Our real estate "adventures" of 2025 are coming to a close after occupying much of our time and energy this year.  After selling our house in California in 2021, we enjoyed several years in Portugal of having relatively few housing responsibilities.  We were either renting a house or living in a new apartment.  In both cases, maintenance and upkeep were either non-existent or minor.  But there were drawbacks to this way of life.  Ryder and we had little space, particularly compared to our former house in California.  And some space was communal, which meant sharing with other neighbors. 

A year ago, we decided to get a house of our own, with ample space for Ryder and us.  This decision entailed selling two apartments and buying a house.  With ample good advice and luck, we were able to accomplish these tasks in mid-October.  We bought a four-bedroom townhouse with a small pool and a garden for Ryder.  The house was built in 2003, so naturally there are lots of improvement projects, some which we wanted to accomplish quickly.  Others, we will accomplish in the coming months and years.  

Here are some examples of what we have done so far:

The shared bathroom on the ground floor needed several changes.  For some reason, there was no sink, and a washer had been put in its place.  In addition, there was a miniature shower that only small children could possibly use.  We had the shower removed, making a place for a new washer and dryer.  We added back a sink and replaced the toilet.

The great room on the ground floor contained space for both a dining room and a living room.  The odd thing was that the dining room area was larger and more spacious than the living room area.  Mark had the idea to switch the spaces, using the larger area for the living room, an area which would be used much more frequently.  This also conveniently allowed space for a wall-mounted big-screen television.

The original office was quite cluttered, but by turning the desk around, it freed up space for a treadmill, a welcome addition for us both.  Also, we were happy to get rid of the lime green curtains!

Other projects we have accomplished since purchasing the house include:

• Painting the entire interior 
• Both living room couches professionally cleaned
• Numerous additional electrical outlets added or moved
• Fiber internet and MESH Wi-Fi network installed
• Locks changed
• New microwave oven and dishwasher installed

All projects were done with Portuguese contractors!  We are pleased to have accomplished so much on our new home, even if it did come at the expense of work on this blog.  While we expect our home improvement projects to continue into 2026, we also plan to have many more adventures that we will share on this blog to our friends and family.  We and Ryder appreciate your interest!​

Mark's sister, Karen, and her husband, Steve, flew from the US to Switzerland to celebrate their granddaughter Chloe's 8th birthday.  I decided to see them all in Switzerland, and it just happened to coincide with an interesting and peculiar festival in the village (Richterswil) where I would be staying.  The festival was called Räbechilbi.

When Chloe and Owen were in school on the first full day of my visit, Karen, Steve and I decided to take a day trip to Lucerne.  We had all been to this Swiss mountain town on individual trips year ago, but it still retained its Swiss appeal.  

The primary motivation for this trip was to celebrate the 8th birthday of my niece Lindsey's daughter, Chloe.  We are lucky that Lindsey and her family are so close to us in Portugal, and we get the opportunity to see them fairly regularly.  

​The Festival of Lights at St. Martin's Day (Räbechilbi) is said to have its origins in a peasant thanksgiving offering for bringing in the last crops before the approaching winter. The women from the mountain village walked with the Räbe, a source of light and warmth at the same time, through the dimly lit streets to the village for the thanksgiving service.  

Every year, around 25 tons of beets are planted and harvested in the Zurich area especially for the parade.  The turnips and candles are used to light a wide variety of floats which are paraded in a circular route about the town.  Residents of the parade route are obliged to decorate their houses and extinguish the lights.  The owner of my B&B brought fake turnips with votive candles to be put in the windows of my room.  As it was quite cold out that evening, so we decided to stay in my room to watch the parade.  We could see it from two different directions.  

After leaving Florence, we decided to take a few days on our own, so we ventured to the picturesque Italian coast, to Cinque Terre (Five Lands).

Cinque Terre is comprised of five seaside villages: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.  All have their own personalities, and it is quite easy to visit each village by train or even boat.  We decided to stay at an AirBNB in Manarola.  The towns were fairly quiet, particularly in the evenings, a nice change from the hustle and bustle of Florence.

One of the first things we did was to charter a private boat to see the five villages from the water.  We started the trip in Riomaggiore, heading northwest to the other four towns.  We also learned a bit of Cinque Terre history from the captain of our boat.  It was a lovely sunny day.

Of the five towns, Vernazza and Manarola are considered the most picturesque.  We took the train to Vernazza and wandered around this quaint village.  

There are a myriad of hiking trails in Cinque Terre, some connecting the five villages.  We took an easy one between Riomaggiore and Manarola, which has the name Via dell Amore (The Way of Love).   ​The trail's name was inspired by the fact that it provided an easy and private meeting place for young lovers who lived in the two small towns in the mountainous terrain.

