dreaming

Even though I'm never sure how much I "like" Tim Winton's writing the thing I enjoy most is that Western Australia fills every page, not content to be a background or a landscape but an equal part of each story. So much so that I couldn't have read one of his novels in July or August this year, when homesickness was gnawing at me, but last month with the end of my days in Portugal in sight my driller lent me a few novels including one of Wintons.

The images/memories reading it evoked prepared me for Perth and the sights, smells and sounds which are all around me as I type - the smell of bitumen warmed by summer sun, the easterly blowing leaves along an empty street, the feel of hot bricks burning your bare feet, the humid salty smell of the sea breeze as it comes in on a warm summers evening and those long lazy evenings themselves.

But instead of the present I must finish with the past. When I started this blog I thought the last entry would be full of triumph and revelation, a fitting climax written superbly (unlike these still-clumsy attempts!). Instead because my last months in Portugal were taken up with work and much packing (!) free time meant collapse so this blog slowly faded into the shadows, read by a dwindling minority. It might be a shame but maybe I am still precocious in dreaming of grandeur, regardless there doesn't seem to be many other routes I could have taken with it.

It was also spent saying goodbye to people there, and while that wasn't new/different enough to communicate it was also very special. Friendships made across cultures are valuable not because those people are your closest friends, since true friendship requires depth of understanding, but because to even be friends you have made a significant effort to cross those cultural and language barriers and in being friends you are able to learn and teach and make impacts greater than those you get from friends inside your own culture (or subculture). And maybe thats where this blog might endure, as some sort of window on my life at home. We will see whether I can make time for it, or whether it remains the best outlet for me. Whatever I do thanks for reading over the last 2 years and I hope you have a fantastic 2008.

Thay it with a lithp

Some friends (who shall remain nameless) have been a little confused about the relationship between Spain and Portugal, and also between Spanish and Portuguese. While the two languages are similar they are certainly not the same, a fact which is not helped by the fact that both nations resent having to speak or understand the other's language. Tho in order to fit in Thevilla I dethided the betht plan was to thpeak Portuguese like I was thpeaking Thpanisth, say it like I meant it and say everything with a lisp. I probably should've told Bry and Ryan of this plan - my first, fluent, lisped "Gracias" resulted in both of them slowly dissolving with laughter and stony indifference from the waiter.Seville was part of Moroccan Spain and while the influence is clearest in the architecture - tiling, arched windows, the decorative detail - its also there in the feel of the place - sunny streets, tiled gardens, the river, the winding old town - and the colours - oranges, yellows, blues. The Cathedral was built around the old mosque with the minaret converted into a belltower. However inside nothing Muslim remains, replaced by a truckload of golf and marble and some noteworthy dead Christians, including one Christopher Columbus. As one of the people at work summed it up - the thing with Seville, and possible all of Spain, is that while it's a fantastic place by night, and sunny and scenic by day, it's full of Spanish. The Spanish are a proud noble race, who hate the concept of being subservient to anyone else or doing things to anyone else's schedule. So Seville is a quiet, slow-paced tourist town, which doesn't really like tourists nor providing signs or maps so the tourists can be self-sufficient and not annoy the locals. (It took us an hour to find the way out of the city, even then we were heading the wrong way). The Cathedral and Royal Quarters closing promptly at 5pm comes as a shock since noone does anything quickly during the day - nothing in this city seems to function until its had an afternoon nap and a couple of beers to get into the mood.
But when it gets going hell yeah it's a good time!!!! Everyone is friendly and helpful when you're eating tapas and drinking, on each night half a dozen bars in and around the centre hugged us to their bosom and were only too happy to throw plates of whatever Ryan told me to order at us as well as a couple of beers and a few glasses of red. For example:
Tapas is very fashionable world-wide now but the concept is still one of the coolest ideas, bar snacks you pick at while drinking (or finish in 30 seconds if you're not quite used to waiting until 8pm to start eating!), small enough not to fill you up but satifying enough over drinking time to leave dinner optional (OK maybe that was a miscalculation!), simple enough to not require much preparation but also smal enough for the chef to try a few different things and take advantage of whats fresh and good. Plus some of the best prosciutto/presundo/jamon serrano/smoked ham/just look at the picture: If you want to visit Seville the best source of info is this encyclopedic site - much respect. Only one issue with it - whatever he says Cruzcampo is the WORST beer in the world. In fact I think thats one of the problems for the Spanish. Worse than the beer being terrible the coffee is crap as well. No wonder none of them want to exist the morning after. So on the last morning, with hangover half-ripened, we revved up the Navara and fought the lack of signs, the markets on the streets and the local belief that a bus, a 4WD and half a dozen scooters can all fit in a single lane between parked cars to gun it to the border and a well earned Delta. Spain may be great, but Portugal has great coffee.

