Praia da Rocha - Portugal

There's nothing better to unload stress than to spend a few days on the beach, something we hadn't done in a few years. Johan joined me in Portugal and we spent a week taking walks by the sea, playing something on the hard wet sand, enjoying (freezing!) sea baths, reading and eating Portuguese food. The beaches of Algarve, the southern region of Portugal, are beautiful and sandy with its combination of rocky cliffs and a greenish/blueish sea. It can get very crowded in the summer but during spring time there's not so many people and the weather is usually already nice. 

We had a great time!

Não há nada melhor para descarregar stress do que passar uns dias na praia, algo que não fazíamos há anos. O Johan juntou-se a mim em Portugal e passamos uma semana a dar passeios à beira mar, a jogar coisas na areia molhada, a dar mergulhos no mar (gelado!), a ler e a comer comida Portuguesa. As praias do Algarve, a região sul de Portugal, são lindas com a sua combinação de rochas e mar azul esverdeado. As praias são populares e no Verão podem ficar a abarrotar, mas durante a Primavera quase não há ninguém e normalmente o tempo já está bom.

Foi uma bela semana!

 A natural swimming pool created by the rocks / Uma piscina natural formada pelas rochas

Sara Jump - Lisboa

Yes, it was windy.

Terreiro do Paço, Lisboa, Maio 2016

Home home #2

Spoiling the pets

 Cycling with Dad (and he still beats me so easily!)

Lisbon - Portugal (appetiser)

A minha primeira paragem em Portugal foi Lisboa. A minha irmã mudou-se para ali perto recentemente e aproveitamos para matarmos saudades e passear pela capital do nosso país. Connosco estava uma amiga da minha irmã que quase não conhecia a cidade e que ficou encarregue das fotos, uma vez que eu não tinha a máquina do Johan comigo. Este post é uma espécie de aperitivo ao que Lisboa tem para oferecer, porque apanhamos algumas chuvadas e não pudemos ver tudo o que queríamos. Ainda sim, o dia foi muito agradável. Espero em breve poder mostrar a cidade ao Johan, com mais tempo, e depois então mostrar aqui um pouco mais.

Lisbon was my first stop in Portugal. My sister recently moved there and we had fun together walking around in the capital of our country. With us was a friend of my sister who didn't know the city so well and who took the pictures I will show you, as I didn't have Johan's camera with me. This post will be like an appetiser of what you can see in Lisbon, because we didn't get to see everything as we got some showers now and then. The day was still nice and pleasant though. Hopefully, I will be able to show more some other time, because I'm planning on taking Johan there for a full tour.

 Miradouro de Santa Catarina (lookout point)

 Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese author

 Praça do Rossio and my beautiful sister

Elevador de Santa Justa com miradouro por cima / Santa Justa's lift with lookout point on top

 Inside the lift

 Miradouro de Santa Justa

  Miradouro de Santa Justa

Miradouro de Santa Justa (vista para a Praça do Rossio).

Lookout point of Santa Justa (overlooking Rossio Square).

 Calçada da Glória

 Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara

Bairro Alto

Jardim do Príncipe Real, com o seu famoso e enorme cipreste de 140 anos com mais de 20m de diâmetro.

Príncipe Real garden with it's famous and giant 140 years old cypress tree of over 20m in diameter.

 Parque Eduardo VII

 Praça dos Restauradores

 Estação do Rossio / Rossio train station

 Passeio pela Rua Augusta / Walking in Rua Augusta

Praça do Comércio

Eu e a minha irmã com o rio Tejo ao fundo.

Me and my sister with the Tagus river in the background.

 Alfama

 Miradouro das Portas do Sol

Alfama a preparar-se para os Santos, onde se come sardinha assada e se dança nas ruas.

Alfama getting ready for the Santos party, in which one eats grilled sardines and dances on the streets.

Timeout Market

Terminamos o dia no Mercado da Timeout, um local enorme com bancas de comida com um pouco de tudo e um local fantástico para se comer. 

