Author: jl.boreham

This is a very quick post! Because today I am allowed to blow my own trumpet! Because for me, last night was a very special night………..I went out out! It does not happen too often ……. usually I start yawning at around 6 o’clock and dreaming of my robe, slippers and book but last night I made an effort…………dress, makeup and even sparkly shoes!!

Where did I go?!?! Well………last night it was the annual running club presentation evening. I’ve only been to it once before as I’ve only been in the club for 18 months.

I am the girl who absolutely hated running at school. I used to hide in the ditch and sneak a quick walk in cross country and got stitch in my tummy just thinking about setting off. I loathed it. I was near the back of any running competition. I’m not that competitive, there was no prize, so I just didn’t see the point in overexerting myself. 😂

The above just sums up running for me! I might have told you before that I’m one of those that found running later in life, in my forties, to deal with grief after the loss of a friend. These days running does for me what books do for me too. Books and running allow you to escape, go some place else, to find peace, and be free.

I now have another friend receiving end of life care, a child I’m worried about (does that ever end!), and the world just seems like it’s getting closer to imploding with every passing day. So I need my running at the moment, more than running needs me. While out on my little runs I listen to the birds, take in my surroundings, get muddy, think of all the things I have to be thankful for, and eat cake afterwards! It’s my happy place.

So that’s basically it. I never try or intend to win my category in a race, if I do it’s just lucky. I just turn up to all my races, never take myself seriously and laugh my way around. However, I am a little competitive and will race anyone into the clubhouse afterwards to the cake.

So it’s now official………..last night I was crowned the fastest 50 year old female in the village (well I’m 53 actually)!!!! But not in one of the three Club Championship categories………………..I’ve won all THREE!!!! Clean sweep. I’m sat here looking at my little glass trophy which says I am the Club Championship Veteran 50 ‘Road Champion’, ‘Cross Country Champion’ and ‘Fell Champion’. For those of you who are not from around these parts, the latter title does not mean I fall down a lot (although I do do that too). A ‘fell’ is a word we use in Northern England and Scotland which is taken from the Norse word for mountain. And it is just that, a mountain or large moor covered hill, of which we have lots around here, and we run and race on them all year.

But not only that, I’m even more proud of me because I was awarded the Club Championship shield for the ‘Overall Female Fell Champion’. I am absolutely astounded, I can’t quite believe what I’ve pulled off! 😂 Neither can my two boys who are taking a bit of convincing that there was actually anyone else in the competition!

It’s just about turning up, having the courage to start, putting one foot in front of the other and keeping going, just don’t stop! That’s the one thing I don’t know how to do………….I never give up! Some people think it’s my strength and is endurance. I see it as a bit of a weakness and more stubbornness and reckless determination. I can think of a few times where it would have been more sensible to give up, but I don’t know how.

So this morning I have two trophies and a headache! So rough I’ve had to bake a cake to satisfy my sugar craving, and all I have done other than bake a cake, is sit and look at my trophies and read as I don’t feel like moving!😆

The message here is that providing you stick at it you can do most things if you put your mind to it. If the menopausal woman, with a hernia who eats cake can do this, then most people can. And the second bit of advice is don’t mix dry white wine, lager and stout on the same night out…….they make you feel really rough the next day. 😢

Loved it! Out of the four cities visited: Madrid, Segovia, Salamanca and Toledo…………..Salamanca was the winner. It’s the glamorous supermodel of the four. It is so stunningly beautiful.

It’s nice and compact, feels quite affluent, buzzing with life (as it has a large student population), very clean, not too busy and has one gorgeous building after another. Every way you turn it is breath-taking, by day and by night. It also feels incredibly safe as a solo female traveller, the people are really friendly.

Because there is quite a lot to see in Salamanca I stayed for two nights and had two full days to look around and that was about the right amount of time to see the main sights.

I stayed in the Salamanca Suite Studios in the Plaza Libertad, a very pretty, little green square, literally just around the corner from the main Plaza Major in Salamanca. The accommodation was perfect: fantastic location, reasonably priced, quiet at night, comfy bed, the best shower ever, a little kitchenette and a very friendly and helpful reception. It was perfect for me.

You can get to Salamanca from Madrid by train or by bus. Either is good. I went on the train and came back on the bus as the train was full. Bus is slightly easier as the bus station in Madrid is easier to get to than Chamartín train station, but it’s a bit more expensive and a little slower than the train, so it just depends on your preference really. Both the train and bus stations in Salamanca are an easy walk into town. Salamanca is a little further away from Madrid than Toledo and Segovia, it’s around 1 hour 40 minutes on the train and 2 hours on the bus. I had a lovely couple of hours reading my book on the way there and on the way back I was placed next to a lovely young man who was on his way from Salamanca to Madrid to meet his friends to watch Athletico Madrid. It was really useful as he was a bit of a chatterbox and did not speak a word of English, so he had the full inquisition in my very best Spanish, a bit like the inquisition my boys get after a long absence. I found out where he was from, details on brothers and sisters, what he studied, where he worked, his parents have a holiday home on the coast of Asturias in a little town I am going to, and in the end he was giving me a guided tour of Asturias from his phone picture gallery and proudly showing me pictures of his shiny bike and him in the Picos de Europa, and recommending where I should go on my next trip. I was very pleased with myself at having extracted all that information in Spanish! He only burst into laughter a couple of times and pointed out my errors politely! I dread to think what I may have said!😂

I had a lovely little walk from the station on my arrival, past some interesting street art in the new town, and quickly found myself at my hotel. I checked in and went in search of food, I was so hungry and it was getting late.

Sometimes I just need a burger! Not very Spanish, I know, but when I’m really hungry sometimes I crave one. If you are in need of a burger while in Salamanca this is the place to go! The restaurant is called Brooks and it is on one corner of the Plaza Libertad. It serves burgers and beer, and the burgers are to die for. I had the Campera Burger – in addition to the perfectly cooked homemade burger, it had molten provolone cheese, chimichurri mayo, rocket, red onion, creole chorizo, grilled vine tomato, all served in a toasted brioche bun with hand cut skin on fries. Oh my, it was gorgeous. In the menu they also recommend which of their beers go best with your burger. I went for the recommended Leffe Tripel, a strong and full bodied Belgian beer which I like to drink at home in the UK, and it was the perfect pairing. Just what I needed.

An early night beckoned, ready to get up early and explore the next day.

The old town of Salamanca is simply stunning and has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1988.

The first stop the following morning was the main square in Salamanca. Is is easily the most beautiful Plaza Mayor I have ever seen, and possibly the most beautiful in Spain in my opinion. It is so opulent. It is Spanish baroque in style. It is arched all around the perimeter and underneath the arches sit cafes, jewellery stores, ice cream parlours and restaurants. The buildings in the square, and in fact, in most of the old town, are constructed from sandstone and give the whole town a golden glow in the sunlight. It is the perfect place to watch the world go by and is very much a gathering place for the people who live there.

It was the perfect place for breakfast. If you want a reasonably priced café con leche and pastry for breakfast I can recommend café Las Torres. A huge custard ‘Raqueta’, freshly squeezed orange juice and delicious coffee, all for 5 euros.

By day the square is stunning, but you must go and see it by night. The whole square is lit up and it is the most beautiful sight, just like you have walked into a fairy tale.

Wherever you turn in Salamanca there will be a beautiful building. The wide sweeping streets are lined with them, but one of the most stunning façades has to be that of the new cathedral. It is so ornate and elaborate. If you look closely at the carved stonework around the door you’ll see some new additions following a 1992 restoration. There’s an astronaut, an ice cream eating dragon, a monkey and various other curiosities.

There is a new cathedral and an old cathedral. They are both together and the ticket to look around gets you into both. The new cathedral is not that new and dates back to between 1533 and 1733. It is gothic and baroque in style and is quite beautiful. The ceilings are so high and the placement of the windows in the ceiling are such, that the light illuminates the high vaulted ceiling and baroque painted cupola perfectly. The old cathedral is a bit of a disappointment compared to the new, but you might as well have a quick look while you are there.

In front of the Cathedral is a pretty little square which separates the Cathedral from the University, the Plaza de Anaya. There are normally a number of students hanging around and it’s the perfect place to put your feet up for a minute with a cool beer after trudging around the town.

I came out of the cathedral and suddenly realised that I gone a full 48 hours without an ice cream! Yes, I know it was February but the sun was shining and in my opinion you can eat ice cream 365 days a year, it’s not just for summer! If you want an ice-cream make your way back to the Plaza Mayor and under one of the arches you will find Heladeria Bico de Xeado. This could be my favourite shop in Spain!😂 It was such a difficult decision. Do I want Turron? Do I want Chocolate Orange? Or do I want one of the many other tempting flavours they have on offer? I just could not decide so I had both: Turron and Chocolate Orange………and while we are at it lets go large in a chocolate coated cone! I just can’t help myself.

After stuffing myself full of ice cream I thought I had better walk it off a bit so spent a good couple of hours just wandering and admiring the beautiful facades of all the golden sandstone buildings. A very interesting one is the ‘Casa de las Conchas’ or ‘House of Shells’. This is a very unusual and pretty building completely covered in sandstone shells, symbol of the Order of Santiago. It currently houses the public library. Apparently there is hidden treasure behind one of the shells, but I did not find it!

Opposite the ‘House of the Shells’ is ‘La Clerecia’, a very beautiful building now part of the Pontifical University of Salamanca. If you wander down the street at the side of the ‘House of the Shells’ you walk past the ‘Colegio de Espana para Extranjeros’, where I might have been better spending the day 😂, and eventually come to another pretty little square surrounded by the Monterrey Palace, a lovely building with a lot of history.

Wandering the streets, there are some beautiful shops for those of you that like to shop for gifts or just to treat yourself. I am drawn to the turron and chocolate shops and bought some little sweet treats for my two sons. I also had a little chuckle at the diversity of the Spanish general store. In Business Studies and Economics this is a true model of diversification and covering all bases of the consumer market. It is the one stop shop for your snacks, your coffee, drinks and water, perhaps a gift or something exciting to spice up that night in at home! 😆 Yes, I did go in and have a look because having a degree in business and marketing I was most intrigued as to how they had applied the 7 P’s of the marketing mix to the wide selection on offer.😂

Opposite the new Cathedral is the University. If you walk around the University onto the Calle Libreros you come to the Puerta de Salamanca door. Somewhere amongst all the ornate carved stonework is the Salamanca Frog. Legend has it that if you can spot the tiny frog carved into the intricate stone façade you are sure to have great academic success and pass your exams without a problem. Could I find it? No! I spent ages looking for it. Not wanting my academic future to be jinxed I undertook a transaction with the elderly beggar at the door. I gave him the money for his next coffee in exchange for him revealing the location of the frog! Does that count if I paid someone to show it me?!? I’m not sure. I reckon he makes a fortune as there is no way you’d spot it if you did not know where it was.  

I needed another little sit down and a snack so I wandered back to the main square to the bakery because I wanted to try something I had seen in the window that looked like a pie……………..and I love a pie! Well, it’s sort of a bit like a UK pasty but it’s called an Hornazo. It’s not bread and it’s not pastry, it’s sort of an in-between, stuffed with pork loin, spicy chorizo, and hard-boiled eggs. It has quite an interesting history. Apparently at Lent the prostitutes of the city were banished to the other side of the river. Hornazo’s were eaten on Easter Monday by students on the banks of the river to celebrate their return. I very much enjoyed mine sat in the sunshine in the square.

The early evening was spent reading my book and having a little siesta which turned into quite a long siesta as I dropped into a deep sleep which I must have needed. The bed was oh so comfy. I was awoken by such a commotion outside. Dusk was starting to fall and little did I know that the trees in the square outside my window were home to thousands of roosting starlings who had just completed their evening murmuration and landed outside, quite a noise.

But quite well timed, as they were my alarm clock to have a quick shower, get my playing out clothes on and go for a few drinks in the bar across the square on the corner of Plaza de Libertad. It had a nice vibe, some cracking tunes (as we would say in Yorkshire), and friendly staff who mixed an amazing G&T. And they had so many gins to choose from, all lined up on a shelf, including my favourite summer time gin…….Gin Mare. I love Gin Mare………you can taste the summer, wild herbs and the sea! Ok, it’s February and I’m in Salamanca but close your eyes while sipping a Gin Mare and tonic and you could be anywhere. I only had a couple of G&T’s as I always forget when in Spain that when you ask for a gin and tonic you do actually get what seems like half a bottle of gin. So two large gin and tonics saw me all nice, warm and fuzzy, but still able to wobble across the square to my room.

The following day the sun was shining brightly and it was the perfect day to be outside. Salamanca looks lovely in the sunshine. The lady in the hotel reception told me it looked really nice from the other side of the river. She pointed me in the direction of the city walls and and the Puerto Romano, old roman bridge. It’s a lovely slow stroll over to the other side of the roman bridge and she was right, it is a lovely point from which to look back and survey the cityscape.

On the way back I revisited a lovely little garden which I’d been to the day before. It sits atop the city wall and is so peaceful. It’s called the Huerto De Calixto & Melibea. It’s a tiny little garden tucked away through an archway. There are lovely views over the city walls down to the river. The planting in there is beautiful and all the spring flowers were starting to poke through the ground. There is a little tinkling fountain and lovely shady seating. The perfect place to have a little reflect, read a book, or just to relax. It gets it’s name as it is supposed to be based on the secret meeting place of Calixto & Melibea, the main characters in the well known Spanish masterpiece ‘La Celestina’, a tale of a passionate love affair that ends in tragedy.

On the way to the garden you can call to look at the Cueva de Salamanca. Here are the remains of a former crypt where, according to legend, the devil would teach black magic classes. You can only get so far in at the moment though as access is blocked due to the unsafe structure. Worth a little look though to read the information plaques.

After a morning soaking up the outdoors and atmosphere of the city on this lovely sunny day, it was only a couple of hours to my return bus to Madrid. One last place to visit for lunch…………..the market! We all know how I love a good market feed. It means I can try numerous different things. The market is situated just off the main square, down some steps to a lower level. It has some lovely Art Deco stained glass feature windows and architecturally if you like Art Deco you will love the market building itself. Inside it has all the stalls you would expect……….meat, fish, cheese, sausages. I bought some bits and bobs for my lunch which were so delicious I forgot to take a photo!

So that’s your little mini tour of Salamanca. Definitely overlooked on the tourism radar compared to the bigger Spanish cities, but twice as nice. But I guess that’s what I liked about it. It wasn’t full of tourists! It had a happy, chilled, laid back vibe about it. I felt relaxed and comfortable there and could have stayed longer, doing nothing much other than watch the world go by and reading my book. It’s a must do place if you are in this part of Spain.

I still have Toledo to tell you about……….and now Paris and a Marathon too……………….so watch this space! Marathon recovery is well underway and this week has involved, in addition to work, a little bit of orienteering………..more on that later…………..a glorious Yorkshire sunset on my evening wanderings and all sorts of little adventures.

But today I have spent the day with one of my very favourite friends……………..Spencer! It wasn’t Spencer I went to see it was his Mum who is a very dear friend of mine who is not so well at the moment. But it gave me the opportunity to have lots of doggy cuddles. In short, if you know me well you will know I have always wanted a dog but never been allowed to have one. I’d spend 24 hours in the company of a dog rather than a human on any day of the week! 😂 Anyway, I love Spencer and Spencer loves me as I am an endless source of tummy rubs and ear tickles. It took three attempts at a selfie today as he felt the need to lick my ear mid pose and I’m ticklish, but here we are, third time lucky! 😍

Well, what a lovely two days. My mini-me and I in London.

Salamanca and Toledo updates are on the way, but this last weekend I have been in the city of London spending some quality time with the baby of the family. It was a little treat for my birthday earlier in the month and his impending 21st birthday in a couple of weeks, when he officially becomes an adult and I have suggested he might want to start behaving like a grown up too!😂 That went down well!

It’s also the week when I officially became the most embarrassing parent on the planet without trying. But more on that in a minute.

