Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

Exchanging Canadian cold and snow for Portuguese warmth and sunshine.

Monday February 28, 2022: An evening flight from Montreal to Lisbon was the beginning of this new adventure. Landing in Lisbon on Tuesday morning provided a welcome sight of sunshine, palm trees and green grass. A train journey of several hours planted my feet firmly in the Algarve in the village of Estoi. Not my first rodeo in this lovely place! As I said to my friend Randy who kindly met me at the train station in Faro,” I feel like I’m coming home”. He chuckled and said he knew what I meant. Nothing much happened until Wednesday morning when the two of us met outside the apartment where he and Marc are staying. We set off on a short hike that he promised wouldn’t kill me. It didn’t and it’s now Thursday evening and I’m resurrecting this blog. The following collection of photos were taken on Wednesday and Thursday. I managed a hike on my own on Thursday afternoon after the rain stopped.The rain is most welcome and something to be thankful for in the Algarve. The area hasn’t been receiving enough rainfall for almost a decade, perhaps longer. The underground aquifers are drying up and desertification is increasing. The rain that arrived on Thursday wet the tilled ground on the hillsides but they were almost immediately dried by the prevailing winds that moved the rain clouds out of the area. Regardless, there is much beauty in the landscape and I am ever thankful to be here!

My walk on Thursday afternoon was an easy loop that travels uphill through the countryside . The road dead-ends at the top of the hill in front of the gates of private home. From there, there’s a rough path all downhill that connects to a paved road further down. It leads back into the village. I’ve done this walk in the past in January. It’s fascinating to note the changes due to the season and passage of time. More land has been tilled and areas cleared of brush and undergrowth allowing for new growth. Was seriously startled by two birds that flew up and out of a hedgerow. They sounded like grouse or partridge when they took off. I wasn’t able to get a good look at them let alone shoot a photo. Noticed a small hawk circling above. I’m not sure which of us alarmed them – they did a lot of squawking as they flew off.

The gates were closed when I arrived at the top and no one appeared to be home. Apparently, they had forgotten about afternoon tea!

And then it was back to the village with some time for a bit of a walk about and a short stop for a bica – an espresso and then home for sunsets, dinner and blogging.

A wonderful ending to a perfect two days.