“Not all those who wander are lost.”
The wind started around two am. It was fierce. The rain came with the wind. It pounded the windows, but I fell asleep anyway as did the dogs. When we woke up, everything was still wet, but the rain had stopped. It will be cloudy and in the 50’s today. The wind is still fierce and still blowing the pine branches, even the tallest and the thickest pine branches.
When I was a kid, this was spring vacation week. We never went anywhere because my father worked every day. I entertained myself by bike riding, picking out books at the library and spending time with friends. April weather is iffy here. Some vacations had warm weather while others still had a bit of winter about them. I didn’t usually care. It was vacation after all.
When I was a teacher and later an administrator, my parents and I started traveling during my April vacation. We’d choose one country, rent a car and tour all over. I was the driver. My parents paid for the car.
My favorite country was Portugal. We saw Iron Age and Roman ruins. My mother and I climbed a hill to see those Iron Age ruins. My father waved from below. We went way up country to Miranda do Douro, my favorite spot of all. I remember the wisteria was in bloom. It hung from trees and covered fences. We roamed the town, visited the cathedral and castle and the ruins around it. We stayed at Pousada Santa Catarina. One night we ate dinner in the hotel. The meal was extraordinary.
We loved our stay in Miranda do Douro, but after a few days, we had to leave to go south. A couple we had met during our stay left a while before us. They took the main road. I took a dirt road we happened upon which seemed to be headed in the right direction. It was scary as it was steep and winding, and I had to go slowly. At one spot my front wheels went off the road a bit and hovered over the side, but they were easily turned back to the road. My parents didn’t notice, but it scared the heck out of me. At the end of the dirt road we joined the main road. Later, we saw the couple was behind us. I’m sure when they saw us they wondered how we got ahead of them. I would have told them a death defying road.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
April 19, 2022 at 1:06 pm
Really nice weather again and it might even have reached 68F, it will stay like this until Friday and I guess that it’s Your bad weather we’ll get but less furious.
I do like Portugal too and went there for a week but headed south instead. The most polite and kind people I’ve ever met!
Have a great day!
Christer.
April 19, 2022 at 8:37 pm
Christer,’You are far warmer than we are. Tonight is chilly, down to the low forties with a wind. Tomorrow we’ll bounce up to 58˚.
Most of the people at the car rental place went south. I thought the north was amazing. There were sone towns so small and on just a narrow road that there were street lights at each end of town so we could know if it was our turn to go through. They were lovely people.
Enjoy your day
April 21, 2022 at 12:16 pm
Northern Portugal is much more beautiful that the south part is. Southern Portugal is very dry but they do have better beaches there I’ve heard.
April 21, 2022 at 12:17 pm
I loved northern Portugal. It was a great choice.
April 19, 2022 at 10:27 pm
Hi Kat,
I won’t bore you with another version of the same weather as we had the past few days.
When I was in the eighth grade in junior high school I had my first week long spring break. In the Dallas school system we only were off on Good Friday. This was because the school year ended on Memorial Day. In the New York Public School System there were so many Jewish teachers that spring break was alway the week of Passover. I never traveled outside the city during the years I was in high school, but my cousin and I toured the many neighborhoods of the city via the vast subway system.
I never traveled to the Iberian Peninsula but I would love to travel to both Spain and Portugal. I would probably gain ten pounds by eating my way through Spain and Portugal. I feel lucky that prior to the pandemic I had the oppertunity to see a lot of the world. Today, we are not traveling but using tools like MS Teams to train our foreign training centers.
April 21, 2022 at 12:22 pm
Hi Bob,
We always had February and April vacations. We didn’t start school until after Labor Day so we still were going to school in June. We didn’t make up snow days back then.
We used to roam around Harvard Square when we were on vacation when I was in high school. We went to the museums, the Orson Wells Theater and ate at some great restaurants. Harvard Square back then had singer stores and restaurants. Now it is more homogeneous, lie everywhere else.
I loved both Spain and Portugal, but it was Portugal I liked the most. Both did have amazing food. We stopped at restaurants along the road and were never disappointed.
I too have been lucky to see so much of the world.