Air raid warnings and flak
Salila
Peter Ablett
Tue 16 Aug 2011 08:05
The only downside to this marina is the fog siren. This part of the coast is subject to fog, and they have what sounds like an old air raid siren. It's been wailing all day and night for the last two days, ear plugs are a valuable local currency. And it's been a festival weekend and national holiday on Monday, and they do like their fireworks during the day which are just big bangers in the sky that leave smoke clouds like flak.
But wherever we have been the Portuguese people have been extremely pleasant and helpful, and most of them speak English which was not the case in Galicia.
We had a great time going to Lisbon, if a bit complicated. Had to get Metro ( very new and smart) into Porto airport to collect the hire car, then a 3 hour drive to Lisbon. We stopped off to "do history" at Torres Vedras, where Wellington had constructed a line of forts during the Napoleonic war. They must have been quite impressive as they had 20,000 people working on them at one point. The French took one look and decided to advance backwards.
We stayed overnight in Lisbon, and went to a restaurant inside the bull ring, lots of beef on the menu. and then the long drive back. It's about the same as driving to Manchester, but without the traffic as Monday was a bank holiday here. Last night there was a huge crowd here for one of their festivals, the streets were decked with flowers, and excellent fireworks at midnight which almost drowned out the fog siren...