Our recent trip to Spain, Portugal and England gave us a chance to learn new languages and dialects!
Did you know that there are several languages and dialects in Spain! Here are examples of 3 for "teddy bear":
Castilian Spanish: Oso de peluche, or simply peluche
Catalan: Osset de peluix
Basque: Peluxezko hartza
This was our favorite dessert in Spain! We were chilling on the Med (Mediterranean) in Torremolinos when we tried this postre decadente (decadent dessert)! Yum 😋
We were just getting comfortable with using Spanish (gracias, buen día, disculpe) when our peoples took us to Portugal. Now we had to learn Portuguese!
Here we are at Praia da Marinha which translates to "Navy Beach" or "Marinha Beach" in English. We don't care what it's called, it is maravilhosa!! Figure that out in English. 😀
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| Praia da Marinha |
The Algarve region of southern Portugal is definitely one of the most beautiful places we've seen. While staying in Faro, we enjoyed eating Portuguese Chouriço. We even helped cook it. The best way is flame-grilled until it’s slightly crispy and burned. 😋 😋
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| Chouriço |
Wendy is over 40 years old, she doesn't look it, does she? I (Penelope) turned 20 while in Portugal and since the drinking age is 18 in Portugal I took advantage by tasting wine as much as I could! We quickly learned how to order vinho. Looks like we're not the only animals that enjoy vinho! 🤣
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| The Last Supper |
Our peoples took us by train to the city of Porto in northern Portugal.
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| Train Ride! |
We toured the Douro Valley where there are many terraced vineyards.
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| Douro Valley |
Did you know there is a vinho verde (green wine) and it's NOT green! It's a "young" wine as it is drunk 3–6 months after harvesting, before it's fully matured. Wendy and I prefer an aged Port.
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| Port Wine Samples |
When in Porto, drink Port!
We had a delicioso piquenique with fruit, olives, crackers, cheese, nuts, ham, sardines, wine and a traditional Portuguese Pastel de Nata (cream tart). 😋 😋
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| Picnic |
Here is a view of Porto from a restaurant terrace!
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| Porto, Portugal |
We became quite proficient ordering in Portuguese! We learned that Portuguese is different in Portugal and Brazil.
Teddy Bear in Portugal: Urso Teddy
Teddy Bear in Brazil: Ursinho de pelúcia
Fortunately we got by with the basics in Portuguese:
Bom Dia – Good Morning
Por favor – Please
Obrigada/o– Thank you
This is an interesting word. If the speaker that is thankful is a female then she says "Obrigada".
If the speaker that is thankful is a male, he would say "Obrigado."
Since Wendy and I are girl bears, we only had to remember to say "Obrigada".
We were sad to leave Portugal but relieved that our next destination was in England where we would understand the language. 🤣😂
It was actually not as easy to understand as we thought!
We made some friends in Nottingham that helped us get around.
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| Robinhood Bears |
But we might have said something wrong. There was a quick Victorian-style trial and we got the pillory!
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| National Justice Museum |
We stayed in Loughborough, England. The Charnwood Museum is a lovely place to learn about the history of the area. We had fun playing here!
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| Projected Snow Scene |
We learned about the Ladybird books. The books were first published here in Loughborough. The first Ladybird book, Tiny Tots Travels was produced in 1914 at a small printing company based in Angel Yard in the center of town. The books have been so successful that they have been printed in over 70 different languages. We found a cozy chair and pillow where we could read.
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| Ladybird Book Reading Corner |
The Museum was preparing for a new exhibition that was right up our alley!
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| Charnwood Museum Exhibit Poster |
We were sad because our peoples were taking us home before the the exhibit was to open. 🙁 But, we poked our heads in while the curators were working and they couldn't resist our cuteness! We had a special tour of the exhibit and made more friends!
We had some great adventures! Our favorite? 🤔 We especially enjoyed meeting people (and bears) and learning how they live. Everyone was so nice and friendly, despite our poor language skills. We will be spending the summer learning some more new languages for our future adventures!
Viajes Felices!
Viagens Felizes!
Happy Travels!
