preços dos barcos para Tróia, as pessoas passaram a ir para as praias da serra dificultando a vida a todos. Dificuldades à parte, passou-se um grande dia, Até aproveitei para fazer algum exercício e nadei desde os Coelhos até Galapinhos.
O regresso, tal como a ida foi atribulado. A easyjet ofereceu-me um atraso de 1h15 e o pessoal de terra do aeroporto de Gatwick contribuiu mais um pouco ao nos deixar em pista uns 15 min. Perdi o comboio das 0:15 para London Bridge, tendo que apanhar o comboio Gatwick Express às 0:50 para Victoria Station que custa o dobro e fica mais longe de casa. Com o autocarro e andar até casa só me deitei às 2:20. Obrigado Easyjet por me roubar horas de vida!
Grande conclusão do fim-de-semana, planear bem as coisas (como fazia antes) para conseguir ver as pessoas. Não posso estar à espera de chegar, fazer uns telefonemas e a malta aterrar de pára-quedas.
Daqui a 10 dias novo fim-de-semana longo:) Nem Londres me afasta da praia!
O arranque desta pausa foi lento. Em parte por não ter combinado nada a priori, um grande erro quando se quer ver vários amigos e familiares, e porque houve mais uns percalços. O vôo chegou atrasado, perdi autocarros e acabei por ir de comboio. No comboio, via telefone, descobri que não iria ter carro pois estava avariado. A chave ficou presa na ignição e o meu avó, coitado, teve que tratar de tudo... além do stress numa idade em que não precisa deles. Acabei por ir a pé da estação de comboio até casa por (falta de planeamento) não ter ninguém para me ir buscar. A única parte chata disto é que a bela da calçada portuguesa não é trolley friendly.
Na Sexta tratei de um assunto académico pendente deste Junho, a atribuição da dissertação de mestrado. Tive uma entrevista com o meu, talvez, futuro orientador que ficou satisfeito e me passou à 2a fase: entrevista na Zon.
Ainda voltei a Setúbal a tempo de almoçar na casa dos meus avós, hospitaleiros como sempre. Ao final da tarde, fui dar um mergulho na praia de Galapos com amigos que não via há demasiado tempo. Para concluir o dia, um jantar de aniversário com muitas caras conhecidas e algumas novas que se revelaram ser pessoas muito agradáveis. A festa terminou numa discoteca manhosa em Palmela, mas como o grupo era porreiro isso não afectou a noite.
Sábado, almoço na casa dos meus tios mais novos em que se comeu o belo do frango da Crisbeta. Ainda houve espaço para uma conversa profunda sobre assuntos da alma. Calhou muito bem porque há tarde teria na praia dos Coelhos uma conversa de "arrumação sentimental" que já estava 5 meses atrasada. À noite, um jantar na companhia de amigos próximos de longa data na Taverna da Ladeira regado com tinto (excepto para os meninos) :P
Domingo, passei o dia na praia dos Coelhos com o meu irmão, "cunhada" e um outro casal. Estacionar revelou-se um pesadelo. Devido ao aumento dos preços dos barcos para Tróia, as pessoas passaram a ir para as praias da serra dificultando a vida a todos. Dificuldades à parte, passou-se um grande dia, Até aproveitei para fazer algum exercício e nadei desde os Coelhos até Galapinhos.
O regresso, tal como a ida foi atribulado. A easyjet ofereceu-me um atraso de 1h15 e o pessoal de terra do aeroporto de Gatwick contribuiu mais um pouco ao nos deixar em pista uns 15 min. Perdi o comboio das 0:15 para London Bridge, tendo que apanhar o comboio Gatwick Express às 0:50 para Victoria Station que custa o dobro e fica mais longe de casa. Com o autocarro e andar até casa só me deitei às 2:20. Obrigado Easyjet por me roubar horas de vida!
Grande conclusão do fim-de-semana, planear bem as coisas (como fazia antes) para conseguir ver as pessoas. Não posso estar à espera de chegar, fazer uns telefonemas e a malta aterrar de pára-quedas.
Daqui a 10 dias novo fim-de-semana longo:) Nem Londres me afasta da praia!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Semana em Portugal
Passei a última semana de Junho em Portugal e foi maravilhosa. Basicamente fiz praia, praia e praia! Ainda assim houve os seus precalços...
