MEREDITH
[ 00:00:05 ] Welcome back, Portugal junkies! Hello, we are coming to you from our couch. Yeah, into Vera and we are... It's been a bit of a whirlwind, it has; it's been a crazy, crazy week and we're really excited to share it with you. However, we ask you for some grace because this may not be our best setup, um, in the new apartment, yeah, and I'm struggling as you can probably tell with a cult like a pretty nasty cult, so I'm sucking on my tea; Mark's having some wine; I'm taking one for the team, yeah, because I don't think that would make you feel better drinking wine.
MARK
[ 00:00:50 ] Well, you know, I can waft it across to you.
MEREDITH
[ 00:00:52 ] Can you smell that? Great! So we're very excited because We're here, we’re here in the Algarve, The Algarve.
MARK
[ 00:01:02 ] The Algarve.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:03 ] I say that laughingly. It’s not really how you say it. No. I pick on the English.
MARK
[ 00:01:07 ] That’s not how the English say it. I don’t know. The Algarve. Well, that’s how we say it. If we want to try ... You’re trying to be hoity? If some people are trying to be hoity and take the piss, they’ll say, oh, go with the Algarve. But, yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:20 ] Can you also explain to the audience what taking the piss is?
MARK
[ 00:01:23 ] Yeah. Just like taking the mick.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:25 ] What’s taking the mick?
MARK
[ 00:01:27 ] Taking the fun out of somebody.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:29 ] Picking on somebody. I was told back when we first started dating that I should never say in front of his mother, oh, stop taking the piss. Right. Taking the mick is okay. That would be perfectly acceptable. Taking the piss is a little bit too rude. Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:01:45 ] I think more so for her job.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:47 ] Now he's doing it in a public forum.
MARK
[ 00:01:49 ] Yeah. Hypocrite. Yeah. But you're not my mom.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:53 ] She might be listening.
MARK
[ 00:01:55 ] I've told her not to listen to the song.
MEREDITH
[ 00:01:58 ] Edited.
MARK
[ 00:01:58 ] Yeah. I'll re-edit some. Okay. So let's get into it.
MEREDITH
[ 00:02:01 ] So let's tell the moving story. Okay. So we were supposed to move Tuesday, October 1st, and we got a call on Thursday or Friday from our new landlord who is like salt of the earth. I think that I just adore him already. He's the nicest person on the planet. And he called Mark and was like, 'The apartment's ready. You guys can come anytime you want.' And I looked at him. Okay. And he looked at me and we were like, 'Can we make that happen?'
MARK
[ 00:02:35 ] And in my head I was secretly thinking, 'Oh crap. You really got to try and reorganize X, Y, and Z.'
MEREDITH
[ 00:02:42 ] Because we had, our plan was to, we had already reserved like a moving van because we don't have that much stuff. Although as we packed 11 D-7 like grocery bag carrier bags, I was like, 'Why do we still have so much stuff?' But, um, we edited our reservation and we got another vehicle and we ended up moving on Saturday instead of Tuesday.
MARK
[ 00:03:14 ] Which was, I think it worked out really well. Yeah. Overall. I mean, 12 hours from the moment of leaving the house to go and pick the van up.
MEREDITH
[ 00:03:23 ] Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:03:23 ] To being sat here with everything unpacked from the van.
MEREDITH
[ 00:03:27 ] Eating dinner.
MARK
[ 00:03:28 ] Eating dinner at eight o'clock in the evening.
MEREDITH
[ 00:03:30 ] It was, it was really good. And then we did like the six hour drive. Yeah, it was a six hour journey from Porto to here. Yeah. Because we stopped a couple of times in the pub. Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:03:38 ] Um, but generally speaking overall it was very good. I was kind of not worried. I was kind of aware that I'm going to be driving a manual, which I haven't driven a manual for, for years. Um. On the wrong side of the road. On the wrong side of the road. In the wrong side of the car. Um. So. You were worried. I was worried. Hand-to-foot coordination, you did a great job though.
