Day 17 Lisbon 5/28/16 pictures - last day

All pictures from final day in Lisbon (mostly of the tile museum and aquarium) HERE

Portugal Day 17 - Lisbon 5/28/16 and all Day 15 & 16 pictures and videos!

OK, all pictures and a couple videos from day 15 are HERE and from day 16 are HERE. Pics from today to come as soon as possible but not likely until I'm home.

9:30pm - at my guesthouse after another long day. It was pouring rain in Evora so instead of walking to the square I was lazy and had my hotel call a taxi. The station is quite small but I was able to get breakfast. There I saw a girl Maddie from Australia who was on my walking tour. we ended up having seats in the same carriage and were both going to Lisbon! We ended up chatting the hour and a half bus ride. She is quite a traveler and backpacks for many weeks at a time. lucky! She was staying at a hostel not far from me so we took the subway from Sete Rios station together and then decided to meet up for lunch at the Time Out market.

Portugal Day 16 - Evora 5/27/16 and Day 14 pictures!

Day 14 pictures mostly from Nazare HERE. Naturally the initially-fast internet here has slowed down, and therefore so have my efforts to catch up.

7:15pm - back at the hotel for a quick rest before dinner. Had a delicious pastry for breakfast at the Arcada Cafe and then went to the market, which was still mostly closed. Followed that with the cathedral, which also has a cloister (if I don't see a cloister for a while, I think I'll be ok with that), view terrace on the roof, and a museum. Then met up with the walking tour led by local guide Sophia. There were only six people on the tour so that was nice! She explained all of the important history of the city, from the 1st to 19th Centuries. She called the main square the Facebook for old people in town and I love it.

Portugal Day 15 - Evora, Plus day 12 & 13 Pictures!

First things first, all Day 12 pictures are HERE. AND all day 13 pictures are HERE! Good wifi where I'm staying now, optimistic I'll catch up soon!

7:45: sitting in Momentos for an early dinner. No one else is here whoops, but I didn't really eat  lunch and I was hungry. I think it'll be good I ate real cheap the last few days because this isn't a cheap town. Anyway....and here comes some food so I will finish this later!

Portugal Day 14 - Nazare, Caldas da Rainha, Leiria AND Day 11 CoimbraPictures!

First - pictures from day 11 in Coimbra are HERE. I still feel like Flickr is messing up and some pictures seem duplicated and a few may be missing but I can't be bothered to figure it out right now. Still trying to catch up... slowly, slowly. If only the Internet would cooperate.

Portugal Day 13 - Leiria & Alcobaca 5/24/16

7:00pm: back at the hotel for a rest. Had breakfast at the hotel, pretty standard European type deal. Went to the bus station and got my bus ticket for the 8:40 to Nazare... then I couldn't find the right bus. Ended up getting on the slow bus and the guy thought I was nuts, I think? Then I decided to switch my plan and get off this bus at Alcobaca, which was tomorrow's plan, and tomorrow I will again attempt to go to Nazare!

Got to Alcobaca without incident and of course it was raining, but not really hard enough to put on the poncho I had with me but of course I did not bring my umbrella. I was going to visit the market and get a pastry at a famous shop there but instead I went straight for the main sight, the monastery. it is nice, but not nearly as impressive as the monastery I went to yesterday in Batalha. Spent about an hour and luckily by then it had stopped raining. It was thereafter warm and humid and the absolute wrong day to have worn my hair curly, but I digress. 

Then finally made it to Alcoa, this famous pastry stop that wins all kinds of competitions. Got a few different things, all delicious, naturally. Went to find the market, and found the building, but it was completely empty?? it was supposed to run til 1pm and it was before noon, so I do not know?

Went back to the town and wandered a bit, bought a little pretty vase, and ate lunch at Antonio Padeira, a cute little homestyle place. I had chicken cooked in a clay pot, which the waitress explained was very traditional monastery-style dish. whatever, it was delicious. and once again served with fries AND rice. This country may just beat Italy with the carbs! 

Made it bck to the bus station and got my ticket for the 1:50 back to Leiria, and it was late. Maybe the bus this morning was just late and that is why I couldn't find it? Anyhow, about halfway back, the bus driver emptied the bus on a random corner in the middle of nowhere and told us to get on another bus waiting there. I guess it was a planned transfer? I still have no idea what happened but I made it back by about 3pm! 

Dropped some stuff off at the hotel and then set off to explore Leiria. The cathedral is rather plain in comparison to others I have seen, but still nice. I then started the uphill ascent to the museum of moving images, which was kind of neat and had little displays about optical illusions, light, etc. Then continued uphill to the castle, which has stunning views of the whole city, but is also really treacherous rock to walk around. I think I made it out without getting injured! 

Wandered back through town and found a cute little shop Selling handmade stuff. chatted with the owner, who is originally from Brasil, and bought a handmade Leiria magnet. Then walked past a gelato shop I had seen last night but was too full to go into. not today thogh! Had a chocolate and tiramisu combination and it was as good as found in Italy. Pretty sure the guy who helped me out was mixing Italan and Portuguese. Then came back for a rest and to do a last little bit of laundry. How is my vacation 2/3 over already????

10:00pm - back from dinner. I broke one of my top traveling rules and ate in the main square. As tourist towns go, this isn't really one, but still, it is more expensive and less authentic. I had some beef on skewers with, shocking, potatoes. Not bad but not the experience of the authentic places. But I was just not in the mood to find a place and deal with language. After dinner I went to a place recommended to me called Permarcati and had a huge bowl of some kind of special Jamaican chocolate and caramel with cookies and Nutella ice cream. so good. 

I am still working on getting up to date with pictures, between Flickr being weird and slow upload speeds, it is not cooperating. 

Tomorrow I will again attempt getting to Nazare. There are two buses, the one I tried to take at 8:40 and one at 7:40. I may try to take the early one just to give me one more chance in case I still can't figure it out. Oy vey!

Today's totals: 23,208 steps, 9.23 miles, 59 floors 

Portugal Day 12 - Coimbra, Leiria, Batalha 5/23/16

5:15pm - sitting at the bus stop in Batalha waiting for the bus back to Leiria. Woke up and had breakfast at the guesthouse. The bread was indeed fresh! Had a nice conversation with Joao about how difficult it is to pronounce Portuguese. Then I set off to do a couple last things. There was still mass in the Santa Cruz church and I didn't feel like fighting with it just to see more cloisters. Walked around to the market, which was still actually mostly closed. I bet it's a really cool market when it's bustling! Every stall was manned by old ladies.

Went back and Joao called me a taxi, brought my suitcase up the street (aka stairs!), and gave me a hug goodbye. And that's why I like staying at tiny accommodations. Made it to the bus station early and got my ticket to Leiria with no problem. Bus was a few minutes late. Walked the short walk from the station to my hotel. The only person there was a maid and I had to communicate with her in French. Both surprised and impressed myself with how much I remembered!

Walked around town a little and got a ham and cheese croissant for lunch and a pastry to eat later. Figured out how to get the bus to Batalha, which has a huge important monastery and not a ton else. Arrived a little after 2pm and got return bus info from the info office. The monastery truly is incredible.  I made it in time for the 3pm changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Wandered around the little town, which felt pretty sleepy, and got some snacks at a bakery with a nice shaded terrace and great views of the monastery. Relaxed there for a while and then wandered around the supermarket to check it out.

8:30 pm - waiting for my meal at A Toca, which does meat. I have no idea what I'm actually getting? But I don't think it's fish so I think I'm ok? They have a lot of beef items but I've eaten steak a few times so I figured I'd try something else? And it was on the list of plates of the day? Clearly I have a lot of questions. My phrasebook is coming in handy so far in this town!

But happily, I made it back from Batalha without much incident. The bus was late but I made it and that's all that matters.

10:30pm - dinner update - it was pork! And a ridiculous amount of food. Two pieces of grilled pork, rice, a whole plate of fries, naturally, plus some salad. And I got a quarter liter of wine, water, and ate bread, butter, and cheese put on the plate and the WHOLE THING was 11.80 euros. And that was a HALF order. Are you kidding?! Walked off the huge dinner for a bit. The town is very sleepy for sure. Took some pictures of the castle at night from various viewpoints, including up on the roof of my hotel.

Today's totals: 19,683 steps, 7.83 miles, and 35 floors. Not as bad! 

I had to start the upload of yesterday's many pictures all over again so hopefully I can catch up soon, the wifi here seems pretty good!

Portugal Day 11 - Coimbra 5/22/16

7:45pm - taking a quick break at my little guesthouse Quebra Luz before dinner. Arrived in Coimbra around 10am after taking a taxi to the station and an intercity train from Porto. Only takes about an hour, nice and easy.

Coimbra's main city is an ancient town on a hill, so the taxi couldn't get down one street he tried and narrowly made it through another. And he could only drop me at the top of the steps to my B&B. Yes that is correct, the street is a big long staircase. The guesthouse is an adorable little place and Joao explained everything. Each room gets a shelf in the fridge and there is a communal kitchen/living area. He explained he comes at around 8:30am to do breakfast, because that is when the fresh bread is ready. Oh of COURSE that is why he comes then. God I love Europe. 

