Be-Citrus, Bi-Cycle

To top it all off, during our time in Tavira Cidade Bicicletta we undertook a bicycle makeover for our wonderful host Manuel and his shop Be-Citrus.

This is how Transition works, 

Manuel invites us to stay at his orange farm

we say we could beautify his old bike for his shop that sells local produce

then his friend Flor says we can stay at her summer house which is more comfortable than the orange factory

so we move there and make the bicycle 

the bike goes on display in front of the shop and he sells more produce

in the meantime we get up to all sorts of activities, perfrom our show, go on bike rides.

create a mini bicycle festival happening

seeds are planted, everyone is sharing, everyone is happy

Take one rusty, gunky old bike, 

..take it all apart

 

.. clean, scrape, scrub, tinker with, repair, sand, lay it all out..

 

..and paint, hang out to dry

 

..apply another coat, and another...

..put it all back together..making sure to remember how.

 

..and mmmmm lokk at it and wonder whether it

was worth it...oh well done it now,,,,rides well

 

..hitch it up to the Velonom for delivery

 

..eat cake as a reward for a job well done, well nearly all done

...just one more thing put orange segments in the wheels, 

bi-cycle be-citrus

 

...leave bicycle outside of shop

....and wait for somebody to ride it

be-autiful

Festa da Bicicletta Tavira

So the day of fun arrived!  La Mini Festa Da Bicicletta Tavira!

Luckily our little technical problem with the battery that we managed to break at the night of the talk at Cafe Pessoas got solved just in time. Senor Super Mario golf caddy technician very kindly gave us just the bit we needed from his pile of spare parts. All systems go!

Pedal power disco is on!

Everyone gathered around Beterabba, we pedaled some music and danced, took bicycle portraits, bicycles were tinkered with, cleaned and greased. And little by little everybody started to get on their bicycles, as if by magic and we set of on a glorious bike ride around the ciudade da Tavira, spreading the fun, laughter and smiles that we carried with us all around it. A couple of other cyclists joined in on the way and even one of the flamingoes was tempted to join in, pretending to cycle through the water.   

Through the town....

 

over the bridges...

 

all around the houses...

 

occupying roun abouts.....

 

and doing our laps of honour inside the market...

 

Tavira is truely a Ciudade da Bicicletta!

Have a look at the Bicycle Portraits here and

watch the videos below!

Lets go out for a bike ride                               


Bbbbbicycles                                 

Snowden on the beach

We had a lovely little interlude when our friends Ian, Woody and Snowden came to visit to buy a cowbell. All the way from Aljezur they came.

We had a nice day on the beach in Tavira...

 

Snowden was bouncy as ever - he loves the beach...

and we discovered how strong a swimmer he was. He would have swum to the island and back easy peasy if we'd thrown the stick that far.

Our new home for the week - Monte Gurugu

Flor very kindly let us stay in her old home, now summer house, the beautiful Monte Gurugu, that she created all herself.

We loved it! 

Outdoor living with a kitchen under the canopy....

a couple of static caravans...

our living quarters for the week...

 

the dining area...

a swimming lake for the summer month - we weren't brave enough to jump in...

and a giant flying frog! Just like Ferdinand and Frederick who protect us, are quite small and live on the back of our bikes...

It were gert lush here!

Thank you Flor!!!

A bike ride with 'Tavira em Transicao' to Mata de Santa Rita

In no time at all a bike ride had been arranged - yeah !!! for a group of us to cycle out to the Mata de Santa Rita, where Tavira em Transicao get together to take care of some land and also organise an annual

Festival of the Tree.

 

                                   The ride took us through the salt pans of Tavira, where the famous flor de sel comes from and white flamingos roam free ...                                             

      

..arriving with the Kamishibai bicycle and with sound system playing through the trees at the Mata.

After some planting of trees and a lot of pulling out of the invasive acacia/mimosa tree a feast appeared for all of us to share.

More

..and then we did our show 'The adventures of Aaron Errant' and it went down really well, a great audience, all ages, numerous nationalities we got to play and have fun and they loved us.

and then all sorts of plans began to arise, a talk/slideshiow film screening at Cafe Pessoas, new accomodation for us, a Be-citrus bicycle orange project, and a mini festa da bicicletta to be held at Petras shop, Beterraba.

and so the fun continued..

Quinta Shanti

Oranges, figs, olives and avacadoes and a visit to a fantastic smallholding

yummy vegetables, bubbly fun  people at Quinta Shanti, Angela Rose and Andre Gil

Organica.

l

Heart shaped love cabbages..

paw-paw/papaya and bananas..

beutiful and exquisitely pruned orange and tangerine trees..

 

and all available to purchase and take home, mmmm...  and tea and cookies.

we went again, given a jar of delicious olives and fresh orange marmelade.

Cineclube de Tavira

Through our wonderful and growing network of contacts, we were introduced to the delightful Andre Viane who runs Cineclube Tavira after finding suitable parking for our bicycles we were given a quick tour of the cinema, had dinner together and then watched a movie - Before Midnight, Richard Linklater -. and then Senna, Asif Kapadia, the following Thursday.

We met some lovely people after the screening and more contacts and plans made, 
......a bike ride, a film screening/talk, some funky accomodtaion, a longer stay,,,,,,, 
things were definitely looking up for us in Tavira.

Andre runs a truly magical open air film festival in the summer, and keeps all things cinema wise going single-handedly, it seems, we like Andre and we introduced him to the Cube cinema, links have been made,we left him with a copy of Bluescreen films and some film suggestions for a festival of Bicycle films.
' tavira is a cidade bicicletta ' .......................................................... film and bicycles we like !!!

for more about Cineclube Tavira, see link below....and for the Cube see link to the side.
the beginning of little relationship we hope !

cineclube-tavira.

 

Arrival in Tavira

We weren't quite sure what to expect in Tavira, as the accomodation on offer was a building on an orange factory with some chemicals on one end.The rondevouz with Manuel, our host, in the cafe Alvaro de Campos seemed to indicate something portentious was about to happen.

  

In Portuguese

 

And now in French.

 

Álvaro de Campos was one of the heteronyms of Fernando Pessoa - essentially a fictional character who lived in Tavira. There is more to this intriguing portuguese poet. Our interest has been arroused....

Anyway, back to the orange factory. It turns out it is a shed on an orange plantation and indeed our accomodation. 

Here's the inside of the shed, with our tent up because it was getting rather cold at nights.

Here the outside. Surrounded by orange trees and some avocadoes we had plenty to eat.

Strange things where happening below the dropouts. Cha Guava found himself a new home on Ray Mundo the Yuba. He is very happy here, marching next to the chain.

One less car in Japanese and a tiny little flask. Or is it a giants bike!? The omens where looking good.

And then another sign, a beautifully decorated valentines bicycle... Something was stiring in Tavira.

Tavira takes it's name from the moorish word tabira, 'the hidden'.

So obviously, something is hiding for us here in Tavira. With all the omens and that name...

In no time at all Sylvia had found the giants doorway.

Is that what is hidden behind it?

Will she be able to open the door?

And what will she find behind it!?

Watch this space to find out.