Back to normal - whatever that is! Fun in Portugal!

One of the great qualities of John and Pedro is that they are so social and have so many interesting friends.  My first few days staying with them were a whirlwind of dinner parties both chez eux and at friends of theirs.  However, it was also fun to get back to "normal" - no more tour guides and doing things like shopping for groceries and other things.  For my first couple of days with them, it was back to back dinner parties, the first one included, Vanessa, a woman I'd met on the ship.  The conversations were interesting and certainly lively. The second evening we were joined by Harry and Meghan - no, not those ones but two dogs of the same name.  Over those two evenings, I'd met, aside from the dogs, a pharmacist, a screenwriter for a Brazilian soap opera, a restaurant entrepreneur, an artist, a woman who replicates paintings for movies, an investment banker, and a French chef.  Have to say, everyone was so lovely and a lot of fun!  

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A couple of days later, we went to a shopping mall called Freeport that had a lot of recognizable brand names like Tommy Hilfigher, Sketchers, Lindt, New Balance, WMF, Ralph Lauren and Haribo.  The mall is an open air one built in a somewhat Portuguese style.



From there, we decided to go for lunch in a village set on the River Tegus called Alcochette.  The views across the river which separates this side of Portugal from Lisbon were lovely.  We ate lunch at a bull fighter-themed restaurant called Beretta Verde (Green Berets which I think has something to do with bull fighting).  









The next day, Pedro wanted to go into Setubal to find some gifts for his mother as he was leaving for Rio the following day.  I really like this town - I've been there before so we didn't visit the lovely market with its typical Portuguese tiles.  There is a certain charm about the town.




Later, I took John and Pedro for lunch as it was the last time the three of us would be able to eat together on this trip.  We went to a restaurant called Racinetes specializing in beef.  We all enjoyed our meals - and the very generous portions!




The following day was yet another dinner party - this time hosted by Joao, a friend of Pedro's and his partner, Thore, a Norwegian chef who has worked in high end restaurants around the world.  I have been blessed to have been to a lot of fabulous dinner parties but this one ranked very high.  We started with a selection of "amuse gueles" served on a silver tray.  The entree was different kinds of seafood prepared differently including tuna with soy sauce, slices of mild salmon, a scallop, two other types of seafood with yellow and black caviar, all served on a palm left.  The main course was filet mignon served with a Diane sauce and foie gras with green beans, a seared shallot, roasted potato balls, a seared cherry tomato, and fennel. It was truly an amazing taste experience.  Dessert was a sponge topped with fresh fruit, smothered with meringue that Thore flambeed at the table.  Wow!   I have no other words!








So, after that amazing evening, I said good bye to Pedro.  John and I visited Lisbon and planned our upcoming 3-day road trip.








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