Portugal - March 14-20, 2018

After landing in  Lisbon, we waited what felt like a long time for our bags, then took a car to our hotel. The streets were tiny and, despite being a Wednesday, there were certainly people out.

Thursday (the 15th), I did a morning walk to the nearby convent Carmo - now a museum on a giant hill, but a great view over the city (that didn't face the sea). Mark got back early, so we walked down to the main square by the sea. We had to compare Portuguese wine with Italian wine, so we stopped by a wine tasting bar on the square. After adding Euros to a card, we slotted it in above different types of wine to try them. Mark got his first taste of port in Portugal! We did Rick Steve's walking tour around the area - saw different churches and learned about the central planning of Lisbon, before avoiding the line and taking the tall stairs back up to our hotel's village. We had some light food at the old beer hall Alisa and I went to - great mosaics on the wall. As we poked around. we found a little market at the top of streetcar street that had a good view, but was mostly closed.

For dinner, to try a neighborhood I hadn't been to, we walked away from the old city along Avenida Liberdade - much more north than Alisa and I had ventured - to find a recommended (guess what) seafood restaurant. But it was homey and delicious too! Plaid table clothes, giant wooden blocks of fish, and affordable wine - a great example of Europe.

Friday, with Mark partially off work, we took the opportunity to go visit the cute small neighboring town of Belem. My favorite part of Belem, as we had already tried, were the pastels de Belem - the egg custards I'd already had nearly every day. But there was more to Belem than the patisserie. Our cab driver recommended that we check out Cascais, but he couldn't recommend a place for lunch, so we started with lunch in a no-frills restaurant's covered porch. The french fries were surprising - I can no longer remember if they were surprisingly good or bad, but we added wine, because that's the right call regardless.

Once we attempted to get into the site-seeing part, we were met with an odd rain cloud. It was ominous as we watched giant waves hitting the old lighthouse - which was really more like a tower at the edge of the ocean. The line was pretty long, and the wooden walkway to the tower island, while short, was getting hit with some of the high waves. We watched a few distracted tourists get their feet soaked, and decided it wasn't the line for us.

As we headed along to the Monument to Discovery, the raincloud burst. We dodged some of the worst of it by popping into a waterside cafeteria, thinking we could get gelato... but, instead, we found a steamy crowd and decided to stick with the now-calmer rain to book it toward the monument.

We made it to the entrance for the Monument to Discovery - Henry the Navigator's multi-story statue and museum. The museum part was about creepy medical discoveries and experiments - maybe brought on by the fact that the Portuguese were sailing around? Anyway, by the time we were done with that, the sun came out and we could emerge on the top to see the April 24th Bridge (looks like the Golden Gate) and the channel out to the Atlantic.

We took a look at the Jeronimos Monastery. The cloister had gorgeous architecture underneath a now blue sky with white puffy clouds. We saw the kitchen, the dining hall, and so forth, but really, the inner courtyard, with its gargoyles, was the best part.

As we were leaving, we exited through the gift shop. Taking a peek around, Mark found a Portuguese board game - Caravelas. Not wanting to get weighed down too early, we passed... for the moment.

Next was the naval and archaeology museum next door. All the ships for Mark to wallow in. With a long hall of history, a long hall of miniatures, and an airport hanger full of restored ships, we saw plenty in a short amount of time. That gift shop was also very nice, but only had the second of the Caravelas games. We stopped back by the Monastery gift shop to pick up Mark's souvenir.

Finally, finally, it was time for hot chocolate and pastels de nata, at Pateis de Belem. We got lucky again - the line was long but not unreasonable, but when the rain appeared again, we were happy to already be in line. One Uber ride, dodging the rain to jump in, and we were back to our hotel.

Since fado is uniquely Portuguese, we signed up for a (slightly expensive) meal with singing. The operatic but mournful, almost yodeling quality alternated between a few singers while we savored a bottle of wine and a few courses. Near the end, we got to chatting with our neighbors - from Germany, but the daughter studying abroad in Lisbon. We cheers-ed, then walked along the cobblestones back to our hotel on the square.

Saturday, March 17th, was St. Patrick's Day. I looked up festivities, but the options in English were pretty limited. We walked downhill to Time Out Market - a great hall with a market, but the main focus was a food hall. Some of the famous restaurateurs in Lisbon opened outposts here. We got our food, wandered among tables for seats, people-watched, but we were generally much more mellow than the crowded vibe of the place.

We peeked into one of the two Irish bars right by the food hall. The first was one long room, pretty packed to the gills, so we continued to the multi-story (but no less crowded, just more navigable). With no good place to stand, we decided to head back to our neighborhood.

A few streets down from our hotel was another bar - showing some Irish rugby and much less crowded than near sea level.