Immediately set out for sight-seeing since I have only the one day. sorta followed the Rick Steves walking tour and made it throguh old town. The hills and stairs here make Lisbon and Porto seem like child's play! There appeared to be a graduation going on at the "new" cathedral and mass going on at the "old" cathedral, and some education protest going on near the university, so I had lunch at an incredible little place called Bizarro down in the lower old town, where Joao said all the best traditional restaurants were. This place had 8 tables and no English spoken. I had a plate of steak, fries, rice, and salad, plus a quarter liter of wine, water, olives, and bread and butter, and the total was 13.25 and that is probably considered "expensive" for here. On my way back to the upper town I made a reservation for tonight at a highly recommended place that also happens to be really close to the B&B.

Then I was able to visit the old cathedral and the University, which is incredible. There is one library in particular that is fairly mind-blowing. I snuck a few pictures on my phone. Then went to the new cathedral, where the celebrations had cleared out, followed by the main museum in town, which has Roman ruins underneath that I basically had to myself, which was both cool and creepy, then a huge winding museum of all kinds of old stuff. I lasted about my typical 45 minutes. 

Wandered downhill past the old aqueduct to the botanical garden, which is really more of a public park, because it is open and free. Made it down more steep streets back to the main square by the river and crossed the river. I was going to visit a couple of monasteries across the river, but I am starting to get church-ed out and went to "mini Portugal" instead. After a snack of strawberry sorbet and a couple of almond meringue cookies, naturally. Mini Portugal is like a tiny amusement park made of three sections - buildings signifiying Portuguese imperial conquests, a section of a bunch of little traditional Portuguese homes, and little mini versions of Portuguese landmarks. Cute!

Phew, can't believe how much I covered today!

Meandered back across the river and back to the B&B for a rest. 

11:00pm - Back at the B&B! As I was writing earlier, a girl came to check in. The lady checking her in basically spoke no English so I said I would tell her what Joao told me earlier. I gave her my map and told her about the restaurants he told me about. The lady was also showing her restaurants and one was the place where i'd made my reservation. I was like, hey, want to join me? So she did! The place was great, Fangas Mercearia. Portuguese tapas/pesticos to the extreme. I had a moscato lemon cocktail thing that was probably the best drink I've ever had. And some kind of potato filled with cheese that came with slices of ham and a toast of bacon and grilled tomato which was more like two little sandwiches. A ton of food and only 14.25 euro all together for what felt like a pretty high-end place! What's up Clara from Singapore studying in England!

I took a ton of pictures today and naturally uploading is terrible, plus the wifi is weak in my room because I am far from the common area. on top of it I feel like Flickr is on the fritz tonight so I'm not sure when all the pictures will be up. My next hotel is somewhat bigger so hopefully the wifi is good! Tomorrow I will check out the market here and a couple more things before heading off to Leiria to use as a base for a few days.

Today's totals: 27,533 steps, 10.95 miles, 92 floors. These hills here are no joke! 

Portugal Day 10 - Porto including pictures!

Pictures from today HERE

2:50pm - taking a brief rest before my pastry walking tour. Set out a little before 9, grabbed a quick breakfast, and went to the Palacio da Bolsa, the old stock exchange. Got a ticket for 12:30 as that was the first English tour available. with my newfound free morning, I walked across the lower bridge to Gaia, where all the port houses are. it's technically a separate city. wandered a bit and decided I had nothing better to do than take a Douro river boat cruise. It lasted about 45 minutes and was nice if chilly. After the boat, I tried to go into one of the port houses - they offer tours - but they had nothing until the afternoon and I didn't feel like trying another one so I meandered back and wandered a bit. For a quick lunch before my palace tour, I had a quick two euro chicken filet sandwich.

The Bolsa palace is quite incredible, especially the Arabian room, which was decorated in that style because it was popular in the late 1800s. Then came back here to rest a little before the pastry tour!

9:00pm - back for an early night, which is good because I move on tomorrow and have packing and whatnot to do tonight, plus it started raining. Met up with the pastry tour at 3:30. It was actually two lovely guides, a pastry chef named Rafaella (i think and hope), who's Brasilian and lived in Florida and Madrid, and Ana who's from Porto. We went to five different bakeries all over town and tried ten different things overall. There were only four people on the tour, so that was nice! Tried everything from the nata from Lisbon to the queijada from Sintra to a meat pastry that was basically the Portuguese version of a kreplach, a Portuguese eclair, almond pastry, and everything in between. So delicious! Learned that they use so much egg yolks in the pastries here because the nuns would use egg whites to iron clothes with, so they had all these egg yolks left and thankfully for us made pastries with them! And unbelievablly this tour was only 15 euros! Amazingly, the last stop was a place I randomly choose for breakfast the other day. Apparently it's one of the best bakeries in town!

