Cheese lovers unite

I've just come from another meeting of the Cheese Appreciation Society of Escoural. I didn't actually realise I was a member. But tonight the cheese appreciation couldn't start until I was out the back, beer in hand, ready to try the salt-cured cheese (kinda like a parmesan or a romano) which needs to be sliced thinly with a sharp knife, then eaten on a thick hunk of crusty bread. Last Wednesday we went through half a dozen cheeses but tonight it was only four, homemade and brought down after work along with home preserved olives.

OK I'm bullshitting. This is just another name for after work beers. But it also shows routine is back. You'll have noticed on my notes on Santiago da Cacem that I'm not quite as enthusiastic as I used to be about the sights. Last weekend bed and the couch won over touring to somewhere new, partly because I wasn't sure that I'd see anything radically different than I had before and because I didn't have the energy to get out and test those assumptions. I guess thats when you start living in a place and not being a tourist, when day-to-day or going for a walk is needed more than sightseeing, and you have to go further afield to be stimulated again. This week could be different: in my quest for receiving the Portugal-Australia tourism award I host Mr Appleby and its easier to get moving when you have someone to show things too, plus the best way to refresh your view on a place is to see it through someone else's eyes.