Little more than a month after our first guests departed, we had more visitors.
My sister, youngest niece, and youngest great-nephew had a break from the UK weather.
They decided to come during the hot part of the Summer and the weather did not disappoint with temperatures in the high 30's each day.
They stayed for just a week and spent much time simply relaxing - the best idea.
The first day, Friday, was spent recovering from the previous day's traveling, and Janet was at work anyway.
On Saturday, we took a day trip to a fairly local river beach at Ourondo, a few kilometers from Fundão. It is a rather secluded place with a slow, shallow river that has a bed of rocks and pebbles. The fish were abundant and they were happy to swim around and nibble our feet as we paddled in the cool, clear water.
The café/restaurant at the site was quite busy but the service was not too slow. We had a good feed for lunch and paid much less than expected.
Then we returned to the river and spent a couple of hours sunbathing before returning to Vale de Prazeres in the late afternoon.
The next day we took the obligatory visit to Serra da Estrela and were expecting to treat my sister to a special birthday lunch. As we had never been there in the height of Summer we did not realise that the restaurant had changed from 'a la carte' to a self-serve buffet style format. Nevertheless, we had another good meal.
Afterwards, the bravest of us had a ride on the ski lift which was operating to take visitors on a 30 minute round trip down the piste and back to the top - no snow of course but some good views.
Then a short walk on the moor around the torre and a family group photo.
The next day, Monday, was Fundão market day so a short train ride was the treat then we spent some time browsing the market for gifts to take back to Halifax.
Because the return train to Vale de Prazeres departs just after 1pm we did not have time to get lunch in Fundão but we had a nice time anyway.
Tuesday was my sister's actual birthday and we took a trip to Castelo Branco to browse around in the shopping centres, for ladies who shop. In the evening we met Janet in Fundão for a meal at Restaurante Herminia, one of the best places for service, where we celebrated a 60th birthday with yet another super feed.
For the rest of the holiday, we simply lazed around the house, as much as 'lazing' was allowed with a 2½ year old careering around. But the new paddling pool was a great success and the water squirters even more so.
Jackson enjoyed feeding our fish daily, Sheila and Lisa enjoyed sitting in the sun and getting a further tan.
Sadly, the week had to come to an end. Their return flight from Porto was due to depart at around 10:30 which meant arriving at the airport by 08:30. With a good three hour drive required to get there in time we had to be on our way before 05:30 so it was an early start, but the traffic was very light because it was a public holiday, even in Porto at the highway junction for the airport. We arrived in good time and our visitors returned home without a hitch.
It was, again, a great experience to have family in the house, especially a young whirlwind for added entertainment.
We eagerly look forward to the next time.