The location of London was decided because the secondary purpose of the visit was to go to a concert, which my mini-me had volunteered to come to with me………….he loves his music, and he loves London. My oldest one was invited too, but he is on the final push to becoming a Master of Astrophysics, and being very studious, he was doing something which he tells me I won’t understand. Because despite having a degree, and sharing my intelligence genes with him, he thinks I am rather stupid.

Embarrassing moment number one occurred before I even got to London, and is a perfect example of how my brain is sometimes like cotton wool, especially so early on a Sunday morning. I’d only got as far as the train station in Doncaster. I was travelling on my own and meeting my youngest in London as he was travelling from University, which is the other side of the country to me. I just had time to go to the toilet before my train. I paid my 20 pence to get in the toilet, when to my horror, I got stuck in there. The turnstile would not open to let me out. Ten minutes to my train departure, and with no-one in sight, there was no option (wearing a little black mini skirt and tights might I add), than to push my cabin case under the turnstile while I attempted to hitch my skirt up to climb over it. By this time two young men had rounded the corner and I was met with a round of applause for my stealth like manoeuvre over the top of a turnstile in a mini skirt. Following closely behind them I spotted the janitor, so being the kind person I am, I thought I’d point out the issue, to prevent the same happening to any other unsuspecting female traveller. She smiled widely whilst explaining about the button that you should press, that releases the turnstile. But apparently, in my defence, I’m not the first and it happens quite regularly!

So, I made it to London, the city that I like to visit, but love to leave even more! No offence to anyone from London, it’s an amazing place and I love it for a short period. If you grow up there it will be the norm, but for me it is sensory overload, it exhausts me, and as much as I adore it, I feel myself relax as the train pulls out of Kings Cross on its way back to Yorkshire.

When you’ve been so many times you run out of places to visit, and my little companion was only with me for the Sunday as he had Uni on Monday so was leaving on an early train on Monday morning. I decided to take him to Camden Town as I thought it would be his sort of place. It’s a bit like Marmite, you love it or hate it. I knew he’d love it, liking his art, music, food and clothes. I’ll share the highlights of what we got up to and you can make your own mind up as to whether it’s your sort of place.

First challenge for me was the Underground. I hate it and have a fear of it. I have an issue being in a confined space, especially with lots of people, I start to feel really trapped. It’s an irrational fear I know, but with a rational source as it comes from being inside Hillsborough stadium on the 15th April 1989, at aged 18, when the infamous disaster occurred. I guess it’s something that will stay with me for ever but I’ve managed, with help, to overcome and face that fear. Whilst I don’t think I will ever be comfortable in those situations I can now face them and they don’t interfere with my life like they did when I could not even entertain the idea of being in an elevator or any confined space.

With the Underground in London there is that awful smell too, like a mechanical oily smell. It’s cold, damp, dirty, dimly lit and with all those old tiles looks like the inside of a badly maintained public toilet. I know for some people that’s the beauty and charisma of it but for me there’s nothing nice about it, but I made it from Kings Cross to Camden Town on the Underground after meeting my little bundle of joy!

So, why come to Camden? It’s a centre of counter culture and 100% sensory overload…………………..sights, sounds, smells, colour, street art, music, food. It’s a thriving, alternative area and very popular with the younger crowd. It’s an area where everyone fits in. You can’t really stand out in Camden because literally anything goes!

First stop was a little tour around to see some fantastic street art. It’s all over Camden and it is so colourful and well done. Being very creative he loved this.

Then we wandered down the very lively Camden High Street. There is music coming from all directions, all different genres. The smell of food from every corner of the world wafts along the pavement. Everywhere you look, the shop fronts are emblazoned in every colour of the rainbow.

It was time for food, and in Camden you are spoilt for choice as it is like one huge food market. There’s Buck Street Market, Hawley Wharf Market, Camden Lock Market and the Main Camden Street Food Market. We wandered around them all, deciding what to have. Buck Street is really interesting in its layout as it’s constructed out of colourful painted shipping containers all stacked on top of each other, with a central courtyard. Hawley Wharf is a little more upmarket and newer, down near the wharf.

As it was a sunny blue-sky day, we opted to go to Camden Lock Market and partake in the offerings from ‘Burger & Beyond’ whilst watching the canal boats bob around in the canal basin in the sunshine. According to ‘Time Out’ magazine, these are London’s best burgers and I’m not going to argue with that……………..YUM!

Then we walked around the vintage shops, because all students love a vintage clothes market! We weaved our way through all the high sided alleyways of old industrial canal side buildings and under the railway arches, which were covered by a ceiling of brightly coloured umbrellas……….very atmospheric.

Camden has been home to many famous people………..John Keats, Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw and J. B. Priestley, and still continues to be the home for many celebrities. We came across the statue to the Queen of Camden, Amy Winehouse. She was from nearby Enfield but moved to Camden in 2003 when she released her debut album. She felt at home there and remained there until her tragic death in 2011.

Camden is bordered by the very affluent area of Primrose Hill and its adjacent park, Regents Park. After the sensory overload of Camden we wandered over to Primrose Hill, passing through Chalcot Crescent, where the bright yellow house at number 32, is where Paddington Bear lived with the Brown family in Paddington 2.

More recently, residents of Primrose Hill area have included Noel Gallagher, Harry Styles, Chris Martin of Coldplay, model Kate Moss and Gwyneth Paltrow. It’s quite a cool celebrity hangout. It is more like a village, and the high street is full of little independent shops: fruit & vegetable shops, book shops, cafes. It has a community feel which is quite rare in London. We took the opportunity to have a cake and coffee break before climbing up Primrose Hill.

Primrose Hill is just that, a hill in a lovely park. Climb to the top of it and you will be rewarded with a fantastic view of the city. You’ll be able to pick out the Shard, Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, St Pauls Cathedral and many more iconic London buildings.

Wander down the hill and cross the road and you are in Regents Park. This is one of the Royal Parks of London. It’s a huge expanse of green space in the middle of London, and after the overstimulation of Camden it’s a good place to wind down on a lovely sunny day. Highlights of the park for me on this bright and sunny day were the reflection of the clouds on the boating lake, the Spring cherry blossom, the very beautiful planting of Spring plants in the flower borders and my close encounter with a very friendly heron………yes it’s a real one and had no intention of flying off!

Time now for another little trip on the Underground to our accommodation in Hammersmith. We were staying in Hammersmith, at the Luma – Heeton Concept Hotel, because we had tickets for a concert at Hammersmith Apollo that night which was due to finish late so I wanted to stay close by. It’s a nice good value hotel and its concept is based on the old Osram lightbulb factory which dominated this area of London back in days gone by. There are little light bulb facts and inspirational quotes all around the hotel.

Time for a quick freshen up and change of clothes for the short 5 minute walk to Hammersmith Apollo, where we were going to see the Black Pumas. They are an American Grammy nominated soul band and this was one of only two gigs they were playing on the UK leg of their tour. Just one man with an outstanding vocal and song writing ability, another, who is an amazingly gifted guitarist/producer, and a backing band.

Hammersmith Apollo is an iconic building in its own right. It was originally built as a cinema and is a Grade II listed Art Deco building, opened in 1932. The sound is fantastic, and perfect for a concert like this. It’s hosted many famous names, many of whom have released live recordings of their concerts there, the acoustics are so good. I’d bought the tickets on Spotify presale and they were excellently positioned. It was great to see the concert was completely sold out too, so the atmosphere was electric. The only downside, like in most venues where they have a captive audience, were the drink prices. And how is it that when you make your children pay their way they stick to beer and when they know you are paying they switch to double vodka and cokes!😂His drinks cost me nearly as much as his concert ticket!

The concert was superb, and certainly ranks in my top few concerts ever………..and I’ve been to a lot! No fancy set, costumes or lights required. Just his voice and the sheer quality of the musicians in the band were all it took. His vocal register and the way he just hits each note bang in the middle is just astounding! They played all my favourites from the first and latest albums. The highlights for me were ‘Colours’, which had everyone on their feet singing together, his absolutely perfect rendition of ‘Angel’ which was sung with such emotion, and which one concert goer captured for you to enjoy on social media (link below). The lovely surprise of the evening was when we were all getting our coats on to leave, the band had left the stage, and the lead singer waltzed through the side door into the audience circle with just his guitar to stand amongst us, thank us for attending, and gave us all a tear jerking rendition of his cover of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’, while we all just stood around him, mouths open in amazement. All in all, it was an amazing concert, one of those you’ll remember for years to come.

I was rudely awaked the next morning by the offspring at 5:30am setting off for his train to Bristol, but after seeing him off I managed to catch another few hours sleep. My train home wasn’t until 7pm in the evening so I had one whole day to spend on my own in London……….what a hardship!😂

So what does a girl do when abandoned in London for the day……………..go shopping of course! I no longer have anyone clinging to my coat tails saying “Is this the last shop?”, “Can we go home now?”.

It was mainly window shopping because I’d spent all my money on Vodka hadn’t I! But it was lovely to wander around of my own accord. I spent most of the day around Carnaby Street, a lovely little shopping area which contains my favourite department store for window shopping………………Liberty! If you have never been, you have to go on your next trip to London.

The building itself was designed by Edwin Hall in the 1920’s, a period of Tudor revival. It is constructed from the timbers of two ancient ‘three-decker’ battle ships with more than 24,000 cubic feet of timber from The HMS Impregnable and the HMS Hindustan. It’s now a listed building and is stuffed full of the most gorgeous clothes, homewares, fabrics and other things that the majority of us would have to re-mortgage our homes to afford.

However, I did get myself a little treat. But it was such an ordeal and battle with myself. I’m not good a treating myself but I’m getting better. You spend so many years working hard and sacrificing things for the sake of everyone else that you get out of the habit of focusing on you. When your family are growing up your sole focus is making sure they have everything they need, sometimes making do yourself, or going without to put everyone else first.

Well, the internal battle began in the perfume department. I have an empty bottle of Hermes perfume at home. It’s been empty for 6 months and I’ve not got around to buying the replacement. I’m not a huge collector of perfume, I normally only have two bottles, a heavier going out perfume and a lighter daytime summer fragrance. It was my bottle of Hermes ‘Un Jardin en Méditerranée’ that was empty, my summer time perfume.

But I fancied a change, and spotted the perfumes of Santa Maria Novella in Liberty. The Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella was first established in Florence in 1221. In that year, Dominican friars founded the convent of Santa Maria Novella, and began to cultivate a garden whose products they used to create balms and elixirs. I first came across their perfumes on a visit to Italy. In the UK they have one store in London, and also re-sell through Liberty and Harrods and that is your only option.

I had a little spray in Liberty and fell in love with one of their scents called Rosa Novella. It is described as, ‘Evoking a lush garden in bloom as Spring awakens. This warm, seductive fragrance opens with sparkling notes of citrus, mingling with delicate white flowers and the sweetness of rose before the freshness reveals a harmony of green herbal tones that drift off into a smooth bed of moss and woods.’ Apparently, it’s based on the smell that greets you when you enter the garden of Santa Maria Novella in Florence in May. So very me, floating about in a dreamworld of woods and rose petals!🤭

But then I had the ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ debate. I sprayed a bit more and went for a wander, arguing with myself. The scent kept wafting up and eventually got the better of me, so I did the extravagant thing and spent my birthday money and bought myself a gift! I felt so guilty, but the lovely attendant on perfumes actually made me feel better. He said, “Do you want it gift wrapping, it’s free of charge?” To which I replied “Oh, no it’s ok, it’s only for me!”  He then looked me straight in the eye and said, “Well that’s exactly the reason why it should be gift wrapped then!” and proceeded to get his purple ribbon and fancy paper out. He did make me think for a minute how sometimes we do put everyone else first and don’t appreciate ourselves. So, if you buy yourself a little gift my message would be don’t feel guilty about it and if they ask you if you want it gift wrapping say “Yes please, with the fanciest ribbon and paper you have!”

Just time for spot of late lunch and then a steady saunter through some of my favourite parts of London on my way to Kings Cross station. Past the quintessential British pub on the corner and through the very vibrant China Town.

Then through Covent Garden, which looks beautiful at any time of year, with a little pause to watch the street performers and read some poignant quotes which I liked a lot and I’ll share one below.

Then it was time to breath my sigh of relief and relaxation as I headed out of Kings Cross on my way back to God’s own County. Which I might add, is looking splendid, as Spring has finally sprung in my little happy place (my garden)!

I’ve just realised, I’ve not told you about my second embarrassing moment of the week. It is really quite bad, but has had everyone, except my boys of course, rolling with laughter. It involves my love/hate relationship with Strava and the use of my data, which I hasten to add I have now hidden from all leader boards! I have been completely unaware that my lovely little running route takes me through a small car park which unbeknown to me is used for something of a sexual nature which is not exactly legal. You’ll have to use your imagination as I’m not explaining it on here! But basically it has been named as such on a segment on Strava, and guess who almost became the ‘Local Strava Legend’ of such spot after repeatedly obtaining a PB on the one mile sprint to that segment……….yes me! So, the running route has been amended as I simply don’t know where it is safe to look anymore as I run through the car park and I’ve altered my data privacy to ensure no more unfortunately named awards and PB’s are pinned to my name, causing unnecessary distress and embarrassment for my children!!😂🤭

Today I have been keeping myself out of mischief by preparing for their impending arrival for the Easter weekend………….because you are never too old for one of Mum’s chocolate Rice Krispie buns with Easter mini eggs or Lemon Drizzle loaf. I figured if I stayed in and baked I could not get myself into anymore embarrassing situations. Two’s enough for one week!

OK, here I am to tell you about my recent day trip to the very lovely Segovia. I swear by the time I tell you about Salamanca and Toledo it will be Christmas and I’ll have been to numerous other places by then which I’ll want to share. I have just been so very, very busy. Both at work, at home, with my offspring, catching up with friends, various bits of DIY at home……………………….but here I am now with a quiet hour to share Segovia with you.

Is it worth taking a day out of a trip to Madrid to go there? Yes! And what’s even better is it can be seen very easily in a day. It takes just 27 minutes on the fast train from Madrid Chamartín/Clara Campoamor station. You can also get there on the bus, but I love the trains in Spain. In the UK, I only ever really take the train when I have to, as they are overpriced, usually late, unreliable and often cancelled. I went to Bristol the other week to see one of my children and it cost me £100 return, broke down at Birmingham on the way there, resulting in a change of train and the return train was cancelled. I have travelled extensively in Spain and Italy by train and their rail systems are far, far superior to that in the UK so don’t be nervous about relying on it, it’s excellent and cheap.

The easiest way to get to Madrid Chamartín/Clara Campoamor from the centre of Madrid is to use the Metro, as Chamartín is north of the city centre. Just make sure you get on the Metro going in the correct direction! 😂 Being a bit of a smalltown girl, I can find Metro systems quite confusing, and this is the day I found myself hurtling the wrong way on the Metro. 🤭 If that happens, just jump off at the next stop and reverse direction!

When you get to Segovia there are usually a couple of buses waiting at the station to ferry you to the town because the station at Segovia Guiomar is out of the city centre and a bit too far to walk. It only takes around 10 minutes and you can get one of two buses, one to the town centre or one straight to Segovia’s most famous site, the Roman Aqueduct.

I got on the one to the town as I needed breakfast, but you could get on either, as Segovia is really nice and compact to walk around and it is only around 15 minutes walk from one end of town to the other. First stop was a nice little café for a pastry and a café con leche to fuel me for the morning, and then a steady stroll to the aqueduct.

Directly at the side of the aqueduct is the Tourist Information office. They are really helpful and if you visit Segovia I recommend you go. They give you a free map and will draw you a walking route around town on the map, so you can see all the main sites in the day without missing anything.

So what’s special about Segovia? Well, it’s so special it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world in terms of its architectural configuration. It is a Roman walled city, and perhaps its most important site is its Roman aqueduct. You can’t possibly miss it, it’s huge! It is a masterpiece of hydraulic engineering, built to provide Segovia with water and has 167 arches. It is made of huge granite slabs, but what is even more impressive architecturally, is that it is completely self supporting, there is no mortar involved, just the laws of physics! Impressive stuff. A few photographs and a walk around the aqueduct and off I disappeared into the old town, ready to explore, armed with my map.