MEREDITH
[ 00:04:03 ] Was going to be a thing, but yeah, I mean for anybody that might even have a I don't know, a worry about it, it's so comes right back to you, so weird just like muscle memory, yeah comes straight back, thank goodness and you did really, really well and I'm not even sucking up, like I was really proud of Mark's driving skills because I didn't swear at anybody but I think maybe once, I'm not sure anyway, yeah probably. I mean, you can't do a drive and not swear at nobody, you've got to do it at least once so we got here, we packed up the van in Porto in an hour and a half total and then we made the drive, we got down here and we unloaded the van in an hour. It was the easiest move of my life and I'm like, I've moved a lot of times, like my family, my nephews would be like Mimi, you have moved like 27 times and I'm like, yeah that's probably about right, no joke, like that's probably about right. This is the easiest move I've ever done.
MARK
[ 00:05:04 ] I mean, you're always worried about parking on a street as opposed to you know when you move from your neighbourhood where you've got a drive and you can park the van there and you can take The time and do whatever you know, you park in a van in one of the busiest streets in Porto on the curb, all the rest of it. We got very lucky; it was right outside the front door.
MEREDITH
[ 00:05:24 ] Got here again, this is more of a um a suburbia, oh yeah um definitely we are we are living even though we're a 10-minute walk into Tavira proper. Um I would call our neighbourhood like a true neighbourhood, like a a suburban you weren't walking a block to a grocery store or something there's a little bit more involved in that but I guess what you were saying is it made it easy once we got here because it didn't matter where we were parking because there's hardly Any traffic, yeah?
MARK
[ 00:05:59 ] But the fact that, um, you know we were directly outside the front gate, yeah, to the apartment and the apartment is at the front gate, so it was like, oh my gosh, dream come true.
MEREDITH
[ 00:06:10 ] And then of course, here's the thing: like while all this was going on and we were just so freaking excited to get here, yeah. We've honestly it's been a couple of really hard days for both of us because of the devastation that has happened in part of our world, which is western North Carolina, um, we lived in Charlotte, we got married in Asheville, yeah, um, it's been so much a part of our history together, but mine too, I grew up, uh, my grandparents lived in Old Fort, which was really hit badly, and it's just been really, it's felt like I've been torn this week. I'm so excited to be in this beautiful paradise in a new place in Portugal, and just like kind of romanticized about how beautiful everything is, how sunny it is, how every every corner you're just like this is gorgeous. And then honestly, my heart is just broken inside, it really is, it is broken. We've been struggling with the um, the footage, and um, the suffering, and the these people are just cut off, they're just cut off from everything, and there's just been so much death already, and many more that are missing, and it's just really. Hard because we're we're hearing personal stories because we are connected there and it's just, I don't know, I just say that because I want to, we both wanted to acknowledge this tragedy that has happened in our neck of the woods and it's, I think it's important from our perspective as well.
MARK
[ 00:08:04 ] We're on this journey, we've got all of these experiences that are behind us, and the ones that we don't know yet that are in front of us. But I can't imagine in a case where we would be so disadvantaged by some act, some hurricane or something happening to us. I just, in our moment now, I just don't see how we can feel what it's like, I know, besides you.
SPEAKER_2
[ 00:08:36 ] Can embrace and understand some things, but you're never going to feel, yeah it's not happening to us.
MEREDITH
[ 00:08:43 ] But I just wanted to say that for those listening, if you can support, please do. We will be, and I just it's been a little bittersweet; I'm not going to lie. I even told my family, 'I was like I haven't posted or sent much to anybody about this beautiful place we're in because it feels like, I feel guilty.
MARK
[ 00:09:07 ] You don't want to be seen as like, 'I'm just going to use the phrase of like, it's like oh my god this is what it is you know? Oh I'm having such a great time here and etc like a little self-absorbed, but you can take days or weeks or whatever step back.
