Tuesday Morning

It’s my birthday today – but we still have no dishwasher. If you get offered repairs by Service 2000 of Walsall then avoid them. Unfortunately, we’re tied into them by the insurance we have. Currently they are still ordering a part: the delay is because their ‘engineer’ didn’t take the correct details with him.

So, we’re just back from Porto, Portugal. It’s a great little city and well worth the visit. From our perspective, Portugal is a cheap place to visit (helped by the strength of the £ v € at the moment). Lucked into the Pestana Hotel (the yellow building in the photo) which is very luxurious and has wonderful staff. Loved staying there. We were lucky with the weather, too. No rain and a lot of sunshine; a great antidote to the grey skies of England.

(Torre do Clerigos)

(Pestana Hotel from the other side of the river.)

(Coudn't resist the picture of the urinal: never seen anything quite like this!)

(This is the Douro Valley ay Pinhao)

The food was pretty good, too, though we only found one exceptional place Adega São Nicolau, which had the most fantastic grilled octopus. Other local delicacies included an unusual sandwich – the Francheshina – which seems to consist of steak, chorizo, ham and garlic sausage in sliced white bread, wrapped in sliced of cheese and grilled, all floating in a bowl of thin spicy tomato sauce.It sounds a bit odd, but was actually rather good.

The locals eat a lot of cod (some salt-cod) which was fantastic and always properly cooked. There’s a lot of tomato around too.

Had the opportunity to go on a trip along the Douro valley to visit a couple of Quintas (port wine producers) which was a fun experience. The 140 kmh return drive to Porto in the back seats of a minibus was less fun, though.

Anyway, home now and hours spent cutting lawns and other gardening.

Oh, and it's my birthday today!