It was the worst day of the week weather wise. It rained all day so the photos don’t really do Segovia justice, but the town, being quite small, has a really nice friendly feel to it. It’s a lovely little escape from the hustle and bustle of Madrid.

My first stop in the old town was the ‘Casa de los Picos’, or ‘House of the Peaks’. Quite a quirky building to look at from an architectural perspective. Named ‘House of the Peaks’ due to the many diamond shaped peaks on the exterior, which apparently had both defensive and ornamental function back in the day.

Keep walking up the street and you will pass Saint Martin Church and eventually arrive at the central point in the old town, the Plaza Major. It’s quite a plain square compared to Madrid and others but lovely nevertheless. It was a good, covered, people watching spot for the second coffee of the day whilst I considered my next move.

It was raining quite heavily by now so I decided to walk to the far end of the town to visit the Alcázar. You can find an Alcázar in quite a number of Spanish cities like Seville, Cordoba, Toledo and a few more. An Alcázar is a type of Islamic castle or palace built during Muslim rule. Having been to those in Seville and Cordoba I thought I’d visit the one in Segovia as it is supposed to be the most famous. From the outside it looks a little bit like the Disney Castle. Just before you go inside though, be sure to have a look at the top of the trees outside at the storks roosting amongst the branches. You’ll likely hear them before you see them as they clack their bills together during courtship and it’s really loud.

The first thing I noticed about the outside of the Alcázar was a really unusual and pretty pattern on the outside walls. Each intersection of the stonework is studded with volcanic rock in the mortar. It makes for a really pretty effect.

Inside, the Alcázar is just as impressive. There are old Arabic tiles, beautiful stained glass windows, ornate gold ceilings and lots of artwork, including one painting of the coronation of Queen Isabella of Spain. She was crowned at the Alcázar of Segovia. It’s worth climbing up into one of the towers to see the artillery room and admire the view over the river and town and across the flat plains around the town.

After I had spent a couple of hours in the Alcázar I was ready for my lunch, but not before a little surprise! I’m on the Camino again! 😁 I get so excited when I see a little shell on the pavement, I just want to follow it. If you know, you just know! It transpires that Segovia is on the The Camino de Madrid which goes northwards from Madrid, through Segovia, then on to Valladoid, joining the Camino Francés at Sahagún.

The food you have to try in Segovia is roast suckling pig. A quick search showed I was not too far away from a lovely little restaurant called El Sitio in the old town. It is very well known for this dish and it is a traditional Spanish restaurant which will give you a really authentic experience.

It was a Tuesday lunchtime and it was heaving with people and I had not booked. I looked a bit out of place as I was on my own and was quite obviously the ‘tourist’. I had to use my very best Spanish and my biggest smile to try and explain that I wanted a table for one, I had not booked but really wanted to try the suckling pig. They just managed to squeeze me in and were so lovely, recommending what I should try if I wanted to sample local cuisine. Go check them out if you are in Segovia, it’s an amazing little place.

To start they recommended Sopa Castellana (Castillian Soup). I have no idea what was in it but it was nice. The only thing I was not sure about was the barely cooked egg floating around in it as I’m a bit funny about runny eggs. But sometimes you just have to try these things and I liked it lots. It was like a garlicky, savoury broth with all bits of meat and bread and an egg floating in it. It tasted so much better than I’m making it sound.

Then came the meal I had been waiting for, roast suckling pig (vegetarians look away now). It was plonked in front of me and I was delighted to see it waving at me, yes, complete with little trotter, how cute! And it was so very good! The most delicious, juicy, sweet pork with a lovely crispy skin. I can cope with the trotter no problem, I might struggle a little bit if I got the smiling version!

And of course it would be rude not to squeeze a little dessert in. Nothing elaborate but one of my favourites when in Spain. I am a great lover of custard! All desserts should come with custard! I can eat custard on its own, and the good thing is in Spain you can! Natillas is a traditional Spanish dessert and is quite simply a cold chilled custard flavoured with vanilla and cinnamon, served with a plain vanilla Maria biscuit. The perfect ending to my lovely lunch.

After lunch I went to discover the cathedral. It’s a very pretty one and the highest point in the town. It is late gothic in style, with some huge vaulted ceilings. There is lots of gold, a beautiful organ, some lovely stained glass and a very pretty cloister. It is a lovely cathedral to visit and I was lucky enough to be wandering around while the organist was having a practice so I had some lovely music to accompany my visit. The acoustics were fantastic and I really wanted to put a request in for a rendition of my favourite Widor’s Toccata but thought I might be pushing my luck because it’s quite a big ask!

I was running out of time on my little day trip and I soon had to go for my return train. I just had time to have a wander through the old Jewish quarter of Segovia. At its peak this area housed five synagogues and was one of the richest and most populated communities in the whole of Castille. It is a neighbourhood of Segovia which was traditionally populated by the Hebrew community from the 12th century until the late 15th century, after which the Catholic monarchs promulgated the Edict of Granada which said that all Jews had to convert to Christianity or leave Spain. It’s a pretty little area which will transport you back in time. It is a worthwhile window into history, and another timely reminder of how religion can drive us apart if we don’t respect each others beliefs, or each others decision to not have a belief, sadly a lesson we appear to be no nearer to learning six centuries later.

That was all I managed in my short day trip to Segovia. I would definitely recommend it as a day trip. It’s nice, small and compact and has a really nice feel to it. It’s easy to get to and you can quite comfortably see all the main sites in one day. It gets a big thumbs up from me.

Next up Salamanca…………but it could take me a week or two as countdown has begun…………… 19 days from the marathon and I’m meeting myself coming backwards in addition to having bright pink and black tape stuck all over my lower back by the physio in an attempt to hold me together! 😂 I honestly do think I might fall apart if it is peeled off, but he told me with great delight that he chose pink and black tape to match my trainers, how thoughtful, that’s service with a smile for you! 😁 Today though, is the day I fell in love with Strava. Normally I don’t get on with it as I’m not really interested how fast or far I’ve gone. I’m usually just relieved to have finished each run and think the mapping would be far more useful if it told you where all the cake stops were en-route. 😆 However, today it told me I am ‘Superior’! My VO2 max (which I’ve no idea what that is but it sounds impressive!) is in the top 5% for my age and gender. But wait for it!!!!!!! My fitness age is 20 years old!!!!! Oh gosh………….I LOVE Strava now!

Tonight though is a lovely trip to see possibly my favourite Opera……….Carmen………where I shall indulge in a few treats that probably don’t sit well with my training plan and I will try so desperately hard not to sing along to the Habenera and spoil the performance for everyone else. 😂

Madrid……………you were such fun!

I spent weeks practicing my Spanish before I went but forgot to learn the phrase which would have come in most handy on this trip.

¿Dónde estoy? ¡Estoy perdida!……………………. Where am I? I’m lost! I know how to ask for the location of the bank, the train station, restaurant, hotel…….everything, except where I am. This was the week that saw me hurtling the wrong way on the Metro, inadvertently finding myself in the middle of a Pro-Palestinian protest, and generally getting into all sorts of mischief without even trying. I’ve quite decided I quite like being lost ………..it’s a positive experience because usually, you find the most exciting things when you are just wandering around aimlessly.

I had 7 days to spend in Spain. I managed to fit in the cities of Madrid, Segovia, Toledo and Salamanca. I loved them all, and Madrid perhaps wasn’t my favourite, but I loved it all the same. Today I only have time to tell you about Madrid, but I promise I’ll tell you what I got up to in the other cities in due course.

So Madrid…………what to see, where to stay, what to eat, how to get around………………….here goes.

I was a little overwhelmed on arrival. I got that feeling I get when I go to London because Madrid is similar in that it is huge. The buildings are gigantic, the streets are crammed packed full of people, and there is traffic and noise everywhere. There are various ways of getting from the airport. You can use the metro, take a taxi or get a bus. I took the airport bus, which at 5 Euros was a bargain, and it dropped me off 10 minutes walk from my hotel in probably one of the busiest throughfares in the city, Plaza de Ciebeles. I then had to walk up Madrid’s busiest street, Gran Via, to get to my hotel. First impressions were that I wasn’t sure I was going to like it in Madrid. Being there on my own, it felt a bit too ‘full on’ and busy for me. However, those feelings soon disappeared once I got to my hotel, found the bar and had time to settle, because fortunately not all Madrid is so ‘in your face’…….you can escape……..and what followed were a fantastic few days.

So where did I stay……..fortunately not on the Gran Via! All the hotels seem to sell themselves on being near or on the Gran Via, but it is my idea of a nightmare. Think quantity rather than quality: busy, loud, brash. I might be doing it a dis-service, but it was definitely my least favourite part of Madrid, I really did not like Gran Via. I stayed just off the Gran Via down a quietish street in the area between Malasaña and Chueca. The hotel was fantastic, called the 7 Islas Hotel, I really can’t fault it, and I would return to this hotel again. It is full of lovely artwork, which changes often as the foyer doubles up as an art gallery. The rooms are so clean, fresh and minimalist. The staff are lovely, and it has an amazing cocktail bar menu!! I felt that it was good value for money. It’s in a perfect spot within walking distance of everything, but it feels peaceful as they have some lovely green plants throughout the hotel. It’s like a little peaceful haven in the middle of a metropolis. It was an early night the first night ready for the busy first day, although I did award myself a little lie in and hung my sign on my door to say I did not want molesting in the morning!😂 Not literally, but occasionally translation from Spanish to English and vice versa does make me giggle because sometimes things just aren’t what you think!

Importantly for me, the hotel had a little gym, with treadmill, to maintain my training. The treadmill did look a little bit like the flight deck of a Boeing 737, and my brain only copes with simplicity at present. Too many buttons and flashing lights are dangerous, and I hate treadmill running anyway, but it sufficed……………………once I’d got used to it, after being expelled off the end a few times. It was quite a fancy gym, with cooled iced water with lemon slices floating in it, fluffy towels and floor to ceiling mirrors, which I’ve decided I don’t like………….I have no desire and no need to see what I look like during or after a 10k run on a treadmill.

When I looked into where to stay in Madrid, the internet said that Malasaña and Chueca areas, which are next to each other, were suitable for ‘hipsters and the traditional’. It said they were trendy, had attitude, personality and were the ideal place to stay if you wanted to experience life as a Madrileno (person from Madrid) rather than a tourist. That sounds perfect, I thought……….and I did really like it. It’s also a really interesting and flamboyant area, and some websites describe it as the ‘epicentre of gay Madrid’. And it certainly was! Coming from a small village in the countryside in Yorkshire, I live in a bit of a ‘bubble’. However, I’m very open-minded and love to discover new things and have my eyes opened to the big wide world out there. I spent quite a few happy hours on my bar stool in the hotel cocktail bar window watching the comings and goings from the ‘bar’ opposite. Oh my!!!………….. some of the outfits were outrageously flamboyant, and the makeup was amazing. It was just like being on the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race. It was so much fun! I learnt some new vocabulary, had my eyes opened, and came to the conclusion that 99% of the time, I really do exist completely oblivious to the rest of the world in my little bubble.

Getting around Madrid…….there are various ways. You can use the Metro (underground rail system), take the bus, or they have a bike and scooter scheme like in most major cities. I personally wouldn’t like to think I was traversing Madrid on a bike or scooter. It would be like peddling down the motorway on a children’s tricycle. Metro and bus are both good options and are well priced and efficient. I did both, depending on where I wanted to go.

Now I’ll tell you about all the places I visited. I’ll cover food separately in a minute as that deserves its own write-up. I was in Madrid for three full days and feel that I saw all the main things that I wanted to see. You could easily spend longer seeing some of the lesser known sites, or spending longer in certain places, but anything less than 3 days and you might be a little rushed. There are so many things to see, but here are my highlights.

If you ask me what instantly springs to mind when I think of Spain (in addition to food, which is always at the forefront of my mind) it’s toilet lights that don’t stay on long enough and statues of men on horseback. In Madrid you won’t be disappointed. You’ll find yourself grovelling around in the dark feeling for the loo roll on many an occasion, and there are more horse riding men than you can shake a stick at. I’ve now developed a sort of sit down dance that I do when going to the toilet, it’s sort of a blend between an arm wave and a shoulder shimmy but I find it helps to keep the lights on if you undertake it while peeing. That’s a top tip.

So first stop, Plaza Major. Almost every town and city in Spain has a Plaza Major, and Madrid has a huge one. It’s not the prettiest one I’ve seen on my travels, but it’s most definitely worth a visit and has that all-important man on a horse! This one is King Felipe III.

Then I thought I’d visit the first of the two major art galleries I wanted to look in, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. This gallery contains Madrid’s finest collection of contemporary art. It contains pieces from the 19th century right up to the 1980’s by some of Spain’s greatest artists: Picasso, Miro, Dali and many more. Perhaps its most famous work is the original of Picasso’s Guernica, probably one of the most important pieces of artwork of the 20th century. It is much larger than I expected it to be at 3.5m by 7.8m and is a monochrome painting in the cubist style that Picasso became famous for. You could look at just this painting for hours and discover all the small elements of it, and their reason for being there. The museum also contains a number of sketches he did leading up to the painting of the full work, which sheds light on some of his thought processes.

There is quite a lot of Miro in there too. Miro, I can take or leave, some of his work I love and some I just don’t understand. It’s not that I don’t like it, I just can’t seem to get on the same wavelength. If you are ever in Palma, Mallorca, there is a Joan Miro Museum on the outskirts, and I’ve been a couple of times and would recommend a visit. The building itself is a work of modern art. There is another museum dedicated to him in Barcelona on the top of Montjuic, and that’s equally as good. I absolutely love Dali though, and there is a large amount of his work in here. He is probably the greatest surrealist artist of all time. His paintings are almost dreamlike and fantastical, and there are usually a number of ways they can be interpreted. You can look at a painting again and again and see something different in it each time. A lot of his work contains sexual imagery as a result of his anxiety and conflicting views towards sex.

The second art gallery you should visit is the Museo de Prado, undoubtedly one of the greatest art museums in the world. This contains the work of Spanish and European artists going back centuries, so if you like the more traditional style of paintings, rather than the contemporary, then you will prefer this museum. It has whole rooms dedicated to some of its most prolific artists such as Goya, Velazquez, Rubens, El Greco and Titian. I absolutely adored it in this museum and could have spent days there.

My favourite pieces were Bosch ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’, Velazquez ‘Las Meninas’, Sorolla ‘Boys on the Beach’ and Tintoretto ‘The Washing of the Feet’ – not because of the subject matter, as I’m not particularly religious, but because of his sheer genius in the use of perspective, making the image almost appear in 3D if you view it from the right hand side. I don’t have any pictures of the inside of the museum for you as it is prohibited to take photos in there, and that rule is enforced quite strictly. My tip for the Prado would be to pay extra for the audio guide. The museum is huge and you can’t possibly see it all on one visit or even in one day. I had 3 hours to spend there and the really good thing about the audio guide is that there are a couple of pre-set tours in there for 2, 3 and 4 hours, there may be more, I can’t remember. But if you decide how long you want to spend in there and select that tour, if you follow it, not only will you not get lost, but you will quite efficiently see all the major works that it is possible to see in that time frame. I chose the 3 hour tour, and it was almost spot on in its timing.

I would highly recommend a visit to both these galleries, but buy your tickets online in advance to skip the queues a little because the line to buy tickets was huge at both of them, and that was midweek in February.

Behind the Prado Museum is one of Madrid’s beautiful parks which you must visit – Parque del Buen Retiro. There are lakes, beautifully manicured gardens, the beautiful metal and glass Palacio de Cristal and yes you’ve guessed it……………….various men on various horses, amongst many other beautiful statues. There is also the most exquisite rose garden and I would love to see it and smell it in late spring and summer, I bet it is beautiful.

