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AlmaLusa Alfama tap us into petiscos

6th October 20236th October 2023 funtime65

Because we know y’all love a bite-size taste of what the world’s best cities have to offer today we say ahead of their official opening… AlmaLusa Alfama tap us into petiscos.

See what we’ve done there, taken tapas and led you by the nose to its Portuguese equivalent, and many would say upgrade, petiscos.

Much like AlmaLusa Hotels are doing, in launching their third hotel, AlmaLusa Alfama in Lisbon on October 25.

And putting comfort and culinary and its Delfina Cafe at its heart.

Domus from home

AlmaLusa’s new 25-room property sits in the heart of the Portuguese capital in the charming Campo das Cebolas square.

With unparalleled views of the majestic River Tagus.

A restored 12th-century building, it combines the charming old features of Lisbon with the comfort and freshness of contemporary design.

And even harks back further than that to Roman days and the remnants of a Roman house (domus).

With the presence of an interior courtyard suggesting that a prosperous Roman family once resided here.

And AlmaLusa Alfama is less than a 10-minute walk from their original and oldest boutique hotel, AlmaLusa Baixa/Chiado.

Fado and foodo

Plate it up: And what a choice of petiscos

Of course the best way to see a city, any city, is to seek out where the locals eat.

And luckily here we stumbled as we so often do, and I’m harking back to a Halloween detour in neighbouring Galicia on the Camino as a similar experience, on the very thing in Lisbon.

With food and culture lover Hugo, who promises to take us on a three-hour tour of Fado and petiscos.

Our friends at Go Discover Portugal have put on a spread here for us , and yes there’s fish.

Of Portuguese snails, Paté de atum – Tuna paste, Amêijoas (shells cooked in variation styles), cod pataniscas, Octopus and squid dishes.

And Chorizo sausages, farinheira sausages, regional cheeses, Favas beans and chick pea dishes.

With flavourings of garlic, coriander, olive oil, vinegar or lemon.

And prepared dried, soured, fried, stewed.

Europe’s Hamptons

For those looking for a few days away from the hustle and bustle, AlmaLusa Comporta (newly opened last November) is less than an hour and a half’s drive away.

In one of Europe’s coolest beach destinations – nicknamed Europe’s Hamptons.

Which our friends on the ground recommend.

As the perfect antidote after a few days exploring Lisbon’s colourful corners and cultural sites.

For now we’ll lick our lips and do our damnedest to get out there.And let AlmaLusa Alfama tap us into Portuguese petiscos.

America, Countries

The Saga of Over 140 Tours

19th August 202319th August 2023 funtime65

I started a thread that’s started the whole world smiling, and with apologies to the Bee Gees mine’s is the Saga of Over 140 Tours.

My old employers from my student days in Aberdeen, where we made lunches for their day trips in Grampian, have been in touch.

And they have flagged up their brochure Worldwide with the tagline Over 140 Tours to explore worldwide.

Now I know we’re all living longer but Over 140s?

Saga, as well as being my summer employers which funded my Top Deck Oktoberfest booze bus antics was also my parents’ go-to travel providers.

Worldwide vision

China in their hands: The folks at the Great Wall

Saga has built its reputation on providing the best travel for the over-50s.

And yes that’ll creep up on you although these guys speed up rather than slow down.

It’s not nicknamed Sex And Games For The Aged for nothing.

Saga are teasing us in their new Worldwide brochure with somewhere very close to home which is home.

Dream experiences

Scotland is new on the menu alongside Valencia, the Azores and India.

Alongside old favourites across Europe, Asia, Australia, Borneo and more.

Of course Saga offers dream experiences across the travel spectrum…

You know… solo tours, stay and explore, small group tours and escorted tours.

Now as Saga like to start as they go on they’ll take the stress out of your door to airport experience by giving you a VIP driver.

Either to London or your local airport.

Mighty Mississippi

And because it’s what would make my missus happy then I’ll flag up the sample Journey on the Mighty Mississippi.

Journey on the Mighty Mississippi is a 15-nighter down the grand old river from £5,945.

That includes your travel insurance with 11 excursions and visits.

