A Friend in Portugal

Before I left for my recent trip to Portugal I was talking to someone about my plans, including pointing out that the five days in Lisbon weren't really five days at all because I was going to be heading south. In response to a question of why, I told them that I have a friend in Portugal.  He replied, "Of course you have a friend in Portugal." My rejoinder was the obvious one: "Doesn't everybody have a friend in Portugal?" Everyone should have a friend in Portugal because the Portuguese themselves are such warm and inviting folks, but in this case I have a friend in Portugal because we worked together in Abu Dhabi during my year at Zayed University. We've been casual friends on Facebook for years and when I found out about the Lisbon conference I reached out to him, and he graciously invited me down for a visit. I had to figure out the Portugal Rail website, and kept getting timed out and struggling with my credit cards (including having my absurdly bad local Vermont credit union debit card being shut down), but I persevered and arranged the three and a hour half train ride from Lisbon to Faro in the south. As always, whenever I travel on the European rail system I'm envious of a more civilized society than we have here in the US. It was a wonderful, although much too brief, visit.  I almost missed the return train because we were sitting on his couch gabbing.  His lovely wife Kathy suddenly said, "You know it's 13:08, don't you?" Tony replied, "It can't be!" but of course it was, and my train left at 13:54.  However, despite the mad dash, I made it with a few minutes to spare.  I'm definitely hoping to visit him again sometime soon. Neither of us could believe that we hadn't seen each other in over seven years.

I had never met Tony's wife Kathy before.  She has her own long history in the Middle East so we had a lot to talk about, including remembrances of Yemen and Oman. The house and the grounds are beautiful, which Tony attributes entirely to Kathy's hard work. 

Tony and Kathy refer to their place as the House that Dubai built.   It was a lovely stay, but also a bit of an elegiac one because it reminded me of paths not taken. When I was engaged to the LBG we were looking at places in Croatia with the thought that we'd use our UAE/Hong Kong money to buy a place. Tony is a dear friend of the LBG from their years together in Abu Dhabi so we had a lot of memories to share.

Tony and Kathy own several acres, which are full of olive, almond and orange trees.  Every day starts with a walk around the garden, accompanied by the dog and cats. The dog, Rea, is, quite appropriately, a Portuguese Water Dog.

After the warm-up walk around the garden they drive (this time the dog get some alone time with Tony and Kathy) to one of several parks, in this case a marsh along the ocean.  It was a lovely walk.  I'm so happy for the two of them.  They lead a simple, contented life that all of us should aspire to.