It was a rainy night, so after some wandering, ended up back at our second hotel, and played some Caravalas. I lost horribly (also, as in, I was a horrible loser). We tried out a trendy new restaurant. Mark loved his mixed drink, the food was exquisite, and it might have made up for me being dramatic earlier.

First up on Sunday was to see the old city on the hill, specifically, Castelo de San Jorge. We hiked up through the windy streets, narrow and cobblestoned. We peeked into a cathedral on the way up - partially to catch our breath, partially because it was free art and architecture.

The castle was as great as I remembered. Extensive grounds, peacocks and cats, a great view over the city and channel, then stone walls to climb up to and play on! Stairs everywhere! Trading turret pictures with Mark while dodging puddles!

On the recommendation of our taxi driver to Belem, we decided to take a train out to Cascais. It is much easier to be spontaneous when someone (Mark) has a phone with internet.

The small town itself had a great little beach vibe crossed with classic European "old" - cobblestone streets and old shopfronts selling beach towels and t-shirts.

We started by checking out the local public beach. There were a few kids chasing waves, but mostly, everyone had their light coats on like us.

Walking along the ocean, we rounded a cape that contained an art museum... but also maybe a hotel? Seemed like a logical place for a bathroom, so we admired the sculptures and the perfumed hand towelettes. And the castle-like structure. Love me some good solid stone wall. Especially with a marina full of expensive boats just outside.

We continued along the ocean. A few more sculptures popped up before we crossed an adorable rock bridge. About a mile along the beautifully paved cycling and pedestrian path was "Boca do Inferno" - a rock structure that kind of functioned like a large "blowhole." When a large enough wave rolled it, it spit mist along its length. Much of the area near the hole down to the water was cordoned off. Rightfully, it looked like it could succumb to erosion at any time. We got our few pictures, pondered upon an ice cream, then headed back along the water to the town.

We scrambled out along the jagged (volcanic?) rocks as we made our way back. Mostly along set paths, but also, needed to get that picture, so crawled out along a boulder to get a view with the coastline.

On the cute bridge on the way back, I pondered a cat for a while as we soaked in the ambiance. We ended our beach adventure with a great little wine bar. Our waiter got Mark excited about quite a few ports, including introducing him to "vintage" ports - where a year was good enough to get its own bottling.

Since every day seemed like rain, we put off Sintra until Monday, our final full day. We started in the central square, at the National Palace. We walked past a variety of statues as we walked the path from the train station into town, hoping the rain didn't get any heavier than the mist it was. When we got to the National Palace, it was just ominous enough that we stopped inside.

The large rooms were mostly decorating in the 15th and 16th centuries, and we saw swans, porcelain and silver sets, and the inside of the kitchen. The kitchen narrows into these two tall, highly peaked domes for smoke to exit. A smattering of rain was getting in as well!

We were both early for lunch and on an off-day for tourism, so our first two attempts for lunch were thwarted. We ended up at the large restaurant just across from the Palace - getting tea in a proper teapot to help ward off the cold.

My favorite parts of Sintra were still ahead, and the clouds were starting to burn off. We ended up talking an Uber up to the top spot, the gardens at the bottom of Pena Palace.

What romance, and heightened greenery, with the mist still gently coating everything. A series of cascading ponds met us, with ferns and old trees encompassing them. I wonder if the swans were the same as when Alisa, Alex, and I saw them?

We roamed our way upward to the castle. I was so excited to get the first big glimpse of the outrageous Pena Palance, and to show it to Mark. It is a gaudy wonderland for the senses - and at such a scale!

We crossed the moat via the short but wide drawbridge, then ducked inside the first museum-like room to get some relief from the rain that kicked up again. After taking in the room and some of the history, we continued on despite the on-again-off-again rain. We wound through the royal quarters, including the very modern bathrooms (for the time - first flush toilets in Portugal!)

Outside the chapel, a path led to the far side of the castle. Peeking around the corner, we were buffeted by the intense wind - being the highest point on a hill makes a difference!

After poking around, we walked down to the Moorish castle ruins - a favorite of mine from last time. The walk from the entrance to the ruins felt especially long, but, after a time and a single cat sighting, we make it to the stone walls surrounding the fort on an outcropping. With the lack of rain finally in our favor, it was great to be able to roam around the walls. Granted, the swift wind was a bit unsettling as we climbed up stairs with low walls and looked out over the valley. Not a crisp blue sky, but we could at least see the National Palace far below.

Back to the town, back to the train, and back into Lisbon for our last night. We made sure to stop by a great port store to get Mark's vintage port from his birth year, but the rest of our holiday was over.

Tuesday, up early and out! The hotel helped book us a taxi back to the airport, and it was the same plane, different seats to get us back to the US. (A little easier than when I got re-routed to Milan!)