As train service between villages stopped in the early evening, we spent our late afternoons and evenings in Manarola, which suited us just fine.  The town had just enough shops and restaurants for our three-night stay, and it offered some wonderful views of the Italian coast.  

In 2023, we met up with Mark's cousin David and his partner Kathy for a few days in Barcelona.  We had such a nice time that we decided to do it again, this time in Florence, Italy.

We had a lovely AirBNB in the historic section of Florence.  We were within walking distance of most attractions, though we found that these older apartments did lack one amenity: an elevator!  Not unexpected as the building was probably hundreds of years old, but those three flights of stairs really gave us a workout.

With the exception of Kathy, we had all been to Florence before, so we were coming to Florence to re-experience the Tuscan culture and wonderful food.

To get an overview of the city, we booked a golf cart tour around the major sites of Florence.

The highlights of this tour were the Piazza della Signoria, with its numerous statues and historic buildings including the Uffizi Gallery, and the Piazza Michelangelo, which overlooks the beautiful Florentine skyline.

The city of Florence offers innumerable attractions, providing visitors with a glimpse into the history and culture of this fascinating city.  

A multi-story museum dedicated to Galileo Galilei is located in central Florence, and it contains an enormous collection of scientific instruments.

Construction of Florence Cathedral (Duomo di Firenze in Italian) began in 1296 and was completed with a dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi in 1436.  The building's exterior is faced with marble panels in various shades of green and pink, alternated by white, giving it a striking and unique look.  The basilica is one of world's largest churches, and its dome is still the largest masonry dome ever constructed.  The cathedral complex, in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Florence Baptistery and Giotto's Campanile (belltower).

The climb to the top of the Duomo is 463 steps, and it offers unique perspectives of the cathedral's interior and the famous Last Judgment fresco.  The Campanile has a mere 414 steps, but it provides magnificent views of the Duomo and city.

The principal Franciscan church of Florence, the Basilica di Santa Croce is best known as a burying place for notable Italians including many from the Italian Renaissance.    

​Every year at the end of September, the Carro Matto ("crazy cart") comes into town from the nearby wine producing area of Chianti Rufina.   The parade celebrates the autumn grape harvest and the arrival of the new wine in the city.

Through the Medici family's famous 1737 Patto di Famiglia (Family Pact), all Medici treasures (art, jewels, etc.) were guaranteed to remain in the city forever, making Florence a treasure trove of Italian art.  

Opened to the public in 1865, the Uffizi Gallery is the largest and best-known Italian museum in the world.  We were happy that we had booked a private museum tour as we were able to be shown some of the most historically significant pieces in what was otherwise an enormously large and somewhat overwhelming setting.

After the Uffizi, we took at 20-minute stroll to the Galleria dell'Accademia, which houses the most famous sculpture in the world, Michelangelo's David.

After art, culture and history, Florence is best known for its outstanding food.  After a full day of museum hopping, we enjoyed some wonderful Italian food including pizza, Florentine steak, and gelato.  We even sampled the enormously popular Italian sandwiches (made well-known by the sandwich shop, All'Antico Vinaio).

We had a great time during our four days in Florence, though we were surprised at how busy the city was even in late September.  David and Kathy continued on to the next phase of their Italian holiday in Rome.  We went for a few quiet days on the Italian Mediterranean coast.

As we have done most summers, we decided to take an August trip to get away from the warm temperatures and flocks of tourists in the Algarve.  We chose the northern Spanish region of Cantabria for our first week, and then, we decided to flip over into the Basque region of France for our second week.  

We made the 10-hour drive to Cantabria, taking Ryder with us, of course.  We had chosen the town of Argoños because the internet told us it had a nice dog beach and several excellent restaurants nearby.  The internet was half right, as unfortunately, the town of Noja where the former dog beach was located decided in 2024 to ban dogs during the summer.  Luckily we were able to find another dog beach about 20 minutes away.

About about a one-hour drive from Argoños in the town of Comillas is a villa designed by Antoni Gaudí, the famed architect of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona.  Named El Capricho (The Whim), the project was built in 1883-1885 for a wealthy client, Máximo Díaz de Quijano, who unfortunately died before ever occupying the villa.  An early work of Gaudí's, El Capricho  showcases some of the design techniques which would become famous later in his career.

Located five minutes from where we were staying, Ibidem is a Michelin-recommended restaurant with some flashy, avant garde presentations of Spanish dishes.  

The culinary highlight of the trip was Cenador de Amós, a Michelin three-star restaurant in a nearby town.  In addition to three Michelin stars, the restaurant has received a Michelin green star, an annual award given to restaurants for their outstanding commitment to sustainable gastronomy, combining culinary excellence with industry-leading environmental and ethical standards.  The chef is Jesús Sánchez, and he was nice enough to stop by the table after our meal, which was an early celebration of our 37th wedding anniversary.

