John Jones' 50-day Vacation to Portugal and Spain!
Our speaker for Thursday, February 8, 2024, was our own Sunrise Rotarian, John Jones. A brief bio for those of you who don’t know John well: he grew up in Sonoma County, graduated from Sonoma State University, and joined Linkenheimer LLP, an accounting firm, in May 1977, immediately after graduating from SSU. John is a past president of the California Group of Accounting firms, Chairman of the Board of Elders at St. Mark Lutheran Church, board member of San Juan Rio Relief. He has been a member of Sunrise since 1986 and is currently Sunrise’s International Service Chair. John spearheaded of Sunrise’s successful long-term effort to build, equip, and staff a surgery center in Sabalos, Nicaragua. John is also the non-titular head of Sunrise’s expert eye examination staff and has personally examined over 20,000 villagers for cataracts, pterygiums, and vision prescription needs.
John presented his 50-day trip to Spain and Portugal in the summer of 2023. This extended trip was in part a pre-retirement exercise; John wanted to know what it would be like to be out of the office for 5-6 weeks (he liked it!). John traveled with his wife, Ardys, and with other friends and relatives for parts of the trip. They flew into Oporto in Portugal, flew to the Azores, back to Lisbon, and then on to Majorca. In Portugal, John and Ardys took a riverboard tour of the Duero, one of the most significant rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. The trip took John and Ardys through the beautiful wine region of Portugal, home of the famous “port” wine and others.
The Azore Islands are part of Portugal but located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean about 2 ½ flight time west from Oporto. The Azores consist of 14 volcanic islands. The Islands were the setting for the novel Moby Dick, and you can still see whale observation stations on some of the islands. Back in the day, when a whale was sighted the community got into their small whaling boats and set out after the whale!
John also noted that wine grapes are grown in the Azores, but it is so windy they build small rock walls around the vines to protect them from the wind! There are no indigenous mammals in the Azores. Thus, protein in the Azores is almost entirely based on seafood.
The next stop of the journey was Lisbon, which reminds John of Barcelona without the glitz. Lisbon has great food, nice people, and good prices! From Lisbon, John and Ardys flew to Majorca, which is situated in the Mediterranean about 180 miles south of the Barcelona, Spain. Majorca is a major European tourist destination, and has beautiful beaches, lovely cities, and great food and wine. Majorca is one of John’s favorite places in the world! John’s extended family, including children and grandchildren, met him in Mallorca for a fun-filled vacation.
Thank you John for transporting us to Spain and Portugal for a few lovely minutes! What an amazing trip!
Click HERE to view a limited time recording of John's presentation.