OK so its been a while.....

... but you would be quiet too while working through this haul of port.

So whats been happening?! Last I blogged we were off to the rugby world cup - I could say nothing more on that topic - but it was a great trip both to seeing couple of games and also spending time in Paris, London, Cardiff. A travel tip from that journey is don't believe British Rail (or First GW or whoever they are) that a ticket means anything - we paid 60 quid to stand in the bit between the carriages, shoulder to shoulder with everyone else, trying to hang on and hoping that the brakes would actually work at the end of the line. Plus we were told over the PA at every station "Move down the train please there's plenty of room for everyone". As you can see there really was heaps of room:

After that we had the pleasure of Bry's parents visiting us, which was really nice for them to experience our life here, and also to spend time as a family which we haven't really done for a while. We took them up to Lisbon and also to the Douro (more port!) and also made sure they got their fair share of pork, red wine and local-sized scotch. Following hot on their heels we had Rhino coming over, but also my bosses which mean the last few weeks have been a little chaotic juggling "entertaining", presenting and tour guiding as well as work itself and all on the back of some nights of mayhem!! It was awesome having Rhino here since it brought a little bit of the 209 crew to Portugal - so much here is about cruising from bar to bar, drinking and eating well, just as we do in Perth. Some overseas Lawley crawls were pioneered - one around Bairro Alto after the Springboks wine, the other last weekend in Seville.
So as you can tell the last couple of months have been a bit of a blur and it's hard to convey everthing I've seen in there. The most consistent memory I have is of autumn moving all over Europe, from the plane trees along The Mall in London dropping their brown leaves, the yellow browns in the countryside here, the red brown vines contrasting with yellow and orange trees in the Douro to the red-yellow chestnut trees in the Andalucian hill with families searching for chestnuts below.

Doing it cool for the East side

(slogan on mural, East Side Gallery) When you visit Berlin you can’t avoid references to the divided city, however it’s harder to avoid being swamped with tacky souvenirs or an uncomfortable feeling that some very personal and painful stories are being profited from. Tourists would be better off escaping from the crowds around Checkpoint Charlie and take the U1 to the end of the line to see the longest remaining part of the Wall. This portion has been renamed the East Side Gallery since the wall was redecorated after re-unification with a series of murals. Here you get to feel what a barrier the wall was, how it separated friends and family but also get a truer sense of what it's fall meant to people on both sides. For me the biggest plus is that you get to do this quietly, in your own time with your own thoughts although I suspect commercialism is getting closer. This is my favourite:

So anyway tomorrow we're off again - if you're in London 14th Sep and didn't get the email about beers please get in touch, ditto if you're going to South Africa vs Samoa in Paris or Wales vs Australia in Cardiff. Otherwise I'll leave you with more of Berlin berlin...

This months travel tips

I always like to give you some travel tips after I've been places in case it helps you to have as a good a time as we do. So here's a couple from the last trip:

Vienna
Zum Alten Fassl in Margereten has a beautiful beer garden and huge schnitzels. It'll take you until your second visit to realise that the "Oh let me help you understand the menu" is a little fake but the staff are still nice.

Heurigen are notorious these days for being touristy and kitchy - we went to Zum Martin Sepp which wasn't too bad but I could imagine it being hell on a sunny Sunday in July. Other visitors have told me that there are better to be found if you can handle the hike up Oberer Reisenbergweg or the other roads uphill from the centre of Grinzig. My dad would also like me to point out the the "local" red is probably not that local since mostly white wine is produced in the Vienna Hills.

