A tale of two cities.

Joan arrived home from SL last night and we are patiently waiting now for the forecast snow to arrive.
 Our Christmas/new year visit to SL was perfect in every way. Wonderful "winter" weather, convivial company and many memorable experiences.
 The village itself was as usual fairly quiet but visitors were in no short supply and every day the terraces of Ria Cafe and Cafe Santa Luzia benefited from the patronage English, Irish, Dutch and German visitors.

A laden table at Tridoce,

 For the second year running Virgilio Viegas at Snack Bar Tridoce   produced a spectacular Christmas eve dinner comprised of no less than seventeen different dishes. We attended this year in the company of friends Bill and Tom from Ireland and Iris and Jenny who both have the good fortune to live in SL.
All in attendance left well fed and watered and "new members" Tom and Bill were amazed that the €20 price tag was not accompanied by a separate bill for the copious amounts of alcohol consumed before during and after the meal.

Snack bar tridoce incidentally can be added to the list of establishments in Santa Luzia who provide free WiFi access to customers.                                                                                                                          

Joan poses in the Christmas day sunshine.

Christmas day saw us once again strolling in the brilliant sunshine on Barril beach though we did experience the curious micro climates that can occur in the Algarve. As we walked back from the beach to the car we could see dark clouds and a sky streaked with rain about 10km. distant over Fuseta and clearly heading our way. Within  minutes the glorious sunshine was replaced with grey sky, lashing rain and what felt like a 10 degree temperature drop. This freak storm was gone almost as fast as it arrived leaving us and the many people heading towards Barril in their now woefully inadequate summer clothes bewildered and dripping wet through. Ten minutes later, and not 3km. distant, when we related this story and proffered our damp clothing as proof to friends sat outside Ria Cafe in the blazing sunshine it was met with incredulity as they had seen nothing of the phenomena. The rest of the afternoon was spent at Ria cafe basking in the sunshine and enjoying a drink with friends before we enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner at home in the company once again of Bill and Jenny.
A couple of days after Christmas saw the arrival of old acquaintances  Janice and John from Preston and it was in their company that the possibility of a double New Year's eve celebration first emerged.
We figured that given the one hour time difference between Spain and Portugal and the proximity of the Spanish border it would be perfectly feasible to drive to Ayamonte see in the new year then drive straight back to Tavira and see the year in again one hour later.
Thus, new years eve , we departed SL for the border at about 9.45 Portuguese time in driving rain. The drive down the EN125 was slow due to the relentless rain and the steady stream of traffic heading for the New Year celebrations In Monte Gordo and we arrived in Ayamonte at about 11.30 Spanish time.
Parking the car near the marina we set out in the now steady drizzle for the beautiful main square through remarkably deserted streets.
Despite the austerity measures which are biting hard in both Spain and Portugal we felt sure that the authorities would have organised something but found the place to be as dead as the grave. Most bars and restaurants were closed and the only people we encountered were a young English couple, heads down and firmly wrapped up against the persistent drizzle, heading for one of the few bars to be open.
Disappointed and not a little dejected we headed back towards the marina and coming across a restaurant advertising a gala new years eve dinner ventured inside. The diners inside were well into their gala dinner but it has to be said there were far more empty tables than full and the proprietors were perfectly happy to allow us to settle down with just a drink.
Remaining inside up to the countdown to new year we emerged almost on the stroke of twelve to the still deserted but thankfully now rainless street. We could hear the local church bells chiming in the new year and slowly the eerie silence was broken as Spanish families in the apartment complex at the other side of the marina  began to emerge and greet their neighbours.  A few even let off some fireworks but nothing of course like the spectacular municipal displays of years gone by.
Twenty past twelve Spanish time we piled back into the car and headed off back to 2012 over on the Portuguese side if the River Guadiana. The difference was immeadiately obvious. Traffic was bumper to bumper on the EN125 heading thankfully in the opposite direction to us into Monte Gordo and we made much better time arriving back into Tavira at 11.50 Portuguese time.
Tavira was a world apart from Ayamonte, we struggled to find a parking space and when we did we entered streets thronged with people heading towards the Praca De Republica where a giant stage had been erected and the Queen tribute band were in full swing.
The square itself and the entire riverside including the roman bridge was crowded with spectators in jovial spirits awaiting the new year and the traditional firework display from the military bridge.

Spectacular new year fireworks

On the stroke of midnight a spectacular seven minute firework display commenced and the cheering crowds popped their champagne corks and toasted in the new year along with much hugging, kissing and shaking of hands.
The austerity measures meant the display this year was some 5 minutes shorter than last but in my opinion and that of many others present it was just as good if not actually better. Following the display we were not stuck for choice when choosing a place to celebrate, beside the free entertainment in the square every bar and restaurant was open and busy. We elected to head for The Funny Dutch where we knew a number of friends would be gathered.

The entertainment in the square from the far side of the river.

Arriving in The funny Dutch we were pleasantly surprised to find just about the entire village in there drinking. This of course led to us staying much longer than we had actually planned and resulted in us returning to SL at well turned 2am.
Now we had promised Victor (in charge of bar Mundo while Fergus was back in Scotland) that we would call in for our first drink of the new year and feeling obliged did just that. Having kept him open way past his normal time it seemed to us that it would be impolite to have one then leave and consequently remained until about 5.30am when tiredness finally beat us and we retreated to our beds.
All told a very eventful evening and though Ayamonte was more than a little disappointing we can still say that we enjoyed new years eve twice over for 2013.
It would seem the austerity measures are the same in even major cities in Spain as we spoke later in the week with friends who had travelled  to Seville expecting something spectacular but were just as disappointed   as we were in Ayamonte at the lack of anything happening.