Welcome to the Jungle: Elvis’s Jungle Room

And…

Tours of Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans
Entrance to Studio B, Country Music Hall of Fame, and Graceland
Complimentary shore excursions in every port on the cruise (‘Hop-On Hop-O’ coaches in Vicksburg, Natchez, Baton Rouge, St Francisville, and visit to Nottoway Plantation)
3 days – free time
7 nights in hotels, 7 nights cruise on
American Queen and 1 in flight
International flights.
Prices are based on return flights with British Airways (direct) or United Airlines (indirect) from London Heathrow.
Supplements may apply from other airports
22 meals: 9 breakfasts 6 lunches
7 dinners

America, Asia, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, UK

Where to wave your palms

2nd April 20232nd April 2023 funtime65

Thank God that Jesus isn’t making his triumphant entry today, it would be all big foam fingers… but I digress, here’s where to wave your palms.

First things first though and a little background on Judean palms.

The kind which the Judeans waved at Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on his donkey.

His little donkey: Jesus greeted by palms

Which usually we would be brandishing only this year our new Nigerian priest could not lay his hands on.

Understandable as palm trees are in short supply in the frozen north of Scotland.

Gigha a palm tree

Although you can find some in parts of the west of Scotland.

And the tiny isle of Gigha, warmed as it is by the North Atlantic Drift.

And which boasts a Palm Beach and without the crowds in the three in America, the seven in Australia.

One in Jamaica, Aruba, Algeria and Malawi.

And we’ve been lucky enough to recline by palm trees from the Caribbean.

To the Canaries through Portugal, Turkey and Jordan to the Maldives.

Our Easter Judean palms, and remember Palm Sunday is always the Sunday before Easter, are actually date palms.

Unbeknownst to us but educated now, thanks to the enlightening site Vividmaps, there are ten widespread species.

The most common of which is the coconut and which proliferate in Barbados.

Although despite the abundance of roadside stalls selling coconuts and coconut water it is surpassed.

JBy Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Trinidad & Tobago in that region.

The most populous palm tree country is somewhat surprisingly Colombia with South America dominating the list.

And Brazil, Ecuador and Peru occupying second, third and fourth spots.

Papua New Guinea (or should that be Palmua?) is in fifth.

While America is only seventh although in states like Florida and California they’re on every beach.

Now we’ve all got things to do so I’ll leave you with Vivid Maps to fill in the other countries.

Suffice to say that the palm tree will always retain a special place in every tourist’s heart for exotic climes.

So whether getting your holy leaf out today inspires you.

Or it just warms you to see them gently fluttering in a summer breeze on a clip.

Then we’re happy to share where to wave your palms.

Canada, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Ireland, Oceania, UK

Car hire and higher

21st July 202221st July 2022 funtime65

Off on a road trip, well it’ll cost you because it’s getting car hire and higher out there.

And nowhere more so than my spiritual home Ireland where in some counties they’re a must.

My old mum would oft refer to her homestead of Donegal in north-west Ireland as the ‘forgotten county’.

And it didn’t help when they ripped up the rail tracks in 1959.

Donegal driving

So now if you want to get about you need to either have a car, rent a car…

Or your hotel or B&B can get Eileen to ask Aoife who knows Niamh is passing and can get you halfway.

Where Bladhana can get you to Sorcha, but make sure you’re ready or they’ll leave without you.

By the end of it all, of course, you’ll feel one of the family.

Of course, many of us prefer our independence, but alas that comes at an increasingly greater price.

With DiscoverCars.com revealing the average cost of hiring a car in 2022 rose by 267% on the previous year.

Their data highlights an average increase of 47% worldwide.

With the average cost of a one-day car hire rising from £43 to £67.

So to get on the road in Ireland you’ll shell out £155 (yes, we know they’re in the Euro), up from £42.

Now we would never let a small thing like expense put us off a destination… we’re just giving you the road manual.

On the road again

Obrigado: With the Scary One in Portugal Centro

The world’s second biggest country takes some getting around.

And that no doubt is the spiel for a spike of 264%.

Full reveal here on the third biggest mover here, Portugal-Azore Islands.

