Good news!

Well, finally the build permit and licenses have been issued. All that remains is to organise water and electricity to the job site, and Rui the architect has already been down with an engineer to work out how to achieve that. We still need to finalize the contract for construction etc and were due to pop in and get that completed today, but unfortunately there has been an outbreak of covid and we need to wait for the all-clear, so just a small delay hopefully.

We have had quite an energetic week however, with a couple of long hikes around the municipality, and a day out with our besties to check out an ancient monastic site that was created around the time of the crusades and later was converted to a convent. It was a real eye opener and we couldn’t believe how close it was to us here.

After visiting the beautiful monastery, we decided to find a cafe in the sun. we drove through a couple of small villages, but unfortunately they were either closed or in the shade, which meant it would be chilly. We were already close to Nazeré, so decided to sit outside one of the surf shacks, as they are always in the sun. It proved to be a bit of a schoolboy error, as we were charged tourist prices, and the coffee (not the best) was served in paper cups! So we headed home to some ’proper’ tea!

Of the two hikes we did, we were looking for unusual rock formations and a bit of an adventure. The first (the Buraco Roto trail) was a quick twenty minute drive from our location and starts and ends in the small village of Reguengo do Fetal. We were pleasantly surprised at the charm of this place and very happy to find a very welcoming pastelaria open at the end of the hike. The walk was quite challenging though and certainly got the legs a good workout. Lots of steep climbs and drops aided by roped rails.

The second hike started almost just from the doorstep of where our house is being built. This was a little longer than the previous hike but somewhat easier tracks. We also managed to find a hidden rock formation, which was a collapsed cavern and unless you venture off the roads you would never know it was there. The weather was great for all of the days, in fact it has now been sunny for weeks, albeit somewhat chilly when the sun dips.

We hope you find our adventures interesting, and hope to bring more news about the house build shortly.

hope to see you all again soon.