It was Saturday when I went to the park. The sun was out, and it was a lovely, warm day. The first signs of spring were starting to appear. So most of Madrid had gone to the park too. It had a lovely atmosphere. There are places you can get a drink and an ice cream, and it just seemed such a happy place. I would imagine it is also nice to go and just sit and read your book when it is quieter.

Just outside the park on the way down to the city centre there is a throughfare that is lined with market stalls all selling books, mostly old books but some newer ones too. It’s a bit like a book flea market. I could have spent all afternoon browsing and buying. If you like books, it looked like my idea of heaven.

I wanted to get to the other side of the city and the weather was nice so I thought I’d walk. It was whilst I was wandering aimlessly in the direction of the other side of the city that I stumbled across what I think is my favourite part of Madrid. It’s called Barrio de las Letras, on account of all the well-known writers who lived here. Cervantes, author of Don Quijote, even has a street named after him, where he used to live. It’s a peaceful area, tree lined, cobbled streets, colourful with a bit of street art and it all comes together at the very pretty Plaza de Santa Ana, which contains a statue to the poet Federico Garcia Lorca. It’s a lovely area for just wandering around the little independent stores and it’s where I found my favourite little coffee shop which I’ll share with you when I tell you about food. It’s my sort of area and I loved it. If you want cocktail bars, high street stores and fast food you won’t like it, you need to be on Gran Via, but if you want a bit of time wandering in the slow lane come here, you’ll love it.

Towards the centre of the city, as you make your way over to the other side, you will come across the Puerta del Sol. It is one of the busiest places in the city and contains quite a few things. Firstly, it contains the plaque to the Kilometre Zero (KM0), the point from which all radial roads in Spain are measured. It was established in 1857, and there are 6 roads numbered N1 to N6, which radiate clockwise from this point.

Also in Puerta del Sol is the statue of the Bear and the Madroño Tree, heraldic symbol of Madrid.

And you’ll never guess what else there is……………………………yes, there’s a man on a horse………this time its Carlos III.

If you walk right to the west side of the city, you will come to the Royal Palace. It looks very pretty and apparently is very beautiful but I just didn’t have the time to go inside and by that time I’d spent that long wandering around I just could not be bothered to walk any further. Luckily though, opposite the Royal Palace is the Plaza de Oriente. This is a very pretty square, overlooked by the very nice Cafe de Oriente where you can treat yourself to a posh cup of coffee whilst overlooking the very pretty gardens which contain a statue of…………………wait for it……………..a man on a horse! This time, it’s Felipe IV.

While you are over here, you are not too far away from the Plaza de Espana. If fountains are your thing, then this square contains a lovely one.

The final place I wanted to go to was the bull ring. The easiest way to get there would be bus or metro. It’s a good couple of miles out of the city. However, on this particular day, I was wandering aimlessly to the bus stop when I came to a Police cordon. Then came the helicopters, then the riot vans, then tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters on a protest march, which I suddenly found myself amongst. Given that I don’t really like lots of people and noise, it wasn’t my greatest moment! They were all very friendly, but I shot down a side street as soon as I could and walked all the way to the bull ring, as all public transport was temporarily stopped. That’s how I know it’s a LONG WAY! Take the bus or metro. My plan was to get the bus back into the city, that was until two drove past me completely full because Atletico de Madrid had just defeated Las Palmas 5-0 and everyone was on their way back to the city. The metro was the same, so I walked it all the way back too. But I did have a midway stop in a cake shop for fuel!

The bull ring, known as Las Ventas, was nice. It is Arabic in style and is the largest in Spain and third largest in the world. They do guided tours, and if you have never been a bull ring, I would say it would be worth going inside to learn about the history of the bull ring and the life and costumes of the matadors. I did not go inside because I think once you’ve seen one bull ring they are probably all quite similar and I have recently been inside the bullring in Seville, which some claim to be the most beautiful in the world. There are a number of statues outside, and these are worth a little look. There are some of bulls and some of famous matadors such as Antonio Bienvenida from Venezuela, who was one of Madrid’s most famous matadors who came to a sticky end in 1975 after an altercation with a young heifer on a local ranch. There is also an interesting statue celebrating the scientist Alexander Fleming, and I did wonder what a statue to him was doing outside a bullring. Well, bullfighters were a big fan of his as he developed Penicillin. and apparently, when you are gored by a bull, a decent amount of bacteria from the bull’s horn finds its way into the wound. Therefore, Alexander and his Penicillin were the saviour of many a gored matador!

Now to tell you about food! My favourite subject. What did I eat and where?

When in Spain you just have to have churros and chocolate……….chocolate so thick you can stand your spoon up in it. Not too far from the hotel was the quite well-known Chocolateria San Gines. It has a number of outlets all clustered together in the same area and they are open 24/7……………….yes, you can have churros and chocolate at 3am if you want! So my first breakfast was of churros and chocolate, and having eyes bigger than my belly, I had 6 churros and felt quite sick afterwards. Well recommended though, they were delicious!

Madrid, like many cities in Spain, has a number of fantastic food markets, where not only can you do your food shopping, you can also eat and drink inside them. There are usually lots of different stalls selling a whole host of different local food products, and they are a fantastic place to try all sorts of local cuisine. Just behind the Plaza Major, there is a bustling one called Mercado de San Miguel. I loved this one.

It was so authentic and filled with mainly Spanish and local people. It was very busy to say it was a Monday lunchtime. Each stall tends to specialise in a different food. There were stalls with seafood, olives, cheese, sausages, wine, cider…………………it was heaven!!!

The trouble is there is too much choice and I can’t decide. I had a couple of glasses of Albariño wine. To eat, I had some fried seafood, then some cheeses, then a pinxto with chorizo, goats cheese and peppers as I felt like I was missing some sausage……..you can’t come to Spain and not have sausage. You must visit this or another market if you come, it’s such good fun.

If you feel like some proper, traditional, and authentic food one night, I can highly recommend a little restaurant called Taberna La Carmencita in Chueca. The taberna has been around since 1854 and was the regular haunt of legendary poet Pablo Neruda. It has a lovely menu of traditional, wholesome Spanish dishes, and when you walk in, you are transported back to 1854.

The walls are all tiled, the floor wooden, with old dark wood tables and chairs and quite dim lighting. The staff were lovely and although they had a busy evening they found me a perfect little table for one in the window. I ordered ‘Paletilla de Cordero’, which was a lovely shoulder of lamb casseroled with seasonal vegetables and served with some baked potato wedges. While I was waiting, they brought me an appetiser of warm, crusty, toasted bread and duck liver pate.

It you are looking for something simple for breakfast, brunch, a fantastic cup of coffee, or both, I recommend Cafe Gosto in Barrio de las Letras. They do the most delicious avocado and almond toast along with all sorts of other tostadas, snacks, and cakes, and their coffee is delicious.

If you like biscuits and cookies, you should also go to the monastery of Corpus Christi and buy some cookies freshly baked by the nuns. It’s worth going for the experience of buying them. It looks like a bit of a drug handover. If you go to Calle del Codo 3, you will come to a door with a sign on that says ‘Venta de Dulces’. Ring the doorbell that says ‘Las Monjas’ (Nuns), and they will buzz you through the door.

Follow the signs until you come to a Lazy Susan turntable built into the wall. There is a price list and a list of cookies available on the wall at the side. There are shortbreads, almond cookies, orange cookies, and quite a few more. You can’t see the nuns, they are not allowed to be seen. You ask for the cookies you want and put your money on the turntable. They twizzle it around, you take your cookies they have put on the turntable, and they take your money.

The cookies come in 500g or 1kg boxes. It might sound like a large quantity, but they are so delicious I had no issues devouring a 500g box to myself over the course of the week. I’m sure that will not surprise anyone. Most of them I ate on Valentines night in bed with my PJ’s on. I started off with a lovely glass of wine in the hotel bar but then I thought, do you know what, a good film with my cookies and PJ’s in bed would be a much better idea!

Finally, I need to tell you about Calle Cava Baja in the La Latina area. This is affectionately known as ‘tapas street’. A number of cities have one major street which has been taken over by eateries and bars where you can just work your way from one bar to the other, or you can just sit in one, it’s up to you. It was Saturday night when I went down Calle Cava Baja, so it was heaving with people. I found myself in a tapas bar called La Concha. I was attracted by the pretty turquoise blue and red façade and an excellent tapas menu.

I was intrigued as to what everyone was drinking. They all seemed to be drinking the same thing. I was told it was a ‘Manuela’. Not wanting to be left out, I ordered one without really knowing what it was. Anyway, it transpires that the Manuela is named after the daughter of the owner. It is made by putting an ice cube in a martini glass, spraying it with gin three times exactly, dropping in a cocktail stick with an olive and a piece or orange peel on it, pouring in vermouth and then topping the glass up with a generous serving of Campari bitters. The nearest thing I can liken the taste to is a Negroni, and I love a Negroni! It’s La Concha’s Spanish Negroni with the vermouth replacing the martini. It went really well with my tapas of albóndigas (meatballs) and a roasted pepper dish with gratinated local cheese and crusty bread.

That’s about all I had time to squeeze into my three days in Madrid but hopefully that should give you an idea as to what it’s like, some top tips as to the main places to visit and where to sample some good Spanish food. It’s an amazing city, not my favourite, by a long way, perhaps a bit too busy for me. But if you like gigantic cities with lots going on, like London, you’ll love it. I think I prefer smaller cities. I preferred Porto to Lisbon, I’d choose Bologna or Sienna over Florence or Venice, I’d choose Barcelona, Seville, Salamanca, Granada or Bilbao in the Basque country over Madrid. They are just that bit smaller and more authentic to me, and I just feel more relaxed and at home in them, but everybody is different, and I’d certainly recommend Madrid.

To follow………….Segovia, Salamanca and Toledo…………..when I have time to write, because I am now just 5 weeks away (sounds better than 35 days) from my marathon. So if I’m not working, sleeping or eating…………..I’m running or having a tantrum about running. 😂 Adios for now!

😂😂😂 Yes, it’s official………………I’m completely losing my mind!! For anyone out there that is at that stage in your life and you are worrying that you just can’t function………………..don’t fret…………..it’s completely normal. The thing is, it’s the only time in your life when you can do the most stupid stuff, have an excuse, and get away with it! 😆 So embrace it and have fun!

In addition to brain fog, I am getting more and more intolerant of people and am find it increasingly difficult to keep my mouth shut. In a meeting, I would almost always rather sit and listen and add my strategic perspective at an opportune moment, rather than be the centre of attention, I don’t need to hear the sound of my own voice. I most certainly have those times when I’m all ‘peopled out’ and just need my own company for an hour or two. I’m grumpy at this time of year anyway………my hibernation ends late February, and this half term has been so busy. I saw this pie chart the other day and I thought, “That is so me!” I even had to practice my breathing in a meeting last week just to force myself to keep my mouth shut!😆

Except I’m not much of a swearer. My four letter word would probably be “Shit” and even then I’d take 20% off that and reallocate another 10% to “I’m hungry” and another 10% to “What an idiot”.

Sometimes, my mid-life brain fog is so bad it gets a bit frustrating. I do things like go to the shopping centre, come out again, and have no idea where I’ve parked the car……….so I have to walk around pressing the button until the car winks at me with it’s lights. I’ve been to the shop and walked home, forgetting I’ve gone in the car and then had to walk back to get the car! Being a bit of a control freak it used to really get to me when I did stupid things and I would end up in tears……… it was like being on an emotional rollercoaster. If you are the same, then seriously consider hormone patches…………….. they are amazing!!! I’d tried all the homeopathic stuff: yoga, diet, extract of this and that………but nothing seemed to work. Anyway, the doctor convinced me that with the healthy lifestyle I live (I didn’t tell her about the cake🤭) the increased risks were negligible and I should stop battling it and try patches.

Now, I know they don’t work for everyone, but for me they have been transformational. The thing is, the brain fog does not go away, you just don’t give a shit anymore……………..about anything!!!!! 😂😂 Well, anything little that you should not be worrying about. I still give a shit about the important stuff like what’s going on in the world at the moment, be it politics, war, humanitarian and environmental issues, as they still really upset me and make me angry. But all the anxiety about stuff that doesn’t matter has gone, I don’t care who is in control and I am now just crashing about and running my way through the menopause making a complete fool of myself. It’s so much fun.

Normally I can conceal my misdemeanours at work, but not this week! At work I am supposed to be in control and know what I’m doing. I have a quiet little office. I sit in there with my tea trolley, and work on my budgets, numbers and spreadsheets quite happily. I’ve repurposed one of those little vintage tea trolleys and if you need a good cuppa, my office is the place to be, I’m always happy to share. Beverages are lined up left to right as I try to make it through the day. I start on the Azera caffeine first thing in the morning. Mid morning it’s time for Peppermint tea. By lunchtime I’m ready for ‘Radiance’ which is supposed to promote an ‘inner glow’, although I’ve yet to experience one at work! By mid afternoon I’ve lost the will to live so I have a cup of ‘Peace’ containing hemp seed oil as I just try to make it to the end of the day. If it gets really bad I always have the Ferrero chocolates in the dish for emergencies.

Anyway, no-one notices when I do something stupid like look for my glasses when they are on my head; or wonder why my mouse is not moving on the screen when I am clutching and gliding the stapler over the mouse mat. But this was the week I was caught red handed when I went into the general office to access the safe and was caught trying to open the refrigerator with the safe keys.

Anyway, in addition to the patches, other things that really help and I would endorse have been good old fresh air, exercise and diet.

When it comes to fresh air and exercise we all know I like to have a good run. So what have I been up to this month? Well, I have done the Meltham Tough 10k………and tough it was. I went nice and slow though as I have been instructed by my lovely physio that I can only run steadily for a while. I have an issue with my piriformis muscle (never knew I had one until last week!) and my sciatic nerve and it’s causing me much pain down my left leg. So I have to behave, which I am finding quite difficult as I do like to do the opposite of what I’m told.😆Oh well, I guess I got to look around more , enjoy it, and my watch did still say 648 calories worked off which still equated to one huge piece of cake at the end.

January has also seen me having some hair chopped off especially for the marathon in April. My curly hair was driving me crazy. I’ve tried wearing a buff to run, but I just get too hot. I spend entire races pulling it out of my mouth. So I’ve reluctantly had some cut off and I think I hate it! 😢It’s still curly but I just don’t think it’s as pretty and feminine, and someone even said I look mischievous, which we all know is not the case! 🤭😂 But for heavens sake it’s only hair it will grow back quickly and it will serve a purpose until April, so I’m not going to get too upset about it! I could really do without having offspring though who just love to make fun of me, and it’s a good job love is unconditional. Not wanting to be torn apart in person I sent them a photo to announce the haircut…………………… get the ridiculing out of the way online I thought………

I braced myself for the reply, which contained no words…………….just this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously!!! Beaker from the Muppets!?! If it were not for the feel good hormones in my patch I could be emotionally destroyed. But I’m going to rise above it and await a suitable time and moment to inflict my revenge!

So, I’ve had to step off the running a bit in January and do a bit more of my second love …………. walking, and I have a lovely walk to share with you. Because let’s face it, at this time of year it’s a bit grim up North, and other than sit still in front of a fire, read and eat cake, the options for entertainment are limited. So I went on a lovely little weekend day trip towards the east coast of Yorkshire, to the little market town of Helmsley, where I did a nice circular walk to Rievaulx Abbey and back. The good thing about this time of year though is I can get my bobble hats back out!

This walk comes well recommended. Helmsley is a lovely old Yorkshire market town with some beautiful shops and cafes, and is a great start and end point for the walk.