Because when we toured Hidden Portugal, Portugal Centro, we had the services of a driver/guide/historian and Coimbra’s most famous son.

Jose Madomis of Madomis Tours.

Now we’ve availed too of the services of our own fellow Britons, ninth with an 85% rise, but still cheaper than the trains.

With Katarina in Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic, fifth at 131% but again with a history lesson thrown in… and Becherovka and salty age-defying water.

While Greece is tenth at 81% which may persuade you to do a Pheidippides and run the 26 miles or so from Athens to Marathon.

There’s no rhyme nor reason why the other countries on the list should have seen such hikes.

But Israel, Iceland and Albania are countries where you need wheels because donkeys correctly have rights now.

Slowly does it

Of course with everything on the rise sometimes the best we can hope for are small increases.

And the Canary Islands at just 2% leads the way here.

Though if you do hire a car (at only £25 the cheapest on the list) then why not walk some of the way.

With CanariaWays where you’ll experience the many Tenerife eco-systems before refuelling at the Franco-theme Bar in Afur.

Fly drive

Now for many of us getting behind the wheel of a car in a foreign country requires a deep breath.

And my only attempt, in a Fiat 500 in Cannes, and it’s dashboard gearstick, never got out of the car park.

Although I kept that quiet from the organisers of the Florida Keys road trip.

Alas, but fortunately for other road users, it got cancelled by Covid.

Cut-price cars

Rocky mountain high: Colorado Rockies baseball team

Unbowed, I’ll be back though to the Sunshine State and you will too particularly with a 23% decrease in the hire of a car.

Bookended in the top four is America’s Playground, Colorado.

That’s when you’re not roped into their abseiling, freestyle rock climbing, white water rafting or roadside skiing.

Who is squeezed in between the two, why Guadeloupe and Australia… let’s go Outback.

And let’s not be put off when we see the car hire and higher.

America, Countries, Europe, Music

Ladies Marmalade from America to here

2nd April 20222nd April 2022 funtime65

Now I’m back home doin’ 9 to 5, livin’ the grey flannel life, but when I turn off to sleep, memories creep. More, more, more Ladies Marmalade from America to here.

I was a bit of a gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, Dada myself in CityWalk’s Rising Star Karaoke Bar in Orlando.

When despite the acclamations of the MC that my rendition of the Patti Labelle classic was ‘how to do a chick’s song’…

I actually murdered it, while my hosts taped me for posterity.

Daddy Marmalade

All of which nostalgia came flooding back as I watched Daddy’s Little Girl nail Lady Marmalade with her dance troupe in Tranent in East Lothian in Scotland.

Lady Marmalade, of course, is a celebration of Creole and bordillo culture ‘in old New Orleans.’

Though it morphs into Moulin Rouge by the time Lil’ Kim, Christina Aguilera & Pink! got their hands on it.

I know it was for the film Moulin Rouge, but I hazard that Lady Marmalade would only ever have worked a sizzling city like Norleans.

Norleans

Now those of us who criss-cross the Oo Es of Eh to cover its travel fairs especially look forward to when it is Norleans‘ turn.

We still wait, and for the time being we make do by smiling at the pictures of our old pal and Travel legend JP Thompson.

As he decked himself head to toe in kitsch carnival clothes for a Bourbon Street parade.

Why then he took shy when calls went up for karaoke volunteers that night in Orlando we’re still interrogating him to this day.

Now we’re all living with Covid one of the staples of a party holiday, the karaoke is thankfully back.

Karaoke memories

Fab four: Terry, Bernard, Claire and Ray in Portugal

Our first was in the fun surroundings of Cabanas in the Algarve, Portugal (and we keep going back)

When ‘Leeds Ray’ and myself whip-cracked away into the theme from Raw Hide.

More Booze Brothers us than Blues Brothers.

Nor did either of these embarrassments put me off getting up again and again.

But with age has come experience and I lowered my range to channel my inner Chuck Berry.

And Memphis Tennessee on board MSC in the Norwegian fjords.

Our duet

Tag team: With The Scary One in the fjords

On none of these occasions has the Scary One joined me on the Mic.

