Tuesday 29th June (Lini’s Journal)
Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Thu 1 Jul 2010 14:38
woke around 10am which in six years has to be the latest I have ever
known Simon to lay in. The weather was at last dry and sunny and above
low cloud we could see the high caldeira behind the town and the top
of the mountain on the island of Pico. It’s the highest mountain in
Portugal and looking at the summit I wondered if my little legs were
up to climbing it as we’d planned.
It was midday before we set off for the large supermarket with a
very long shopping list. Our arms were much longer when we returned
some time later and replenished the galley. Si had light crispy rolls
for his lunch with local cheeses; he was a happy bunny! We then set
off again to explore Horta. I knew the walls and paving around the
marina were painted with boat logos from all the visiting yachts but I
had no idea of the scale. Every inch of concrete was adorned with
thousands and thousands of sometimes brilliant artwork going back many
years. We found Si’s artwork of Fire Dragon when he sailed here in
2004 in his previous boat and we also spotted many other boats that we
have met on our travels this year. I scanned the walls for a worn area
for us to paint Brindabella later. We left the marina, soon coming
across the world famous Peter’s Café Sport Bar which was just as I’d
imagined it with burgees hanging from the ceiling above a varied
collection of thirsty salty seadogs. A visit here is a must together
with another ‘been there, done that’ t-shirt I guess: It would be rude
not to! A few doors along was very conveniently a hardware store where
I hope to buy paint for our art attack. The town was delightful with
several beautiful, traditional churches and pretty black and white
mosaic pavements, each street a different design. We climbed the hill
behind the town for a good view over the terracotta roof tops then
noticing the time trotted swiftly back to Brindabella: Tonight we were
entertaining.
We had invited ‘Island Drifter’ for drinks tonight and had also
left an invitation for ‘Sareda’. Mike, Helen and Marjorie were going
off for dinner at ‘the goat restaurant’ later in the evening so would
not want to eat too many nibbles. We didn’t know whether vegetarians
Paul and Lin had picked up the message however so I had no idea what
to rustle up in the galley. I made blinis with smoked salmon, some
cheese and grapes on crackers and put out some nibbles thinking I
could raid the galley later if need be.
We had another lovely evening with our new friends; ‘Island
Drifter’ returning for a night cap after their dinner out and Paul and
Lin joining us for the evening after their early supper. We gave
dinner a miss in favour of time with friends and local cheese with
bread and fruit: Perfect! It was late when we cleared away the last of
many empty bottles hoping there wouldn’t be sore heads for the first
day of ‘Island Drifter’s’ leg back to England.