MEREDITH
[ 00:09:26 ] you can enjoy it for what it is and you know without feeling that you're I know without feeling like you're rowing in yeah well it's never our intention and that's never an intention but that's how I feel this week where it's like I'm so excited and it's so beautiful and I can't wait to share everything with everybody but this week didn't feel like a week to do it I think that that will happen it's going to happen but there are times when we're still doing this podcast we're still doing this podcast and it's you know it's something that we're dedicated to so we're we don't we're not going to shy away from things that don't happen
MARK
[ 00:10:08 ] To us, but happen to others, you know, just because we've moved out of the US.
MEREDITH
[ 00:10:13 ] In fact, I think it's interesting; we did an episode about loss this feels like loss in a whole different way, but the effects are the same. You can be across an ocean and still feel it very very clearly and very raw. So anyway, I just we are sending all of our love and prayers and support to everyone over there, and I'm so thankful for the people that I'm seeing who are boots on the ground and the helpers, you know. That's when community really comes together, and I'm so thankful, and it makes me proud. And you know it's been tough for the past few years. About what community really means, and are we kind to each other, and all of that stuff in America. And when things like this happen, that's when you see people come together. Well, you do more show the true colors, that's right, which is a good thing, so this has been this has been such a wonderful week, but that has been such a tough part of it, and it made us reflect. So, the other day we walked down, we walked into town, and um, it was yesterday, and we had a seafood meal along the river, and we were talking about this, we were talking about having these moments even just in the first week of how different it feels here, yeah, than Porto. So, what do you think feels different?
MARK
[ 00:11:45 ] It was within a couple of days I felt more of a connection.
MEREDITH
[ 00:11:53 ] I felt more sort of grounded and more, I feel like effort into making the space something that I feel like is more long-term. I think that's what it is-where it's like we loved our apartment in Porto; it came furnished. We literally could move our our clothes in and our toothbrush and we're good right? Um, we didn't add that much more to it than that. And I think that when you know that you're not going to be there for long-term, you don't do that.
MARK
[ 00:12:27 ] When you think that you may you still want to stay light and mobile, yeah, and I think I
MEREDITH
[ 00:12:32 ] Think what it comes down to is that maybe we both look at this place and go, oh yeah, this immediately has opportunity to stay much longer than seven months or eight months that we were in Porto two months, yeah, no doubt.
MARK
[ 00:12:44 ] I think it's just a completely different feel. But here's the one thing I would say: we spoke about this that if I had come here first, I probably would not have wanted or chosen necessarily to leave, to leave to explore other parts of Portugal because it's so pleasant, it's so warm, it's you know it's just really, really beautiful buildings um aesthetically stunning yeah and the climate is amazing yes. In Porto we were Close on the river, um, and you've got all the things but it's just a different feel, yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:13:25 ] If you're like me, it feels like a resort, yeah.
MARK
[ 00:13:27 ] It feels like a nice I think ultimately it's going to get to the point it's for two weeks in, being here, and I'm going to be as an Englishman, I'm going to be thinking, 'Oh, crap, I've got to go home now, my holiday's finished.' You know, and it's suddenly going to be, 'No, it hasn't. It's just started.' You have a holiday, right? And I think there's another reason why I've had an instant feel for this place. Whether this place is the Algarve in general or Tavira specifically, don't know yet, way too soon to say but The idea of not facing too much rain in the coming months, yeah that's that's a big pull, it is.