Although I guess she might plump for Hit the Road, Jock.

Whatever your karaoke song of choice, whether Ladies Marmalade from America to here, enjoy.

America, Countries, Oceania, UK

Top Trumps Celebrity Hotspots

4th February 20223rd February 2022 funtime65

I’ll see your Lisa Vanderpump and raise you a Marlon Brando in the game of Top Trumps Celebrity Hotspots.

I’ll give the storied Casey Jones, the father-in-law, and his slide show, his due.

While one of the best ways to clear the room is to bring out the holiday pics his slide show did have the odd surprise.

From his round-the-world ship return from Australia to England.

Like Marlon Brando’s island in Tahiti… and my future wife as a child in a hula-hula skirt.

Of course she won’t try one on for me even though I rock my Maldives sarong at any (or none) invitation.

All of which going round the world brings me back to my subject in hand, celebrity hotspots.

And this selection box (and it’s not even Christmas) which our dream providers sent me.

Tahiti treatie

The Brando, Tahiti: And it’s what you do when you love the island you’ve visited… or in this case atolls.

Buy them which is what Marlon Brando, a modern-day reincarnation of Fletcher Christian, whom he played on Mutiny On The Bounty.

The Brando, opened in July 2014, in his memory on Tetiaroa in Tahiti.

And it is an all-inclusive resort featuring 35 deluxe villas, each with its own private beach area and plunge pool.

On Santa Monica Boulevard

Wolfgang Puck, West Hollywood, California: And West Hollywood is all about checking out all the joints.

So, if you’ve taken in The Real Wife of Hollywood Lisa Vanderpump’s PUMP restaurant you’ll also want to check out…

Pendry West Hollywood is where Puck stops… by with his celebrity pals.

Arnold Lane

No, you won’t be the only one and this has nothing to do with Psychedelic Pink Floyd but indulge me.

This is golfing legend Arnold Palmer’s back yard in Greater Palm Springs, California

The legacy of the American lives on at this Coachella Valley Arnold Palmer restaurant.

With a country club feel, the restaurant celebrates the golfer with memorabilia, while serving his favourite foods.

Each room in the restaurant is named after a different golf tournament and focuses on a unique part of Palmer’s life.

And, of course, your thirst will be quenched with an iced tea and lemonade, the famed Arnold Palmer.

Andy’s smasher

And when I first started out on this scribbling lark I was given an assignment to a foreign land… I was living in England at the time.

It involved me returning to my Scottish homeland and a country house, Cromlix House in Perthshire, Scotland.

Fast-forward to the current day and Cromlix was obviously a favourite of a young, aspiring tennis player.

Andy Murray only went and bought it and I dare say there will be evidence of the Great Man around the hotel.

Keeeeep dancin’: With Judy Murray in Portugal

And that isn’t a prompt to get an invite (honest!).

Particularly as I’m on dancing terms with his Mum Judy from her tennis course in Quinto da Lago in Portugal.

So tell us what are your Top Trumps Celebrity Hotspots?

Asia, Countries, Deals, Europe

Here We Goa Cristiano

30th December 202130th December 2021 funtime65

Here We Goa Cristiano. Ronaldo, R7, has been put on a podium in India’s Portuguese outlier.

Yes, we’ve been here before, with statues a bit of a hobby horse of mine.

Funny, because there are too many of these with empirical British generals and not enough of the gee-gees themselves.

Although racecourses are the exception.

And who else would have pride of place at Aintree, Liverpool, home of the Grand National than Red Rum?

Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, is a football thoroughbred who his native Portuguese have had on a podium for years.

All of which our tour guide par excellence Jose Madomis made clear early in our visit to Portugal Centro.

Although The Scary One has never knowingly been told who she should defer to… Signore Ronaldo or Mourinho.

The first statue

The Portuguesers know his value, of course, and closer to God is He.

As I found out when I saw his beach towel for sale among all the Our Lady mini-statues in the Marian site of Fatima.

And while Cristiano is lauded on mainland Portugal he is venerated in Madeira, the island off Africa, where he was born and raised.

And where the first Cristiano statue went up.

