March 31, 2020
I am updating our travels of the past 6+ weeks as we have been halted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s not been easy to focus on past photos and narratives as we sit in Lagos, Portugal after spending 2 weeks in voluntary quarantine. The whole world is shutting down and we find it difficult to contemplate returning to the US given the chaos and governmental missteps we see on the news and read online.
We are in a small area on SW Portugal that tends to be a tourist destination when tourism is doing well; currently here it is not. Thankfully! The main cities in Portugal, Lisbon and Porto, have ever increasing reports of the disease. It’s much slower here and the country instituted an effective lockdown 2 weeks ago. You can go out for fresh air and to the grocery stores and pharmacies. Restaurants if open are for takeout only. People are very good at social distancing. Grocery stores offer a spray bottle of alcohol for disinfecting your cart and hands on arrival and if so inclined on departure. In the last week the beaches and the public promenade along the river through the heart of Lagos have been closed to all.
We are in a spacious 7th floor flat with comforting views of the town and the sea. Every now and then a dot of a fishing boat appears. We can see a blinking lighthouse in the distance after dark. We can stay here at least until June 30. Maybe by then it will be safe to return to the US. If the craziness continues we will seek an extension to our stay here in Portugal until it’s safe to go home.
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FEB 12-13, 2020 – Paris, FR
We left St Lucia for France but had booked a good overnight flight to London. After learning how expensive the Eurostar train to Paris was, we booked flights to Paris and took the metro from CDG. Our flat was a 15min walk from Les Halles.
It was a small but very functional spot with a kitchen that served its purpose tho tiny. Also it’s always nice to have a balcony. Only there for 3 nights, we had a great meal out on our last night. We had a great little market nearby for bread and cheese and other good things for picnic like suppers.
For the first time I’m in Paris when the Musée d’Orsay is open. What a great spot – a beautiful old train station, with its clocks, that’s been converted to a spacious museum. We spend a good part of the day wandering in and out of all the various spaces and particularly enjoyed the exhibit of the Opera House. It resulted from a design competition in 1860. The scale model for the winning design is in the museum and is really fun to analyze.
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FEB 14, 2020 – Paris, FR
We enjoyed long walks along the river as well as a day riding the Batobus. We got off a several stops including the one to see the great cathedral of Notre Dame undergoing extensive reconstruction after the devastating fire there in April 2019. The timber reinforcing of the flying buttresses was a bit of a surprise to see.
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FEB 16, 2020 – Beaune, FR
We took the train to Beaune on February 15, through Dijon, and saw great expanses of the French landscape. As we approached the Dijon/ Bourgogne wine region we noticed the vineyards with much smaller vines than we’ve seen before. Perhaps as it’s still winter??? Along the way we saw smoky fires and learned later what they were for.
What a pretty little, easy to walk town within walls/ramparts that are fun to walk along. There’s a bustle of activity and large buses on the outside while the inside is comprised of narrow streets with many shops and several markets. And of course the central square, though small, has a merry go-round!
We enjoyed being in the heart of Bourgogne wine country, only 20 minutes south of Dijon. Many vineyards were visible on the hillsides near us.
During our first full day of wandering about we encountered the Basilique Notre-Dame. We wandered in and learned after seeing several small notices that there was to be a performance of Dvořák’s Requiem that evening. We purchased tickets and headed back to the flat to get more layers as the church was very chilly. The performance was great!!! We stopped for dinner afterwards in search of warm soup!!
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FEB 18, 2020 – Beaune, FR
In an attempt to see more of the region we took the bus to Puligny-Montrachet. We found a small bakery for some breakfast of coffee and a croissant. As the bus return required a call for them to stop, and only later in the day, we started walking towards Beaune.
It was about 7.5 miles in the end. We stopped in Mersault for more coffee and snacking. We walked alongside many vineyards and learned that it was the time of year to trim the deadwood off the vines, leaving one main branch. There were trimmers and then there were pickers. The pickers collected the snipped deadwood and piled it up or took it to the end of the rows where a fire was burning either on the ground or in an opened up oil drum. This explained the smoke we had seen on the train to Beaune.
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