Week 1 is November 15 – 22. We arrived to Portugal on the 15th via Lisbon then traveled 3h to Tavira. Most of our week has been settling in but we have managed to get some exploring in too.
Observations
Let’s start with some observations (and a couple bloopers).
- Cars stop for pedestrians!! They really do! If I start to approach a crosswalk, the cars stop and no one honks at you or seems perturbed that you are making them wait.
- People respect lines. A lot of stores have a “take a number” system. In the stores that don’t, people do not cut the line. Everyone generally seems to be in no hurry.
- Cross your sevens. The 1 and 7 look similar, so you must cross the 7.
- Power Woes. Can’t have too many things on at once or the circuit blows.
- Dinner Reservations Faux Paux. Making a reservation, I gave my first name. She laughed saying “Pam. Pam. Pam. it’s like we are old friends.” Whoops.
- Locked account. Amazon will lock your account if you use your U.S. credentials on Amazon.es (Spain). I got it fixed but made a separate account for Amazon Spain. Let’s find out how this works … will my packages get delivered (see next bullet).
- You need to be home for deliveries. Apparently if you are expecting a package, you need to be home or ask it to be delivered to a nearby store.
- Update: even if you are home they don’t deliver. Where did my 180€ order go? Oh no!
Food!
Lots of opportunity for eating. We have been for gelato twice in 7 days (pacing ourselves), and coffee too many times to count (but at 0,90€ it’s not breaking the bank). We also are excited to find a gluten-free bakery a very short walk away.
- Cafeteria Originato is a coffee place that serves breakfast and maybe lunch. It is the best coffee we have had, and last time we were here, the pancakes were amazing.
- Flavour Cafe is a cafe and bakery. The first time we were here, we met a San Diego transplant. Then, later in the week stopped in for a snack and coffee — I tried the Bolo de Bolacha (Portuguese Biscuit Cake) and it was delicious.
- Pastelaria Tavirense is a convenient place to stop in for pastries and coffee! It is open early and stays open late.
- Muxagata is a cute gelato place right along the river. There is another one just across the river but it seems to be closed “for the holidays.”
- Mr. Portuguese we found this adorable bakery that serves light snacks. It is a great find because it has gluten-free bread!
- Terraze is a restaurant we tried on Tuesday, and serves a Mediterranean inspired menu. I ordered codfish and Tom had the swordfish.
- Alagoa Pasteleria is a place we visited one afternoon when wandering around on the other side of the river. We got dois espresso for 1,80€.
- The library biblioteca municipal álvaro de campo is our neighborhood library, and of course you can get an espresso there too!
Shopping!
We have visited many stores in the process of getting settled in. The place we are in is furnished but there are things we need to get to set up house. Here are the places we visited so far:
- Tavira Plaza (the mall). This has a couple home stores, a pharmacy, and a huge grocery store. There’s so much here that it has its own section below.
- Lidl & Aldi – these are the same family of stores. They have groceries and the Aldi aisle of shame. Pingo Doce is a higher end grocery store. Minipreço is a mini grocery store.
- MEO is our internet service provider. This is where we got the WiFi-TV-Phone bundle. We visited it 3 times, once for the initial set up, then again to get our e-SIMs installed, then again to understand the various text messages about our WiFi installation appointment. We will be back again to get electrical switched over.
- Artina is an art supply store, and we went here to get some art supplies for hobby days.
Tavira Plaza
This is the mall I was talking about. We went to it everyday of our first week here. One day we went twice. It is about 0.8 mile each way, but we usually uber’ed back because we couldn’t possibly carry everything we bought back.
- Continente is a grocery superstore. Along with groceries, you can find things like bedding, cookware, even a vacuum cleaner.
- Agriloga is the pet store in the mall. We got Melody & Maisy a cat tower there!
- Hôma is similar to a HomeGoods. Espaço Casa is similar to an IKEA without the food. JYSK is similar to an IKEA but does not have kitchen stuff.
- Pepco is like a Marshalls although it looks like the old PepsiCola logo in style & color. Normal is like an Ulta + World Market minus home goods
- Clinica do plaza is a walk-in medical clinic (they gave me an injection because my back was hurting, prescribed muscle relaxants, pain meds, and referred me to get a spine CT).
Happenings
Espaço de Elite is our new gym! I took my first pilates class on Friday morning, and Tom took his first spin class in the evening. We met 5 people and went to coffee with then after pilates. Tom’s spin class was more like a party; everyone was singing along to the songs and people from the gym would come in and start singing along too.
Holiday lights! They are starting to put up holiday lights along the river and in the plaza. I think the lights will be on from December 6 – January 6.
Birthday Party! Álvaro de Campos’ Birthday Party is a seven-week cultural event that celebrates Fernando Pessoa’s connection to the city of Tavira. It’s finishing this week!
Keep on exploring. Here is the view of the river at night, and the gelato place.
What’s Next?
We have signed up for pilates and spin classes next week, and we need to be home for a couple Amazon deliveries. On Saturday, we are going to a piano concert at Ermida de São Sebastiāo, then going to Tavira La Pizza afterwards. Other things are our list are taking the train to Vila Real de Santo Antonio, exploring the the salt flats, taking the ferry to the beach, listening to Fado music at Igreja da Misericórdia.
And we set up our Christmas Tree and will be looking for more ornaments.