Cristiano Goanaldo

And we’re thinking here that this coastline region of India is made for Cristiano.

We don’t know if in fact he owns any of it but needless to say he should be able to afford a good bulk of it.

Vasco da Gama, named after the explorer, is its capital.

And with its Portuguese culture and architecture you’d be forgiven for thinking you were still in Iberia.

For those who like to mark landmarks (guilty!) next May 30 sees the 35th anniversary of Goa becoming India‘s 25th state.

Get us there

All major airlines fly from the UK and Ireland to Madeira, it takes 3 hours and 40 minutes, and our old friends at skyscanner quote £46 with Ryanair.

And we’re advised that TUI provides direct flights from London Gatwick to Goa for a return from £551pp for February.

Here We Goa Cristiano.

America, Countries, Europe, Music, UK

Rainy Days and Songdays Carols

20th December 2021 funtime65

Woah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, in excelsis deo (wherever that is), it’s Rainy Days and Songdays Carols.

And particularly with the choir of carol singers from the high street in our town now having dissipated.

But church services go on unabated and the original spirit of Christmas sometimes sneaks past Mariah Carey and Michael Buble.

And so a celebration of carols, their origins and the destinations with which they’re associated.

Stille Nacht

Or Silent Night which originates in Oberndorf bei Salzburg.

No, not that Salzburg of Mozart and The Sound of Music in Austria but the small city north of Salzburg.

It does though have it’s own blessed place in music as the birthplace of one of our favourite carols.

Mohr and Grober may not be as recognisable as Gilbert & Sullivan, Rodgers & Hammerstein, King & Goffin, Lennon & McCartney or John and Taupin.

But the assistant priest, and the schoolmaster and organist certainly hit on one with this classic on the Christmas Eve of 1818.

It travelled around the world and got the ultimate seal of approval when Bing Crosby sold 10 million copies in 1935.

Feliz Natal

In her working clothes: With the Scary One again

Feliz Natal as they say in Portugal.

Or O Come all ye Faithful (except they say it in Portuguese) and not this southern US draw… though Carrie on Ms Underwood.

We have King John IV to thank for it becoming Anglicised (the Portuguese are England’s most enduring ally).

The clue to King Johin IV’s musicality is in the moniker he was given King John The Musician.

His works (he is also said to have written a setting for a Good Friday standard Crux Fidelis) alas were destroyed in the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.

Of course Portugal is full of secrets just waiting to be discovered.

Crowning Bethlehem

Talking of secrets, I’ve just been watching the original Jesus.

Well the blockbuster televisual one, anyway, Robert Powell retracing Our Lord’s steps on the Smithsonian channel.

And spoiler here.. he may not have been born there but rather his childhood home Nazareth.

The song would be very different, or would it be? Nazareth scans too.

The carol we so love, is actually an American construct.

With it written by Phillips Brook, an Episcopalian minister, then a rector in Philadelphia, and later of Boston, in the 19th century.

And sung beautifully here by The King himself.

Ding Dong Merrily On High

Sounds very English village hall, but mais non, Ding Dong Merrily On High is a French Joyeux Noel, ditty.

The tune was originally recorded in the 16th century by Dijon‘s finest Jehan Tabourot in his study of French Renaissance social dance called Orchésographie.

Ca va, English composer and campanologist George Ratcliffe Woodward updated it with the old ding dong that we all enjoy.

Now randomly we can’t think of anyone better to sing or rather trill it than Roger ‘The Whistler’ Whittaker.

Deep pan crisp and even

OK, we’ll get the old Christmas Cracker joker out first.

What pizza does Good King Wenceslas like?

Deep pan crisp and even.

Whether the Good King first looked out on the Feast of Stephen and the snow laid round about deep and crisp and even we don’t know.

But Wenceslas Square in Prague is usually packed at this time of year, and on most days.

It might be different this year with Covid which is all the more reason to toast our Czech friends with an Urquell. Na Zdravi.

Take it away Bing…

Merry Christmas and sing along to yourself with your Rainy Days and Songdays Carols.