MEREDITH
[ 00:14:11 ] I do think, and we've talked about it before, we've basically gone from one extreme to the other in a lot of different ways, but you know Porto being the second biggest city in Portugal and then moving to a small town like Tavira, it is exactly opposite, but I'd also say that weather is pretty opposite and I would also say that um the lifestyle and the hustle and bustle is completely different too, yeah. So it does feel different here and it's like a breath of fresh air, not that I am disparaging at all our experience in Porto, we've said. It's a hundred times like it is the coolest city, but it is a city. And we set out to experience something different, and I think just being here for four or five days, we're like, 'Oh my gosh, I feel so much more relaxed.' Yeah, and think back to what it was before when we were you know running the rat race in corporate life in Charlotte, and then we moved to Portugal and we moved to Porto. And how you could breathe better then, and now it's even more... yeah, relaxing. Um, so it's like, yeah, interesting. It's almost like an addiction, like, 'Where's the next place I don't know, but if it's if it's going to be any more relaxing than this, I'm probably going
MARK
[ 00:15:30 ] To need to carry a deep fin, deep fin, just in case my heart stops because I'm like, oh, that's chill, no, that's just chiller, that's awesome, chiller, chiller, you know. Again, is it the sun that does that?
MEREDITH
[ 00:15:44 ] Probably for the Englishman, probably, you know, um.
MARK
[ 00:15:48 ] But again, just just the opportunity to explore these experiences, phenomenal, and I looked at him yesterday and I was like, don't you think my parents would just love it here, and he goes, yeah, I mean, I'm like, okay, guys come on over, like get on a plane, it just feels like I can't describe it other than right now my perspective is it's like the most beautiful beach town that I've probably ever
MEREDITH
[ 00:16:20 ] Seen, yeah, you know it's that it's got that um European feel, but it's the fact that you know there's a castle in the middle of the town and there's a river running through it and the beaches are awesome. Specifically here in our apartment, we have a lot more green space for the dog, we have a pool just outside the door which we're not responsible for, so that's even better. Yeah, the neighborhood is just gorgeous; um, we're literally surrounded by like these huge homes that are like bajillions of dollars way out of our price point, but they are our little apartment complex is right here, and we're gonna get to know some of them. Oh, yeah, we've already met our neighbors because they've got great views, yeah. So, anyway, it feels really good so far and it's just exciting, yeah, to share that, yeah, and again, you know, it's really easy coming from the hustle and bustle to the calm and quiet, um.
MARK
[ 00:17:24 ] I'm really looking forward to what energy is that going to give me, yeah, to do more in terms of working, yeah, you know when I say work, I mean projects that we like, yeah, projects and like all of the things that that we've spoken that we want to do things that drove us to start this journey a year ago. Anyway, you know, I'm in a more relaxed place to actually set foot forward.
MEREDITH
[ 00:17:55 ] As a creative person, I feel like the more relaxed I am, the more creative I can be too.
MARK
[ 00:17:59 ] Right.
MEREDITH
[ 00:18:00 ] The more stressed I am, the less.
MARK
[ 00:18:02 ] Yeah, because you always feel like, oh my God, I'm under the gun.
MEREDITH
[ 00:18:05 ] So we thought that to wrap up our episode today, we would throw out some fun facts about Tavira so that you guys can get to know it a little bit more, right? Right. So population of Tavira.
MARK
[ 00:18:20 ] So Tavira city, or the town, it's not really a city.
SPEAKER_2
[ 00:18:24 ] What was it?
MARK
[ 00:18:25 ] It's a city. It's a city. It's a small city. It's about 15,000 people in the city, but the municipality of Tavira is about 25, 26, depending on.
MEREDITH
[ 00:18:35 ] And that might be as of a couple of years ago. Yeah, I think it was 2023.
MARK
[ 00:18:40 ] Right. It's got seven beaches, if you count Cabanas de Tavira, which is just up the road. Yeah. The actual beaches are on the island of Tavira, Tavira de Tavira. Yeah. There's seven of those. Six of them are absolutely fantastic blue flags.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:05 ] What does it mean to be blue flag again?
MARK
[ 00:19:07 ] It's to do with the quality of the water, the sand, the environment, cleanliness.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:12 ] Love it.
MARK
[ 00:19:12 ] All of that. The seventh beach, the seventh beach has not been given a blue flag.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:17 ] Because it's a nude beach?