I saw the first signs of Spring which always cheers me up! Some beautiful little snowdrops poking their heads up out of the grass. It’s a little too early for the daffodils, which I adore. It was cold, it was damp, but is was oh so pretty and nothing can prepare you for that first dramatic sighting of Rievaulx Abbey……………..it is huge! It is such a peaceful and secluded place, perfect for one of those escapism walks. Don’t expect anything fancy, it’s a ruin in the North York Moors National Park, but its setting is delightful. It was one of the great Cistercian Abbeys in England, seat of Aelred of Rievaulx, until it was seized in 1538 by Henry VIII, who after doing away with all his wives, decided to turn his attentions to monks and close down and confiscate the lands and wealth of all the monasteries in England and Wales in his reformation of the Church.

The abbey is now looked after by English Heritage. There are lots of information boards around the grounds explaining everything from the architecture, to the living conditions and lifestyle of the monks. It really is quite interesting. It is not until you stand underneath the main cloister that you realise just how huge it is, and what a feat it must have been to build it. The drainage is still intact and the ingenuity of the design is evident as you see how the monastery has a network of drainage channels underneath it which are constantly flushed by a diversion from the river. It was very quiet on this particular Sunday in the middle of winter and it had an almost eerie, spooky feel about it. Anyway, if you are ever in the vicinity it’s worth a visit.

Then the best bit of the day! No visit to the east coast is complete without a battered cod and chips, in a good old fashioned pub, with a log fire……..a perfect end to a lovely day.

Talking of food, this is where I need to tell you about my microbiome. This has been a revelation to me, and I have a couple of recipes and some top tips for you. I never knew I had a microbiome inside me! I have been happily cramming anything and everything into my stomach for 52 years as I love food. However, this last year or two I have had a temperamental stomach. It’s worse if I’m stressing about something, and particular foods also cause me discomfort, particularly multi seed bread, broccoli, beans, aubergines………which unfortunately are all things that I love and cannot give up entirely. But like most things in life, it’s all about balance, and this is where the microbiome comes in. The microbiome is a full ecosystem of microbes and bacteria that live inside your gut. We all have one, but I’ve only just discovered mine! 😆Loving science, I am now fascinated by it.

The secret is to balance your microbes or your good and bad bacteria. I have lovely running friend, and she told me about my microbiome and the fact that mine could be lacking in good bacteria and had I tried replacing it by eating fermented food. Yuk, I instantly thought, as someone started rambling on about fermenting cabbage for 10 days in a jar. This is not for me I thought. Anyway, my lovely friend is from Bulgaria, who along with the Greeks are expert yoghurt makers. She assured me that no fermented cabbage was necessary. She said all I needed was a packet of starter bacteria 2 litres of milk and a warm oven. You make one batch of yogurt and then every week you just use a spoonful of your already made yoghurt as your starter culture for the next batch. So along came my packet of Lactobacillus Bulgaricus and Streptococcus Thermophilus (I know, I’m making it sound delicious aren’t I!😂) and I made my first batch of fermented Bulgarian Yoghurt. You simply boil your milk, let it cool a bit, stir in your starter culture, and keep it warm and let if ferment for 8 hours. Well, it is quite simply delicious. I have some every morning with my breakfast and I can honestly say it has had a very positive impact on my tummy. It’s not 100%, but it’s a lot better. I now have a little yoghurt maker which I plug in and leave it in to ferment overnight, but you don’t need one. For the first few months I just turned the oven on before I went to bed. Put my yoghurt in jars, wrapped them in a towel, turned the oven off, put the wrapped jars in the oven without letting too much heat escape from the oven, and when I got up next morning it was ready. Pop it in the fridge and it keeps for a week.

I also bought an excellent book which I can recommend called ‘The Well Fed Microbiome Cookbook’ by Kristina Campbell. Apparently it is full of recipes to renew the body and brain. The body yes, but I refute its claim to renew the brain. As you can see from my antics above it’s not done much for my brain! 😁 But this book has the most amazing homemade granola recipe in. So once a week I make my yoghurt and my granola, and along with my fresh fruit, that’s my breakfast sorted for the week, except for the odd naughty breakfast I sneak in here and there. Because I am taking this impending marathon really seriously, it’s a mental game, and I appreciate now that I’m on my longer runs of 13 miles and over, that it’s also about nutrition. My Christmas excess has already fallen off, and it needs to stay off as I can do without carrying it 26 miles around Paris!

Which brings me onto my last topic for today……………….the ‘skinny’ muffin. The word itself brings me out in a cold sweat! Why, oh why, would anyone on earth want a ‘skinny’ muffin when you can have a real one!?!? I remember the first time I was asked when visiting a friend if I wanted a ‘skinny’ muffin with my cup of tea. Now I’m very polite and grateful so rather than saying what went through my head, “Are you serious, no thanks, I want a real one”, I delightfully accepted. Well last week, once again, I found myself eating my own words as I found a very easy recipe for making some very delicious skinny muffins. All you need is a 225g tin of pineapple, 2 tablespoons of prunes, half a cup of grated carrots, teaspoon of vanilla extract, 50g sultanas or raisins, 2 egg whites, 100g golden caster sugar, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 200g of wholemeal flour. I needed to make them gluten free for a friend so used buckwheat flour instead of wholemeal. Basically you blitz the pineapple and prunes in a food processor or blender then place all the wet and dry ingredients together in a bowl, mixing them so they are all combined. Spoon the mixture into muffin cases and bake at 180C for 20 minutes (200C if you have no fan in your oven) and here is what you get………

They are actually very nice and never again will I make fun of the ‘skinny’ muffin………………..although I’d still prefer a real one!😂However, they are only ‘skinny’ if you have just one, and there is something psychological that kicks in when they are out of the oven and just warm that makes you eat more than one!

So other than losing my mind, rising above the emotional abuse inflicted on me by my children, trying to exercise, look after myself and bake my way to happiness that’s been pretty much it for this very busy January. The rather exciting thing is that I am exactly one week away today from a trip to Spain so I will have lots to tell you about on my return as I cram 4 cities into one week. This time next week I will have arrived, for a whole week!!!!!! I can’t wait………….I am so ready for it……………………….but is Spain ready for me?!?!? Because the rather nice thing is that it is a solo trip ………………….. one whole week with just myself for company to reset and recharge, meet new people, see new things and not eat ‘skinny’ muffins. The worrying bit for my family (my mother in particular) is that if I can’t find my way into the safe at work, or remember where I’ve left the car how on earth am I going to look after myself and negotiate the infrastructure and language in four different Spanish cities. Watch this space and wish me luck………………………….it could be fun. 😆

Now as you know I don’t really ‘do’ New Year. You see, for me, every day is the 1st January, a new start. No New Year’s resolutions because I’m a bit of a ‘doer’ every day, annoyingly positive, rather than a ‘going to do’ sort of person………always up to something. And I love to give and to make people smile!

Today is the 7th January and I’m sat here smiling…….I have no idea why, as I think I have had one of my worst starts to the year ever. Christmas was lovely but December 26th to yesterday has been a complete write off. But there’s a certain sense of accomplishment when you look back over a bit of a car crash of a week and a half and you think, well done me, I’ve got through it and carried everyone else through it too. I liked this below that my friend sent me as she’s a bit like me, not really into all the New Year hype.

I’ve got all sorts for you today. A recipe, a book recommendation and some excellent words of wisdom from Tim Minchin.

Christmas was lovely. And just before Christmas I undertook the great custard tart bake off. What is this you wonder. Well, I have shared before that for me there is no other custard tart than the Pasteis de Nata, or Portuguese custard tart. I have the greatest Dad in the world, but he’s a Yorkshire man. They are quite stubborn, obstinate, dare I say it …….. narrow minded, and for him the only custard tart is a Yorkshire Egg Custard……….just because it’s got ‘Yorkshire’ in the title. It could be the worst tart in the world (it’s not, it’s actually quite nice) but because it’s from Yorkshire it’s the best as far as he’s concerned. I’m not that blinkered and have quite a diverse palette. Yes, in some cases Yorkshire is the greatest. Forget Tetley or PG Tips there is no tea as fine as Yorkshire Tea in my opinion. However, custard tart, no! The Portuguese win on this one and I was determined to prove it. What’s the difference you might ask. Pasteis de Nata are individual, made with puff/flaky pastry (you have to make this yourself for the best result and not buy pre-made), sweeter, the custard is made via a completely different process. The Yorkshire Custard tart can be individual but is usually made as a whole tart and cut into slices. It is made with shortcrust pastry, has nutmeg in it and on the top, the custard is more ‘set’. Both are best served on the day they are made, still slightly warm in my opinion. Oh, and one more difference is that the Yorkshire Custard Tart is so easy to make, whereas the Pasteis de Nata, to make them properly are very difficult but oh so worth it. So, here they are!

Which won…………………well…………………the Pasteis de Nata won of course, it’s by far superior…………….for everyone except Dad who’s still going with the Yorkshire Egg Custard! He thought the Pasteis de Nata was ‘different’, and he’s not too keen on ‘different’…….he’s from Yorkshire! The Pasteis de Nata were absolutely superb and just as good as those you get in Lisbon. So here’s the link to the recipe if you want to try them. It’s by David Leite, Portuguese American chef which may explain why he makes the most amazing Pasteis de Nata! Now, I’m not the greatest at this technology game so if the link doesn’t work go on the Leites Culinaria website and find the Pasteis de Nata recipe.

https://leitesculinaria.com/7759/recipes-pasteis-de-nata.html

The only disappointing thing was they went lovely and brown all on their own in the oven so I did not get the chance to use my new culinary blowtorch………which I am in love with, and also dangerous with. I think I may have a problem, I have now found a website which is called, and is full of of, ‘Fun Recipes that Prove How Awesome a Blowtorch is’. It’s amazing, I can blow torch everything! The novelty may wear off when I need a new kitchen worksurface.

So the downhill bit all started the day after Christmas when I went for a little run. I was starting to feel a little ill so I thought,” I must go today because if I get any worse I’ll not be able to go tomorrow.” It was a mistake, I went and did 11 miles and came back feeling terrible. I was so achy and just could not lift my feet. I fall down at the best of times but this particular day I tripped twice and now definitely have feet like a Hobbit from Middle-earth. Just look at them (but perhaps not if you don’t like feet). I’m not that vain, so I don’t mind you seeing my worst bits as well as my best!

Now, I can be a bit of a Princess so my feet are causing me great distress, I’ve never had feet like this before! My Marathon is on 7th April……..I’m having a physio appointment with the lovely Oliver after work on the 8th April, to put me back together, and a pedicure on the 9th to have my feet massaged and my nails painted and covered with a rather more appealing colour. Now Oliver is a recent addition to the ‘get an older lady through a marathon’ team. He’s been set on as part of my Christmas present. You know things are getting bad when someone who cares about you buys you a physio appointment for Christmas! I’m physically starting to unravel. I’m already stuck together loosely with KT Tape and hormone patches but I am hoping that Oliver’s healing hands are going to convince my left hamstring and right hip that they can run a marathon.

So the day after the run I was so so poorly. I had to stay in bed and I never stay in bed, even when I’m poorly. Now I did not test as I don’t have any tests, but when I finished work for Christmas there were quite a few confirmed positive Covid cases and I strongly suspect that’s what I’ve had as I tried my first run yesterday and I just can’t breathe when my heartrate increases. I was so ill for three days. So at 20:00 hours on New Years eve, while everyone else was about to go out partying, this was me!!! Dead to the world. I felt so poorly and I saw none of the evening or first part of the next day!

So I awoke on New Years Day to an empty house, I had unsurprisingly been deserted. No-one had been to see if I needed medication, a drink or anything. I didn’t even know if anyone had yet come in from New Years eve. I was hungry and decided I’d go downstairs to try and make a little tortilla as I felt slightly better after my long 24 hour sleep and I knew we had eggs, potatoes and onions. I very quickly discovered that I was not alone in the house. All my potatoes had been nibbled, as had the garlic, and in the bottom of my vegetable container were none other than mouse droppings. The joys of living in the countryside in winter!!!!! So there was no tortilla just a very poorly me scrabbling around on my hands and knees in the kitchen cupboard trying to coax a mouse out with my best Christmas chocolate and Black Bomber cheese! Anyway, I caught it and it’s now living a perfectly happy life not in my kitchen!

So then the next couple of days were like the gift that just keeps on giving. I’m quite fit and I don’t moan a lot so if I’m ill I can normally battle on or I just take myself off to bed and I’m able to fight it. In theory, a 20 year old should be even fitter and be able to fight it off even better. That is unless you are living the life of a rock and roll superstar, staying our drinking until the early hours and not eating properly. I have a child that does that over the festive period. Well, being kind, I like to share, so I shared my illness with him. He started to feel ill in the evening and by lunchtime the next day he was in the local hospital wired up to IV antibiotics, steroids and pain relief……………the youth of today just don’t have the same resilience and strength as us tough older generations who party like a rockstars and battle all life throws at them too. 😂 No, I should not tease or laugh, it was really quite frightening and he stayed there for 3 days, with me, by now feeling a bit better, buying him copies of Beano, providing entertainment and reading my book at his side while he slept.

Anyway he came out of hospital on 5th January and I’ve had two days to make and finish two full length pairs of curtains before I go back to work on 8th January. I was supposed to have two weeks to do this and I had planned it in as my rest and relaxation time, as I love being creative and working with textiles. I could not put the old curtains back up after the decorator left as being a bit of a doer I’d already sent them to the Heart Foundation charity shop! 😆

I’d seen some amazing 100% UK woven and made fabric which I fell in love with but it was really expensive and I needed 20 metres as I have floor to ceiling windows at both ends of the living room. I do like to buy good quality British fabric though as I know it’s been ethically sourced and no-one has been exploited in it’s making. It also keeps the Yorkshire textile and weaving mill traditions and industry going, which was, and still is, world renowned amongst the best designers in the business. According to the internet the top five textile producers in the world in terms of quality and affordability are Turkey, United Kingdom, Ghana, Nigeria and Morocco, in that order. The second placed are the most expensive, we are taking around £60 a metre for good quality curtaining fabric, but there’s a reason for it and that reason are the laws that are in place with regards to minimum wage, working conditions, human trafficking and minimum age of workforce. On this basis I am always careful to check the source of the fabric and look for that Union Jack kitemark and stamp on the selvedge so I know what I’m getting.

The downside of course is the price, so the only way to get my curtains was to buy the fabric direct from the source and make them myself. I have made curtains in the past, but not this large, and not with fabric of such a high value. To say I was having palpitations cutting the lengths was an understatement…………a cut in the wrong place would have been costly. However, I’m pleased to say they are finished and up and I love them. They are lovely and light and have blues and ambers in them and all my favourite things from nature; seed pods, ferns, leaves, flower heads. I am secretly very proud of myself and my new curtains……and my pattern match, as the video demonstrates……me just showing off.

So other than being ill, making curtains and hospital visiting I’ve only really had time for resting and reading, which are what I wanted to do. The two weeks have gone by in a flash. The book I have being reading, that you must read, is “Just a Little Run Around the World” by Rosie Swale-Pope. This is probably the most inspirational book I have ever, ever read. What a lady. It’s a true account of Rosie’s run around the world, written by Rosie, who is from Tenby in Wales. She found herself alone after being widowed at the age of 57. She needed to do something, a focus to get over her grief, to raise money for charity and to find herself again. Now I get that, I disappear to walk to find myself and have run to raise money and process grief, but my goodness, all the way around the world at 57 years of age. It took her 5 whole years. She crossed Siberia, Alaska, was held at knifepoint, surrounded by a pack of wolves, got frostbite and so many more adventures and ordeals. This book is amazing, read it, you will not regret it, neither will you ever moan or feel sorry for yourself again…….or if you do, think of Rosie and get over yourself! When her husband was alive she sailed to Australia and back with him and gave birth to her son on board boat! OMG, I had a full maternity birthing unit, someone to mop my brow and that much Pethidine and Entonox I was high for days. Rosie, I hope, has her feet up somewhere eating chocolate now, and she very rightly has an MBE awarded by Queen Elizabeth for bravery! The rather frightening thing is that Rosie’s adventures started when she decided to run her first marathon at 48………………I’ll say no more! I’ll send you a postcard from Alaska! I am of course joking.

