Há Pão - Shiny Penguin

Estou a estudar português but I still get tripped up by the word no sometimes. Looking at a menu the other day, I saw the words no pão and automatically read it as no bread. I shrugged thinking it was probably a good thing to cut back on carbs anyway. But the word for no in Portugal is não (pronounced naow). So what is no? No is actually a contraction of the word em (in) and the definite article, o (the).

Obviously em+o = no. Maybe it’s because the letter M, particularly at the end of the word, is super special. At the end of a word, the M with its preceding vowel are replaced with a nasal sound. So, the cheery greeting Bom Dia is actually pronounced Bown Dia but you don’t bring the N into your mouth like you do in English. My name would probably pronounce as Paown and is one reason I introduce myself as Pamela here (Pa-mela, not Pam-uh-la).

Another funny word is há from the word haver which means to have and when used as the main verb it is impersonal in its subjectlessness. Seeing a sign like há pão would tell you there is bread. Making it even funnier, the H is silent in Portuguese – a, a, a!

Maybe I’ll talk about O Tacho, a restaurant near us that is always really busy (spoiler: it’s pronounced ooh tah-shoe and they don’t have tacos on the menu). I bet you didn’t expect a português lesson, and I certainly am not qualified to give one – ha!

This Week’s Adventures

Monchique Repeat. We had a short adventure to Monchique to do another look around and maybe buy a birthday gift for one of my friends. On the way there were stopped to look at the large quantity of storks that congregate along the road. It is a lot of storks. A strikingly large amount. But when we were there, they were soaring overhead. A picture of this would look like a picture of the sky through a dusty lense. So, watch 💎 the video instead.

Once in Monchique, the owner of the ceramics place suggested we have lunch at Restaurante Jardim das Oliveiras which is situated in an olive grove. Here’s what that looked like.

Scouting for a future adventure. On the way back we saw a sign advertising a type of zoo slash glampground called Parque da Mina. So we popped in. It was #toohot to walk around so we marked this one for a future adventure day.

Concert Season. In Praça da República, Tavira’s main square, there are concerts most nights. A group of us had dinner then walked over to check out a Phil Collins cover band. There was something definitely in the air that night, with sky and then the stage putting on a colorful show.

Friends. Thank goodness for friends! They keep us grounded, intellectually challenged, and in good spirits. Here is a picture of some of the friends we see pretty regularly.

Vehicles I like (but can’t afford). How random! These are vehicles we encounter while walking from our apartment into town.

More Steps

It’s summer and the heat is different than we are used to. Laying around in an air conditioned room is an option, but probably not the lifestyle we desire. So, we decided to make opportunities to get more steps.

A walk along the River. It is roughly a 15 minute walk from where we live now to Tavira historic center. This makes for a good round trip ensuring a decent amount of steps. Currently, the themed fair along the river is running a book fair. It is interesting to see familiar children’s books written in português. One stand out is O Diário de um Banana (the Diary of a Wimpy Kid).

A walk along the Beach. To beat the heat and get steps in, we headed to nearby Praia do Barril. Access to the beach is by a 1.3km path or on a little train that runs back and forth. We arrived well before the beachgoers and later encountered masses of people as we made our retreat. The beach was quiet, and it was the perfect day for a walk. We headed west, only vaguing observing the distance to Praia Naturista. Very quickly a loose fitting flesh colored speedo became a wrinkly old man butt, and adding a new entry to things that live rent-free in my brain.

Beach Day. In the blog post Driving the Backroads, I vowed to join the conga line to wade through water to get to the beaches of Cacela Velha. The tide was way out, no wading, but a bit of walking was involved. It was an overcast day which was perfect and we braved brisk water thrice for swimming and floating in the waves. I brought my phone into the ocean in a waterproof pouch to capture some photos. Not able to see what I was doing, I must have accidentally turned on the video and recorded about 15 minutes of video. I decided to edit the video and put it to music. It was a joyful dip in the water but the video made it look otherwise. No tsunami warning here but it gives an ominous vibe: 💎Video.

Feiras Temáticas

Tavira is known for its themed fairs (feiras temáticas). Commonly referred to as Verão em Tavira (summer in Tavira) this popular tradition is taking place from July 11th to September 7th this year. Here’s the schedule:

Os Dias do Vinho. July 11-14 from 6pm to midnight. This is a wine tasting event and for 12€ you get a glass and can taste from 40 different vendors. This is a popular event to say the least.
Feira do Livro. July 17 – August 3 from 8pm to 12:30am. Following up the wine event is a book fair. Awkward transition, right? Hugely popular, arguably by a different cross section of the community, the bookfair is simply enchanting.
Feira dos Ofícios. August 6-14 is the craft fair. This is my personal favorite but check this: it runs from 6pm to midnight on weeknights but on weekends this bad boy goes from 7pm until 1am. I have questions.
Feira de Antiguidades e Velharias. August 16-25 is the antique flea market with the same opening schedule as the craft fair, just saying.
Feira de Stocks. August 28-31. If I understand this correctly, at this event local merchants will offer products at affordable prices. I’ll report back.
XI Feira da Dieta Mediterrânica: And then we finish the summer with the Mediterranean diet fair September 4-7

9 Lives

Cat owners should also get 9 lives. Today, Melody casually walked out on the balcony where were were sitting having coffee, jumped up on the chair stepped on the metal railing to get to the little window sill ledge — 4 stories up! You can see that we blocked the window access from the balcony side, but ever curious and determined, she managed to get there. She watches as Tom installs more lattice to block access.

More Portugal

Read more about daily life, the embarrassing moments, and the process for having a long stay in Portugal. If you are more of a picture person, follow me on Instagram.