Portugal

​Knowing your “Why?”

I love the opportunity to travel, and my “why?” is becoming clearer . . . 
I love to learn!

Whenever we leave the comforts of home, our world expands and our lens shifts. 

Meeting new people, tasting local cuisine, hearing a different language, asking questions about history, customs, architecture, and culture? 
This is where there shifts happen!

---

“Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts. ”
~ Wendell Berry

---

Bom dia! 

I’ve missed you these past couple of weeks, and it’s good to be back. 🥰

There’s so much to share about my time in Portugal. 

We practiced yoga in some incredible spaces. First, nestled in amongst the 14th century granite walls at our hotel in Porto. Next, on the deck featured in the photo on top. And trust me, this photo does NOTHING for the 360 degrees of beautythat surrounded us. This vineyard where we stayed is a working farm, and it is owned by a woman. She specifically created this deck for yoga and meditation. There’s something so powerful about practicing in sacred spaces. 

Of course, this tour was also all about food and wine, and we indulged! 

I love that we were there during harvest time, 
This meant we had the opportunity to:

• Pick grapes ~ and just like when I was kid picking blueberries in west Michigan, I tasted all along the way!
• Stomp grapes ~ it felt cold, and kind of slimy but not slippery. The fact that the activity was accompanied by live accordion music? Next level quirky and fantastic!
• Blend grapes ~ we learned about the different aromas and flavors of certain varietals. Then, we each got to create our very own customized blend that got bottled up and went with us! 

And, I knew nothing about Port before this tour. I didn’t even know that there’s such a thing as White Port, let alone Pink Port?! Turns out, the Portônico (or, Porto Tonico) is my favorite! It’s a super simple cocktail: white port and tonic over ice, garnished by mint leaves and orange, or citrus of your choosing. It’s light, refreshing, and lovely! 

As a long-standing vegetarian, I did miss out on the cod served 366 different ways (one preparation for each day of the year + a bonus dish for leap year), and you know what? I’m okay with that! 😉

I especially loved getting out on the water during our trip. We took two different boat tours along the Duoro River, and the scenery is over-the-top incredible. 

Of course, with any travel opportunity, there can also be challenges. And we had some of those as well. We were supposed to transfer to Lisbon via bus for the completion of our trip. An historic walking tour, our finalé dinner, etc. were all waiting for us in the capital city. 

Deadly wildfires kept that from happening. 

Thankfully, we all remained safe and had all of our things with us.

But the smell, and the falling ash, and the evacuations of villages, and the devastation of land? Tragic. 

So, our tour got cut short. Our group unceremoniously splintered apart. 

Four of us traveled on together via plane to Lisbon. (Highways were closed. Trains weren’t moving) The air was clearer, and I’m thankful I got to spend a day exploring the hilly, coastal city. We took an historical tour via tuk-tuk and put together our own finalé dinner at Time Out Market. 

It’s true. Things don’t always go according to plan. And that’s part of it. 

I certainly did not plan on coming home and testing positive for Covid. But, that happened, too. Ugh. Sigh. 

I’m still resting up and recovering. Turns out, Covid likes to make me super tired and terribly congested, especially in my ears, just like last time. I hope to emerge from feeling like I’m both underwater, and in a tin can, sometime SOON!

Take great care of yourself,

Love,
m