MARK
[ 00:19:18 ] Because it's a nudist beach. So.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:20 ] I told him I might be willing to go half. I'm not going for a nude on a beach.
MARK
[ 00:19:27 ] Yeah, I might go half.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:30 ] Move along. Move along. Okay, so seven beaches. Seven beaches. But here's the thing.
MARK
[ 00:19:34 ] Eleven kilometers long.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:37 ] White sandy. White sand all the way. And that's what I'm used to growing up with in the beaches of, on the east coast of North Carolina. Yeah. So, it makes me very happy. Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:19:45 ] And you can catch a ferry from the main town, like from town square, essentially.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:51 ] So, what, a mile from here, maybe? Oh, yeah, maybe. Walking. A mile from here.
MARK
[ 00:19:55 ] Fifteen minutes max.
MEREDITH
[ 00:19:56 ] Yeah. To hop on the ferry for two euros or something like that.
MARK
[ 00:19:59 ] Yeah, I think it's a euro 50 return. Something ridiculous.
MEREDITH
[ 00:20:03 ] It takes you over there, drops you off, and it's almost like where they drop you off, it's kind of like a, um. You walk a little ways. And it kind of makes me feel like you're going to camp. Did it make you feel that way? It was like, you walk a little ways to get to the other side of the island where the beach is. And what you do is you walk by where all of these restaurants are, which is amazing to me. To be able to go there for a day or a half day or whatever, spend some time on the beach, and then have lunch, and there's a beach bar. Well, I mean, that's what we did the first time, wasn't it? It was so awesome. Yeah. So, on the beach, when you get to Isla de Tibera, um, there are, like, so many cabanas that you can rent that are just right there already for you. Um, and then there's so much space after that that's just clear, so if you like to do your own thing and set up your own space, you can, it's just gorgeous. I cannot wait. Like, we're already planning. I think it might be Saturday.
MARK
[ 00:21:04 ] I think it's going to be Saturday.
MEREDITH
[ 00:21:06 ] Um. We're going to go to the beach for the day.
MARK
[ 00:21:08 ] So, but it's, I don't know, it just looks beautiful. It feels beautiful. Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:21:14 ] They're world-renowned beaches. That's what I know. Yeah. And we've only been to the first one. Isla de Tibera. Yes. Yeah. So, I'm looking forward to going to all the others. I'm having some fun with that. Um. Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, though, so we've already talked about Tibera and the size of it and the fact that it's known for its beaches and all of that other stuff, but if you want to know the actual location without looking at it on a map, so we're on the southern coast. We're on the southern coast of Portugal, which is the Algarve, but we're considered eastern Algarve because we're only 45 kilometers from Spain. Yeah. Which is another reason why I'm super excited because we're going to go, we're going to be able to go explore in a different country in a pretty easy way. And then we are also, what, about 30 minutes drive from Faro Airport? Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:22:05 ] 35 minutes to Faro.
MEREDITH
[ 00:22:07 ] Something like that. So, that's our closest airport and there's also the train system that takes you there too. Yeah. There is a train here in Tibera, which we talked about.
MARK
[ 00:22:15 ] Yeah, we'll run the full length of the Algarve. Yeah. You can change it, maybe the Faro or Tunis. Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:22:19 ] And if we wanted to go to the forest point west of the Algarve, it'd probably be three and a half hours by train or something. You can go as far as the Algarve.
MARK
[ 00:22:26 ] You can go as far as the Algarve and then you've got to get a taxi or Uber. But then that's another half an hour to the second half.
MEREDITH
[ 00:22:32 ] Accessibility is really cool. Yeah. To other parts of the Algarve. I'm already, like, excited about planning. What else can we do? Like, where else do we want to look at and see? And experience and all of that. So.
MARK
[ 00:22:44 ] Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:22:46 ] It's really cool.
MARK
[ 00:22:47 ] It is. And then, you know, you've got the history of Tiberias as well. Yeah. I don't want to get into too much of the nuts and bolts. I'm like, oh, okay.
