WAGS 2023 11 01: Double Dutch and Lunchtime Lottery.

 

A group of 6 regular WAGS, augmented by Martin and Theo Duivensteen, brothers of Hazel and John´s Dutch neighbour Cees..... it´s a long story.......met for coffee at Café Martins but, 1^st November being All Saints Day and a public holiday, the Café was shut. So no coffee; a great start !

Then came the ritual of the carefully synchronised Starter Foto Flop.

And then its rather more successful follow-up.

The Starters: Myriam, Ingrid, Hazel, Theo, Tanja, Maria, Martin and JohnH

Then the 10 a.m down-train to Lagos went past, saluting Myriam as it went after which we could start.

Five minutes into the walk, the Leader needed his head examined and protected because he had carelessly left his Trusted Tilley at home.

Hazel´s handiwork

Then, at last, a minor success, as we explored a new route and found our way through some orange groves, thus avoiding some of the rather tiresome tarmac that we usually have to negotiate in this area.

Probably a dead snake and, definitely, a banana

 We then followed a very familiar path, circling round eventually to the well-known Strawberry Fields which in the off-season now has produced sizeable pumpkins.

There was a great deal of banter throughout the walk but, as it was largely in either Dutch or Flemish or maybe both, most of it went far over your Scribe´s bandana-clad head.

But as far as the chat could be understood, it was either about the Dutch taking the mickey out of the Belgians and vice versa, or it was a friendly competition between the Belgians and the Dutch as to who could tell the most risqué stories about each other. There are lots of Dutch v. Belgian jokes on the internet, should the curious student of such matters care to look them up. I will spare you any examples here.

And so we made our leisurely way back to base. Theo encouraged the ladies to walk like the Vietnamese.

and showed pictures of his Vietnamese models on his smartphone

Thoughts then began to turn to where to have lunch, given Café Martins´ closure. Maria, with her excellent communications skills, had managed to contact the owner of Café Norinha, because the democratic vote was in favour of having Portuguese food but, alas, Norinha too was shut for the holiday. So we were left with one more chance, that of Victoria´s in Poço Barreto.

Not everyone was enamoured of that idea, given some fairly mediocre experiences in the past, but needs must and there was always the expectation of draught Guinness as an incentive. So off we went to Victoria´s, all except Ingrid.

The Track and the Statistics

The Lunch

And so to Victoria´s where we were met by Hilke.

And to be met too by a big let-down; no draught Guinness. Apparently there is an Algarve-wide shortage of the stuff.

Happily, however, the waitress Anna, who last year had been crowned Little Miss Grumpy Silves 2022, was on this occasion quite the reverse, in fact all smiles and helpfulness, and it was she who suggested Red Kilkenny instead of Guinness, and the Kilkenny  proved not at all bad.

Anna took our orders cheerfully, shifting effortlessly between English, Portuguese and Dutch as she did so; and she even turned down the excessively loud and booming disco music at Myriam´s request. So that was indeed a positive aspect and an improvement on past experience.

But, oh dear, with orders placed at 13.05, we then had to wait until 13.50 until our food appeared, even although the place was not busy. Why the inexplicable delay?

Was the food up to expectations? Well, that depends on how high those expectations were. Hazel seemed to enjoy her spicy chicken wings but Hilke´s cheese omelette was clearly a disappointment. Myriam´ s vegetarian breakfast scored 5 out of 10, just - and as for JohnH´s plain omelette, it was just that - very plain indeed, 4 out of 10.

The vegetarian breakfast

One omelette - plain- very.

Sweet potato - done Mexican way 

But on the plus side, some Dutch style snacks looked OK and Maria and Tanja did enjoy their Sweet Potato Mexican-style which, given that Maria had not been at all keen to eat there in any case, must be considered a minor triumph.

Not on our “must visit again” list is Victoria´s but, hey ho!, any port in a storm.

Thanks to those taking part and photo credits to Hazel, Maria, Myriam and JH.

One obvious choice for closing music.