Goodbye, Farewell, Adeus Portugal…

It has been a very busy week, after a very relaxing holiday visiting family in Spain we arrived back in Portugal on a mission. A mission to sell, sort and pack. We have managed to sell the ‘stuff’ that we no longer require ready for our move to New Zealand. Some of the things we are happy to see go, others we reluctantly part with. In a way, de-cluttering to such an extent is really cleansing. For us anyway, the boys are ultra reluctant to part with anything, a firm hold on their toys and teddies, we have smuggled a few things out to give to friends and sell on facebook, promising to replace them once we land in NZ. We have even sold our beloved caravan. It has been our home, our haven for the past year and allowed us to live rent free; something we never really thought was possible.

We have absolutely loved every minute of living in Portugal, even the more challenging aspects of living off-grid, hand-washing, collecting drinking water, having limited electricity and only having use of a solar shower, have all been amazing learning experiences. Never, ever again will we take running water, a warm shower, a flushing toilet, a washing machine and clean clothes for granted.

Welcoming Portugal is truly an amazing place, so safe, pure and beautiful, with a fantastic climate, culture and kind people.  Only this week the valve on the caravan tyre flew off the day before we were due to deliver it to the new owners. We took it to our local tyre shop who promptly fixed the tyre and delivered it back to us, we waited around another 5 minutes to find out how much…no, nothing, it’s no problem. We went to close our bank account and needed 7 cents to round up the balance. We only had two, of course the lovely man in the bank who always shook our hand and greeted us by name put in the change from his own pocket and rounded up the balance so we could save any fees and withdraw the money from the cashpoint. Just a reminder for us in our last week how genuinely generous and kind the people are here in Portugal. We have met so many lovely local people and estrangeiros (foreigners), people who have lived here all of their lives and some who have only just arrived. A melting pot of people and cultures. A fascinating bunch of lovely individuals.

Goodbye and Adeus Portgual, we will miss you…

Linked up with #MySundayPhoto and photalife please do have a look at what other awesome bloggers and photographers have been up to this week by clicking on the camera icon below.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave