Casa Neroli

Oh well that’s another trip over, time to go home again, the big difference this time is we now have to get down to doing the comparisons on the builders and make the decision on how and when to proceed.

One other thing we did discover was that although we had permission or approval for the build we still had to get a licence. This we could only get when we had chosen a builder as part of the application has to include the certification from the builder. This of course attracts a fee, which we were not aware of. In our particular case this looks like it could be between 1000€ and 3000€, I will let you know more exactly when we apply, but just another cost for you to add to the budget.

During the past few days we had received a few emails from the English builders with links to various articles and youtube items to demonstrate some items along with examples of status reports etc.

On the Friday as promised the estimate, not quote, um, arrived. So as promised he had delivered.

The next stage is more when we get back to the UK to start to compare the various quotes; we now have 4 and review. All are slightly different but that will come out more I am sure when we do the comparison. Look for future Blogs as we make our way through that stage of the process.

The Portuguese builder as promised turned up at about 8:00pm and we gathered with Marc and Mieke around the table on in the patio area. We then spent I guess a good couple of hours discussing various things about Portuguese life and drinking a serious numbers of Sagres. The builder liked this although it didn’t reduce the price of the build any, but a very pleasant way to do business.

We explained that we still had some other quotes to come and would be comparing over the coming couple of months, hoping to reach a decision by our next visit at the end of October and probably start the build all being well in February 2014.

Today must have been the worst day of all the trips so far. We had had a lovely day out and were making our way back to the Quinta around 7:00pm. As we passed a cafe on the road into Atalaia do Compo a cat ran at great speed into the road. I had to brake really hard but there was no bump and once I stopped, got out the car and checked around there was no sign so I guess, thank god that it had used one of its nine lives and ran off into the countryside. Much relieved we got back into the car and continued on our way.

One thing it is important to highlight here is that in the main cats and dogs are street animals and feral / semi wild and are rarely treated as pets as we do in the UK.

Not 5 minutes down the road and it was the turn of the dogs, they where yapping and chasing the car, I did everything I could to avoid a problem, but one just ran straight under the rear wheel of the car. There was nothing I could have done more than I did, I didn’t even see it, and it ran at the side of the car behind me but in front of the rear wheel. There was the inevitable bump and I stopped as soon as I could. The dog was obviously dead, shaken not quite knowing what to do; we managed to speak to a family in a nearby house.

In a true Portuguese, the word was “no problem”, and the guy dragged the body to the side of the road “Sort tomorrow” he added. We were sent on our way.

We discussed the whole episode with our hosts when we got back and they explained they these are near wild dogs, street dogs they call them and if anything happens like this then any owner would deny as if it had caused damage to the car they would have to pay. Understanding this is the Portuguese way didn’t seem to make it any easier.

But after the cat a few minutes before, it was like fate had dealt a hand.

It took a few days to get over it, as it is alien to the British way, but get over we did.

I thought it would be good just to do a blog on some of the less “business” like parts of the trip, as it wasn’t all work and no play, we did have some relaxing time, some of us more than others 🙂 he he. Oops now I am in trouble!

One trip we did was amazing, and I would recommend it to anyone, we found it by pure chance, really just looking at the map and saying let’s go there. We headed out from Atalaia do Campo across country keeping clear of the motorways and main road and headed for a place called Belmonte. Teresa had spotted it on a previous trip and it looked an interesting place to visit. It was but it was the sort of place you need to walk around, narrow streets etc, beautiful but it was just too hot to just stroll around.

We headed off and soon saw signs for the “Serra da Estrela” National Park, so headed in that direction. Well what a place, there were the most amazing views and incredibly interesting roads to drive. I have included a selection of photos for you, the pictures I can assure don’t do the real thing justice. We would certainly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

We followed the road through and it eventually came out in the mountains above Covilha funny enough came in on road that we had seen on a previous visit to the area and said we must drive up there. Whilst it had resolved where that road went , we did see another route that we will have to investigate another day.

On another trip out, we headed south towards the Spanish Border, we didn’t want to cross but had seen a road on the map that seemed to track close to the border but again went through some kind on Nature area. It was a amazing road, maybe not as picturesque as the previous trip but fascinating as it was mainly single track with just a few passing places.

We had taken a picnic with us this time and from about noon kept looking for a suitable place to stop. Well by 1:30 we still hadn’t found anywhere so seeing a small lay-by we pulled over. The picnic was lovely, although not in the most salubrious of locations. As we pulled away afterwards I comment that I bet just round the corner we would have found something, yes you got it, not 2 minutes on we found the most amazing location, proper parking, picnic tables, toilets, views, water etc. So we stopped anyway again I have added a few Photos for you. Oh well! “Never mind eh!”.