Prague
Avoiding the crowds in Prague is almost impossible, as is avoiding the bucks parties coming from the UK. The best advice I have is to stay in the Old Town so that you can get a break from the crowds every so often (or get up early and get round a couple before breakfast and the tour groups). We stayed in the Cloister Inn which was perfect.

There are heaps of good restaraunts and pubs close to the hotel which is away from the more touristy ones in the Old Town Square. Across the street is the best pasta restaraunt in town (with free wireless too) and other good ones are Restaurace Stoleti,Viola (Narodni 7) and U Medvidku which is a microbrewery, pub, restaraunt and hotel. A good pub in Mala strana (near the castle) is on the northeastern corner of the square Malstranske namesti. The best cafe we found was Dinitz near Republic Square.

Some negatives now - Lonely Planet recommends the Konvikt pub but I wouldn't, also the tables in Bethlehem Square look nice for a beer in the afternoon but the waiter is a complete arsehole (not just making people wait to order/pay, or complaining when you only order drinks but also muttering Czech swearwords at tourists and then happily putting the service charge on top).

The easiest way to work out how expensive a restaraunt/pub is is to look at the beer prices. For a large (500mL) beer 30 crowns is cheap, 40-50 is OK and anything more it had better be a special view because you're being ripped off. It's also a good example of how prices have changed here - some mates were here 5 years ago and told me about 50c pints (Aussie), now you're looking at A$2-3.

Berlin
Everyone knows the best tourist tip - take bus 101 from Alexanderplatz to Zoo Station to see the main sights for the price of a public transport ticket. So get the bus from the bus station at Alexanderplatz to avoid the Lonely-Planet clutching hordes at the Lustgarten.

My personal favourite "sight" is the Geldenmarkt - its also a lot less busy than the rest of the sights. The other is the East Side Gallery which I'll tell you about next post.

When I was last in Berlin you used to be able to buy a ticket at one museum and then enter all 3 on Museuminsel - this allowed me to buy a ticket at the Alte Nationalgalerie and jump the queues at the Pergamonnmuseum. But this time I got the impression the rules have been changed.

Actually my best tip is really just to go to Bergmanstrasse in Kreuzberg one night (Mehringdamm on the U7). Eat (great kebabs if you dont want a serious meal), drink (coffee, beer, cocktails), wander the streets, people watch, ahhhh its brilliant on a warm summers night with some buskers providing the backbeat. Simon-Dach Strasse in Friedrichstein is similar, but everyone knows Kreuzberg is better ;)

Wien

After all the beauty in Prague it was a surprise to find Vienna laid-back and not really caring too much. I suspect this was because most of the city was on holiday, while those that remained were in holiday mode, but it was interesting neither city matched their reputation – Prague the backpackers paradise was full of tourists and the negative responses that tourism can bring whereas Vienna the snobby capital of the Empire was friendly and relaxed. Regardless of the why it worked for us as we spent most of our time relaxing in beer garden, coffee house and Heurigen (winery restaurant) and watching the Viennese do the same. You can click through the tourist photos yourself as the other Vienna is in this post - the one that spends its day sitting on a red velvet lounge drinking good coffee and reading the international papers. Maybe one day I can retire and do the same:
Or perhaps I will spend my Sundays lingering over a couple of glasses of red in a winery in Grinzig like this lady - she wins the prize for the person we most admired this trip.
Well maybe second-most admired after this dog, who took "Dogs welcome" to a new level when he walked in and sat, waiting to be served.
The personal side - my grandmother grew up in this house (well, part of it!).
Perhaps the only thing that has got cheaper in Vienna is sitting in the gardens - years ago you had to pay the "chair lady" once you sat on a chair under the trees or in front of the roses. Now it's free.

