2026-04-11 Weekend at the Ronczy's

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On Saturday, we decided to go to the Produce and Flea Market in Maia using our newly minted transportation cards.  We walked to the corner, down the entry for the metro and proceeded to the C (green) line that goes to Ismaia. It's a short 30ish minute ride to the end of the line in Maia from Bolhão (our station) where we wandered around until we found the produce market (OK, Google did help a little). Sadly, it wasn't as big as we'd hoped, but we did stop by the pastry lady and bought two of each of the napoleon and apple tart (fork for scale). The total cost was €4. We did find some produce and decided to try these lovely cherry tomatoes and carrot (scale for scale) for a total of €2.10

The flea market wasn't scheduled to start for another hour so we decided to wander the city a bit. Maia is a combination of more modern architecture and feel. As you get farther outside where the metro line lets you off, there is a lovely suburb of smaller houses, churches, cemeteries and other structures with cobblestone streets and granite/marble sidewalks. It's actually pretty quaint in this part and is, as is the norm here, at the top of the hill. The weather was nice, around 60F (15C) , intermittent sun and a stiff breeze. As always, street art calls. This one felt super sweet.

We wandered back around to the train station where we could see into the Park where they were setting up the flea market. We wandered into the central commercial building across the street and found a coffee shop, in and among the retail stores, and had a coffee and snackie. Afterward, we moseyed our way through the flea market. We had come on this excursion with a friend we made in one of the expat groups and she was on the hunt for a hat pin. Stacey was keeping her eye out for a planter box for the herbs on the balcony. We didn't find either but we did enjoy the company and the walkabout.  We returned home, watched The Masters tournament and enjoyed the layabout.

It's Sunday morning, we've enjoyed our coffee and pastries, JR has done his Portuguese lesson, and we're contemplating a walk.  It's Sunny, but windy and is in the 50'sF (15C). We are told we will most likely experience some the sahara dust today and some of this week, so we may have to stay inside some.  These slow days are heaven and feel indulgent.

Here's a video from our balcony this Sunday Morning. We will never tire of the view.