Sunday, 10 November 2024

In Portugal. And elsewhere in a more unpleasant world.

Yesterday we went hunting for a cash machine. Really we went to the little supermarket to buy things we had forgotten -such as a comb for Phil -how do you forget a comb? - and I suggested  we carry on a little further. In fact it was rather further than I remembered and we ended up near one of our favourite restaurants, O Cais do Heleno. So we decided to have an early lunch.



Here are before and after pictures.
 


O Cais do Heleno is a small, family-run place. The staff seems to consist of two young women and a man. They don’t always have the fish listed on their menu. I think it depends on what’s available on the day. They had a special offer on “robalo”, sea bass, I think: two people for about €17. Okay, we would settle for that. Then it turned out they didn’t have enough for two: only one fish available. Okay, we would go for that and a mixed salad. It was the right decision; one fish was plenty!


Later, noting things down in my journal (I keep a sort of account of where we’ve been, what we’ve do e, what we’ve eaten) I discovered in a little pocket on the front of my iPad a bill/receipt from a restaurant we went to in Braga. Last time we were in Portugal earlier this year. 


For comparison purposes, I noted down the items we ate and the prices.


O Cais do Heleno  - Figueira       A cozinha da Se - Braga


                                                        2 sopa do dia            6.00

Robalo escalado 12.80                 Robalo grelhado    15.50

Salada mista        3.50                  Salada mista          5.50

2 pão                      1.20                 1 pāo                         2.50

jarra vinho branco 0.5l   2.10       2 copos vinho branco  7.00

1 agua 0.5l              1.30                1 agua 0.5l                  2.00

2 cafe                     1.80                 2 cafe                        2.60

                                                         1 panna cota frutos    3.50

                                                        1 crepe com frutos silv 4.00


Total 22.70                                     Total    48.60


Hmm! Something of a difference, even taking into account that we had soup for starters and dessert to finish in Braga. However, the Cozinha da Se, literally the Cathedra Kitchen, was rather special, with delicately scented jasmine bushes in flower and opening onto an old courtyard. And it’s the sort of place you might go to once in a while, not on an everyday basis. We’ve been to O Cais do Heleno on numerous occasions and will do so again. 


While we’re here enjoying the sunshine and good food in coastal Portugal, things are still going on in the wider world. Politicians such as Keir Starmer are still dressing up, pretending to be soldiers as they visit army places on Salisbury plain. Why do they pretend to be something they’re not. 


King Charles is going to lay a wreath for Remembrance Sunday. In case we forget, the killing still going on in the Middle East. Here’s a link to a report of another attack on Jabiliya.


King Charles is going to lay a wreath for Remembrance Sunday. In case we forget, the killing still going on in the Middle East. Here’s a link to a report of another attack on Jabiliya.


And here are a couple of sections of something a friend send me from Mondoweiss: 


“Hundreds of families gather in Yarmouk Stadium, west of Gaza City. The large stadium’s field is now the site of the first refugee camp to be established in the city, named “Gaza Village.” 


.

Children, women, and men carrying their belongings as they flee the Israeli extermination campaign in north Gaza are streaming into the stadium hoping to find a tent.



Janan Suleiman, 18, was in her home in Beit Lahia when the Israeli army rounded up her family and told them to march south or be shot. The journey to Gaza City on foot took them six hours, and the Israeli army continued to accompany them as soldiers taunted fleeing civilians for a part of the way.

“The tank was moving quickly beside us and covering us with sand,” Jinan tells Mondoweiss. “It kept coming at us from afar so that we thought it would run us over, and they even sometimes blocked our way. I think they were trying to taunt us.”


There it is.


Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

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