Two weeks have gone by since my last post. There’s not been that much new to tell really, but I’ll sum the past two weeks in this post.
Switching between Baleal and Caparica
As I mentioned in the last post, I went to Baleal with Ana for a weekend and we did some sightseeing there. I hadn’t been much to Peniche itself so far, but now I saw some of the city center and the peninsula too. Also the dinner at Taberna do Ganhão in Baleal was probably the best I’ve had so far. (The quite bad hunger I felt before having it may make the praise a bit biased though.)
We came back to Lisbon for a night at Fábrica Braço de Prata and saw some live music there. This time it wasn’t as amazing as it was the first time. But this time I bought two new books to read from the bookstore there. On Sunday I went back to Baleal for the week and I had the best surfing sessions on this trip so far. Since them, the conditions have been really hard again and I haven’t been able to do much unfortunately. But that’s how this sport is. Highs quickly follow the lows and vice versa.
This past week I’ve spent at my second home base, Costa da Caparica. The campsite has gotten really quiet with the weather and surf conditions being rather poor. But this place is nice and feels homely somehow still. I’ve paid for the electricity this week now since I’ve had Ana over for some days too and the batteries wouldn’t have been enough for both our laptops.
Running out of weeks slowly
In one month I will probably be either back home or at least getting very close. It’s crazy how fast the time goes. My colleagues and friends have told me that I must be nuts for even considering a return to the dark and gloomy Finland right now. And maybe I am just that for planning my return to this time of year.
But this was a test run so to speak and I can plan the next tour a bit better. I haven’t decided what the best rhythm would be yet. Technically I need to be more than six months in Finland to be able to retain the Finnish social security and to continue paying taxes to Finland. The winter back home adds some challenges to driving with one set of tires. So right now I’m thinking September to March in Portugal and the rest in Finland. But I need to think about this a bit more still. A minus for this plan is that surfing during the last three months of Portugal time is not really ideal (the water is cold).
Back to being a tourist
Yesterday Ana drove me to Cabo Espichel that is a really beautiful spot about 50 minutes south of Costa da Caparica. The cliffs are really high above the sea and the view was quite amazing.
Tomorrow I’m taking a day off and Ana has holidays too so we’re heading to Porto for a long weekend. No big plans about sights, just a relaxed trip, good food and maybe a few drinks.