MEREDITH
[ 00:22:55 ] The one thing that comes to mind for this is this Moorish influence that you can see everywhere here. Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:23:01 ] Think whitewashed walls and what kind of-Well, I don't know if they are an actual terracotta, but they're sort of like a But they look like terracotta. Round clay. Yeah. And they're like, you know, like, a roof top.
MEREDITH
[ 00:23:13 ] Rooftops. Yes. And so, and a lot of the churches have that influence. And it's just, it's beautiful. But that's what I think of first when I think of, like, the overarching kind of influence that you see historically here. Sure.
MARK
[ 00:23:27 ] I think, again, you can walk around the town and you'll see it everywhere. You'll see it in, certainly in some of the old buildings. Definitely in the-The tile and the archways.
MEREDITH
[ 00:23:40 ] Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:23:41 ] Just the cobblestones as well. They'll take you back to, I don't know, 600, 800 A. D. Yeah. Maybe even before that. But again, it's one of those things. I mean, I love the history of the place. I think one of the things why I didn't do too much or gain so much knowledge about Porto is because there was just so much of it. Yeah. It was just calm. It was overwhelming. Like, going to Porto. But at a place like this, you could really become an expert. But at a place like this, you know, if you wanted to get knowledge about Porto, you could get knowledge on the town, the city, the areas. You know, it's a great place to lean into that. Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:24:20 ] The other thing, fun fact, and this was like the number one reason why we moved here, is that this area only gets like 50 total days of rain a year. Approximately.
MARK
[ 00:24:34 ] So-I mean, I'll want my money back if it's 52. Yeah. I'll give them 51, but 52-for the people who are going to work here-That is exciting to both of us.
MEREDITH
[ 00:24:44 ] Yeah. And, you know, we've talked a lot about the weather in Porto and how challenging that was, and so huge difference here. And not that we're not going to have, you know, most of those days are in the winter. Right. So I think December is usually eight or nine days. That's usually the wettest. But again-Six or seven in January, and then.
MARK
[ 00:25:04 ] Things may change, but from what you can read, it's not like you've got a whole day of torrential downpour. You know, in the worst part of rainy days, it's even less than an inch right?
MEREDITH
[ 00:25:15 ] Well, and the flip side of that is exactly what we have experienced, which is, there are some yes, it can get very dry and there can be outbreaks of fires like we just saw recently up in Porto, but also down here, yeah. So, yeah, you got to take them both in the same space, I enjoy this, but the right trade, yeah, and I think as usual, like anytime we've ever moved anywhere, it's like we always evaluate the cost of living there because you want to be physically responsible, and so I was looking up some some details today because Mark turned me on to this awesome website, it's called Numbio, and it's been on here before, yeah. N-U-M-B-E-O dot com, basically, you can take any city and compare it to any other city in terms of cost of living, and they'll give you the generalizations at the top, and then literally like tell you how much of like a gallon of milk is in each place, so it's really cool, it really helps you get some perspective about details of stuff that especially as immigrants going well, I don't even know like how much a loaf of bread is right, you can say our groceries are less expensive there but like what is it exactly? and so I like pull this stuff up today and I first compared Charlotte to Tavira and it was 57 percent higher cost of living in general than in Tavira, to live in Charlotte without rent okay this is removing rent, with rent it was like seven 79% more to live in Charlotte. So that was like, wow. So then I wanted to compare Porto and Tavira because my impression was that, because we've been here, we've experienced the prices of things as tourists, right? It was my impression that it could be a little bit more here just because you're in a popular small town that is full of tourists. So most everything is dedicated to tourism. For instance, all the shops and restaurants along the river, they're probably not going to be the least affordable in the town. But the differences between Porto and Tavira were not that huge. It was like a 3% difference, I think. What did I say? Oh, 2% increase from Porto to Tavira. Yeah. So you're paying less in our rent.
MARK
[ 00:28:10 ] So one balances the other.