For our second holiday week, we drove another two hours north and east, arriving in the French Basque region and the town of Ondres.  Like in Spain, we chose this town because it was a 5-minute drive from a beach that does allow dogs in the summer.  But after trying Ondres Beach a couple of times, we decided to go a little further north to Labenne Beach, which was nicer and provided easier access.

Our AirBNBs in Spain and France had fenced yards for Ryder.  But the one in France had some neighbors which Ryder hadn't seen before:  chickens.  Luckily, they were on the other side of a sturdy fence.

One side trip we took while in France was to the Basque Museum in Bayonne, one of the larger cities in the area.  The museum had many fascinating displays as we learned about the 5,000 years of Basque history in Europe.

The Basque people may be the oldest culture in Europe, and they are genetically distinct from most Europeans with little mixing from external groups like the Romans or Moors.  The mountainous terrain of the Pyrenees provided a degree of natural isolation, helping to preserve their unique culture.  Their ancient language, Euskara, is a language unrelated to any other living language.  Today the majority of the Basque country is in Spain where they are an autonomous community with a certain amount of self-governance.  

​Basque immigration to the US peaked in the mid-1800s following the discovery of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. The current day descendants of Basque immigrants remain most notably in this area and across the Sierras into the neighboring area of northern Nevada, then northward, into Idaho. 
​

We enjoy the change of scenery on our summer road trips.  And we really enjoy the different foods we come across.  Some great dishes, like the ones in the fine dining restaurants, are to be expected.  Others, can be quite unexpected.

After our two-week holiday, we were set to drive back to Portugal, but Mother Nature had some interesting ideas along the way.  Our week in France had been unusually warm, with temperatures rising close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on some days.  This hot weather had had a terrible impact on Spain and Portugal which had their worst fire seasons in over 40 years.  

The highway we were to take back to the Algarve was closed due to fires until the day before we left France.  Luckily, we did not have any problems on our drive, but in some spots we could see smoke and firefighting planes as we drove.

We were glad to arrive home, though our thoughts always turn to our next adventure!

There are two pieces of good news about our real estate in Portugal.  The first is that we closed on the sale of our San Pedro apartment, which was newly constructed but never lived in by us.  The second piece of news is that we have contracted to buy a home in Tavira!

Our original goal was to buy a home that would give us outdoor space for Ryder and more indoor room for us.  But to achieve this, we assumed we would need to be outside of the city of Tavira, since most residences here are apartments or small homes.  But as we looked at available properties, we found that there were a small number of places in our price range that met our goals but were still in the city.  In fact, the home we settled upon is only about 200 meters from our current apartment.  

Of the two starred properties in the image above, our current apartment is on Rua Avelino Dias Custódio, while our next house is on Rua Major Victor Castela.  This townhome also is in a quiet, established Tavira neighborhood, Mato Santo Espirito, which has a couple of restaurants and cafés.

Our next place is a townhouse, with one attached wall.  But it has a decent amount of outdoor space, including a pool and garden in a completely fenced yard.

The inside area of the house is 160 sq. meter (over 1700 sq. ft.), which is about twice the size of our current apartment.  The ground floor consists of a living room, dining area, kitchen, bathroom/laundry room, and enclosed garage.  The next floor has four bedrooms, one en-suite, and another shared bathroom.  One of the bedrooms is currently used as an office.  The top floor has a rooftop terrace with distant sea views.  There is even a basement (a rarity in Tavira) which houses the pool equipment and more storage area.

The sellers of this house are moving back to their native France, so we are going to be keeping most of the furniture.  This is good since the buyers of our current apartment wanted to keep most of the furniture we have there.  

We expect to close the sale on our current apartment in late September and then rent it back for 30 days.  We then plan to close on the sale of this townhouse in early October, giving us plenty of time to do any touch-ups (painting, etc.) and then to move in our belongings.  Fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly.  We are excited about our new place!

When Mark was in Milan in June (after the trip with his sister Karen), he realized that one of his all-time favorites, Bruce Springsteen, was going to be ending his 2025 European tour in Milan in early July.  We hadn't seen the Boss since 2018 on Broadway in New York City.  Mark just had to go and was able to secure tickets.

So, we made a quick two-night jaunt to Milan to do a bit of sightseeing, eat some good (mostly Italian) food, and see the Boss in concert at San Siro Stadium (the largest stadium in Europe).  

