CASA DO VALLE

We have had the most gorgeous winter!  After the last two rainy winters, we have just enjoyed a solid month of sunshiny afternoons and cool nights.  Perfect for outdoor activities, such as walking, hiking, bicycling, sitting at outside cafés, horse riding, golfing... Last night we started getting some rain, which, let's face it, was already needed for crops, and it IS the season for rain, anyway, so we should not complain!  But it has been really nice to go for the walks and do many outside activities without having to worry about showers. And after today it should be nice again for a week or so! (You can always check out the weather here through the link  http://www.accuweather.com/en-us/pt/lisboa/sintra/forecast.aspx  ). The new supporting wall before it was painted We have started this year with many improvement activities.  First came the new supporting wall for the level of the internet house.  The November rains and the roots of ...

Christmas Season Activities! As Portugal is deep in the crisis, one cannot help but wonder what that will do for tourism and for Christmas season.  Like many other cities, to save money, Sintra has opted to have no public Christmas lights in the streets. This does not mean, however, that there is no Christmas animation - quite the contrary!  The shops all have their own window displays, and some of them are quite creative, I might add! And there are MANY concerts and programs happening, some free, some paid, some in Sintra, some in Lisbon.  Some are for children, some for families, some more for the grown folks. In this blog I will basically just list the events, and add links to sites with more information. I will start with Sintra . Parques de Sintra have programs for the whole family! Natal Saloio (Country Christmas) on December 4th at Monserrate Natal Real (Royal Christmas) on December 11th at Pena Palace Natal Franciscana (Franciscan Christmas) on Decembe...

This summer Casa do Valle had a little sister, Casa da Vista!  In the bottom of the property, with its own entrance, 3 double rooms and a suite with a kitchenette was raised from the wilderness of bambu, fig- and olive trees, and lots of other things growing wild. The new 'Casa da Vista' (= 'house with the view') at the bottom of the property has indeed great views! Many, many years ago we built the house of Casa do Valle because my husband wanted a garage.  And below that garage the original 4 rooms were built within the structure that we needed to have to have that garage on street level.  The rooms there were made to host my family when they come from Finland to Portugal - so that they could feel at ease, have their own space and  this way stay as long as they wanted.  Then a friend who had a B&B suggested we start renting the rooms out.  We did and loved the activity!  The garage had to go, we remodelled the rooms and eventually ended up...

The Market of São Pedro There are several open-air markets around Sintra that are year-round fun for tourists and locals alike. In the times of closed in shopping centers, markets are great fun, full of exciting sounds and smells that invite us to browse and shop - many times for items we only could find this way. The larger markets, such as São Pedro and Monte Abraão, also have food stalls for a nice, warm lunch, and snack counters with freshly baked traditional pastries. The São Pedro Market in São Pedro de Sintra is held on 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month.  This is a very traditional market with everything you can imagine: food, like freshly baked bread, cheeses, and fruits and veggies; baby animals from birds to puppies; trees and plants; clothes and shoes, even men's suits; baskets, toys, and electronic gadgets, rugs, ... you name it, and most probably you can find it here.  The vendors that sell 'things' at this market are often selling stock with slight defe...

This entry has been written by Charles Lund, an American traveller who stayed with us in October.  An avid golfer, Charles wrote about his experiences in some of the golfcourses near by and within a daytrip from Sintra.  If you understand anything about golf, his writing will be a great help in choosing the courses and planning your days around golfing activities.   Penha Longa Atlantico I was able to get an email reply and my name on the tee sheet to play this Robert Trent Jones, Jr. course without having to pay in advance or provide a credit card number to hold the time.  I arrived at the course about an hour early and it was part of a large hotel complex.  The area for the course and the hotel was in some undulating terrain which was well forested, with lots of pine and oak trees.  I’ve played a lot of Robert Trent Jones, Jr. courses and his courses often have a large number of spectacular holes, with a couple of quirky holes that don’t seem to f...

I prefer the latter. I always loved autumn, and autumn like we are having is great. It is finally summer here in Sintra. July and August were OK, but not like our usual summers, more windy and even rainy. September was great - 25-30º daily, sunny days, cool nights. And it is continuing, at least for another 2 weeks. The pool temperature is still 23º and the pool is very frequented. But it is clearly fall . The fall of the leaves, the fall of the petals of the boganvila all over the lawn, The days are getting shorter, the morning traffic has started earlier as the people travel to work after their holidays. The fruits are different, it is time for grapes and melons. We here at the guest house are preparing for cold. I have gone pine cone picking (great for starting fires, and there is a wood heated tile covered heater in room #3), we are ordering, and cutting, firewood, checking that the heaters work - and it all seems so strange as the temperatures hit the 30's in the...

I have asked Diego Scarabelli to write this blog entry. He knows his planes and is enthusiastic about them. I could really not distinguish them myself, except for by color and maybe types of wings (without knowing their names...) But the museum is actually very good and not so well known, so therefore I thought it would be worth the blog entry! So - here is the entry of Diego, thank you very much! (The plane in the first picture is a Saber) Military planes have always been my passion. I like to watch documentaries about them and, of course like to see them in the museums. You do not really understand their beauty and their abilities until you see them in person. From the ground we see them as little objects, but some of them are very big and yet agile. It is fascinating to imagine that these machines are the masters of the skies, or at least, they used to be before they were replaced by new and more advanced technology. Nevertheless, to fully comprehend the new jets it is...