Partida para Portugal
Saí do trabalho, cheguei à estação de comboio, escolho um bilhete de ida-e-volta para Gatwick coloco o cartão multibanco e erro. Volto a tentar, erro novamente. Em desespero para não chegar atrasado ao comboio coloco o meu cartão português e não aceita (a máquina não gostava de Maestro). Olho para o placard dos comboios e vejo que perdi o comboio. Lá me dirijo à bilheteira e consigo comprar o bilhete com o cartão inglês, resultado: atraso de 15 min. Ainda deu para chegar ao aeroporto a tempo, aliás, com muitooooo tempo de margem como viria a descobrir mais tarde. O vôo deveria partir às 16:45, o que implica começar o embarque 30 min antes. Quando chego ao duty free podia ler no placard das partidas "Gate opens 16:43" = 28 min. atraso. Depois mudou para 17:25, depois 17:45 e a hora final acabaria por ser 18:45. Cheguei a Lisboa com 3 horas de atraso! Para piorar as coisas já não cheguei a tempo de apanhar o autocarro das 22:45 da Gare do Oriente e só acabei por apanhar o autocarro das 23:30, chegando a Setúbal às 0:15. Demorei 10h da porta do trabalho até Setúbal!!
Primeiro Fim-de-semana
Algumas saídas com amigos, pôr a conversa em dia e o baptizado do meu priminho mais novo. O almoço foi num sítio que desconhecia por completo: Casa do Alentejo, junto ao Coliseu em Lisboa. De fora não aparenta ser nada, mas por dentro é impressionante.
Semana
Praia, praia, praia. Onde? Nas praias da Arrábida, em especial na Praia dos Coelhos. Apanhei uns dias muito bons, deu para tirar a barriga de misérias:)
Sábado
Tróia. Não posso deixar de ficar desiludido com aquilo que a Sonae está a fazer em Tróia, além dos elevados preços dos barcos. Apesar de ser algo muito melhor e mais bem pensado que o Algarve, continua a ser uma quantidade excessiva de betão para uma zona protegida. Outro aspecto negativo, não deixaram quase espaço nenhum para se estacionar gratuitamente em Tróia tendo criado 5 parques de estacionamento pagos para lucrar à custa dos visitantes.
Carvalhal (mais propriamente Pêgo). Agora há dois estacionamentos, o dos ricos e o dos pobres. Como não bastava a Sonae roubar a Tróia aos Setubalenses, também se sente a segregação ao ir à praia do Pêgo. O antigo estacionamento público agora é pago e não se paga pouco. 4€ aos fins-de-semana. Há outro estacionamento consideravelmente mais distante de borla para os pobres. Como descobri, ser pobre implica estar/ficar em forma pois tivemos que andar bastante para chegar à praia. No estacionamento tinham um placa a dizer que 15% do dinheiro era para a manutenção dos acessos e das praias, então e os restantes 85%? Enchem os bolsos a quem? Enfim... até ir à praia se começa a tornar um luxo...
Regresso
A minha semana acabaria da mesma forma como começou, mal. Chego à porta de embarque e o que está escrito no ecrã? "Atraso/Delay 22:30". Lá tive que gramar com 1:30 de atraso. Mas não ficaria por aí, por causa disso fui obrigado a apanhar o Gatwick Express para Londres que representou uma despesa adicional de £16. Além disso a estação de destino (Victoria) não fica de todo perto da minha casa que me obrigou a fazer um percurso considerável de autocarro e ainda a andar uns 15 min. Deitei-me às 3h para acordar 6h pois fazia suporte na Segunda, argh.
Conclusão
Apesar das peripécias foi uma excelente semana que me deixa cheio de saudades por voltar a repetir. Nada como Sol, praia e mar :D
Monday, June 22, 2009
Glasgow
Como tinha escrito aqui, a ousadia premiou-me com um curso de 3 dias em Glasgow. Fiquei instalado no Malmaison que ficava perto de tudo, incluindo o escritório.
Glasgow é uma cidade que convida a ser percorrida a pé. Nada fica muito longe e as ruas têm passeios largos. Uma coisa que também é notória é o número elevado de igrejas. Apesar de não ter tido oportunidade de explorar por mim mesmo, há vários bares nocturnos com música rock ao vivo. Valeram bem os 3 dias lá passados, especialmente considerando o custo :)
Aqui vos deixo algumas fotos:
Glasgow é uma cidade que convida a ser percorrida a pé. Nada fica muito longe e as ruas têm passeios largos. Uma coisa que também é notória é o número elevado de igrejas. Apesar de não ter tido oportunidade de explorar por mim mesmo, há vários bares nocturnos com música rock ao vivo. Valeram bem os 3 dias lá passados, especialmente considerando o custo :)
Aqui vos deixo algumas fotos:
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