Readers on the Road: The Pipers visit Portugal
Janet and Lew Piper were on a weekslong tour of Europe in January to commemorate the year of their 40th wedding anniversary, and decided to stop in Portugal so Janet could do some research for a book she plans to write.
The trip to the small nation sandwiched between Spain and the Atlantic Ocean turned out to be a scenic and historic getaway for the Butler couple, who have long been international travelers, after visiting nearly all of the 50 states back home.
Janet Piper, who publishes under the pen name Juliette Godot, said she chose Portugal because “it's older and I thought it would be more historically significant.” She only had a few Portugal destinations on her agenda, which the couple visited in about 10 days.
But even just traveling the countryside and visiting the villages and cities in the nation were rewarding experiences.
“We decided to go so I could look up some things I wanted to see, some historic things. The church of the bones, that was one of the ones I wanted to go and see,” she said. “They don’t tear down buildings over there. Buildings there are hundreds of years old, and they manage to renovate them and they're not dangerous to be in.”
Lew Piper had been to “The Med,” around 45 years ago when he was in the military.
“When you get to the main tourist area, quite a few people speak English, but not as fluent as I thought it would be,” he said. “There’s a lot more English signs than when I was there 40 years ago.”
Janet Piper said she is working on a prequel to her book, “From the Drop of Heaven,” which was published in 2022, and wanted to focus on a fan-favorite character from that book, who hails from Spain.
The book is based on Piper’s real life family and ancestors, and she said her follow-up will be another fictionalized foray into European history.
The Pipers started their Portugal visit in Lisbon, before driving a rental car to the capital of the Algarve region, Faro. The two stayed in a “club,” which was basically a hotel by the water, until they were scheduled to fly back to Pennsylvania.
While in Faro, they were able to visit one of the more unusual spots on Janet’s list, the Chapel of Bones — a structure made out of human remains.
“The bones are the remains of monks who lived in the area from the early 1700s,” she wrote. “When their cemetery became full in the 1800s, they used the bones to create this unusual chapel. The inscription over the door reads: ‘Stop here and think of the fate that will befall you.’”
The Pipers also drove to the outskirts of Faro to see the Roman ruins of Milreu, a wealthy family’s villa, dating to the first century. This villa had “indoor plumbing, including cold and warm water pools, and even a hot water bath,” she said.
“I can only imagine how beautiful it was,” she wrote.
Another short drive from Faro is the town of Silves, where the Pipers spent a day touring what’s left of the castle overlooking the town. The castle is thought to have originally been built by the Visigoths before being occupied by the Moors, according to Janet Piper.
All the while, the Pipers maneuvered through Portugal in a rental car, often through streets and even full villages that were clearly constructed in an age before cars were even a thought. Lew Piper said the couple drove on back roads, intentionally going through countryside.
“When we first went, we went across the longest bridge I’ve ever seen,” he said. “If you go on the expressway, it’s only a couple hours, but we went down the countryside, probably four hours at least.”
Although Janet Piper was on a mission this overseas trip, she said the couple still spent a lot of time relaxing.
“It was cool to see the other side of the Atlantic,” she said.
Staying right by the ocean, the Pipers were able to spend a lot of time on the beach and compared it to Florida. Lew Piper added that going to Portugal in the winter allotted them a lot more space to themselves, because it was not tourist season.
“If you ever want to go somewhere warm in the winter and don’t want to go to Florida, the weather is about the same,” she said.
Faro, being a port town, also meant that many of the local eateries had seafood on the menus — a lot of seafood. But more surprising to them was the amount of french fries they ate while overseas.
“You look at the menu and every single thing comes with fries,” she said. “Lew even asked what other kind of potato do you have. They asked what kind of potato do you want. He meant like a baked potato. They brought him fries.
“After two weeks of eating fries, I don’t want to look at another one.”
Despite the overabundance of the spud-based side dish, the Pipers still enjoyed the cuisine Portugal had to offer. Eating at restaurants also was a good way to connect with residents, he said.
“Once you’re there a few days and talking to the waiters, you catch onto the language, and they like it that you pick it up off of them,” he said. “Everyone was really helpful. It wasn’t hard to rent a car or any of that stuff.”
As experienced travelers of Europe, the Pipers also know to look into learning some common phrases of the language of whatever country they are going to. These phrases can be used to get someone’s attention, while also offering a chance to ask if a person speaks any English.
“The one main word that I always try to find is, ‘I’m sorry,’ or, ‘Pardon me,’” she said. “I think if you just make that wee bit of an effort to learn a language, people feel better about you.”
