{"id":2786,"date":"2025-05-06T14:05:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T19:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/?p=2786"},"modified":"2025-05-06T14:05:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T19:05:38","slug":"may-6-2025-adventures-in-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/may-6-2025-adventures-in-portugal\/","title":{"rendered":"May 6 2025 Adventures in Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>All photos by Elvia Contreras Diaz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a follow-up to Elvia &amp;Co.&#8217;s latest adventures in Portugal, during the blackout in Spain they &#8212; Elvia and her nieces Pia and Gala &#8212; were stuck in the Lisboa airport for 8 hours without electricity &#8212; see letter below. Elvia is a dedicated student of literature, a great reader, and in all her travels she seeks out the homes and favorite places of the great Latin authors &#8212; or Turkish. Or Kazakastani! In this case Fernando Pessoa, Early 20th century writing genius of Portugal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And since my many wonderful talents do not include skills with this semi-new WordPress confusion, I simply printed out Elvia&#8217;s Portugal letter, took a shot of it with my phone and downloaded the picture. I have tried repeatedly to shift documents from downloads to a post and am tired of trying. And I couldn&#8217;t even manage to get it straight. However I don&#8217;t think reading it slightly askew will cause any great suffering on the part of my million or so blog fans. At any rate, my favorite phrase here is &#8220;fighting like Mexican animals&#8221; at the ticket counter. Superb!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"807\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-807x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2788\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-807x1024.jpg 807w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-237x300.jpg 237w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-768x974.jpg 768w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-1211x1536.jpg 1211w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-1615x2048.jpg 1615w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-624x791.jpg 624w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/letter-from-lisboa-scaled.jpg 2018w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 807px) 100vw, 807px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> Elvia and Pia at a shoe shop<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2789\" style=\"width:303px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop-864x1536.jpg 864w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop-624x1109.jpg 624w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pia-and-elvia-in-shoe-shop.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is at Fernando Pessoa&#8217;s home, an engraved quote from his writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"789\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634-789x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2790\" style=\"width:363px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634-789x1024.jpg 789w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634-768x997.jpg 768w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634-1183x1536.jpg 1183w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634-624x810.jpg 624w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-pessoa-quote-on-wall-scaled-e1746556576634.jpg 1514w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 789px) 100vw, 789px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An imaginative display of the writer&#8217;s frustrations at the Pessoa home. Today we &#8216;d just drag blue and hit delete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2791\" style=\"width:299px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/folded-papers-pessoa-scaled-e1746556733618.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Elvia and Fernando Pessoa having a chat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2792\" style=\"width:269px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/elvia-and-fernando-pessoa-statue-scaled-e1746557482214.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Beautiful Lisboa. So many people fleeing the Nazi regime in world War II were so relieved to see this port, safe at last. Some didn&#8217;t make it, like the writer Walter Benjamin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2793\" style=\"width:279px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/lisboa-the-port-scaled-e1746557893545.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At any rate, whatever the troubles or missed planes, good Portugese wine makes everything better!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2794\" style=\"width:302px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863-624x832.jpg 624w, https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/good-wine-at-lisboa-restaurant-scaled-e1746558180863.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>So I&#8217;ve joined them in this adventure from my computer desk. Travel for me now is difficult, with wounded horse needing daily care and my health only indifferent, so I&#8217;ve had a great time!  All the Contrerases send greetings and love to all Johnsons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All photos by Elvia Contreras Diaz As a follow-up to Elvia &amp;Co.&#8217;s latest adventures in Portugal, during the blackout in Spain they &#8212; Elvia and her nieces Pia and Gala &#8212; were stuck in the Lisboa airport for 8 hours without electricity &#8212; see letter below. Elvia is a dedicated student of literature, a great [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2795,"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions\/2795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulettejiles.com\/pj_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}