I am back from three weeks of road tripping through Spain
and Portugal, which was a great little adventure, even though I did not get nearly
as much reading done as I had planned. Too busy!
Initially, I was too tired
after night shifts to read on the plane, watching 10 episodes of The Black Lake
(a terrifying Scandinavian crime series) instead in between regular naps during
our whopping 18 hours of flying time. The train and car rides in Spain and
along the Portuguese coast were way too scenic to have my nose buried in a
book, and my husband complained that I wasn’t much company when I had my
earphones in listening to an audiobook when he felt like talking – especially
as I was chief navigator next to Manuela, our tireless GPS guide, who kept
sending us down wrong roundabout exits and calling for death defying u-turns in
city traffic. Evenings saw me collapse exhausted after walking up and down
hilly, cobblestoned streets all day, and my eyes grew heavy after a few pages.
However, I did read a little bit, and even found another five-star mystery to
go onto my list of favourite reads for 2017. My Netgalley ratio reached 80% at
one point (which it hasn’t been for a long, long time due to my greedy
requesting), so all was not lost.
As for blogging – well, a bit of a train wreck on that front
I’m afraid. Even though I pictured myself tirelessly typing my reviews in seedy
little hotel rooms like an intrepid war correspondent of the 60’s, in reality I
was painfully battling autocorrect and bad wifi signals, and cursing my fat
fingers as I stabbed away in the semi dark on my Samsung S5. Maybe I am not
dedicated enough, but after three mini reviews that took me hours of cursing
technology and feeling like crushing my little phone under my hiking boots, I
decided that the wandering blogger just wasn’t going to be me. I am hoping to
catch up on my reviews now that I have my computer back.
Sooooo – to the holiday wrap-up:
Books read: 6
Famous book shops visited: 2
Livraria Lello, Oporto, Portugal:
This apparently is the place that inspired J.K. Rowling when
writing Harry Potter. It surely had something magical about it, and I don’t
mean simply the ability to disappear like 12 Grimmauld Place – I swear we
walked past it at least 3 times and it wasn’t there! So after trudging around
Porto for hours (and this is one hilly city!) with DT (“dumb tourist”) tattooed
on our foreheads and trying to ask for directions when our knowledge of the Portuguese
language consisted of exactly 2 words between us, we finally found it at the
exact moment when I was ready to give up and admit defeat. It was worth the
painful calves though, as it is every bit as beautiful as described in travel
blogs, despite the sizeable crowds lining up outside and the 4-euro entry fee.
Igreja de São Tiago, Obidos, Portugal:
This charming bookstore was quite a surprise, located in an
old church in the historical walled town of Obidos that goes back to 1186 – so much
history there! Apparently the church had fallen into disrepair and was transformed
into a bookshop as part of a growing literary movement in the town. I loved
this charming place, which still exuded an aura of peace and calm, totally
lacking the crowds of the Livraria Lello, making it a pleasure to browse and
simply enjoy the history of the place. If you are ever in the area, this town
is well worth a visit and was a highlight of our trip.
Book Fairy activity: 2
After much soul searching, inner turmoil and debate, the
eeny-meeny-mo approach and room left in my suitcase decided which physical
books made it into my suitcase in the end:
I read two of those, taking great delight in leaving them as
book fairy gifts in two very lovely locations we passed through along the way: one in Vigo, Spain; the other in Nazare, Portugal (being claimed by Atlantic mist here in the picture).
If you haven't heard of the book fairies yet, make sure to check them out here: LINK
Now, after 48 hours of planes, trains and automobiles we
made it back home to our lovely little piece of heaven, with three more days
off to recuperate before going back to work. I have already requested several
more books on NG in anticipation of getting some reading done over the next few
days, which dropped my ratio down to 78% again– just can’t help myself!
Currently reading:
Which is off to a great start!
In summary – I may be a failure as a travelling book blogger,
but my love for both travel and books remains strong. Watch this space as I try
to catch up on reviews ....
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