Oporto in Portugal

Three days ago we had a minor road accident in the tiny town of Felgueiras, in the inland of Portugal. Our left front wheel was damaged and we had a minor brake failure. We managed to reach our hotel in Entres-os-Rios and to travel around the countryside in the Douro Valley. We arrived yesterday in Oporto with our wrecked car. The car-rental-company proudly presented their insurance policy (or actually as it turned out, their insurance company's policy). Oh no, in the policy it was to our astonishment written that the insurance policy did not cover a) windshield or glass damage; b) damage on tires. I told the two guys that the damage done to our car was a little beyond a flat tire. Then they presented another unexpected exception: The insurance policy did not cover damages inflicted on the car from below... Suddenly I remembered an old scetch from "Marty Feldman Show". Feldman is trying to understand the insurance policy in order to find out what kind of damages the insurance do cover. He and the insurance agent go over case after case, but there is always something that makes the insurance company able to claim that they cannot pay for just that particular type of damage. In the end Feldman gets fed up and asks: "- What exactly do the insurance cover?" The insurance agent looks at him seemingly surprised and answers: "- This insurance policy covers only collission between the insurance taker's vehicle and a rhinosaurous on a one-way bridge!" I think that finally has reality been catching up with Feldman's satire...

The Sun is Shining Bright

Finally me and m wife have reached Esposende, Portugal. Safely we made our way out of the horrible climate of Sweden. Travelling from arround zero to five degrees to fantastic 24 degrees and sunshine. Yesterday we took our little Hyundai on a daytrip to Galicia, Spain. We had a very expensive dinner at the Roman Restaurante in Pontevedra. My wife ate a tournedo and drank some Rioja wine, while I took a Galician hot soup and scallops with rice. We had plans on going to Santiago de Compostela, but we ran out of time and decided to turn arround in Ponteverde instead, and return to Portugal. On the way north we had a lovely lunch in Viala Praia de Acostar, in the sunshine, viewing out of the tiny little bay. We had tapas, water and some espessos. Strolling along the beach we saw some sandpipers och a lot of local fishermen and women fishing from the shore. Back in Esposende we spent the evening in a local pizzeria, eating pizzas and drinking the local beer, Superbock. Actually they had a locally brewed stout. Not the best ever, but quite okay. On the TV Benfica, Lisbon played Porto FC. By the sound later in the evening, cars blowing their horns and people yelling and cheering in the street, we concluded that Porto won the game. Assuming that the locals were Porto fans. Which is not for certain, as everyone familiar with football in Southern Europe knows. You might actually be a fan of a club very far away. My friend Rafaele, for instance, lives in Bari, in Southern Italy, but is a fan of Juventus, from Torino in the north. The footballers were not the only disturbance here though, as for some strange reason the local lighthouse blows out a strange sound every minute. I asked the portier why and he said that it was a warning to the fishermen on their boats trying to go out during lowering tide. I asked him if a warning sound being on frequently and almost all the time lost is warning value...