After breakfast, my friends helped me fill up the last few square centimeters of space in the car, hugged the dogs, and then, after I had buckled them into the car, hugged me too. We said goodbye to each other and set off. The journey was uneventful until we reached Sintra. We stopped once so the dogs could do their business and have a drink, while I enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee.
In Sintra, the ghost came out of the bottle again, the ghost of the labyrinth. I drove around the same spot four times, and finally the police officer standing on one corner took pity on me and told his colleague at the roundabout to let me into the one-way street, because I was about to lose the rest of my hair. So, after an hour of driving around, we finally reached our destination. At the roundabout, the police officer waved us on, saying, "Go, go! Watch out for pedestrians, but go!" We were also lucky enough to find a free parking space 10 meters from the entrance to the guesthouse. Hallelujah!
I got the dogs out of the car and we walked up to the courtyard of our accommodation, where a young man greeted us. Lucas looked to be in his early to mid-twenties and spoke English beautifully. He complimented me on finding such a great parking spot, especially since I had driven into a one-way street from the wrong direction. I could even say he was impressed. Lucas helped carry our luggage upstairs, while the receptionist fussed over my dogs. What luck: she loves dogs! Our accommodation is called "Casa dos Vinhos" - "The House of Wines". I love it! Each room is named after a wine, ours is "Vinho Verde". This does not mean "green wine", so it is not about color, but maturity. In this case, it means that this wine is the newest, freshest wine of the season/vintage. It's kind of like the joke: "Dad, why is this blue plum red?" "Because it's still green, son." The color indicates maturity. There is also "vinho verde" in rosé and red wine.
We got a really nice little apartment with a huge bed (we'll need a map to find each other with Panka). It even has its own little mini-garden. Gerbeaud successfully stopped my heart in the first five minutes: I went out to the little garden to look around (the garden gate was open because the weather was so nice) and I saw this little rascal sitting proudly on the fence, back straight, with the street three meters below him. I still don't know how he jumped or got up there. When I'm there, he doesn't try it. Luckily for me.
Then, when I brought up the cooler with the dog eye drops that I have to store in the refrigerator, otherwise they will spoil and I will have to throw them away (which would be an expensive mistake!), I see that there is no refrigerator in our apartment. What? That can't be! This needs to be fixed as soon as possible! I run up to the reception desk and ask Eduarda, the dog lover for help. There is a small drinks cooler next to her desk, filled with water, soft drinks, and wines that they sell. She writes my name on the box of dog eye drops (and on my kefir too) and gives me a key to the reception, which she hides here; and he shows me the pot under which I can find the key day and night. I almost hugged her, she's so cute.
I tell her that Sintra is like a fairy-tale town. Yes, everyone says that. Are you from here? No, I'm from Brazil. What? How come? And then she tells me that Lucas and her are a couple and Lucas is also Brazilian, and Lucas's grandfather owns several hotels in Brazil. He came to Sintra on vacation once and fell in love with it, really fell in love. And then he decided to turn that love into money and bought this guesthouse. That was in 2014. He sent Lucas's cousin here to take care of the reservations and expenses, but then the cousin went back to Brazil a year ago, and Lucas and Eduárda packed up and came here, and now they take care of everything. What a story! And do you like it here? Yes, because everything is more peaceful here than at home in Brazil. Everything is so hectic there. And, I ask, do you understand European Portuguese? It's so different from Brazilian Portuguese. Yes, after a year they got used to it. Many expressions and words have different meanings, and European Portuguese speakers slur their words, with lots of "s" and "zs" in their pronunciation. They (Brazilian Portuguese speakers) articulate better, but now they're used to it. What a cute story! Little modern Isaura ;o)
I went back to our room and saw that there were only water glasses. I'm not going to drink the delicious Rioja red wine I got from José from a water glass! I went back to Isaura-Eduarda and asked if I could have a wine glass: "Of course, of course!"
I opened the delicious wine, sat down in our mini garden, gave the kids a puzzle (a long-lasting snack), and watched the people walking by while sipping the rich red wine.
In the evening, I took the dogs for a walk in the neighborhood. The weather was very pleasant, the small town center was charming, and everyone was smiling. Panka didn't have a leash, but he skillfully dodged people on the sidewalk.
I'll take them out to the enclosed garden here, put a few drops in their eyes, and then we'll go to bed. Tomorrow is a big day: we are going on a day trip to Cascais and the surrounding area with Nóri Hunyadi, the protagonist of the article "My Home is Portugal" in Nők Lapja magazine. Strictly with the dogs! The plan is ready. I'll share it soon. Until then, good night!
