Três Meses

Nos fomos aqui para três meses e estamos apenas na unidade seis da aula de português (we have been here 3 months and we are only on unit 6 of Portuguese class). Portuguese is a tough language, and while it is slow going, I am accelerating at pão e doce (bread and pastries).

Unidade 6

Welcome to unidade seis (ooo-knee-dad, sayshhh), the lesson in my portuguese workbook where friends meet at a cafe for coffee & snacks. It is in here that I learn about queques (small cakes, denser than a muffin), rissóis (half-moon shaped breaded pastries containing chopped meats, often fish), and different ways to order coffee. A bica is a small strong coffee, this term common in certain regions such as Lisbon. A garoto is a strong shot of coffee with a pingo of milk (a drop of milk). A galão comes in a tall glass and is roughly 1/4 coffee and 3/4 foam milk. A galão escuro specifies to have more coffee and less milk.

After learning about galão escuro in unidade 6, maybe baristas see a sudden surge of estrangeiros (foreigners) requesting the beverage?

Gelato e Bom Tempo

There is a noticeable increase in the number of people in town. Blame it on the gelato places reopening and patch of good weather. Muxagata Gelato decided that February 10 was the day to reopen and the gelato place in the small walkway behind opened its doors too.

The restaurant behind it with the white tables has opened for the first time since we’ve been here. Flavour Cafe, our favorite hang out was packed.

Maria’s TukTuk has been cruising around more frequently these days. And, the tourist train is running too. The holdout seems to be Typical Indian Restaurant on holiday since January. Come summer the streets will be full with people and the lines for gelato, long. Maybe the chuva (rain) tomorrow will extend the quiet of this town a little bit longer.

Seasonal Sightings

This guy was walking down the mall on Valentine’s Day.

Loulé

We took a quick trip to Loulé, a town roughly 44 km northwest of Tavira. When the town was under Islamic occupation (starting around year 715), Loulé was known as al-Ulya. The Islamic city was divided into two distinct areas: the citadel (where military was quartered) and the medina (an urban area within the walls). .

Our visit here was very short, and during it we saw a church and a castle. We plan to be back in early March for carnaval

A Church

ERMIDA DA NOSSA SENHORA DA CONCEIÇÃO
Built in the mid-17th century by order of King João IV after the Reconquest of Independence in 1640, in honour to “N. Sra da Conceição”, the patron saint of Portugal. Built in “Chão” Style, from a single nave, it has a gilded carved retable, valuable lining of religious tiles and a ceiling with a panel by the algarvian artist Rasquinho (19th century). The restoration work, carried out by the Town Hall in 2007, uncovered a seventeenth century retable and traces of the Islamic defensive structure. Also discovered during archaeological intervention were remains of one of the access gates to the medieval town. Classified as a Property in the Public Interest under Statuto Law no.39175 enacted on 17 April 1953.

A Castle 

This is the castle of Loulé. I haven’t visited it yet but until I do you can read about it on this wikipedia article (you might need tell the browser to translate it to English).

Cat Condo

We found a cat habitat behind the Mercado. Today I took a closer look. The cats were hiding out but I managed to capture pictures of the ones sunning themselves.

Portuguese Lesson

Here is your Portuguese lesson for today.

Para almoço (al-MO-sue) gostaria (goo-stah- ree-a) sandes mista (san-dish me-sta) e um batido (oom bah-tee-doo)? Ou talvez (oh tal-vaysh) um bissol (oom beess-all)? Então, um café (en-t-ow oom caf-ay).

For lunch, would you like a ham & cheese sandwich and a milkshake? Or maybe a bissol? Then, a coffee.