It was Day 2 in the Big Portugal Flamingo house and still nobody had been voted out. It was a glorious day as we all gathered for breakfast on the patio. Today’s early morning supermarket shoppers had included Karen who was keen to discover the delights of the Portuguese shops and the fish market where many exciting purchases were made for our fish feast tonight along with pastries for breakfast.
I had not slept well due to some acid reflux problem in the night probably due to a mixture of different food and alcohol, but I had woken up feeling fine (and not drinking wine).
Today’s plan was to do nothing and chill out whilst doing even that.
The puzzle of the day involved trying to remove a stuck coffee capsule from the Nespresso machine. We all failed, and we may need some tools from Lidl to take it to bits.
The first swimmers hit the pool. Karen held back for a while so that she didn’t disturb those swimming lengths whilst she walked her widths.
At some point I lost to Ian at Table Tennis in the ‘arena’ we had created.
Lunch was al fresco again by the pool with everyone tucking into more cheese and charcuterie.
We played ‘Ashby’ against ‘The Rest of the World’ at Pétanque. The score was 6-0 to Ashby when it was pointed out that they were controversially using an illegal bowling technique. We mounted a sterling comeback that could not overturn that unassailable lead.
I then beat Graham at Table Tennis before we tried using the bouncing water ball to each other across the pool with limited success.
Apart from that everyone just laid around, read and chatted. Everyone found their own way of being busy doing nothing.
Around 6pm everyone had ‘dressed’ for dinner and ready for the first G&Ts for the day. Chris & Graham oversaw the BBQ and Head Chef’s.
The starter of fresh Tuna Cervise and lightly pan fried fresh white anchovies were amazing. Unsurprisingly they were all devoured very quickly.
Prosecco was then popped as the enormous prawns were cooked on the BBQ with butter and garlic. They were as delicious as they sounded.
The next course of the fish feast was some lovely Dorada which had been Karen’s choice from the market accompanied by salad and potatoes (and chips for Graham). The fish just melted in your mouth.
The final fish of the night was a load of big tuna steaks which were fabulous.
More drink followed and more followed that.
Then we played ‘Left, Centre, Right’ which everyone seemed to enjoy before the music was pumped up with some classic 80’s hits. Attempts at starting to get some dancing going quickly fizzled out and just before 11pm everything was cleared away and everyone retired for the night as a relatively early morning start was planned.
I slept better overnight and was up bright and early to eat my porridge in the breakfast whilst everyone basked outside in the already hot morning sunshine.
The first Uber taking people to the train station turned up on time. The second one seemed to be going in the wrong direction and getting further away and eventually we cancelled it and booked one through Bolt instead. The 4 of us who were waiting for it were delighted when the Tesla turned up as it was for all of us our first ride in one. We were all suitably impressed.
At the train station Chris queued up for the 10 tickets we needed to get to Tavires at the princely sum of 2.6 Euros each. Each ticket consisted of a long strip of paper.
It was a rattler old train that turned up more akin to something you expect to see in India. Fortunately, it was fine inside. It was a short journey, and we were soon in Tavires. It was a decent downhill walk to the town. It was much more touristy than Olhao but still quite quaint. We split into 2 groups, and I went with the second group to find a more authentic café where we sat and had a refreshing drink as it was now quite hot.
After this we walked around in couples exploring the town. Karen and walked back to the river and followed the pleasant path up and over a couple of bridges. We then decided to head to the convent on the hill to see if there was a viewpoint. It was up a lovely narrow steep cobbled street. Disappointedly the convent was undergoing renovation works, however the water tower next to it had been converted to a Camera Obscura and we decided to go in.
Our guide as we went up in the lift turned out to be an ex-pat who has a sister who lives in South Creake. He was amusing and very informative as he gave us a complete guided tour and history of the town using the very sharp images from the lens projected onto a bowl next to us. It was a great way to see and learn about the town.
We then sat in a lovely shady square before making our way to meet everyone again at a restaurant ‘O Manel’ that had been booked for 1.30pm.
It was a good choice of venue. The service and food were both good. Karen and I got through a litre of very good sangria between us. I have a steak, and Karen had a chicken skewer.
We then walked slowly up the hill back to the station where we ordered an Uber straight back to the villa which eventually turned up and took us back despite getting lost yet again.
It was scorchio back at the villa where everyone just lazed around reading or swimming as it was too hot to do anything else.
For dinner tonight we made do with fresh bread with cheese and some freshly made tuna mayo using the left-over tuna from the night before. It was delicious.
There were much merriment and chatter as the music played came from what was number one when different people were born. The fun conversations went on late into the day before everyone retired for another early start the next day.