So after all the above excitement I’m still smiling. I just had one day of my holiday left to test my new mud sneakers up on Langsett moor and one evening to go out and party to make up for the lost week. The good news was my sneakers were great, I stayed upright and still have only 2 black toe nails. The bad news was I’m now convinced it was Covid as I can’t breathe and I’m going to have to take a few more days off running.

I also think I may have shoe OCD. Langsett was glorious as always, and I had my fix of solitude and views. I well and truly christened my shoes but I have realised I just can’t have muddy shoes. I came home, cleaned all the mud off and put them back in the box as if they were new. So it sort of defeats the objective of having mud shoes. I’m just that bit too much Princess to have muddy shoes. And just in case anyone was wondering if all I do is run and walk round in exercise gear without my makeup on when I’m off duty the answer is no…….I like to party, just not on New Years eve! So last night I found my smile and my party dress and off I went…….still a little pasty white and dark under the eyes but it felt good to be in the civilised world again with a glass of wine in hand!

So that’s it. No New Year resolutions. But if you want a bit of inspiration just listen to this! How very, very, true. Tim Minchin’s 9 Lessons in Life acceptance speech at UWA when he accepted his doctorate. I like the way this man’s mind works and his philosophy, and I also find him very funny. You may love him, you may hate him. He has some pretty radical ideas, is an atheist which may upset some, but you can’t get away from the fact that his 9 life lessons are good ones. A friend sent this to me knowing I would like it, and I do. I am far more interested in the mind of a person, their thought process and what comes out of their mouth that anything else about them, their belief, colour, gender or whatever. So here are your pearls of wisdom for the new year. Happy New Year, keep smiling and be fabulous you every day!

Ho Ho Ho!!! It’s that time of year again! It’s come around oh so quickly this year. That one time of the year when I don’t mind being woken up on a Sunday morning at the crack of dawn by a commotion and racket underneath my bedroom window on a dull, windy and stormy day………….

Isn’t that lovely………..that’s our very own village brass band going around the streets in the village ‘very’ early on a Sunday morning, serenading the start of the festive period. It’s an annual tradition that happens every year and is the start of Christmas for me. My diary blog has been a little bit light recently, I know, because it’s been a little busy.

I’ve been doing all my usual Christmas things, wreath making, cake decorating, lots of baking…………and of course working hard as I don’t break up from work until 22nd December. And, most important of all…………………..I’ve got my boys back home for three weeks. More on them and their antics in a minute. Oh, and I’ve taken my lovely Mum out for our annual girls Christmas lunch. Either she’s shrinking, or plates are getting bigger, but I actually managed to find somewhere with a plate as big as her. Don’t be fooled by the smile, she’s now learnt the full extent of my running exploits of recent weeks and of my impending marathon, so I am now even more irresponsible than she thought I was before apparently!

It’s really strange though this year, Christmas feels different. I’ve been on a real roller coaster these last couple of weeks and it all just feels a bit surreal. I’m also acutely aware that for some people Christmas is like that every year. I get that. I love Christmas, but I hate New Year.

I’m feeling really restless, so much so that I nearly ended up on a New Year flight to Lanzarote! My finger was so close to the ‘book’ button but I thought “No, you already have more air miles than a British Airways pilot this year, behave yourself!” So I’ve resisted the temptation because I have some things to do at home and I need a rest. When I say restless, I’m absolutely fine, I hope I always will be OK because I’m just like that, I just get on with it, always moving forwards. But I’ve been in one of those really reflective moods, one of those where you suddenly realise life is so short, and you start making all these plans, which is good I guess. There’s a reason for it, I’ll explain in a moment.

It all started with my period of ‘nesting’. This still makes me laugh but I’m still doing that thing when I learn the boys are coming home when I start going through the house like something crazed getting ready for the impending arrival. One of them has had new bedding, there are new towels, and then I suddenly decided the week before Christmas that I needed to clear the hallway cupboard because once I start I can’t stop. It’s that cupboard that everyone has, full of shoes, iron, ironing board, hoover……….everything!! It’s like a black hole.

It was filthy, and I mean really dirty, because everyone has just thrown their muddy shoes directly onto the shelves and I can’t cope with dirt. So I decided it was going to have an IKEA makeover and some organisation, which is very me. That was mistake number one……..the trip to IKEA. I have a love hate relationship with IKEA. So Saturday was spent scrubbing the cupboard and buying storage boxes in IKEA, and a little sort of basket thing on wheels with pull out drawers. The visit to IKEA went well. However, the evening went not so well. Have you ever tried building an IKEA storage unit using those ridiculous diagrammatical instructions without writing, late at night when you’ve had a couple of glasses of wine. Oh my days! It’s a good job there was no recording as I don’t often swear but this really did bring out the worst in me.

Anyway, I was very pleased with the ‘after’. My new shiny cupboard, all scrubbed clean and organised, just how I like it.

Anyway, it did not stop there, I then proceeded to tidy out my wardrobes which I haven’t done for years and they are another black hole. It got me reminiscing and feeling all emotional for a number of reasons. I’d had a bit of bad news earlier in the week last week that I’ve not really shared with anyone. I have a friend who has been battling Motor Neurone disease for a few years now and unfortunately I learnt this week that she also now has terminal breast cancer which has spread to her lungs. And it got me thinking that sometimes life can be so cruel, but that I personally have such a lot to be thankful for, as I desperately tried to think of the positives through floods of tears. As I was clearing out my wardrobe I came across my wedding album, it’s been stuffed at the back of there since 1999! So I thought I’d have a quick look through and I came across the photograph below.

One of my favourite photos of the girls!! My wingmen, partners in crime and party animals of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Well, we can still have a damned good time now actually when we get let loose! Now, normally this photo makes me smile but this week it made me feel so sad and I cried and cried. Because, the one lovely friend I mention above is on there, and so is another lovely friend who is sadly no longer with us. And the ironic thing is that a couple of hours after I had been looking at this photograph I got a notification of a Facebook post from her husband on the 10th Anniversary of her death, she died of cancer on 18th December 2013, with some absolutely beautiful words that he had written to remember her.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how short life is and I gave myself a good talking to and now I’m fine! Life is hard sometimes, and sometimes it will try to break you, but what does not kill you makes you stronger they say don’t they. I guess we have to take the positives from every situation. I am so fortunate and lucky to have and have had these wonderful people in my life, and goodness gracious we have had some absolutely amazing times. It’s important to remember those at Christmas, and every day, and be thankful for them. My friend who I lost 10 years ago is the reason for me running. I guess we are all different but I’m one of those people that whenever anything distressing or upsetting happens to me, I have to busy myself or find a focus to cope. Running was my focus after I lost Karen and I raised quite a bit of money for Cancer Research and Macmillan after her death as it just gave me a focus and some purpose, the alternative would have been to fall apart, which I will do for a short while in private, that’s important to do too, to let it all out.

So, up until now Christmas has felt a bit strange because of this. A bit of bad news, feeling a bit restless, so keeping myself busy by nesting and implementing a DIY makeover! Oh and of course Marathon training. I’m at the eat, sleep, run, work, repeat stage. I have time for nothing else, hence the absence of posts. We are now less than 4 months to the big day and I’m up to 16 miles! I’ll do a separate post nearer the time on all things marathon as it is taking every tiny bit of my mental strength to get through this which might have something to do with my Christmas feeling a bit odd. I’ve realised that running a marathon is so much more about mental strength than physical. Advice for anyone doing a marathon is not to do one in April like me, do one at the end of the year and train through the summer. I’ve had more tantrums and tears than a 2 year old in training! There’s nothing worse that coming home from work, midweek, it’s cold, it’s dark, it’s wet, I’m tired, I’m hungry and I’ve got to run 10 miles through the countryside with my headtorch before I have my tea. I go alone because I am best avoided! But me being me I absolutely know I’ll be on that finishing line on 7th April, I’ll be devastated if I’m not. Only injury will stop me. I won’t be fast and it won’t look pretty but I will be there, hair all over the place, in tears, thinking of my lovely friends above and no doubt plotting the quickest and most direct route from the finishing line to the nearest boulangerie! Not even the fact that I was beaten in a training race last weekend by a human dressed in a full sized carrot outfit will dampen my spirits! It’s just one step at a time, one foot in front of the other for 26 miles……simple!

Anyway, three days to Christmas (well it is as I’m writing this bit) and they are back! My pride and joy and my greatest achievement in life………my boys! I actually saw them a couple of weeks ago, as I hadn’t seen them for almost three months, so I went to them for the weekend as I just could not wait until Christmas. They are home for 3 weeks so there will not be a dull moment in our house! I have piles of student washing to get though before Christmas, and they have already had plenty of mileage out of the above mentioned carrot incident! I am rising above it though and being the better person, they will be laughing on the other side of their faces when I come streaking down the Champs Elysée’s like a bolt of lightening! I got my own back though by showing them their Christening gown, which I also found hidden at the back of my wardrobe. I did tell you there was everything in there, it really was a black hole, I was pulling things out for hours! It’s a lovely silk organza dress I had made for them, with matching jacket and hat, with their names embroidered in silk thread around the hem. More reminiscing and reflecting! They are horrified that I would dress them in such a garment and I have warned them that photographic evidence of them wearing it exists, is close to hand, and can be made public if there is any further word of the carrot incident in the aforementioned race!

It got me thinking though how two children, of the same parentage, can be so different. I absolutely adore them both equally and without measure but one is so independent, confident, worldly wise, organised etc. He’d no sooner walked through the door and grabbed a beer from the fridge (before saying hello I might add) when he started to tell me all about his plans to spend next summer in Nepal or Brazil. That was of course after he’d completely ignored the instructions to put his shoes in his allocated newly organised IKEA box and left his shoes in the middle of the floor, not even on the mat, like he always does!

He was followed by the other one a couple of hours later desperate to share the news of his tattoo. Now I’m quite a liberal parent. There’s no point trying to stop them doing something as they’ll just resent you and do it anyway. He has been wanting a tattoo for ages so I’ve been quite positive about it. He was going to have it done anyway so I thought that way I might be at least able to offer a bit of guidance as to where to have it (or more where not to have it), and a bit of input as to the subject. Well too late, it’s done. However, this is the one who gives me sleepless nights. He’s well and truly a home bird, but despite my trying, he is not taking the hints that I keep giving him about the fact that he is now an adult and no longer my responsibility. He’s my Peter Pan, very sensitive, emotional, forever getting into some scrape or other and forever running out of money! He’s like a boomerang………no sooner do you set him up and launch him off in one direction and breathe a sigh of relief, than he comes rebounding back. The only problem now is that even if he gets amnesia he’s still going to come bounding back, or someone will return him, because he’s only gone and had a compass and the coordinates for ‘home’ tattooed in large type all down his forearm.

At least he’s had it somewhere he can cover it up I thought. However, my heart sunk as I thought by ‘home’ he meant the house coordinates, and my plan in the short term is retirement and a base somewhere other than the UK. However, fear not, ‘home’ is apparently our favourite bench in the village where we’ve gone on walks to watch the sun set ever since he was little, the bench where we revised for exams during home study and the pandemic, the bench where he has hung around with his mates and a few beers as he’s got older, the bench where he asked his first girlfriend out on a date. Apparently, that bench, wherever he is in the world, and wherever I am in the world, will always represent ‘home’. Aaaaww how sweet I thought, whilst breathing a sign of relief that I’ve not made life so comfortable that he’s planning on living with me for ever!

So that’s it really, I’m just looking forward to having a really big rest and relax over Christmas, some good food, fresh air, walking and lots of lovely time with my friends, family and my boys. I have a pile of National Geographic Traveller magazines to flick through for inspiration, some books to read, I’m half way through an excellent one that I’ll tell you about and recommend in the New Year because I’ve not finished it yet. I have watched an excellent film though that I can definitely recommend……….it’s a box of tissues needed one. It’s Italian and I watched it in Italian but I’m sure you will be able to get it with subtitles if you don’t understand Italian. I probably watch more films in Italian that I do English and I’ve even started to dream in Italian which is a bit odd, I’m not sure what that means. It’s a lovely film, but sad, with a really important message. It’s called ‘Va dove ti porta il cuore’ which basically translates as ‘Go where your heart takes you’. Without giving you too much detail and spoiling it it is based on a diary a dying grandmother writes for her granddaughter to read after she has gone, to give her the important message to always follow her heart rather than her head to find true happiness. The grandma basically reveals the details of a hidden secret and reflects on a time when she followed her heart. It’s a lovely love story but very sad and thought provoking. It really did make me cry in a week when I had received the above news and yes, I have no problems being in touch with my emotional side and following my heart. I would always say be thankful, be brave, follow your heart and don’t take the obvious path. It’s lots of fun and leads to the most amazing adventures, incredible high’s, some huge lows too, but ultimately you won’t get to the end of your time and think “Should have”, “Could have”, “What if?” Because this week has reaffirmed for me that life is just too short, and that’s basically what the film is about too.

So have a very Merry Christmas. Drink, eat mince pies, be merry, misbehave, follow your heart and I’ll see you on the other side in 2024!

Oh I loved Porto………in fact, I liked it more than Lisbon. So today I’m going to give you a quick guide to Porto and what the highlights were for me.

I’ve sorted my photographs and this afternoon I have time to write……..because I am partly incapacitated after being told little white lies by a vicar of all people! I’ll tell you briefly about that first. This morning I have run a local fell race, which was a fund raiser for the local primary school. It was 8 miles but quite tough on the fells, quite muddy, and icy in places, with 1230ft of ascent. The morning didn’t start well when I had to de-ice my car and scrape the ice off the windscreen in my shorts! Anyway the sun came out, even though it was still minus 3 degrees, I got there and was all ready to start when the quite cool, ultra running vicar, Revered Mike, came out to bless us all! 😄

Now I have to admit I’m not really into blessings and all that sort of thing and thought quietly to myself that it was going to take a lot more than a blessing from an ultra running vicar to speed me around this, even though I had put my go faster, knee length, pink compression socks on. It’s the first time I’ve been blessed before a race ……….. let’s see if it makes a difference I thought! Anyway, Reverend Mike then thought he’d share a verse from the bible to inspire us 😕…….. Isaiah 26:7 I think he said it was…….and it went like this: ‘The path of the righteous is level; You, the Lord, clear a straight path for the upright; The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just, You, the Lord, make level.’

Now let me tell you, I might be banished forever from the pearly gates for saying it, but this is simply not true!!!! I can confirm that the path was not level, was not straight, was not smooth. So either: Reverend Mike told us a little white lie; Isaiah has never run this race and that passage needs re-writing because it’s a load of codswallop; or perhaps it’s just that I’m neither righteous, upright or just, and my name is on the wrong list so he made it an uphill, rocky, twisty, bumpy, muddy slog for me. I can confirm no angel appeared to speed me to the cakes at the end quite as quickly as I would have liked. The upside is I’m now all snuggled in my bathrobe, music on, treats in place with time to tell you about Porto, because I ache too much to do anything else. This photograph below, from the race, made me smile. You have to zoom in on the man behind me (yes, there are people behind me, I’m not always at the back!). That is the face and brow wipe of a man who on a cold and frosty morning has just been overtaken by a grinning 52 year old female in knee length pink socks, shouting “Good morning, it’s a lovely day for it isn’t it!”. I like to remain cheery in the face of adversity!

So………Porto. It was another late arrival in the dark and I was tired and hungry. But as if by fate I walked past a bar on the way to the apartment that sold Pinxtos………yes, Pinxtos in Portugal……and I love Pinxtos, so I disappeared inside for a few of those before going to my apartment and my bed.

I was so tired I didn’t even have time to explore my apartment but it appeared to have a lovely view over the city and down to the river.

I awoke the next morning to discover it was a little gem of an apartment, and I would very much recommend it. So if you are looking for an apartment in the old town, or Ribeira as it’s called, I can recommend Casas de Sant Ana. The apartment was located in the oldest street in the city, right in the historical centre. The building looks really old on the outside but inside it was so modern and well appointed, nothing had been forgotten. I had my coffee machine, lovely comfy bed, lounge area, view of the river and despite the hustle and bustle outside it was so quiet inside.