Asia, Countries, Europe, Ireland, Oceania, UK

Mothers-in-Law Day

24th October 2021 funtime65

It’s a problem worthy of United Nations arbitration so it probably shouldn’t be surprising that we honour both today with their own day, the United Nations Day and Mothers-in-Law Day.

With those esteemed institutions being deemed worthy of their own official day.

Now I wouldn’t for one minute begrudge Angela her day off today as she IS heading into Halloween, obviously her busiest time of the year.

In truth, I’ve always tried to keep a couple of steps ahead of Mother-in-Law, or Sir as she insists I call her.

The outlaw Angie

Mother and daughter: Angela and My Scary One, Sarah

And so we’d find ourselves living away from Chez Angela.

So she has needed to be a visitor to our billets on our adventures around these islands.

In Aberdeen, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Co. Wicklow in Ireland.

And that has allowed us the opportunity to show off the charms of some of our favourite places on these islands.

An inveterate traveller herself, she decamped to Australia with the family in her 20s.

And embarked on a round-the-world boat trip back to England.

Taking in New Zealand, Tahiti and the Panama Canal… and a lot of Pacific and Atlantic Ocean and all its choppiness.

Globetrotting Ma-in-Law

A horse a horse: My queendom for a horse

But she has also benefited from old Casey Jones (that’s the Father-in-Law).

And his love of train travel to span France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and much else of Western Europe.

One unexplored world and one I know she has long hoped to visit is the New World, the USA.

And it is my hope that we can get her out there to New York with her daughter, my very own Scary One.

And I know that she has got her own broom!

Have a Great Day Angela on this United Nations Day and Mothers-in-Law Day.

Countries, Europe, South America, UK

It’s Coming Home Messi’s Homecoming

11th July 202111th July 2021 funtime65

Felicitación Leo, or Felicitats in his adopted Catalan, It’s Coming Home Messi’s Homecoming.

It has been largely ignored in the UK but there has been another football match taking place this weekend.

And the clash of Argentina and Brazil in the Copa America was also watched by hundreds of millions.

King of South America

Argentina, Argentina: Leo with Emi Martinez

Messi has been scratching an itch for some time now.

That his great rival Portugal hero Cristiano Ronaldo has won his continent’s competition, and he hasn’t.

Scratch no more Leo, the Copa is yours. after Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Brazil in the early hours of this morning.

I have, of course, had the pleasure of meeting both Ronnie and Leo… in Portugal and Catalonia.

The One Ronnie

Alas, not in person, but in the ubiquitous paraphernalia in those countries (and I freely give Catalonia that status).

You may usually come for the sun in Portugal but you will soon realise the importance of football.

In the land of Fado and Fatima, Coimbra and Fatima.

Hotti Totti

Where in amongst the tables of Our Lady statuettes and trinkets sat a beach towel of that other hallowed figure, Cristiano Ronaldo.

What is it about religious pilgrimages that the religion of football sits alongside it so easily?

Italians worship both Gods equally and the shops outside the Vatican are a wash of colour.

Make a wish

Yellow and white Holy See and yellow and reds AS Roma.

And where Francesco Totti noddy dolls are all the rage although Ciro Immobile figures will no doubt be sharing the tables now.

Immobile’s team Lazio are named after the province in which Rome sits and both clubs share the Olympic Stadium.

Although you’ll see more light blue flags and scarves the more you get out into the country.

Balkans boy

Go Croatia: With my Balkan pals in Ireland

You’ll see the power and pull of football in Medjugorje too where Croatia captain Luka Modric is idolised.

Now, granted I have taken a circuitous route here.

Before eventually reaching the Great Man.

So back to Messi’s Homecoming…

Leo’s a big teddy bear

Now Argentina is a pleasure I’ve yet to enjoy, and will, but Messi’s home now is Barcelona.

Where if you can’t get up close and personal with Leo you can cuddle a Messi bear.

On a Royal Caribbean ship in Barcelona harbour, a hub for cruise ships.

Now noddy statuettes of the England players will already be in production.

And don’t be surprised to see them sharing tables, shelves and shops with the Queen soon.

But until it happens today belongs to the Little Maestro.

It’s Coming Home Messi’s Homecoming.