We finished off the day with a nice meal at Timeout Market, a giant place with food stalls with a little bit of everything. It's a great place to eat.

Para terminar deixo uma grande citação, que tão bem encaixa em mim e em tantos outros portugueses. 

I'll finish off the post by leaving a great sentence that fits me, and so many other Portuguese people, very well. 

To be born, Portugal;

To die, the World.

Padre Antonio Vieira, 1670

What happens...

... when you leave a man home alone for a week?

He rearranges the furniture to his convenience!

Chair, ottoman and TV all well aligned in the middle of the living room. 

I'm back and soon I'll be posting about the two weeks I spent in Portugal, my home country.

---

O que acontece quando se deixa um homem sozinho em casa durante uma semana?

Ele reorganiza a mobília na sala. Cadeirão, sitio para pôr os pés e a TV muito alinhadinhos no meio da sala.

Estou de volta e em breve farei alguns posts sobre as duas semanas que passei em Portugal.

Telma's Sara Jump

Telma and Marco went on vacation to Venice, in Italy and made some gorgeous Sara Jumps.

I'll take the chance to remind you that you too can send me a Sara Jump from where you are! Take a picture while you or someone you know is jumping and send it to: 

voltasnomundo@hotmail.com

Torcello Island, Venice, Italy - May 2016

Burano, Venice, Italy - May 2016

A Telma e o Marco foram de férias a Veneza, na Itália e mandaram-me Sara Jumps fantásticos.

Quero relembrar-vos que vocês podem fazer o mesmo e enviarem-me um Sara Jump de onde quer que estejam! Basta tirarem uma foto vossa ou de alguém que conheçam a saltar e enviar para:

voltasnomundo@hotmail.com

Home home

No matter how many turns around the world my life goes through, my hometown will always be what I call my home home. There's home, where I live and spend most of my days, and there's home home, the city and village where I grew up and lived until I was 17.

What's it like home home?

Home home is to walk through the narrow cobble stoned streets and live so many memories. 

It is to smell the unique scent of Spring, a mixture of lilacs, lavender rosemary and other herbs, in the air. 

It is to pass by the city garden and see the same two old ladies gossiping, the same old man sleeping on the bench under the shade, and the children eating ice cream bought in the same little old kiosk. 

It is to walk around with my mom and stop every 5 minutes to chat with someone random because she knows everybody!

It is to go to the market and buy fresh fish. And then grill it in the fireplace. 

It is to be outside wearing just a t-shirt and then put on a sweater to be at home.

It is to go to my parents backyard and harvest the ingredients I need to cook dinner. Perhaps carrots, tomatoes and parsley. And then strawberries, while we wait for the cherries and the kiwis to mature.

It is too arrive at home and have a welcomy bread pudding made by one of our neighbours.

It is to go cycling with my dad and see how much he can still push me.

It is to enjoy a glass of red wine, from a bottle that costed 2 euro, while I write this post. 

Good wine!

It is also to know that I could never live here again, but for a few days it's the best place to be!

Dreams in the cookie jar #10

Samba!

When I'm worried/annoyed/irritated with something and I just don't want to think about it anymore I listen to (and if possible dance to) samba music. Samba is a very happy type of music and it never fails to make me feel better. Let's say I like "to samba" my problems away... 

Here is one of my favourite samba songs (it's about the discovery of Brasil in 1500).

Now, make some space in the living room, turn up the volume and samba away with me!

Learning Swedish #4

There are about 15 students in my Swedish language class. There are people from all over the world. People so different from one another, united by the one goal of learning the language of the country where we all live now. As it is a class for beginners, the teacher speaks Swedish and English during classes. That's still not enough because some of my colleagues don't speak either. Most of those who do not speak English can understand a little bit of Swedish, but I have always wondered how much they actually understand in each class. Obviously, funny situations and misunderstandings often occur. Here goes one that happened today.

We were learning about food. The teacher explained that the Swedish word for vegetables, grönsaker, literally means "green things". We all said vegetables we knew in Swedish and the teacher made a list on the board. When the list where fairly big, one of the students that had been quiet so far, happily suggested... Pesto!