First of all breakfast. I was very hungry and went to Floresta Cafe, following a recommendation. It was so good. Now this might look and sound like the oddest combination for breakfast, and I must admit when I read it, it sounded odd, but I was intrigued as to how the combination would work together. It was toasted sour dough topped with cream cheese, smashed avocado, strawberries, halloumi, pistachios and strawberry conserve. Now doesn’t that just sound like the most bizarre breakfast………but it was so good and just worked together so well……..with of course a white coffee.

Then I made an exciting discovery! Just as I was walking around the old town past my apartment on the way to my first stop, the cathedral, I came across a Camino shell way marker on the path………I was back on the Camino!!!!…….how exciting…….this time the Portuguese Coastal Camino, which unbeknown to me went up the street of my apartment!! “Oh this is fantastic”, I thought, and I couldn’t resist following the yellow arrows as I just knew they would take me to the cathedral, because the little yellow Camino way markers always do.

The cathedral was lovely. Smaller than Lisbon but much more ornate. Lots of Azulejo tiles, a nice view from the top of the tower and a lovely gold alter, more like the ones I am used to seeing in the Catholic cathedrals of Spain and Italy. It was so much prettier than Lisbon’s and worth a visit.

I then wanted to visit the iconic bridge for which Porto is famous, but I got distracted by the train station of Sao Bento so went inside. I’ve never quite seen a train station like it, it was so pretty, all decorated with old Azulejo tiles from 1916 by ceramic artist Jorge Colaco. It was sort of strange to see the juxtaposition between the old station and the modern electronic arrivals and departures board.

I made my way through the streets to the iconic bridge that spans the River Douro. This bridge appears on all the photographs of Porto and is called the Ponte Dom Luis I. It was designed by Theophil Seyrig, a German engineer and his business partner Gustave Eiffel. The similarities in the structure with those of the Eiffel Tower are evident as it towers above the river like a huge iron Meccano set. It is a double deck bridge, the top level carrying the trams of the metro system, and it links Porto with Vila Nova de Gaia on the other side of the river where all the port lodges are situated, which was where I was heading.

You can walk across both levels of the bridge and it’s good to do both. It is so high on the top deck but you get the most fantastic views of Porto from the top. You don’t see much of the bridge though from the top deck and to really appreciate that you need to walk on the bottom deck and look up at the huge structure. It is such a feat of engineering and even better at night all lit up.

On the Porto side of the bridge is the beautiful riverside walkway, Cais da Ribeira. It is lined by all brightly coloured houses and tabernas all tumbling down the hillside and is so photogenic. It looks even nicer from the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river looking back across. It’s the perfect spot for a stroll, drink or ice cream at any time of day or evening. It’s here where you will see some of the old Rabelo boats moored. These are the traditional, wooden, Portuguese cargo boats used for the transportation of port wine up and down the river, until the arrival of the train in the late 19th century.

I was walking down the Cais de Ribeira, and across the bridge, on my way to a very important appointment in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the other side of the river. Porto is well known for the production of port wine or simply, port. Port is a fortified wine which has to be produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region, which is the area straddling the Douro river as it travels inland from Porto. Port has been produced here since the early 18th century by large shippers or producers of port wine who owned ‘Quintas’ along the sides of the valley. A Quinta, I suppose you would say is like a vineyard. It consists of a huge farmhouse surrounded by fields stretching as far as the eye can see, along the banks of the river Douro where the grapes are grown and processed. The most powerful shipping and producing families at the time were, and to some extent still are, British. Names like Graham’s, Taylor’s and Cockburn’s are still prevalent along the valley and have been since the first trade deals were set up between Britain and Portugal, when we shipped our port back across to Britain in exchange for shipping textiles and cod from Britain to Portugal.

My appointment was at 3pm at Graham’s Port Lodge, promising me a tour around the premises, into the cellars and a tasting session to explain all about the different types of port and their production. All the port lodges are on the other side of the river in Vila Nova de Gaia, and Graham’s is the furthest walk, around 30 minutes. I was told it was worth the extra walk and I would get to see most of Vila Nova de Gaia on the way, which in itself was supposed to be really pretty. It’s often at those times when you are wandering aimlessly, that you come across something quite good. On my way to Graham’s, over the other side of the river, I came across the ‘Half Rabbit’, a giant sculpture of rubbish and trash, a critique of society’s wastefulness and its consequences for the natural environment. It’s by Portuguese artist Bordallo II. It wraps the corner of a building with one half painted and the other unpainted. It is made of street signs, plastic containers, cans, wire and all sorts of rubbish and it does make you think about all the waste we produce and where it ends up.

Eventually, after wandering I got to Graham’s, on the top of the hillside, a white Quinta with lovely views over Porto and the river. The guide was really knowledgeable and the visit was fascinating. I went down into the cellars, learnt about white port, tawny port and ruby port, about the different methods of production, different barrels and materials, storage and age. I got the full family history of the Symington family, who now own Graham’s as well as Cockburn’s, Dows and many other small producers. Then I had a dilemma, did I want to taste ruby or tawny port? Well the answer was I wanted to taste both! And I’m on holiday so I did. What I did not realise was that you got three of each and the glasses were quite big! You got a standard port, an older or crusted one and then a very old vintage, of each type. So that was 6 big glasses of port. So what can I tell you? They do all taste different, I definitely prefer ruby to tawny, it has a warmer feeling when you drink it, is smoother and reminds me of Christmas. The very old vintage ruby tasted best, but it would do, it was the most expensive! Tawny is nice, but in my opinion (I’d probably get shot for saying this in Portugal) it tastes similar to a supermarket sherry. And beyond that I can’t tell you much more, because after all six glasses my lips and teeth had gone purple and I felt quite fuzzy! It was a good afternoon and is a must do, to tour a port lodge while you are in Porto.

The following day I had arranged an exciting day out. I wanted to explore the Douro valley itself and see the iconic views I’ve seen in my National Geographic traveller magazine. So I’d booked myself on a small tour up the valley. A coach was to take me so far and then I was to transfer to a boat to go further up the valley on the river. During the day we would stop at two Portuguese Quintas. One producing just port, and the other producing a small amount of port but mainly wine. There were to be tours and tastings at each, as well as a tour up the river. The weather was not great, but it could have been much worse, and although a little cool, the sun did keep coming out and I had my raincoat to keep the wind out. We made for the town of Pinhao on the banks of the river, and the views were just as beautiful as on the pictures. Quintas and vineyards as far as the eye could see, all along the banks of the river.

We made out way to Quinta de Sao Luiz. Here they produce port for C.N. Kopke, Portugal’s oldest port producer. I had a tour around the cellars, tasted some more port and learnt about their production process, which was on a much smaller scale than Graham’s. They are a quite a small Quinta compared to others, but their selling point is their position and the quintessential view that they have over the Douro, just stunning!

Then our guide drove us to the second Quinta of the day where they were preparing us a traditional Portuguese meat stew for lunch, with more wine of course. This was Quinta Santa Julia and this Quinta specialises in wine production and had some of the prettiest oak and chestnut aging barrels. There was another tour, another tasting and a most delicious traditional lunch with guess what………..as much wine as you wanted! Remembering my fuzzy head of the day before, and the impending bus trip back without a pee stop, I behaved myself remarkably well and didn’t have too many! The traditional stew of meat, vegetables and pasta in a sort of broth was delicious. It was a very long 10 hour day trip but very much worthwhile, I enjoyed it lots and it was nice that it was only quite a small group.

The following day was my final day and I had a few more things to see in Porto that I hadn’t visited. The first was a book shop which is supposed to be one of the prettiest in the world, the Livraria Lello. Now I am known for entering a book shop and coming out hours later, and not just a few hours. I love, love, love a book shop! The good thing about bookshops at home now are that a lot of them realise there are people like me who like to browse and they have now opened coffee shops inside the bookshops. I love coffee and cake too so if I get inside a bookshop with a coffee shop in it I could be in there all day. Anyway, I found the bookshop and believe me it is not just a bookshop, it is a work of art. It was designed by Xavier Esteves and has a beautiful Neo Gothic and Art Nouveau exterior. Inside it just takes your breath away. There is a lot of wood, stained glass, and an amazing bright red spiral staircase. They say that JK Rowling was inspired by this bookshop when she wrote Harry Potter and you can see why, it is quite magical inside.

The only downside is that because it is quite small they have had to make entry to it ticketable to keep the numbers manageable. So you do have to pay a small fee to get in. You reserve a ticket online and then get a time at which to turn up, which means you are not queuing long. The ticket is not expensive and you can redeem the ticket cost against a book, which of course I was going to get, because if I go inside a bookshop I very rarely come out without a book! Once inside you can stay as long as you want and it does get less crowded when inside because a lot of the visitors don’t have that much interest in books, they want a quick selfie with the staircase and then off they go. Quite sad I guess but there you go, the world would be quite tiresome if we were all the same wouldn’t it.

There are books in all languages and the bookshelves are just heaving with books. It is amazing. I don’t know if you have read Carlos Ruiz Zafon ‘The Shadow of the Wind’, but basically I felt like Daniel in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. There is something quite magical and special about it all, wandering around this labyrinth of books. What did I buy………..I bought a classic short novella from 1952 by Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Ernest Hemingway, entitled ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. I’ve not read it before but I’ve been meaning to. There’s usually a message in Hemingway’s work and apparently this one is about hope, being determined and never giving up, the conflict between desire and weakness…………so a tale of life in general really! So given that I have a marathon coming up I thought I might learn a thing or two from it, ‘The Old Lady and the Marathon’ does not have quite the same ring to it, but I shall have that in mind as I read.

Given I had spent so long in the bookshop, I had to rush through town to see the final two sites I wanted to see. The first was the Igreja and Torre dos Clerigos, a really ornate church alongside a tower which was once the tallest building in Portugal. There are 225 steps to the top of the tower if you did not see enough of Porto from the top of the bridge.

The Church of Sao Francisco is also worth a visit. Very elaborate inside and then underneath the church is a very eerie and bizarre maze of catacombs where the remains of some of the Franciscan order are buried, some of who you can see below through a grate in the floor. Very macabre.

My final visit was to the very beautiful Palacio da Bolsa. This was the former Portuguese Stock Exchange Building and was built to encourage wealthy traders to invest in the city. The interior is so extravagant and clearly shows that there were obscene amounts of money in 19th century Portugal due to its many trading alliances with other countries.

Then it was a quick dash back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. But on the way, this is where I met Benji, and I just have to show you him. He was sat in a doorway looking very bored and just had ‘fuss me’ written all over his face. The store was a little boutique and the owner (Benji’s human mum) was clearly very busy inside and did not have much time for Benji. There was a little sign at the side of him that said “My name is Benji”. Well you could just tell that Benji liked cuddles and our eyes met and that was that………..Benji liked cuddles and I like cuddling dogs so it was like a match made in heaven.

By now I was really late and had to get in the shower and get ready at the speed of lightening for the ‘last supper’. This is the nickname I give to the very special meal I have on the last night of any trip abroad where I treat myself to a really, really nice dinner. So where did I go. Well I had spotted that the bar I called into for the Pinxtos on the first night had a very nice looking restaurant down in the cellar, so I had booked myself a table. It was not a Portuguese restaurant it was Basque. I thought it a little unusual finding a Basque restaurant in Porto but it is part of a chain who have a few Basque restaurants in key cities throughout the world. It was founded by two Basque brothers. Now I love food and wine from that area, having walked though it a couple of times over the last few summers. The restaurant was called Sagardi, which I’m not sure but I think it translates as apple cider, and if you get the chance to try food from this area do, it’s delicious. What did I have? It was a difficult decision as I could have eaten everything off the menu.

To start I had a traditional grilled ‘Txistorra’ which was like a twirl of sausage made with sausage from Orio in the Basque country, a little town I actually walked through this summer. For anyone from the UK it looks a little bit like our Cumberland Sausage but it’s smaller and the sausage is more spicy , a little like chorizo but at the same time different, it’s so very much nicer, finer in texture and not as fatty.

Then for main course it had to be Farmhouse Pork Ribs. They were superb, and on a lovely bed of creamy potatoes with some vegetables. The remnants of my plate told the story of just how much I enjoyed them. All this was washed down with my favourite Basque wine.

I wasn’t having dessert, but then I read the dessert menu, saw someone’s dessert on the next table, and quickly changed my mind. I had Goxua. I’ve not had it before but I liked it. It was a layer of a type of sponge, a layer of a whipped creamy middle, more sponge and then a caramelised custard layer on the top…….divine! And just because I’m greedy, and it was my last night, I had a little glass of a Basque liqueur to finish…….Licor de Sargadoz Zapiain.

So if you come across one of their restaurants, or indeed any other Basque restaurant that sources it’s products from the region, I recommend you try it, because the food is really wholesome, homely and good. If it’s cooked to perfection like this was, it is just the best.

So that’s your guide to Porto, as a 7am flight beckoned the next morning and I did not have time to squeeze anything else in. It’s another city I’d definitely tell you to visit. I’m back in the UK now, all wrapped up for winter. Next flights booked for late winter, so there will be more foreign adventures then, but in the meantime I’ve got all sorts of other little things to share: the great custard tart debate and bake off; a recipe to share; some Christmas things, but they will all have to wait because if I stay laid here in my bath robe, in my post race state, any longer, I might just find myself unable to move at all.😄

I’m back! I’ve been on a lovely week long escape to Portugal – Lisbon and Porto to be precise ………… and I loved them both. So I’ll share a little bit about what were the highlights of each.

I’ve been back a couple of weeks actually, but I’ve been a busy bee for a few weeks. Well, not the first week back……..the first week back I was just grumpy! I don’t deal with the first week back from holiday very well, even more so at this time of year. I don’t like cold, damp, wet, an hour less of daylight……..I just want to hibernate. However, I perked up after hearing the first rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’. Yes, that’s right, in Primary School we have to start rehearsing for Christmas at the end of October! And…………I love Christmas. So this week I’ve been Christmasifying, if that’s a word. I’ve baked my Christmas cake, so it’s got over a month to mature as I slowly drown it in brandy, and done a few more things ready for that time of year when I almost spontaneously combust with excitement waiting for the big man in the red suit! Because, this year, as always, I’ve been a good girl, and this year may be the year he brings me a present…….you never know!

I’ve been doing quite a bit of rehearsing too as I’m singing this Christmas. I’ve sung since being small and until around 5 years ago I sung at quite a high level. I couldn’t maintain it though, at that level, and do all the other things I wanted to do in my life, like support my boys in the last few years of high school like I wanted to. The commitment to rehearsal time was just too much. So now I pick and choose what I do and I always get a couple of calls before Christmas to try and drag me out of retirement, so this year I thought, yes, I’ll do a couple of concerts and I’m really quite enjoying it as there is no pressure and singing just makes you feel good, try it in the morning in the shower!

Anyway, I digress, ……… Lisbon, my first stop. I’ll tell you about Porto in a separate post in due course, because there is so much to tell you about each, and I found them completely different to each other. Both excellent for a city break, but for different reasons.

I got a late afternoon flight from Manchester to Lisbon, so it was dark when I got there. The airport is quite close to the city centre so I hopped in a taxi and it was really cheap at around 8 euros. Normally I just make my own way on public transport but it was 9pm, in a city I’ve not been to before, no idea where I was going, so I took the safe option.

When I visit a city I like to get a feel for the city, culture and way of life there, and try and fit in a bit. Even though my red hair, pale skin and freckles blow my cover immediately as the woman from England! A city break is different to a beach holiday. I’ve been to Portugal around five times before but always to the Algarve for a sun holiday. On a city break I prefer not to stay in a fancy hotel. The last thing I want to be, is stuck with a load of British and westerners, complaining and moaning about slow service, how it’s not like at home, and how they’ve ordered a white coffee and they’ve been given an espresso with a drop of milk in, which is not what they wanted. I just find some people so rude and I get really irritated with them…………if you want everything to be like at home……………. and you don’t want it to be Portuguese…………..then stay at home! Simple.