Prague

All the brand names are in Prague and a low exchange rate used to mean bargains galore. But with the arrival of tourists the prices have shifted, and the big stores have moved in now the Czech Republic is part of the EU. In some sort of bizarre high street war a four storey Marks and Spencers now faces off with Debenhams across Wencelas Square. There’s also Tescos, Accessorise, H&M all selling to bargain-hunting English/Italians, or Eastern Europeans keen to purchase the look of the new Europe. However it's still got an Eastern European flavour - two 20-somethings selling beauty products, both made up to the nines (too much eye-shadow, eye-liner, everything) probably so they could go out later, trying to appeal to the flashy Russians and the more conservative Brits with a portable stereo behind the counter pumping out Western pop.
Prague has changed from backpackers to package tours and is struggling with the transition – where once they hosted people who could navigate their way back to a hostel blind drunk they now host people who can’t even find the toilets in the pub. Yet while the city seems to rely on the tourists it doesn’t seem to enjoy their visits – even the friendliest of staff we encountered were effective more than truly friendly, more interested in getting their service fee and getting the next table in. A couple were downright rude which I could understand given some of the tour groups that I saw, but why take it out on every tourist you see?! Luckily the beer is still good!

Part of this might be that the Czechs seem to try too hard – Don Giovanni is performed EVERY night during August in the Opera House. The reason? it was first performed here in 1787. Nice piece of trivia but why go overboard and stage the opera just in case a tourist wants to relive the moment?

Behind all this Prague is still beautiful. Its worth making the effort to either not let the crowds get to you (we didn’t try to go into any museum or historic sight since the queues were too long) or to get away from the crowds – we got up early to walk the Charles Bridge before the tourists and the souvenir sellers and I rate it one of the highlights of my travels so far.


The entire Old Town is picture postcard so I’m just going to let the photos speak for themselves…..

Don't mention ze war

About 9pm last night war was declared in a small apartment in Berlin. No you haven't missed a news bulletin somewhere this week. It was a small scale assault waged by a local mosquito fleet against the occupying forces.

To stop the satire short - Bry and my first romantic night in Berlin can be summarised in two photos:

"Look at that fking huge mozzie"

THWACK!!!

"Damn I missed it!"

Ahhhh romance isn't dead!

Thankfully after killing over two dozen of the enemy both sides observed an uneasy stand off during the night. We have armed ourselves with completely non-organic chemical weapons (not supplied in the local Kaisers who seem to think pest control consists of ant powder and moth balls?!) and are confident of winning tonights battle.

Apart from that Berlin rocks as it always has. There will be more photos to show but for me the most important thing about Germany is delivered in large glasses and seems to produce a manic gleam in my eye:

River of gold

With a title like that its no surprise this was a work trip - however I was actually assessing a tungsten deposit! Instead the gold around the River Douro is liquid gold because the region challenges my "home" (the Alentejo) to produce Portugal's best wine. While I must be diplomatic its fair to say the Douro produces wines which match the Australian way of drinking - i.e. wines to be drunk on special occasions or with specific foods, bottles to be put down for a few years - instead of the Alentejo which produces wines to be drunk every night of the year no matter what's for dinner (and to be honest they're both damn good so why pick one as better?!).
Because of the steep slopes the vines are planted on platforms cut into the side of the hills, often stabilised with brick walls, which gives the hills a tiger-striped appearance. Since theses platforms are the width of a vine and a person mechanical methods are pretty useless so technology hasn't helped the wine growers here much.
The real liquid gold is the "vinho fino" (fine wine) better known to us as port wine. Port "farms" like this one in Regua are all along the banks of the Douro. However don't let someone try to explain the difference to you between vintage port and aged port. Its complicated.

culture shock

For my birthday I was given a copy of CultureShock!Portugal, partly as a joke since I enjoy challenging some cultural norms here. However I got a surprisingly strong reaction on reading it for two reasons. Firstly it angered me because it seemed to say that business/living in Portugal was all too hard and I don't think my friends here deserve to miss out on business opportunities for that reason. Secondly it frustrated me because Portugal is changing (it's only 30 years since the dictatorship was overthrown) and becoming more "modern" and I believe that it will need to change more to claim a greater influence in Europe. Therefore I see a book which preaches accepting the old way as a little recalcitrant.

Part of that is that I believe one of my successes here is that we've managed to work to Australian-style deadlines without massively changing the way that people are used to working here, plus we know that we can change some things slightly to achieve even more. I think thats the object of my role here - to respect culture but also challenge it at those times where it impacts on work, to show a different way to approach a task or even to approach work itself as a part of life so that people see a different way. No one way of working is ideal and being able to adapt your way of work can result in achieving more than simply following "best practise".

