Tennis, Anyone?

I don't like the term, "bucket list." It seems morbid to have a list of things to do before the cold hand of death grips you. I prefer, "achieving a life's dream," wordy, I know, but I achieved one on this trip. I have wanted to go to Wimbledon since I was 12 years old, and since my tennis skills were never going to get me there, I knew it meant someday getting a ticket to the tournament. I took the tour of the grounds in 2010, but now it was time to actually see a match. My friend Joe and I had been plotting this trip for a few months. Joe was scouting tickets on StubHub but they were completely out of our league (I can't think of anything I'd pay $1,800 to see), so that meant just showing up and joining the infamous 'queue.'

Joe came in from Liverpool yesterday and met me here in London and we made a plan to head to the tennis grounds at 6am. We joined the queue just before 7 and stood with a couple thousand others for over three hours - but it paid off when we got tickets to the matches on Court #2, but more importantly, those tickets got us onto the grounds. So we watched the ladies doubles quarter-finals on Court #2 where the American Abigail Spears and her Polish partner, Alicja Roslska, beat two French women, and then we spend the rest of the day on Henman Hill soaking up the sun while watching the men's quarter-finals on the big screen. It was a spectacular day.

ladies doubles

Broxbourne

Mel, me, Brent

I left Portugal yesterday and made my way via plane, train, and tube to the Putney neighborhood in London. Putney will be home for the next week, while my friend Joe, who will come in from Seattle via Liverpool later today, and I pursue a variety of sports-themed activities, but first I took the train to Broxbourne to visit an old friend. I hadn't seen Brent in almost ten years; we worked together in the mid-aughts, then he moved to Portland, and a couple of years ago, I heard from a mutual friend that he had 'met someone,' that someone being British, and was dividing time between the States and England. Brent and Mel, the British 'someone' had recently married, and it was absolutely wonderful to see my old friend again and meet his husband. They live in a lovely, leafy village about an hour by train from Central London, and after picking me up from their village train station, they took me to a fabulous lunch in a quintessential British pub. I had fish and chips and mushy peas, all delicious. 

St. John the Baptist Church; across the road from the pub; built in the 12th century.

Jeep Tour, or, It's Gonna be a Bumpy Ride

My last day in Albufeira was spent roaming the countryside in a jeep with a handful of Brits and a couple Germans, down what were clearly Portugal's most rutted dirt roads. It was fun if a bit bone-jarring, and I probably wouldn't have done it if I could have come up with a single other thing to do.

We bumped along through orange groves...

... and tasted the sweetest, juiciest oranges I've ever had.

Medronho, another local specialty. Tastes like lighter fluid. 

Albufeira

I've been staying on the outskirts of town for the past five days and finally walked all the way in today. It's a nice town but it's chock full of tourists and tourist trappings. I bet it's lovely in the winter.

The Beach

I needed to catch up on some reading today, this seemed like a good place to do it:

the view from my reading spot. 

Food Coma

Today I went to Faro, a town a little further down the coast, to join some fellow travelers in stuffing ourselves silly on the specialties of the region. Sali, our guide, has devised a tour starting in the central market, which unlike many fresh markets, appeared to be completely devoid of tourists - this is where the locals shop. Sali seemed to know everyone in the market and had organized several stops for bites of this and that with an emphasis on regional specialties. We were all pretty much stuffed by the time we left the market... before sitting down to lunch... and then coffee and cake. I came back and immediately took a nap.

we started by tasting three different local cheeses, all delicious.

these razor clams made another appearance at lunch.

this octopus did not. 

local jams: strawberry basil; apricot with tarragon and lemongrass; tomato. The tomato jam was especially delicious. 

no food tour in Portugal would be complete without pasteis de nata.

After all that, plus a few other tidbits, we sat down to lunch.

sauteed pickled carrots, olives, bread, and dried fish.

main course: sautted clams, rice with razor clams, pollenta with clams and shrimp. 

from left: Sali, our guide, Sophie, Mackenzie, Jen, Jessica, John, and Annalise.

After lunch we stopped for a treat in a pastry shop, and while we didn't try these marzipan treats, they were so cute, I had to take a picture. 

And then, because we might have still had a millimeter of space left in our stomachs, we stopped for espresso and orange cake.

The Algarve

near the Albufeira marina

Yesterday I arrived in the town of Albuefeira which is smack in the middle of Portugal's south coast. So far, I've only been to the marina which is on the outskirts of town and pretty much just a hub of tourist activity, but I went out on a boat today and saw the spectacular coastline and beaches. I'm a self-proclaimed 'not a beach-person' but even I might find myself on the sand in the next few days.

I have to say, Benagil Cave looks way better on most Instagram pics, without the masses of tourist boats and the handful of people who swam or kayaked in, huddled in a single patch of sunlight.