NOVEMBER 12, 2021: It is Friday, we need to reach Porto in time to prepare Shabbat, buying groceries on the way. We also have our longest drive yet ahead of us – over three hours. And of course, we want to visit a couple of Wandering Jew sites on the way. We wake up early to make sure we can fit everything in.
Today we are stopping in two places on the way to Porto, both have memorials to Aristides de Sousa Mendes, one large and one small, one in-the-works and one already there.
As I wrote in a previous blog, Aristides de Sousa Mendes was born into a wealthy family in Portugal, went to law school, and then worked as a career diplomat, stationed in various countries. He was the father to 14 children. At the beginning of WWII, he was posted in Bordeaux, France. Although told by his government not to, he issued over 30,000 visas for refugees to enter Portugal. Among those he saved, for example, where H. A. Rey and Margret Rey, the authors/illustrators of Curious George. After the war, since he had disobeyed government orders, he lost his job and pension. His children were forced to emigrate, and he died penniless and alone in Portugal. Yad Va’shem made him a Rightous Among Nations in 1966. In Portugal, only in the 1980’s did he start to get recognized for his humanitarian contribution.
Our first stop was Cabanas de Viriato, a village on a hilltop and the location of Casa do Passal. Casa do Passal was the home of Sousa Mendes, and it is now being restored and converted into a museum. One of the main sponsors of the project is the Sousa Mendes foundation. They describe their mission as
“Founded in 2010, the Sousa Mendes Foundation is dedicated to honoring the memory of the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes and to educating the world about his good work. It has a two-fold mission: raising funds for the restoration of the Casa do Passal and the creation within its walls of a museum and memorial site; and sponsoring US-based projects that perpetuate his legacy.”
More information about the foundation can be found at sousamendesfoundation.org. On this site you can also find a database of the people who received visas from Sousa Mendes, organized by name, by country, and even by ship.
As we entered the Cabanas de Viriato, we saw a picture of Sousa Mendes on on the entrance sign to the village. There were signs to the school named after him. And there were navigational signs to his house – which was where we were headed.
Although much work has already been done on the house, it is far from being ready. The project has been going on for so long, that the photos on the façade have already faded. Hopefully, one day this will see completion and Sousa Mendes will receive the recognition he deserves. Donations to help the project along can be given on the foundation website.
Casa do Passal
From Cabanas de Viriato we drove to Viseu, a large city about 30 km north. Our first stop was LIDL – a big grocery store, like Rami Levi in Israel. They had a large selection of nice fruits and vegetables and we filled up. Up to now, it has been difficult to find cucumbers. They are called pepinos in Portuguese. For some reason, the little stores we have shopped in up to now, did not have them. We were happy to see here three different types of cucumber. For Shabbat dessert, we got fresh raspberries and fresh pineapple – treats not easily available in Israel.
In Viseu, there is an avenue named after Sousa Mendes and a small memorial stone in his honor. We verified the GPS coordinates of these for Wandering Jew and continued towards Porto.
As we rounded corner, we saw this incredible view of the Cathedral of Viseu.
About 13:30 we reached Porto. The apartment we rented belongs to a company that rents many apartments. Instead of doing check-in at the apartment, the way we usually do, they expect you to come to their office to pick up the keys. Their office is in the middle of downtown where there is no parking. Worse check-in ever. We found a spot not too far away, but we were not sure if this was a legal spot, so I stayed in the car. Mark returned with the keys, and with our good friend David, who will be joining us for the next 12 days of the trip.
I selected this apartment because it is close to downtown and advertised that it comes with a parking spot. At the office, we were told that to open the garage door you need a remote, but the remote is in the apartment. David and I go up to the apartment and get the remote while the Mark circles in the car. Once we have the remote, we open the garage door, and look for our designated parking spot 635. There is no 635 – all the spots have letters not numbers. I am about to call the host for help, when I notice another garage door, which opens with the same remote. It leads out to an outdoor parking lot behind the building and there I find our parking spot.
We unpacked our many suitcases and bags from the car and made our way to the elevator. To take the elevator upstairs, you need a key, which we got in the office. I take the keys with me. We do not all fit, so I go up with some stuff by myself, place it in the apartment and want to return to the garage. I enter the elevator, and there is a number pad to press which floor, but there is no -1. The lowest you can go is 0. I go to 0 and try all the doors, but nothing leads to steps down to the garage. I hear the voices of Mark and David speaking below me, but I cannot get to them. They cannot get out of the garage because I have the keys. This feels surreal. I call Mark on the phone, and David remembers that to make the elevator reach the garage you need to type in a five-digit code. They return to the car to find the paper the office gave them with the code and read it to me. I am finally able to use the elevator. Longest check-in ever!
After getting all our stuff into the apartment, it is about two hours before Shabbat and we need to organize the food. We roast vegetables in the oven in a cooking bag and boil corn on the cob for side dishes. For the main dish, we had already decided on a vegan restaurant that delivers with Uber Eats. It is difficult to use the Uber Eats site, because it is all in Portuguese and cannot be translated with Google Translate. This restaurant had photos of the food, so we had some idea of what to order. Mark tries to put in the order, but it does not go through. After several attempts, he gives us and decides to walk to the restaurant and do take-away. He leaves with David to the restaurant. While they are on their way home, after they have already paid and ordered everything at the restaurant, the building door buzzes in our apartment. I see on the screen it is a delivery man. I let him in and turns out it was the Uber Eats order. Seems like Make succeeded in ordering without even knowing it. Now for Shabbat we have two of everything– I hope it is tasty.
Shabbat Shalom!
Hhh funny food delivery story!