Operation Free Bar
And the new friends and favours a blog can bring
In my experience one should never turn down the offer of a free bar: it’s always fun and it usually leads to new friendships, but of course there can be consequences.
So when I received the message from Vanessa and Jeremy who read this blog and live in Porto, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
“We’ve just purchased a small quinta just outside Porto and the previous owners left few pieces behind,” Vanessa wrote.
“It’s quite large, some see possible beauty, some see a large monstrosity, but it’s free to a new caring home. So as requested, I send photos...”
I saw it and thought “wow, that looks amazing...but my wife is going to think it’s hideous.”
My wife saw the photograph and said: “wow...that’s hideous,” but then surprised me, as always, by adding: “we must get it – I have the perfect place for it.”
My eye for interior design is at best short sighted and my stylistic vision similarly blurred, but undoubtedly every eco-lodge needs a sturdy, solid, Brazilian oak, 4m long, German-built, tiki-style bar topped with a suspension bridge.
It was back in February when we enthusiastically replied yes to the free bar, but with all the ups and downs of the project it was only last week when we finally managed to hit the road north to Porto with the trailer clattering behind us.
With Alan and Margery staying, we had dog and cat carers, and so arranged a few other meetings and planned a couple of nights in a city where I’d never been.
We were just south of Porto last year in Vila Nova de Gaia doing a story and a radio piece for the BBC and for our podcast at Amorim – the world’s largest cork producer.
But I had never been to the city itself and Ana was last there some years ago.
On the way up we dropped in to meet Meterboost – the Portuguese company which makes the lithium batteries we’ve installed in our three-phase power system for the new lodge.
I’m doing a couple of BBC radio programmes on off-grid living and Sérgio Rodrigues’ start-up story from making batteries in his garage to co-founder and CEO, is straight out of Silicon Valley.
More to follow when I gather all the interviews together and get the pieces out on the World Service programme Business Daily in the next couple of months.
Our first stop on arrival in Porto was to meet Vanessa and Jeremy at the quinta, or estate house, they bought and are beginning to renovate.
We’d already bonded by text and phone as they had also left a life of Global Nomad-ness (as Vanessa calls it) to find a home in Portugal...and were embarking on a new adventure with architects and builders.
It’s the most wonderful, classic, creeper-adorned house built surrounding an open courtyard, with lots of little sections reflecting its former life as combined office and accommodation space for a German company.
There are so many things that could be done in so many ways, and Vanessa is overflowing with design ideas, but their first architect let them down and they lost a load of time.
Now back on track, they were keen to have the bar liberated from the pool house, but we quickly discovered that was going to be far more easily said than done.
Our trailer was painfully insufficient both in size and carrying capacity – this was truly a giant among bars.
We’ve noticed German taste leans towards strong, solid and utterly unshiftable, so this clearly needed more plotting and scheming.
Operation Free Bar began its planning stages as we left the trailer parked at their place and manoeuvred our tractor into the narrow streets of Porto.
(Cassieopia the Hilux is a necessity in the countryside, but is a nightmare to park in big cities).
As a huge part of Alentejo’s story, cork is part of our interiors plan – on the mezzanine floors, occasional walls and as fun punctuation marks...and Tony Marques at Corticeira Viking certainly has some great stuff.
This blog once again led us to Tony’s door...via Australia. Phoebe owns The Cork Shop in Byron Bay and next thing she and partner Omar were in the valley as part of their work trip to research cork and meet distributers.
“Tony’s amazing,” she said – and a few months later here we were in his showroom looking at cork stools, ice buckets, bags, yoga blocks, coasters – all sorts of really lovely stuff which we can use for décor and to sell in the little shop we’ll have.
We found some incredible cork flooring, some beautiful wall coverings and even a bath and handbasins made of cork...
Next we headed to the specialist furniture-making town of Paços de Ferreira which we learned about in Nancy Whiteman’s fantastic blog Expat in Portugal which is a great guide to making the move, especially for Americans keen to cross the Atlantic.
But after interior-overload I needed a gin...and to meet another social media pal in real life.
Australian globe-trotter Travis Cunningham has also made Portugal his home and started the Scoundrels Distilling Company in the shadow of FC Porto’s stadium.
Gin was his thing – his Invicta Gin won Gold Medal at the London Spirits Competition and he’s even set up a gin school to teach the art of distilling – but now he’s moved on to rum aged in old Port casks.
I’ll be writing more about Travis and his recent signing for FC Porto in my other much-neglected blog The Big Portuguese Wine Adventure.
Final stop of the day was dinner with Nuno Vargas and family – and their introduction to the famous Porto speciality Francesinha (which curiously translates to “little French woman”).
We met at the legendary CUFRA diner which claims to have a “Festival da Francesinha” todos os dias (every day).
It was timed to perfection with kick off in the FC Porto UEFA Champions League match and three quick Porto goals gave us the perfect backdrop for a sandwich which hardened the arteries on sight.
It was a great trip to a great city, but one issue remained unsettled: the free bar.
Ana spent a couple of full days ringing around car hire companies for vans or bigger trailers, we popped into Ikea and a Leroy-Merlin DIY store to enquire about their vehicles.
Free bars don’t come without consequences and we were deep in planning logistics when our winemaking pal Niels stepped in.
His versatile van wasn’t quite long enough in a straight line...and then there was the issue of how to get hundreds of kilos of oak into the back...but with Alan Gledson in the valley anything is possible.
Niels introduced us to his tractor jack and sending us on our way with a couple of wheel boards, Alan and I began the long drive north.
This time it was all focussed on one challenge: bringing the bar home.
Spanners, jacks and a heavy metal pry bar lay alongside the last-resort chainsaw but Ana’s maths had established it should fit...just...on its side and at an angle.
Vanessa and Jeremy were a little more optimistic when they saw our upgraded van and with the addition of their gardener and his wife, thought it might actually be possible.
With all hands on deck, Operation Free Bar began.
Mallets were swung, pry bars pried, and amid much huffing and puffing we had the 4m piece of solid hardwood half way to the van when the cobbles threw a spanner in the works.
“Right, time to go Egyptian,” Alan said. “We need rollers.”
A CO2 gas bottle from the bar provided the necessary support and with far less faff than anyone (except Alan) expected, the whole thing was secured in the van and the chainsaw remained blissfully silent.
Back home we drafted in Ana, Margery and landscaper Carlos who happened to be passing and the bar was assembled in its new temporary home on the hill.
It’s wonderful...it will look even better in front of the infinity pool when it’s all finished...and with a little cleaning and protecting it will be an iconic landmark in Vale das Estrelas.
In the best Hollywood tradition I’d like to thank everyone involved in making this move a success, but above all Vanessa and Jeremy for donating it...and Alan for going Egyptian and bringing the bar to a new caring home.
Ahh to get to meet kindred sprits & a brilliant story added along this journey is always such huge a privilege
And as the bar journeyed home towards new adventures it couldn’t have found a better home
You 2 where the tonic we needed
& I see Jeremy has already invited himself to visit
We are happy it has gone to a good home. Fantastic to meet you guys, and looking forward to a reciprocal “free bar” in the Alentejo one day soon!