Monthly Archive

The bus yesterday showed us the temperature and time all the way from Sevilla, Spain, to Faro, Portugal. This ain’t Fahrenheit, folks.

The bus was air-conditioned, but shortly after the temperature hit 42°C (107.6°F), we made a pit stop and could experience it for ourselves. Whoof.

It was a 15 1/2 hour day of travel from Córdoba to Lisbon, even though it’s less than 5 1/2 hours to drive it. Minor mishaps dogged us. Faro rolls up the sidewalks on Sundays, so food options were few during the 3+ hours we were waiting there. We wouldn’t have been waiting there at all except that a travel site we like and trust unaccountably advised us that it was a haul between the Faro bus and train stations (it is not; it’s a five-minute walk), so we didn’t book the first available train, and we couldn’t exchange our tickets. The Faro train station has removed all its electrical outlets, and the ones in our carriage to Lisbon didn’t work, so I was out of juice: no books, audio course, blogging, or drawing from the photos I’d taken for the purpose. It was uncommonly difficult to get a taxi outside the Lisbon train station, so after walking to a hotel and waiting for the taxi they called, we rolled up to our apartment at 12:30 am Córdoba time, tired and without access to all the information the owner had sent me.

However, the day had many compensations. I knit a lot. I had made two false starts on the current knitting project, and probably only made this third one stick because I wasn’t distracted by my audio course. The sight of Portugal going past the train windows was made all the sweeter by the knowledge that it may be a long time until our next train ride (not counting BART). And even in the impatience to just get into the apartment and sleep, we could see that the neighborhood was beautiful. This morning, we walked one tile-lined block to a delicious, cozy breakfast cafe.

The day’s explorations confirm that Lisbon is beautiful. It’s still hot. But as Joy and I walked past the ornate government building that turned out to be the seat of Parliament, she nodded up at the building and said “You think we’re hot . . .” Two men in uniform, a la Beefeaters, though with slightly less punishing hats, were ceremonially guarding the door and marching with their rifles. I wonder what crime one commits to land that gig in August.

In related news, I have been drinking various interesting fruit drinks all summer, and have resolved to make virgin mojitos at home now and then.

Desde aquí, se puede ver el vuelo de las palomas desde arriba. Un perspectivo muy raro y bonito, lo cual desafortunadamente mis videos no expresraran.

Sin embargo, los mosaicos romanos son bellísimos.

Y los jardines son llenos de fuentes.

On the one hand, going to Córdoba in August wasn’t the most strategic choice, even before our visit coincided with a heat wave.

On the other hand, this light. This light.

Drawn yesterday during lunch at the Mercado Victoria.

…when I’m as old as this man, to enjoy life as he does. You can just feel the sun on your own skin.

Right now I am working toward this life goal by spending hours in a museum, drawing and writing and marveling at art; and, at this exact moment, by making the most of the Area de Descanso. Yes, the Prado does have a nap room of sorts: a long, narrow, sun-filled corridor lined on one side with long couches. Ahhhhh.