Beautiful Monarch

After a leisurely start this mornng we headed straight to the Jardim Santa Caterina in the hope of seeing a Monarch butterfly. We did and here he is! Perfect. Only seen one on the wing so far earlier in the holiday.

Down into the centre of town we headed to the other small park, Jardim de Sao Francisco where there were some interesting craft stalls, some selling Christmas items. There is a little kiosk outside selling postcards and we found one showing the old road in the north coast  blipped yesterday. It showed a bus going under the waterfall just as we remembered. It looked almost impossible from what we saw yesterday so it was good to see this to reaffirm that it really was as we remembered it!

Lots happening on Avenida Arriaga. The Christmas market wooden cabins gave gone up and there were street artists performing for the Street Arts Festival. We would call it street theatre I think but they were fun to see and had attracted good crowds 
We had a coffee at the Golden Gate Grand Cafe, the waiters looking very smart in their white and gold livery, before moving down to the Avenida do Mar. Walking on beyond the old fort you can climb up to the university residence area. A cafe over looking Praia da Barrierinha was buzzing and we stopped for quite a while enjoying a drink and the atmosphere.

Returning to the Marina we got some hot chestnuts from one of the several stalls at this time of year and enjoyed eating them in the lovely gardens.
What could also have been my blip is the picture of Chris amongst a lovely avenue of colourful Crotons. Extra. We have one outside our room door so I looked it up on my plant finder app. I think they are lovely.

Back to Santa Caterina for a final drink, I had my usual lemon peel tea, before heading back. The wind was getting up by this time and we stopped on our hotel bridge to watch some yacht sailing. Possibly a race as there were quite a lot of them.

Just having a cuppa before getting ready for dinner. We’ve got through the day without succumbing to lunch that has put us off going out to eat again as we’ve booked tonight at the Dona Amelia. We’ve eaten there before and as it actually adjoins our hotel building we won’t have far to walk! Looking forward to a good end to a great Saturday.