Two weeks holiday in Portugal
has made a pleasurable break from Paradise. Spain is a wonderful place to live,
but a short time away can help put things in better perspective.
Certainly, our first day back
in España (I went on vacation with my
Spanish companion Loli), we watched the Noticias
de la Primera on the TV. A woman wearing an alarming-looking heavy gas mask
and a protective suit spent the first ten minutes of the news reporting the
referendum in Venezuela – a story that oddly hadn’t appeared of much interest
to the Portuguese news channels. But here, we are subliminally reminded of the
threat of Unidos Podemos each time the fiendish activities of the mad chauffeur
from Caracas is featured on the telly. Don’t agree? Whither Turkey TV time with
the equally mad Erdogan?
Lisbon was full of tourists
of course, and the Portuguese speak English, French, German... but never Spanish
(much to Loli’s indignation). We ate well, took a trip around the city in a tuc tuc (Spain is missing a trick with these
little three-wheeler cabs), listened to some Fado and bought endless fridge
magnets and tee shirts.
And the obligatory bottle of port, of
course.
Unemployment at 9.8% is relatively
low in Portugal, and jobs are often posted in the windows of shops and
restaurants. In general, the government seems rather more on the ball than the one in
Spain, with an offer of ten years tax-free to any foreigner who wants to buy
a house and take out residency.
We met Colin Davies,
who is a fellow blogger, in the dramatic city of Oporto after taking a cheap
local train ride up the coast from Aveiro where we had been staying. Colin
writes about Spain from his home-base in Pontevedra, Galicia. He introduces his
daily posts with a quote that I like: ‘Spanish
life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable’. So true.
Coming back into Spain (no
passport control, no customs... just a sign saying ‘you are now in Spain’ - suck
on that Brexiters!), we stopped for lunch in Antequera, Oh, the noise! It’s
good to be back, I shouted to Loli, who was sat next to me stirring a decent
cup of coffee.
Yes Darling, she bellowed in
return, patting my hand absently.
'bellowed'. Love it.
ReplyDeleteWe travel all over Europe, weeks at a time, in our stealth van, which is equipped for sleeping two, cooking, eating and working. Whenever we drive back into Spain, the very first thing we do is stop in the first bar along the road and have a coffee - just for the pleasure of being treated like human beings instead of the correct but frigid reception in shops and restaurants in the rest of Europe. The contrast between Portugal and Spain is minimal, but the contrast between Spain and the rest of Europe means that that first cup of coffee is almsot a life saver.
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