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| Love Is Love |
We finally got ourselves to what is known as the ‘Sewing Machine’ restaurant, it`s actually Ponte Romana (Roman Bridge) which is where it is located on the River Arade, a very interesting place; basic, unassuming with well priced tasty food and great service. Cant find out much about the building or if in fact it ever was a sewing machine something or other. Will definitely be going again.
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| Ponte Romana Restaurant. |
On the food front there is a new Chinese restaurant in town which is also excellent in every way, we all love the food which means we will be regulars.
The Festival of Light in Lagoa was truly wonderful, we arrived in daylight and as the night fell it was magical with a vibe and energy I was happy to be immersed in. Candles decorated the cobbles and Deities filled alcoves, the air was filled with Incense. Musicians, Dancers and Dragons entertained us as did the many stalls selling no end of shiney, pretty and tasty treats and goodies many of which were handmade. Free entrance to boot which was a huge bonus!!
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| Tai Buddha. |
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| Dragon Dance. |
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| Angel window. |
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| Ganesh. |
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| Alter. |
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| Lotus flower. |
Days in the water have been too many to count.
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| Sand boys. |
Not sure how this happened lol...
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| Indoor pool. |
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| Pintadinho Beach |
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| Afternoon on Picota. |
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| Cooling treat. |
The boys have been to Summer School, this keeps their Portuguese language in use and also fends off boredom, not to mention keeps me sane and allows me to get on with admin and essential tasks.
Ryan's plaster also came off and all good there.
A few pics of Silves.
Off to the UK for a couple of weeks and for a change we have some plans; a pre birthday day out in Glastonbury, a stop over in Weston Super Mare spending time with the Latchfords and Sparlings, the Steam Fair in the Malverns then my birthday in London. Its not often our time in the UK is so planned out and it was all very lovely.
It was my first time in Glastonbury, we didnt have too long but had chance to mooch around the high street choosing some early birthday gifts and spend a little time at Chalice Well which was wonderful; calm and peaceful.
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| If The Earth Were Only A Few Feet... |
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| My kind of picnic. |
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| Lovely stuff in the Dilliway and Dilliway shop. |
Chalice Well is one of Britain's most ancient wells, nestling in the Vale of Avalon between the famous Glastonbury Tor and Chalice Hill. Surrounded by beautiful gardens and orchards it is a living sanctuary in which the visitor can experience the quiet healing of this sacred place. For over two thousand years this has been a place where people have gathered to drink the waters and find solace, peace and inspiration.
An afternoon tea from the lovely Mark and Jude Latchford and a good time and catch up with family then off to The Randal Bar which is in Tone and Lavina's garden... What more could you want!! As usual had a bit of a giggle and a reminisce to say the least. Next day after a great full english we headed to Malvern, boys and Dennis and Jean for a night in the awning!!
The Steam Fair was excellent, loads of displays and rides to keep the boys happy and they had pocket money to spend and their very own little tent and Neil and I had a blow-up-bed in the awning, it peed down all night and I didnt sleep too well just in case we floated off down to the River Severn, jokes aside though it did rain a lot and the neighbouring campers did wake to find a good few inches of water in their tent, thankfully Dennis and Jean are hardened British caravanners and in good old fashioned British style had already got us all wellies.
It was a shame it rained so much as the engines could not all be ran and we didn't see them in their full glory all lit up on the evening.
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| Boys camp. |
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| Traditional fairground rides. |
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| Muddy |
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| Hello Grandad!! |
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| Steam engines. |
My birthday morning brought with it a special treat for the boys; a day in London, they were so happy when we gave them the train tickets. It cost £24 for each adult and a quid for the kids and that included a London travel card, wow wee what a bargain!! Our mission was to make it a good value day out so immediately we were off to a good start, we researched what to do and found that most things we had in mind were free so off we went. Had a great train journey from Solihull to Marylebone with birthday cake and a pack of Uno card
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| Marylebone street artist. |
The underground was super for the boys to experience; going up and down, hopping on and off, passing through the tunnels, onto stuffed carriages and empty ones, its just great!
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| Fitting in. |
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| NHM |
The first stop was the Natural History Museum (Matty has been wanting to visit here for years) the queue was huge and as mom can't stand for as long as would have been necessary (an hour give or take a few minutes) we asked if there was a fast track and the fact that mom had her walking stick we were eligible for just that and went straight in, it was an unexpected and greatly appreciated bonus. A few hours was not enough here but we needed to move on.
Next was Covent Garden which was a lovely experience for Ryan who was picked out (or on) by a street performer. Super time. Then on to Tower Bridge (another one of Matty's favorites) followed by Big Ben, who was scaffolded!! This seems to happen a lot, I have been to many famous buildings over the years to find them either being cleaned, renovated, painted, either way all scaffolded…
Happy Birthday Me!! It turned out to be one of the cheapest most enjoyable days out we have had, lots of lovely gifts too.
Happy Birthday Jean!! We had a lovely evening altogether at The Fountain, Clent.
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| Just a nice pic. |
A great time in the UK and some very special moments with beautiful family and friends. Thank You!!
Back in Silves it was almost time for the Medieval Fair, this is an amazing 10 day event that embraces the Moorish history of the town, from the bottom to the top of the town and even inside the castle there are stalls, musicians, displays, food and drink. For us this is the second time and we enjoyed it even more than the first and went a few times. Hundreds of straw bales are set out along the street to offer the thousands of pleasure seekers a place to rest.
The drinks served are only served in ceramic mugs made especially for the event, you buy a drink and pay for the cup you either keep it or get a refund when your done, no plastic is used at all even for food, superb!! Every evening there is a parade and one evening Ryan turned around to find himself nose to nose with a camel which gave him quite a fright, wish we could have caught that on camera!!
Phew, what a busy couple of months!! I am exhausted re-living all of that lol…
