19th June 2008 - Oeiras
Bali Hai
Neal Stow
Thu 19 Jun 2008 01:34
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We arrived in Oerias to find a substantial
improvement in the marina facilities. There are cafes, nice showers, good
sized pontoons and pleasant, helpful marina staff.
Last night after the race most crews went up to the
cafes at the marina but Portugal is not like Spain and even at 9pm all but one
of the places were unwilling to serve a new group. We ended up filling a small place with one chef. It was a bit of a
strain but under the circumstances they coped remarkably well - except that my
octopus turned out to be pork and John's sausage platter arrived so late that he
had to take it away in a doggy bag.
In the morning we awoke to another beautiful sunny
day in Portugal. The morning was spent milling around doing some small
chores and having lunch (John's sausages). In the afternoon we were on
another dodgy tour. The highlight was supposed to be the local fort but
the tourist people claimed that they did not have enough time to organise it
(only a year!), we could not visit the palace but were allowed into the small
chapel where the highlight was a couple of mummified saints. Then it was
onto the future site of a new park followed by the Poets park (which was
actually quite pleasant). The finale was a former gunpowder factory,
destroyed in an explosion and turned into a museum. We arrived to find it
shut and had to hang around while they looked for the curator to let us in - it
was not worth the wait.
The evening was the Oerias prize giving. I
skipped the dinner to set up the new log on MailASail and because I needed a
break from excessive alcohol consumption. The boys went along and
apparently it was a very good function in a beachfront restaurant - but
their judgement may have been influenced by excessive alcohol
consumption....
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