Santa Maria, Azores to Cascais, Portugal 18-21 May 2006

Back in Europe!

Back in Europe again! Smooth flight at FL110 where we had 5 - 25 knot tailwinds (IFR 5:03 hrs).
Beautiful sunny day in Cascais where we were received by Earthrounders Delfim Costa and António Faria e Melo. After a delicious seafood dinner in Lisbon with Delfim and Clara, they invited us to the inaugural Corrida in the recently renovated bull fighting arena 'Campo Pequeno' in Lisbon. A very different experience from Spanish bull fighting where they kill the bull. This is more about style and correctness. The picador gets booed if he doesn’t throw the lance from the right position with respect to the bull.

19 - 21 May 2006. Went with Delfim to his weekend apartment at the beach near Vimeiro about an hour's drive north of Lisbon. Nice walks on the deserted beach and superb dinner in a nearby village. Delfim kindly lent us a car so that we could explore the area while he and Clara went riding. After the rushed one-night visit on our way to South America on at the beginning of November 2005, it was good to have time to enjoy Delfim and Clara’s company at a more relaxed pace.
On Sunday evening we drove back to Lisbon for a farewell dinner with Delfim and Clara at their apartment. When filing the flight plan for the next morning, Flemming had major difficulties with the Brussels Eurocontrol computer to find an IFR routing east of the Pyrenees (due to weather). The best we could get was a 2-hour detour via Valencia, Mallorca and Menorca!