So in true Yorkshire Girl city break style, I just rented an Airbnb apartment from the lovely Lisbon natives Rita and Juan, right in the middle of the old town district of Alfama, which is the moorish quarter. It is the oldest quarter in Lisbon, and second oldest quarter in Europe. It is mainly pedestrian in the very centre, where my apartment was, with very narrow cobbled streets and falling down buildings. It is where a lot of the locals still live and where traditions such as Fado (more on that in a minute) are still practiced. The area was just as I imagined it would be, and I loved it.

I’d heard such mixed reviews about Lisbon. I did not know what to expect. Half of my friends said you’ll love it! The other half said they did not like it, “It’s absolutely filthy, dirty with graffiti everywhere”, they said. But the latter came from my friends, as much as I love them, who are in the five star hotel brigade who still to this day cannot understand why on earth anyone would walk 500 miles across Spain carrying their own luggage when they could have been sipping cocktails by a pool……….I am still an absolute enigma to them and I think I always will be. The half who know me well, got it spot on……..yes Lisbon is filthy in places, it’s falling apart in others, the Alfama is dark, dingy, a little bit seedy and ghetto like……….and it was perfect!

Rita had given me the self check in details and told me not to go to a tourist trap to listen to Fado, “You won’t need to, just open the window, someone will be singing it somewhere!”, she said. What is Fado then? Well, it’s a style of music that has been traced back to at least 1820 in Lisbon. It’s quite mournful and melancholic, often about longing or loss. The lyrics, although I don’t understand them, I’m told are usually about seafaring or a life of poverty. It is of such cultural importance that in 2011, UNESCO added it to their list of items of Intangible Cultural Heritage. It consists of usually just one singer, male or female, accompanied by a Portuguese guitar or viola. So the first thing I did when I got into the apartment was to throw the window open wide and peer out over the washing line down the dark alleyway……………..imagine my delight when I heard this, my background music for the next three nights!

I was also very hungry when I arrived, and fortunately like most places in mainland Europe you can get food late into the evening. I’d spotted a little Tasca at the end of the alley which Rita said was good. A Tasca is a very small restaurant just preparing local dishes…….think checked table cloths and jugs of wine and beer. So I ventured out to stop my tummy rumbling and get my first taste of Portugal. What did I have?…….. I had a speciality called ‘Bacalhau a Bras’. It is a Portuguese dish which is very simple. It is shredded salt cod, onions and thinly chopped potatoes. They are fried and bound together with scrambled eggs and then garnished with parsley and black olives. I recommend it, it’s delicious.

I was tired after travelling, so did not set my alarm, and woke up quite late the next day. The first thing that was needed was some breakfast and I realised I had been in Portugal for 12 hours and had not had a proper Pastel de Nata (Portuguese custard tart), which I adore. The first thing I need to do when I visit anywhere is find out where the nearest good cake shop or pastelaria is, because in Europe you can eat cake for breakfast! And as if by magic, I was just around the corner from ‘Alfama Doce’, the amazing family run local Alfama pastelaria. Not being able to decide between a Pastel de Nata or a sweet brioche type bread with icing sugar and coconut on the top I thought it perfectly acceptable to have both! Amazing! Two cakes and a coffee with milk for 3 euros. So if you are in Alfama ever, definitely seek them out rather than going to one of the big 2 chains who turn Pastel de Natas out by the thousand and charge a fortune to hand them over to you in a fancy box.

Then it was time for a little wander around the Alfama area. Narrow streets, pastel coloured houses tumbling down the hillside and lots of washing drying, Monday must be wash day! I have a thing about old doors too and there were lots of doors which looked like they’d seen many years of comings and goings.

One of the main modes of transport in Lisbon is still its tram system which serves most of the city. There are some newer trams in the more modern areas but the famous Number 28 tram trundles up the main hill at the side of the Alfama district to the miradouro or view point at the top of the hill. It’s a little colourful yellow tram with people packed together like sardines. That’s one thing I noticed about Lisbon, it’s so colourful! Nice bright colours everywhere, you can’t fail to be uplifted by its brightness. And because it’s so hilly, there are miradouros and viewpoints everywhere, all of them giving you a different perspective of the city.

One other thing you will notice as you are wandering around are the Azulejos. These are painted, glazed ceramic tiles found mainly in Portugal and Spain. You can get them in many colours but traditionally they are blue and white. They are found everywhere. Inside and outside, on everything from churches and palaces, to railway stations and ordinary houses. They usually depict a scene from some historical or cultural event, but some of them are just patterned and Arabic in style. They really are pretty.

Then it was on past the Church of Saint Engratia (now the National Pantheon), which looks very impressive from the outside, and down the hill to the Cathedral of Lisbon or Se as it is known. I needed a proper coffee en-route and I can recommend Copenhagen Coffee Lab next to Saint Engratia for a very good cup of coffee.

The cathedral is far from the best I have seen in Europe. It’s worth a quick look but it’s quite plain inside. The best parts are the beautiful rose window and the view over the city from the top of the tower. It’s quite a climb but my fear of heights was overcome by my desire to see the view!

By now I’m hungry…………again…………so it’s time for another local speciality…….Pasteis de Bacalhau or Bolhinos de Bacalhau. They are a salt cod fritter or deep fried ball of potato, salt cod, eggs, parsley and onion. You can have them with or without melted Serra da Estrella cheese in the middle and they are typically eaten as street food, in the hand with a glass of white port accompanying them. So that was lunch sorted, a Bolinho de Bacalhau, with cheese and with port!

Then I thought I’d have a wander down to the tram stop and catch the tram out to the Belem area of the city. On the way I spotted a beautiful piece of street art of a very charismatic looking lady which intrigued me. I like a bit of well done street art. I think this is what some people term grafitti, and yes it’s everywhere, but some of it is beautiful. ‘I wonder who she is?’ I thought. Her name was on the painting…..Argentina Santos….and a quick search revealed that she was a very famous Fado singer, one of the greatest. She was born in 1924 in Lisbon, and also died there aged 95 in 2019. She was the proprietor of one of the most well known fado taverns in Alfama.

So I hopped on the tram and arrived 20 minutes later on the outskirts of Lisbon in Belem. There is not too much there and it’s a nice calming retreat after the hustle and bustle of the city. There is a Gothic Monastery, which I wasn’t bothered about looking at, but there are two buildings or monuments which I had come to see. The first was the Tower of Belem. This is a beautifully carved fort built around 1515 which sits in the estuary of the Tagus River. It was a fortified tower designed to protect Lisbon from attack as well as being the point of arrival and departure for Portugal’s seagoing explorers. It is definitely worth a tram ride.

A short walk away is The Monument of the Discoveries, completed in 1960. This huge and impressive monument, sited at the point where ships set sail to India and the Orient in the Age of Discovery, is shaped like a huge sail, flanked by 33 explorers, navigators, scientists, cartographers, artists, monarchs and missionaries who were prominent in the Portuguese Age of Discovery. The explorer at the head of the sail is Henry the Navigator.

By now I’m tired, but I need food before my bed. After I got off the tram I paid a quick visit to the Ribeira Food Market in Lisbon. It’s ok if you want a quick meal and are too tired to check out where to go. It follows the same principal as a lot of these city food markets. Lots and lots of tables in the middle and a perimeter of food stalls selling food from around the world. It’s ok, but not fantastic compared to some I’ve visited in other cities. It’s been bought out and is being run by Time Out Group. I just found it a bit of a tourist trap, a little less authentic than I would have liked it to be and overpriced for what was on offer.

The following day I was up much earlier, but unfortunately the sun wasn’t. After a lovely sunny first day, day two was very overcast with showers. It was also very cold in my opinion. Yes, 10 degrees warmer than at home, but other than when I’m having a midlife moment, I’m always cold. I hadn’t packed appropriately and just had a denim jacket so my advice if you go at the end of October would be to take some warmer clothes and layers. But, not to worry, after having my obligatory Pastel de Nata for breakfast I spotted Zara………always there when you need it! So I went in wearing a denim jacket and came out warm, with a lovely thick cardigan adorned with pearly bobbles. Another word of advice if you have young male offspring, it’s probably best not to take it too personally when they feel the need to impart their opinion on what you look like. After sending them my daily update and photos, and thinking I looked ok, I was a little crestfallen to learn that I’d been walking around Lisbon all day looking “like a Christmas tree” and being “too old to be wearing a pair of Nike Cortez”. Oh well, not to worry, age is but a number and it’s almost Christmas!

First stop in the newer part of town………the main square or Praca do Comercio. Right on the bank of the river, in front of the harbour, it is the most important square. It has the must have monuments of any large city, a man on a horse, in this case King Joao I, a large triumphal arch and in a less prominent position, Superman, who had he been discovered earlier, would have negated the need for King Joao I and would have saved the city from any of its past plights.

There are also no end of fountains in this part of Lisbon and lots of other quite grand and pretty squares.

Then I spotted rather an interesting contraption which turned out to be the Elevador de Santa Justa. It’s a very nice looking, ornate, iron, Neo-Gothic vertical elevator opened in 1899 to take passengers up to the Chiado district higher up the hill. From the back of it at the top is a metal bridge/walkway. Originally steam powered it was converted to electric at the beginning of the 20th century.

A little bit further along the street I found an interesting looking shop with some rather intriguing looking people crammed inside and outside. The majority were well dressed, elderly men, downing shots of alcohol……..but it was only 11:30am. The shop looked so old, with a little sign above the door that read Ginjinha Sem Rival. It’s basically one of Lisbon’s oldest Ginjinha bars, opened in 1890 and still run by the same family. Here they serve shots of Ginja to old men who have nothing to do all day except drink shots, play cards and talk very loudly, which I thought was quite a good idea for retirement. 😄 I learnt that Ginja is a Portuguese liqueur made by infusing Morello cherries with alcohol and adding sugar, cloves and cinnamon. It’s quite strong at up to 24% ABV normally. It comes served with a cherry in the glass. Now I love cherries, I love a tipple, and I don’t like to feel I’m missing out on something so in I squeezed, looking a bit out of place, for my shot! Now at 1 Euro a shot and being just as delicious as I expected I may have had more than one and I would most definitely tell you to come here on your trip to Lisbon.

By now it is feeding time again, and I had my best meal of all of those I had in Lisbon, and it was so inexpensive. It might not sound that good, but I recommend you visit here and try for yourself as it is so much better than I will make it sound. Lisbon is all about fish! You can smell sardines on the grill everywhere. In addition, all around Lisbon they have small stores completely devoted to tinned and canned fish. Any tinned fish……….tuna, squid, sardines, mackerel, octopus, trout. You name it they have it. It could be in the tin on its own with oil, or it may be infused with something else like a herb, spice, garlic etc. It’s worth going just to admire the tins………they are beautiful and some of them are real works of art. I wouldn’t want to open the tin, I’d have a little cupboard with them all on display! There is one store on the very colourful ‘Pink Street’ in Lisbon called ‘Sol e Pesca’. This one is special, because it has a few tables and chairs inside and you can order the fish to eat there and then. They are also licenced so you can have a nice cold beer or glass of wine with it too.

I might not be making this sound very nice but trust me, it’s not like the tuna that you get in a tin in the UK. I’m not sure what our food canning process does to get rid of the taste of fish but honestly if you have a tin of tuna in Portugal it will be nothing like you have tasted at home in the UK. It will actually taste of tuna! They will serve it to you plain, out of the tin with whatever it is infused with in the tin, or they have a menu where they do a few simple things with the contents of the tin to make it into more of a meal. I went for tinned Octopus with garlic infused olive oil. It came in a dish, garnished with chives and flat leaf parsley and some slices of crusty fresh bread. Quite simply it was delicious!! I also tried some tuna with grilled red peppers and that was almost as good as the Octopus.

After my feeding stop I needed to be at the top of the hill in the Bairro Alto area, but not to worry as the tinned fish shop is not too far from the Bica Funicular. There are a few funiculars in Lisbon but this one is really pretty. It ascends one of Lisbon’s steepest little streets and joins two of the main streets cutting through the city.

I had a little wander back through the streets because I wanted to get to the Alfama area for sunset. The reason being that my legs were tired, and I had read that tucked down one of the backstreets was the Hotel Memmo, which has a rooftop cocktail bar with an outstanding view over the rooftops of the Alfama area. It said it was best to go in the late afternoon, as the sun sets, as it reflects off all the colourful buildings. I found it! It’s quite a posh hotel, but you don’t have to be staying there to have a drink. If you just ask nicely at reception the very nice man behind the desk will show you where to go and get you a table. Because every girl needs a cocktail or two from time to time!

I chose a lovely table overlooking the very small infinity pool, because the swallows were swooping down and drinking out of the pool. It was lovely, I love watching birds. As the light changed, all the buildings and the sky changed colour with tinges of pink and orange. I had a good hour and a half just sat, relaxing, resting and contemplating, and tried a couple of cocktails from the menu with some nibbles. One of the cocktails was a Caipirinha and I think it might just be my new favourite……..I’d definitely put it above the Mojito in my top 5 as I absolutely love the main ingredient Cachaca, made with distilled sugar cane juice. But it might not knock the Mezcal or Tequila Paloma off the top spot because I might like Tequila just a little bit more. Perhaps I just need to try more to make my mind up. 😝 By the time it got dark it was quite cold, so I wandered (well, it might have been more of a little wobble) back to my abode, for my through the window Fado concert as I had to be up early the following morning to check out before my onward journey to Porto.

The following morning it was raining heavily, but my train wasn’t until the afternoon. “What am I going to do?”, I thought. I needed something indoors, a museum or something as it wasn’t just a bit of rain, it was torrential. Had it been sunny I could well have gone back to Memmo for a morning of cocktails and sunbathing. Rita had said I could leave by cabin suitcase in the apartment until the afternoon so I decided to go to ‘The Museu Nacional do Azulejo’ or in English, The National Tile Museum. That sounds so boring you might be thinking………but it wasn’t, it was really good. It is housed in the Madre de Deus Convent, founded in 1509 and has displays of Azulejo tiles dating from the 15th century to the present day. The setting itself is really beautiful too, in the convent with lots of cloisters, arches and gardens. It’s just a really nice peaceful relaxing place to be, and out of the rain. There are traditional blue and white tiles depicting historical scenes, lovely colourful patterned tiles that reminded me of the Alhambra in Granada, right to more modern Azulejos with Mickey Mouse on them.

I spent a good morning in there before I left to collect my luggage and make my way to the train station. With me having a week off work it seemed silly flying back from Lisbon after three days when I still had another four days of holiday left. I worked out that I could get a train to Porto, 3 hours further north, close to the border with Spain, and then fly back to the UK direct from Porto to Manchester three days later. So that’s what I did. I’d recommend the train transfer between the two cities. The trains are really efficient. It’s just short of 3 hours on the fast train from Lisbon Oriente station. It is a direct train and only makes one other stop on the way. If you book early using the CP Portuguese national railway app you can get a first class ticket for just a few euros more than standard, so I did that and got a comfy reclining seat to read my book for 3 hours, a charging point and a tea trolley……what more can a girl want! I think the ticket was around 30 euros, which is much less than we would pay in the UK for a first class 3 hour train journey. While you’ve made the effort to get to Portugal, it’s definitely a good idea to see both cities.

I’ll tell you about Porto in a separate post when I’ve had time to sort my photos because there is so much to tell you about there too and it is very different to Lisbon. In fact, if I had to choose which I liked best out of the two, as much as I loved Lisbon, for me Porto won hands down. So I’ll be back soon to tell you about boats, bridges, more tiles, what has to be the best and prettiest bookshop in the world, how I inadvertently ended up back on the Camino, had more amazing food, saw the most bizarre baby Jesus I’ve ever seen, went on a little mini cruise down the Douro valley, drunk far too much alcohol, including that much port at a tasting that my lips and teeth turned purple, and how I fell in love with Benji (he’s a dog!). Adios for now………..or perhaps that should be Adeus!