Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Wow..what a week. For the new followers of my blog, I do a daily entry that is emailed to a select few and posted on Facebook / Twitter but then do a weekly summary blog that is emailed to all. This is the weekly one
So we landed in Lisbon and had 3 nights booked in a fab Pousada (hotel). During the week we made it to Cascais, Coimbra, Viseu, Porto and Sintra…we needed MUCH longer. Next time we will revert to our normal process – book 2 weeks and use that as the hub and make trips out from there.
The car was great although it was a little disappointing that this model doesn’t have the heated, leather massage seats, or the auto park or the rear facing camera…have had to revert to manual parking. Performance and economy was outstanding.
Sandy was not so happy with the new car name – HiHo. I thought it was appropriate for a silver car but the link to a Lone Ranger was not given a tick by Tonto. HiHo Silver it is.
Today’s entry has many photos of people. I enjoy sitting enjoying my coffee (if I can find a good one) and take photos of the passing people…today I had good coffee, good company and great location
My recollections of Portugal are
1. LOTS of fascinating history…interesting that Spain and Portugal at one stage split the world between themselves, such was their domination. A uni that has been around for more than 750 years…complete with amazing library and its library prison (I guess for late returns??)
2. Signs everywhere of economic struggles. Reports of improvement and lots of wonderfully restored buildings but many, many run down ones. I guess if there is no growth, then no-one wants to take the punt on price growth.
3. There were few signs of industry, few crops and little livestock…maybe it was just the areas we drove through but industry was quickly evident as we entered Spain
Bottom line is that they have to build on tourism – they have masses of attractions, v good hotels and great roads….based on my exhaustive research of one week in the country.
A great example of the upside in Portugal was the birthday dinner we had at the Dux Palace..the owner was a super enthusiastic ambassador for her country. Another example was a company advertising the sexiest WC in the World..it was good but maybe not that good…at least they’re trying
We made it to Spain yesterday and have 4 days at Santiago de Compostella
During my driving this week, we were discussing how lucky we are to have many friends / colleagues with such wide and varied interests. Some our kids know and some they don’t. In Melbourne (when we are there) we normally have a ‘family dinner’ each Sunday night even though the boys have not lived at home for many years (since we ran away…that’s another story). The dinners are fairly lively discussions on many matters, some IT related, many not. Some I understand, many I don’t understand at all. The presence of non-Bucks has a moderating and broadening influence…thanks Tahlia.
I have decided that we will implement a new Sunday night scheme, maybe once a month – I will invite someone who my kids probably know ‘of’ but do not ‘know’. Any volunteers???
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