It struck me last week when I was showing a friend of ours around that I have become an ex-pat of sorts - grumbling about waiters, things "you can't get here", "the way things work here", being a little pushy at times. Honestly I don't like it because I see it as a bad thing for me to not be able to relax and accept things as they come, even if it's more a result of tiredness than a change in attitude. But I also think it's a third step - a place is new, then familiar, and now I probably need a break or to visit somewhere different so I can come back and relax better. Certainly after a trip north last week I feel more comfortable this week (photos on this blog soon!).

Handiwork

While I've been systematically documenting each castle town and landmark close to where I live I haven't been as good at showing you the crafts of the Alentejo. If you visit I always make sure you see the traditional painted plates of the region whether it's just in the souvenir shops of Evora or the trip out to the actual workshops in "Plate Town" (Sao Pedro do Corval). The plates are painted either with simple designs in blue, "still-lifes" of olives and grapes or paintings of idyllic rustic scenes (which seem to include several not-so-calm hunting scenes!). These days more plates are made with designs which ignore tradition like team logos or Noddy plates!

The other traditional art which Alentejanos are proud of is the woven tapestries and rugs of Arraiolos which decorate palaces up and down the country. Once again the traditional design is a symmetrical, simple pattern; any hints of yellow imply a Spanish influence and idyllic rural scenes or tapestries showing important historical scenes have come in and out of fashion. We got this one last weekend - we love it partly because it has 2 dogs, a deer, a wild pig, a castle and a horse but I have to point out that its asymmetrical and therefore not traditional!! Ah well.
On looking back I was sure I had a post with some photos of Arraiolos but apparently I never shared them. This is the church inside the castle walls, there are some more town shots on Flickr.

So an update...

Hmmm it's been a while since I posted. Sorry people. But on trying to think what I've been up to I can't come up with much new, or different, or interesting to share with you. Just life. But that in itself is interesting since it all happens against the backdrop of Portugal, the Alentejo, Lisbon. Normal things like going to the shops, the movies or out for a coffee or lunch/dinner have their own slight "flavour" in each town, each country.

Well a couple of things have changed at least. Firstly I've got older in the last couple of weeks. And secondly I got a girl-shaped present for my birthday which was the best present of all. Unfortunately BA/AP are still learning the concept that people and luggage travel together and decided that they only had to deliver Bry to Lisbon, which meant that I spent too much of my birthday shopping for girl's clothes instead of ..... ah hell I didn't want to do anything special anyway! Just complaining for the sake of it! Joerg was also over for a few days so we had a great time sharing the tastes of Portugal with him - fat-free salads, organic breads and freshly squeezed juices. Not.

Since then I've been flat out with work including the first visit from the new bosses and trying to get some rigs in the country and drilling, but also trying to make time to get Bry settled in and show her some of her new country. Of course that's another "flavour" added to my life now and it's been really nice - the master of understatement I know but nice, comfortable, normal just shows me how special things are as well as how much my life hasn't been normal, how hard it has been at times. As normal I'm not going to let you all know exactly how I feel but life is good at the moment, and for a change there's no separations on the horizon.

Any given Sunday

When Im not on the beach Im usually under a sun umbrella in a Praca somewhere, struggling to get the waiters attention so I can get another beer or be fed, watching people over a beer glass or reading a book when I remember to bring one (staring into space for an entire afternoon gets a little boring and freaks the other customers!). Not that I'm the only one people watching - as a 6ft blonde I'm a little different around here and get my fair share of stares from the old guys watching the world go by (they're on the step so all the tables at their mate's cafe can be filled with paying customers).

Some things are good in Spring

I've felt more and more like an expat over the last couple of weeks - perhaps being indoors watching so much TV in English, perhaps cos I've finally found AFL highlights every weekend on cable, perhaps cos of Sundays on the beach in a bar sponsored by "Australia's Favourite Beer":

Graphic graphic for a Lisbon dog toilet - not sure if the dog is relieved or in pain?!

For what its worth

The two grains in the bottom RH corner are about the size of a matchhead so not the most impressive nugget/gold grain ever panned. But still - its there.

