Portugal Monday, Feb. 20/23

 Weather:  16C  Thin clouds

We are sleeping extremely well waking at around 8 am.   Part of the reason is exercise as well as light proof curtains in all of the rooms except the baths.  I didn't get up this morning until 8:10 when I made the coffee and waited for the 'boss' to awaken.  We have been buying a very very fine grind of coffee here and using it in the drip coffee maker and it's a little tricky getting the ratio to water correct.  There is also an expresso maker in the apartment with the associated tiny cups and coffee.  My friend Z likes expresso but don't think I'll ever get the bug.  

This is black pig presunto from wild pigs that inhabit the border region between Portugal and Spain.  It undergoes curing for 3 years and considered a delicacy.  I know it is available at home in small quantities but I shiver at what the price might be.  In our past travels into Spain we have seen it sold in a myriad of places including truckstops where dozens hang around the walls of tapis bars.  In the Apolonia grocery I noticed it packaged in beautiful cloth wrapping.  If you enlarge the picture (click on it) you'll see it sells for 30 euros / 100 grams or 299.00 euros for the whole leg.  I think we should try some.

We went swimming this morning and I started using the gym before going to the pool.  It's not a huge gym but has most of the basic equipment.  It's a good warmup for the pool where we spent an hour and a half this morning.  

1pm  We had a nice lunch of cheese, bread and olives.  That reminds me of couvert which I will expound on in a separate post (I just like to write to myself).  

The sun is out so I was reading on the balcony again.  The weather is very pleasant but without the usual strong sun that everyone appreciates.  Oh well, what can we do?