Fair enough... it is something green!

Image from the internet

Na minha aula de sueco somos cerca de 15 alunos. Há pessoas de todo o mundo. Cada um diferente do outro, mas todos unidos por este objectivo comum de aprender a lingua do país que agora nos acolhe. Como a aula é para iniciantes o professor fala sueco e inglês durante as aulas. Ainda assim, não é o suficiente porque há alunos que não falam nenhuma das duas. A maioria dos que não fala inglês já fala um pouco mais de sueco, mas sempre me perguntei o quanto das aulas é que perceberiam. Claro que com esta combinação acontecem frequentemente mal entendidos e situações engraçadas. Como a de hoje que vou contar.

Estavamos a aprender palavras novas relacionas com comida. O professor explica que a palavra sueca para vegetais, grönsaker, significa "coisas verdes" em tradução literal. Fomos dizendo vegetais que conhecíamos em sueco e o professor fez uma lista no quadro. Quando a lista já ia bem grande um dos estudantes, calado até então, exclama alegremente... Pesto!

É justo... é uma coisa verde!

Göteborgs Varvet - Review

Göteborgs Varvet is the biggest half marathon in the world. In 2016, 64 000 people registered and over 49 000 finished the race. Although, don't get intimidated, because the race is very well organised and the race flows nicely. Göteborgs Varvet is also a great event for the city of Göteborg and more than 200 000 people get on the streets to watch and support the runners. In overall it is a great experience, weather you are there to run it or watch it. 

Positive

Expo - Large and organised. It has many shops with a little bit of everything for running. 

Toilets - I don't know how many toilets there were this time, but I was only in the queue for about 10 minutes before my start. The toilets were relatively clean, had toilet paper and alcohol gel to clean your hands.

Landscape - The start is in Slottsskogen park, a lovely green place with lots of space for the runners, friends and family. The course is beautiful crossing the river twice, running along it, going inside the city center through the main avenue and finishing off in Slottsskogsvallen, an athletics stadium. There's nothing more cool than to finish inside a stadium with the stands full of people cheering. 

Start groups - There were about 35 start groups, the first starting at 13h and the last at 16h. They are all organised by the estimated time of each runner. If one can prove the time by showing a certificate from a previous race (not older than a year) one gets seeded accordingly. If not, one can run a 10 Km seeding race (there are many in different cities in Sweden) and also get seeded accordingly. Both will be seeded first. Those who can't prove their time will get seeded by the estimated time typed when registering, and since that is less accurate, they get seeded to start groups after the runners who presented proof their times. Truth is... for a race with so many people it flows quite well. I have been to races much smaller and way more crowded.

Water - There were 10 water stations in 21 Km! Half of them had sports drinks as well. Each station was quite long and it was always easy to get a cup.

Showers - There were showers during the course and that felt sooooo good!

People - There are people everywhere!!! Cheering, supporting, offering beer or champagne, holding funny signs and having fun. People have fun, runners have fun!

Finish - After the finish there's plenty of water and energy drinks. Finishers also get a banana and a chocolate.

Bag deposit - I didn't use it but I know it existed. 

Negative

Course - The landscape is nice but it is a tough course... There are two or three bigger hills, one of them around 15 Km, which is tough. Those you know about it before. What you don't expect is that tiny little-but-long-like-hell-hill in the main avenue, around 17 Km, to kill you the way it does. I have walked the bloody thing dozens of times by now and it is not even a proper hill, but when your legs are dying it feels like mount Everest. This doesn't necessary have to be a negative, so be aware and turn it into a positive!

Price - It's an expensive race, there's no way around it. The start kit doesn't even include a t-shirt, but we are in Sweden, and things are expensive.

Stairs - Who the hell invented the super steep stairs for the runners to go up and down after the finish line??? One gets to the goal, gets a medal, drinks and snacks and then to go out of the runners area has to necessarily go through a set of stairs. It is so incredibly painful! If there's no other way could the stairs at least be less high and steep?