september 2020 finds has an unusual structure because i was away from home for 3 weeks. i travelled around central and southern portugal, where the number of cases was quite low.
BOOKS
i bought and borrowed several books during this month but i was unable to read. i’ve only finished one book.
1. contos pouco politicos, a collection of contemporary tales for kids by portuguese authors. i went through it in-between swimming pool laps.
MAGAZINES
2. i have only read british vogue. i liked isabella rossellini’s barn house, life and style by julia sarr-jamois and what would bella freud do?
MUSIC
unusually, i have 5 albums to recommend. i realized i make a point to listen to a lot of new music. a lot for an amateur, of course.
3. i might’ve mentioned it last autumn. but anyway, mudra by marco franco is worth listening again. and again.
4. this dream of you by diana krall. it’s her 15th album and it’s as jazzy as expected.
5. domesticated by sebastien tellier is melodious electronic music.
6. o futuro esta distante by lau e eu is a mellow 20-minute ep by a brazilian artist.
7. ultra mono by idles has just been launched a week ago. don’t worry, they haven’t changed at all.
TV SERIES
8. i re-watched kantaro. i might have liked it better the second time. while getting schooled on the complexities of japanese sweets, you will get distracted by the everyday life and sugar orgasms of the tokyoite sales agent.
9. i bing-watched fleabag‘s 2 seasons. it started off as quite annoying but it turned out to be wonderfully well-paced and complex. i liked it. a lot.
YOUTUBE
10. i like extreme make up. why not?
11. the new home of ballet star misty copeland.
12. a glimpse into the life and work of a catalan ceramicist.
13. how do you think it’s the everyday life of a teen violinist?
14. a very easy no-bake summer pudding with berries.
15. k-pop fandoms are a power to be reckoned with.
ARTICLES
16. during communist times, ceausescu, our dictator, had imposed laws that denied contraception and abortions. as a result, many women died because of illegal abortions and many left their unwanted children in orphanages. the children were treated callously. read here about isidor, one of these orphans who was adopted by an american couple.
i met isidor years ago, when he first came to romania looking for his biological family. i was interpreting live for the tv channel that helped him find them and meet them.
he was not the only one, afterwards, several such romanian orphans adopted in foreign countries were helped by the tv channel to reunite with their families. i remember it was heartbreaking, every time. i had to do my best so that the public couldn’t tell i was crying.
you can watch shame of a nation here, the film that helped isidor get adopted.
17. this is an article about how a woman’s achievement of riding the biggest wave in nazare somehow got lost in technicalities.
18. i discovered anton corbijn through his raw work with depeche mode and u2 among many other of my favourites. read this interview. it’s good.
FILMS
the place in algarve had a tv and i watched all sorts of stuff, mainly because of the portuguese subtitles.
19. mary shelley by haifaa al-mansour is about the life of writer mary shelley. it was good enough to be watched through.
20. dark shadows by tim burton was funny and well-cast.
21. the english teacher with julianne moore is a quiet film about the joys of being an old maid.
GOING OUT
as i was saying, i was away for 3 weeks. i worked, i ate fish and seafood and nearly forgot how my room looks like. we took advantage of the low season and tried to cover the less known part of the country while also working.
22. figueira de foz
23. dinner and a walk in leiria.
24. we were in fatima twice. although prepared, we were still surprised by the serene and thoroughly religious atmosphere.
25. in batalha, the main attraction was the imposing mosteiro de batalha.
26. nazare was very crowded. we had lunch and a walk.
27. due to work, we ended up spending 10 days in lisbon. i like discovering the city, it has many cool secret corners.
28. we stayed in barrio alto for a week, in a former monastery.
28. among my new favourite places, the neighboring ze dos bois.
29. we took a day trip to sintra and we saw quinta da regaleira.
30. and we went to cascais to see souto de moura’s casa das historias paula rego.
31. we stopped om belem to see julian opie’s show at museu berardo.
32. and then we visited the gardens of the palacio de queluz.
33. last but not least, fundacao gulbenkian. due to covid, we were lucky to have the place almost empty.
34. after we finished work, we went south. we stopped in setubal for lunch and then in sines.
35. after a renovated monastery and a couple of hotels, we spent a week in an actual golf resort. very good choice. it was quiet and we had the swimming pool to ourselves.
36. we went to see the caves of benagil by boat. recommended.
37. short afternoon in lagos.
38. we liked odeceixe and its beach.
39. we went to the portimao market one morning. we had a barbeque in the garden and we used it a few times.
40. probably our favourite beach was the one between alentejo and algarve. it’s called praia da bordeira.
41. we went to sagres to see the cape. and we ended up buying ceramics.
42. cacela velha was full of spanish people since it’s so close to the border.
43. we had our first cataplana in tavira. wow!
44. we walked in faro for a couple of hours. i’d like to go back and see the islands. actually, that’s what we’ve been missing during this trip: all the islands along the coast.
45. praia do paraiso was very nice.
46. and so was its neighbour, praia da carvoeiro.
47. very close to the golf resort was quinta dos santos. they make wine, beer and have a restaurant overlooking the vineyard. the food and service were so good, we went twice.
48. and then we left back north. we stopped in castro verde. i really liked it.
49. we spent one night in evora. a wonderful and very old town that has a bone chapel and its own roman temple dedicated to diana, the goddess of hunt. no wonder it’s a unesco heritage site.
50. we really liked evora olive hotel and we wished we’d stayed for more than only one night.
51. we stopped for 1-hour walk along the river in parque ecologico do gameiro. very nice.
52. we stopped in mafra.
53. had lunch and walk in ericeira.
54. walked around in peniche.
55. we really liked the tuscan feeling of obidos.
56. and took a final walk on the wonderful passadico da foz do arelho before going back to porto.
has autumn already come where you are from?
photo and video credits: little aesthete, copyright holders