ETA - I should point out fine gold is a good thing as any sampling will then be are more representative of the orebody. The assay for this sample was 77g/t which shows how tiny what we're chasing really is (3g/t is economic, over 10g/t is excellent)

Druid homes

Dolmens are megalithic constructions though opinion is divided whether they are tombs, places of worship or simply shelters/grain stores (perhaps all of these at once!). They weren't built for fun though - the capstones weigh over 100kg (for the geos they're granite slabs/boulders). Portugal has several well preserved "antas" including the "famous" Anta do Zambujeiro. My parents, my brother and I have all tried to find this "landmark" on more than one occasion without no luck. It shouldn't be so hard as there's a nice big signpost on the main road pointing down a dirt road. The only problem is that this road leads to a farm and there is no sign directing you to stop or turn off. I wish this was unusual but in all times I've followed these signs looking for ruins/dolmens I've only found one - at Sao Geraldo (near Montemor). Even then Ali and I stopped at a mound of dirt and convinced ourselves that this might be "it"!!!! Maybe there are so many in the Alentejo the locals don't consider them a novelty?! Luckily we kept going though - I think the "two-storey chamber" is unusual for a dolmen but I'm no expert.

No I am not mentioning the flowers

Poppies

Cos somebody likes them....
Unfortunately though flowers = pollen = my nose running like Niagara Falls if I come within a country mile of anything blooming. Kinda hard when you live/work/hide indoors avoiding flowers in a country town. One of the reasons I've been a grumpy sod all week although there's a few companies who are doing their best to aggravate me. So the internet has been keeping me entertained since my cousin left - I don't whether this story is simply amusing, or inspiring for the fact that "beer taster" is a profession!!!! Of course kids alcohol is bad - if you're tempted by the devil's water just read the story of Latawyna the horse.

Wanted: 1, 2, 9, 10 and 15

Yesterday I had my 6-monthly phone call from the President of the local rugby club. He rings before every pre-season, and usually once more during the season, just in case I've hired the All Black front row or a couple of fringe Wallaby backs and not told him. We chat for 10 minutes or so about this and that - how the clubs going, progress on the new rugby ground which is being built, how exploration is going, whether I should go down for a run (since I've only ever played touch I'm not considered as a recruit). And then with a promise that I should go to training for a beer or we should meet for lunch we hang up, until the next time.

So if there are any front rowers out there, a pair of halves to replace those out with injury or a full-back "who can really defend, tackle hard" and you're willing to move to Montemor then you've got a game. You just need a job, a house and a language course.

Conimbriga

My cousin Ali visited me last weekend which was grand as ever. Since she's interested in ancient ruins we took the opportunity to visit Portugal's largest Roman settlement at Conimbriga.
Conimbriga is huge but not much remains above knee height except for part of the city wall and an arch near the old shower block. For me it became a little confusing trying to imagine the buildings from the ruins especially when I think back to Mirobriga - a smaller site but with more walls and columns remain to help you visualise the buildings. Perhaps for that reason concrete paving and columns have been used to partially reconstruct the forum at Conimbriga (I'm not sure whether this is a full re-building project or not). However I can't decide on the merits of this when I see remains of the real columns piled up in a heap.What Conimbriga does have is some of the best preserved mosaics I've seen anywhere, even better than Aquila in Italy. This is from the House of Fountains where for the bargain price of 50c you can start the watershow. I only hope it was impressive for the Roman times since they were a trickle compared to more modern fountains, or my backyard sprinkler.

Next door to the ruins is a museums containing the artefacts that have been recovered from the site. While it's not the greatest and most extensive collection it does make a big difference having the connection between the ruins and the artefacts, which you often don't get in the larger city museums where. Unless you're in the Pergammon Museum and the ruins have been reuilt inside the museum for you!Another thing the Romans left in Portugal was a series of mines up and down the country. Spain and Portugal was very important to the Empire because of the metals they could extract and use. Most of the mining done in Portugal in modern times has centered on these old workings and you can't help but be impressed by how they found these deposits and how well they exploited them. In this case in one of our projects they also processed the ore in a furnance, leaving the slags behind in dumps. 2000 years later the grass is still coloured an interesting shade of red.