MEREDITH
[ 00:28:13 ] Yeah. So anyway, I found that really interesting too. If you have not checked out Nubio. com, I should find an affiliate link for them. I love that. I could literally just compare and compare and compare.
MARK
[ 00:28:28 ] It's actually quite interesting even if you're not thinking of moving. Oh, okay. Where's more expensive? I live in this really high-expense area in California. Where's more expensive than me? Just look around the world and you'll find somewhere, I'm sure. But it's a good resource.
MEREDITH
[ 00:28:46 ] It's a great resource for immigrants or potential immigrants too, just 100%. If you're just like, 'Could I, should I, will it be a better financial situation?' It is the coolest thing to just go down that rabbit hole. Absolutely.
MARK
[ 00:29:00 ] And one of the other things I've noticed about Tavira compared to Porto, and it's kind of obvious but worth pointing out, you can look on things like get your guide via tour. Okay, I want a walking tour or I want a tour around Porto or some of the activities as a tourist that you might want to go and do. You look for them in Tavira and it's water-based. Oh, yeah. Water activities.
MEREDITH
[ 00:29:29 ] Yeah.
MARK
[ 00:29:30 ] Boating. There is very, very little in the way of a walking tour around town.
MEREDITH
[ 00:29:36 ] I saw.
MARK
[ 00:29:37 ] There is one. And I think it was, the one I looked at two days ago, it was like private tour, up to six people. It was like $600.
MEREDITH
[ 00:29:44 ] It was a lot. I noticed that too. It was ridiculous. It's because it's not a normal tour. It's not something that-It doesn't want to be at that price.
MARK
[ 00:29:51 ] But again, just thinking it's not a place you're going to walk around and get lost. You'll find yourself in Tavira. Yeah. 20 minutes. Oh, I got it. That's where I am. I'm back here. Probably less than 20 minutes. Yeah. And yeah, I just really can see the difference between the tourism element of Tavira and Porto. I couldn't see, but it's just different. And another reason why we didn't go to La Roche even though we looked at it. I agree. And I don't want to be in Albafera or Villamora or anywhere else like that just because they're not what I want from Porto. Yeah. From Portugal. So here we are.
MEREDITH
[ 00:30:32 ] Here we are. And we're loving it. We hope that this has been a good first podcast episode from Tavira.
MARK
[ 00:30:41 ] It was a landing, okay, what should we talk about? We have a lot to talk about. Yeah. We have a lot to talk about. But yeah, so hopefully the audio and the background isn't too distracting.
MEREDITH
[ 00:30:54 ] We'll figure it out.
MARK
[ 00:30:55 ] Hopefully the misses will feel better next week. Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:30:59 ] Sorry about the sniffles.
MARK
[ 00:31:02 ] But other than that, thanks for coming.
MEREDITH
[ 00:31:04 ] Yes. Thanks for following us along. Thanks for following us to Tavira. Yeah. Please send us any questions that you have. We're going to probably be doing an FAQ episode soon. So we're wide open. Open books. If you have questions about the place, the reasons, anything that you're thinking of in terms of either traveling here in Portugal or potentially moving here.
MARK
[ 00:31:27 ] Yeah. Not just about Tavira. I mean, it's not-The whole thing has never been just about Porto. Yeah. It's been about Portugal.
MEREDITH
[ 00:31:34 ] That's right. So we're excited to continue the journey. Yeah. And it's been awesome so far.
MARK
[ 00:31:40 ] I think there'll be a lot more beautiful photos, pictures, videos, reels on TikTok. Yeah.
MEREDITH
[ 00:31:48 ] Follow us on all the socials if you haven't. All the socials. Send us messages. And I'm going to put a link down below on where you can support Hurricane Helene victims. Yeah. In the description. So please give if you can. Yeah. So thank you guys. We'll see you next week.
MARK
[ 00:32:05 ] Thank you very much. Take care.
MEREDITH
[ 00:32:06 ] Bye. Bye.