The president of Vinha da Rainha stands at the top of the stairs: “Bom dia, dona Helena” and gives me a hearty handshake. That’s what it’s called in portuguese, the president of the sub-municipality. The mayor. And translated, I’m dona Helena.

He announces the arrival of four other presidents

Next Friday – when you read this: two days ago – they’ll be visiting for a tour of the interesting places in their respective sub-municipality: Vinha da Rainha, Samuel, Louriçal and Paião. They’ll be working together to promote the Vale do Pranto. Internationally, even.

They will be accompanied by an official photographer, to take preliminary photos. “Oh, fortunately preliminary photos … ” I say, and senhor Evaristo joins in: “Simsim, it’s to get an impression, so that we can make an internal presentation.” I continue: “Because this is not the best time of year. In the winter we are mainly busy with maintenance, and next Friday it’ll rain.”

Too bad, because we are now talking in the bright sunshine

Anyway, four presidents, I have to do something for that! Hoovering and mopping a bit here and there, but hey, that doesn’t have to take that long. I also have to go to my friend Paula to pick up her roses. Paula lives in a larghouse-of-her-family near Tentugal, and has a beautiful garden plus green fingers.

If you add her artistry to that, you get a fairy tale of a garden and a house. “Look, here I have jungle plants,” says Paula during the tour – I always get a tour of the new things she has made – and points to a few different succulents hanging from a piece of cork oak on a tree. “That one is already making flowers, see?”

She loves succulents and flowering plants, but those roses are too much for her now. “Her mother and aunts planted them twenty years ago, but they are in my way. The grandchildren and I, we want a badminton court here. But would they fit in your car? They are already big, and I didn’t want to prune them too much, because if you transplant them like that, they will produce a lot of roses. They already have buds, see?”

I listen carefully to all the advice, because we have mosaics in common, but not green fingers.

On Friday it’s indeed raining. Not bad for the roses, which are waiting to be transplanted, but it is bad for the presentation for the four presidents. But it is not that bad. The big room of the bathhouse, our living room in the winter, is cleaned and beautifully lit, and is popular with the mayors, and certainly with the photographer.

I’m greeted with the respect an old lady like me deserves, with two kisses on the cheeks. (I saw that 25 years ago when the real estate agent, I was learning from, greeted the elderly house owner like this. A lady she never met before. It’s portuguese courtesy, a show of respect. Great habit, good example. And a nice way for an old woman to kiss a young(er) man once in a while …)

“Didn’t there used to be a swimming pool here?” the photographer asks, but no, there never was one. “The water cures skin diseases,” I say, “and people with spots and bumps don’t want to use a communal bath, they prefer to have it private. That’s why they made all those cabins.”

Despite the rain, I show them all the mosaics outside, and they really like it. “Dona Helena is a real artista! You’ve put a lot of hours into it, right? I can take some really beautiful, special photos of this in March and April,” the photographer says with relish. By then, the transplanted roses will have gotten used to their new home, hopefully, and will show themselves in all their blooming beauty.

Then we’ll have mosaiced and real flowers together.

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We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, Holland to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal.

A big step, especially with two small children.

We are busy to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa which has been turned into several holiday houses, rooms and a campsite.

You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.

Since 2018 we call ourselves the first B&B&B in the world – Bed & Breakfast & Bathrobes. You can buy a home-made unique bathrobe/housecoat with us.

Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation

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