We had arranged to meet the Portuguese builder back at the Quinta between 1:00 and 2:00 pm to go and see the inside of a house he had built in the local village. We had also arranged to meet the English builder at a meeting place not too far from our plot at around 6:00pm. All this seemed perfectly doable, however the reality was a bit more tiring, and we thought we would only be with the Portuguese guy for maybe an hour!

We spent the morning at the plot getting on with the usual tidying but stopped by 11:30a.m. to give us time to clear up and make our way back to the Quinta, get showered and have some lunch before meeting again with the Portuguese builder at 1:00p.m.

All went well but in typical Portuguese style the builder showed at about 2:45p.m. he took us along with Mieke to the house he had built in the local village and after around 30 minutes we could see that standard of work was good and we were happy. However he now wanted to go into a lot more detail about what we wanted in finish to help him quote. This was quite a long and drawn out process. You have to remember we speak no Portuguese, although we have started to understand some, Mieke did but she was translating in her head into Flemish or French I guess she is from Belgium and then having to translate again into English for us and versa visa. This whole process took until just after 5:00pm and we still had to see the English builder at 6:00pm. It was agreed that he would get the quote to us by the following Tuesday evening around 8:00pm.

A quick, well as quick as the Portuguese would let us, we returned to the Quinta, picked up our car and headed off to the pre arranged meeting place to see the English Builder. We actually made in plenty of time, which was just as well as the English Builder was a few minutes early (Portuguese versa English time keeping I guess) we headed off to the plot to allow him to see the lay of the land.

I suppose we were there for about an hour, going through the same type of question and answers that we had done several times no, but of course it was a lot easier being all in English. He agreed that he would get the quote to us by the time we left Portugal at the end of the following week.

Afterwards headed off to Fundão to get some shopping, so by the time we got back to the apartment at the Quinta we were really over tired. It was nice to get it all done and in one day, but really just a little too much, we won’t do that again.

So again if you are doing something like this, please don’t plan too much in one day, take a lesson from the Portuguese and take it slow, especially as the temperatures in the afternoons was reaching 40+ degrees which is very energy sapping. We won’t make that mistake again.

We love Portugal and in general the Portuguese people, but as with all cultures and countries there is a bad element. The temperatures every day whilst we where there would reach the low 40’s in the afternoon, so the ground was very dry and therefore the risk of fires was high. The Portuguese ban bonfires at this time of year for obvious reasons, but every day during the two weeks we were there were vast areas of the countryside catching fire.

It turns out that whilst not all, but in a lot of cases these fires are started on purpose, it was being reported that people were paying for the forests and wooded areas to be set alight as they were worth more clear of the trees, and therefore could be sold as farming or building land.

On one particular day whilst watering the fruit trees late in the afternoon we noticed a new smoke plume rising just over the hill not far from the plot, we watched over the next couple of hours how it seemed to get better then worsen in varying cycles. A bit concerned and out of interest, not so much as interest in a fire but more about although it looked close, how far was it actually from us, we set off. It was a good 20 minutes before we found the problem, which whilst not nice was mainly brush land and farther away than we expected which was good. Also on a good note the extent was not as bad as some we had been hearing about in the more forest areas.

Towards the end of the trip we started to hear about a real nasty fire about 3 hours away in the Serra do Caramula area near the town of Tondela, which was causing the Bombeiros a lot of problems and a young fire fighter had lost her life. We saw the glow in the night sky in the distance when we drove home on the Saturday, when will these people learn. On the up side we heard that 30 people had been arrested in conjunction with the fires; let’s hope that they make an example of them.

I have to admit we both have a new higher appreciation and respect of the Emergency Services especially the Bombeiros ( Fire Service).

We spent the day at the plot, generally getting on with the usual stuff of strimming and pruning, we made sure we were back at the Quinta in time to eat and be ready to meet the builder.

Remarkably on this occasion, and very unusual for the Portuguese he was on time. He wanted to visit the site so Teresa, Mieke and I jump in our car and the Builder in his truck and we set off to the plot. The builder was OK with the site, and then we followed him around 4 different sites in the area looking at various houses that he had built over the past 15 years, all very local to the area and all looked good, strong, still standing which is always helpful and all in good state of repair, some better that others but good to see that time hadn’t taken too much toll.

The final house was very close to Marc and Mieke’s Quinta so we arranged that we would meet again the next day between 1 and 2 pm to go look at the inside to see the standard of work that he can achieve.

I had made contact with an English builder who is now operating in Portugal before we left and arranged to meet with him whilst we were in the Country this trip. I called him today and arranged to meet him at the plot to discuss some finer details on the Friday. I had already emailed him a full set of plans before leaving the UK.

Marc and Mieke had also mentioned about a local builder they trusted and we arranged to go with them to the home of the builder in the evening, we did and it took us quite a while to raise anyone. Eventually the wife and daughter I think came out to advise that he was on a job and after a couple of calls it was agreed that he would come to Quinta ponte nova the next day between 6 pm.