I love this activity!

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I have felt overwhelmed today with the notion of how much I love this activity of running the Bed and Breakfast.

I love meeting new people - and I do meet so many! People from different walks of life: from farmers to doctors, air-hostesses to teachers, politicians to administrators - even a teacher in a circus school! There are so many wonderful conversations waiting to take place or to continue - so many different points of view and questions about the Portuguese life and culture - and reverting to conversations of comparisons of cultures and ways. Life never gets boring when you meet so many different people.

And from so many different countries, too! 2008 summer the major part of our guests came from Spain, this year there has been a shift to more people from the Great Britain, Netherlands and Belgium. There are times when lots of people come from very far: Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada. And we have a growing number of Asian people too, from Korea, China, Japan and Hong Kong. Also nice to have guests from the less frequent European countries, such as Macedonia or Lithuania. It is like travelling abroad in your own garden.

I have been making pear jam the last few days (there are so many pears) and it was nice to get guests' feedback on it. Now there is time to do these 'extra' things as we are not always jam-packed. I even started a facebook page for Casa do Valle, as many of our previous guests have suggested it to stay in touch. I am hoping someone will post pictures or little stories of their stay. And I hope to start a few forum conversations, as I really want to get the guests' comments on things like what a special getaway weekend package should entail.

So, Thank You to all of our guests for making this activity so enjoyable!

Comments

Anonymous said…
We, the guests, are the ones who should be thanking you for making us feel welcome in a really warm and familiar way.
Your house and garden are truly beautiful and we can't ignore the feeling of cosiness which almost makes us feel like it's a space of our own.
I will most definitely return to Casa do Valle, I just don't know when yet. I usually visit Sintra every 3 years...but maybe I will return soon than expected!

Thank you for everything.

Cristiana & José, Portugal :)
13 September
Casa do Valle said…
Thank you! Glad to know that you feel well at Casa do Valle - just knowing it makes my day.

Virpi
16 September
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