Milan is more of a working, industrial city than the other large Italian cities, but its biggest tourist attraction is the Duomo or main church of Milan.  Started in 1386, the Duomo took almost six centuries to complete, with finishing touches applied in 1965.  Unfortunately for us, our visit took place during an extended Southern European heatwave.  And the tour starts on the rooftop of the cathedral, which means you get quite warm almost immediately.  For that reason, our visit to the Duomo was rather cursory, a quick overview with hopes that we will be able to come back at a cooler time sometime in the future.

We had some wonderful food in Milan, which is known for its culinary excellence.  We ate at Italian, Sardinian, and Chinese (dim sum) restaurants.  Debra had some of the best ravioli she ever had at Altriménti.  Mark had some fantastic dim sum at MU Dimsum.

We've seen Bruce over a dozen times in concert, and he never disappoints.  He is 75 years old, and he played in Milan for over 2.5 hours without an intermission!  The show was fabulous.

NOTE:  The last two videos below are of complete Bruce songs including his lead-in comments.  They may take a few minutes to download, depending upon your internet speed.  But they will give you an idea of what makes a Bruce concert so special.  If you'd like to see more Bruce videos from the show, click here.

As mentioned in a previous post, we put our existing apartment on the market with our current estate agent.  Before the apartment was even formally listed, our agent decided to show the property to a client of hers who she thought would like it.  Sure enough, after a couple of viewings by this client, we received an offer on the apartment which we have accepted.  We only had to endure two showings for which we (Debra and Ryder, particularly) are very grateful.   

So now we put our focus on finding our next house.  We have various trips planned throughout the summer, so we were pleased that the buyer of our existing apartment accepted a 90-day period to close (normal is 60 days here in Portugal) and also will allow us -- at our option -- to rent back the apartment for up to an additional 60 days after the close.  That gives us a lot of flexibility in our search.  

Mark made a visit to Zurich to see his niece Lindsey and her family, to celebrate his sister Karen's 70th birthday, and to spend a little more time with Karen on a brief trip to Lake Como in Italy.

It was wonderful to see Lindsey and her family.  Chloe (7) and Owen (5) are getting bigger everyday, so it is nice to spend time with them.  One afternoon, Lindsey took the kids to a local trampoline park to burn off some energy.  Mark tagged along but did not get on the trampolines! ​

On another day, we took a hike to the summit of Mt. Etzel, a local trek only about 20 minutes from where Lindsey and Mike live.  It was one of the first sunny days in quite some time in the Zurich area, so the area was swamped.  We had lunch with some friends of Mike and Lindsey, who were nice enough to arrange a little celebratory sign at our lunch tables.

And on June 9th we celebrated Karen's 70th birthday.  The kids helped put the candles on the cake, and then they sang "Happy Birthday" in Swiss German!

The day after Karen's birthday, the two of us took the train from Zurich to Como.  Surprisingly, the direct train only takes about 2.5 hours, so it's an easy trip from Zurich.  We arrived in the city of Como and then took a ferry to Bellagio, where we were staying.

The town of Bellagio is considered by many the jewel of Lake Como.  It's a lovely place with few cars and narrow pedestrian walkways which hold a variety of shops and restaurants.  Bellagio's central location allows for easy access to many other towns on the lake.  Bellagio can be crowded during the daytime, with lots of tourists who are visiting for the day.  But because the ferries end at about 7-8pm, the town empties out in the evening, holding only those lucky enough to be staying overnight.

Across the lake from Bellagio is the smaller town of Tremezzo.  Its main attraction is the Villa Carlotta, probably the most famous lake house on Lake Como.  For centuries, wealthy Europeans kept villas on Lake Como as summer homes, as was the case with Villa Carlotta (named after Charlotte, daughter of the Prince and Princess of Prussia, who was gifted the villa in the 1840s).  Today, the villa is a museum, surrounded by a lush botanical garden.

The grounds of Villa Carlotta are about 20 acres in total, with several very large trees including California redwoods and cedars and several plant-specific areas like the bamboo garden, the camelia garden, and the rock garden.  

After our visit to Villa Carlotta, we had lunch in Tremezzo at Ristorante n26, which looked right out onto the lake.  The maître d' was quite a character, and the food was lovely.

On our last full day at Lake Como, we took a ferry to Varenna, another quaint town on the lake.  We walked the gardens of the Villa Monastero and had lunch.  The town was nice, but it couldn't compare to Bellagio.

For our final dinner in Bellagio, we ate at the cute restaurant Dispensa 63.  It is the highest rated restaurant in town, and it didn't disappoint.  Our favorite dish was the gazpacho, and our only complaint was that the servings were a bit small.  But that just left us room for yet another gelato on the walk back to our apartment.  

The trip to Zurich and Lake Como was a real treat, and it was very special to celebrate Karen's 70th birthday with her!