The first naturist cruise along the River Tejo, near Lisbon, was organised by Federação Portuguesa de Naturismo (FPN) to celebrate World Naturist Day on 2nd June. Due to a mechanical failure the cruise had to be postponed and re-scheduled for 9^th September.

We were among the 40+ naturists who joined the trip on the sailing frigate “Alcatejo”, which is operated by Alcochete Municipal Council. The boat made a round trip from Ponte-Cais in Alcochete via the Tejo Estuary Nature Reserve.

 “The Alcatejo”                                                            “A picnic lunch”

   “The passengers”   

The pace of life here in the Alentejo is generally slow. So much so, when a computer in Portugal is not processing as fast as it should, it is said to be having an Alentejo day. When you have lived in the Alentejo for a while, you can become Alentejo’ed - we are no exceptions!

Recently, Ray went to the local village of Santa Clara a Velha one Friday afternoon to do some shopping and returned 26 hours later on Saturday afternoon! Well, we had a week free in between bookings so all track of time was lost. Our usual shop was closed due to a funeral, so Ray had to go to different shops, which led him past a bar owned by a friend, Fran, whom we had not visited for a few weeks. So, Ray just popped in to say hello and emerged more than 24 hours later! No, he did not go on an all night drinking binge. During the course of their conversation, Ray asked why the bar was open early on Friday. Fran replied that it was Saturday, but having lived in the Alentejo for 10 years she doubted herself and thought perhaps that Ray was right in believing it was Friday - she could have been doing other things rather than tending to the bar.

A check of Fran’s calendar to the date shown on Ray’s watch confirmed that it was Saturday, after which Fran told Ray that he had been well and truly Alentejo’ed. He bid a hasty farewell and rushed home to Marnie - they had to prepare things for a day out, which had been planned for Sunday. When Ray arrived home, Marnie asked why he had been longer than expected. Ray apologised for being away for 26 hours and explained about the shops and the funeral. Marnie thought that Ray was having a joke by saying 26 hours until he told her “Today is Saturday, not Friday!”

We had managed to lose a day that week - we think we must have had two Tuesdays. All that we had hoped to do on Saturday was put off until another Alentejo day - até amanha.