TE19 Iberian Adventure

John Hartley

II – Empire and exile

A couple of uneventful days passed, lazing around in the heat, assisting here and there with odd jobs. Crickets chirped, singing in the heat, Judy sipped her morning coffee as Grandfather stretched on the veranda, obsessing over his biomechanics. “Heworked in thecity then hemet yourgrandmother.” Mymother explained, “But when your Father was eight, he left to follow his dream of becoming a pro golfer.” Decades later he met Judy, a vivacious dark-haired singer with manicured nails. All I knew was that he travelled and had a golf range in Kilmarnock. We bundled in the jeep and passed sleepy dreamy villages and rolling hills dotted with ruins of where Romans once grew wheat and barley. Fragrant eucalyptus wafted through the open windows.

In Faro, slender-billed Gulls circle the old fish market, teaming with octopus and langoustines, mackerel, and dorado.

Nearby, the Jewish quarter houses the first Portuguese book – a copy of the Pentateuch – printed by Samuel Gacon. But only a decade later, the Jews were expelled from the Algarve.

“Faro was once sacked by the Earl of Essex.” Grandad noted, “He stole all their books and deposited them in the Ashmolean.”

Set back from the offices, supermarkets and fashion outlets, we 164