Came back to the apartment for a quick second and wandered a bit to the shopping area by the market. Peeked in majestic cafe, which was apparently visited by jk Rowling when she lived here. She apparently married a man from Porto for less than two years. While here, it seems she drew much inspiration for Harry potter, like the stairs in the Lello bookstore and the black costumes/capes students wear. I guess this would mean more to me if I ever read Harry potter. It was starting to train lightly, so I decided to go to the little wine bar at the end of the street for a very light snack, since dinner was obviously unnecessary. Had a glass of vinho verde and five little pie snacks - chicken, cheese, veggie, ham, sausage, for 6 euros. Interestingly, all these meat things here are served room temperature. I feel like that'd never happen in the US?

Now it's back to the adjustment to take a hair dryer to my clothes, which are still damp because it's been so chilly and humid here. Tomorrow it's off to Coimbra for a night! 

Today's totals: 26,199 steps, 10.42 miles, 74 floors.... So much for a lighter walking day!!

All of day 9 pictures!

Was able to catch up a bit because there was good internet on the boat I was on today (yeah not words I ever thought I'd write!), so all of yesterday's pictures are HERE

Portugal Day 9 - Guimaraes, Braga, Porto 5/20/16 and all day 8 pictures!

All of yesterday's pictures HERE. WARNING: lots of sunset pictures!!!

8:00pm - sitting in Brasao restaurant, literally right below the apartment, after a long fun day. Early morning calm before the storm in the city was eerie. Got breakfast at a cafe next to the station. They warmed my chocolate croissant! 

Caught the 8:20am train to Guimaraes, one of the oldest cities in Portugal and where the first king was born. It has a UNESCO protected medieval historical center, a palace, a castle, and a thousand churches. When I arrived I went to the info center and not only did he print me a timetable for the bus to Braga I'd need later but he showed me exactly where the station is and ask the important things to see in town! That's how you be tourist-friendly. I went to the two main museums, the archaeological museum, which was a little disappointing with only about ten cases of fragments of old stuff, and a museum of religious art, which was small. The palace was more medieval than the opulent palaces in Sintra. I didn't feel like hiking around the castle.

Wandered back through the old town and found the bus station, which was underneath a shopping mall that had a food court. Grabbed a chorizo roll from a bakery rather than McDonald's or pizza hut (not euphemisms, actual McDonald's and Pizza Hut....) and caught my 1:35 bus to Braga. It took a little less then an hour. 

For some reason I kept getting disoriented in Braga. It's technically the third biggest city in Portugal and it felt rather small but the streets wound around all over. It also has a protected historical center and a fantastic cathedral that's older than Portugal. To tour the choir and chapels you go with a guide. It only costs one euro more than just going into the church but I basically had a private guide for a little while. 

Kept wandering and got a delicious gelato at Spirito of mocha, dark chocolate, and sesame (which was delicious but I'm still not sure what it exactly was). I pondered taking a bus a few miles to thud important church but ultimately decided I didn't feel like the effort. That's where being on the tour would've been nice. Instead I wandered through a supermarket and got some strawberries. I was eating them and using the town's free Wi-Fi when I heard music. A couple student groups were performing on the street and they were SO GOOD! watched them for a while and wandered a but before making it to the train station and barely jumping on the 6:21 train back to Porto. What's normally a five minute walk took about 40 because of the rally car thing. People are hanging out of windows and standing on phone booths! To see cars weaving around obstacles on old city streets. OK! 

After making it back to the apartment I decided there was no way I was going far for dinner, so I literally went downstairs. Enjoying bread with Iberian ham in the butter and mushrooms and asparagus sauteed in the ham fat. Oh my! And I got here just in time because people are now being turned away! And then I got a "half" pica-pau, which is beef and it looks like a couple types of sausage in a tomato type sauce with melty cheese and maybe some other stuff too.  It was served with homemade potato chips and toast points and I have no idea what the correct way is to eat it so I ate it with a fork. I could barely eat half of it and i'd hate to see what a full size order looks like.

Sitting here for over an hour and watching them turn what has to be a hundred people away. And that's the difference between restaurants in the US and in Europe.

11:00pm - now time to go to bed after coming back and doing some laundry. The car race seems to be over but there are still tv trucks I can hear downstairs.

Today's totals: 30,570 steps, 12.6 miles, and 37 floors, yikes! Need to make tomorrow a lighter walking day!

Portugal Day 8 - Porto 5/19/16 & Day 7 Pictures!

First, all of yesterday's pictures HERE. If you don't like pictures of things like vineyards and rivers and pretty scenery, these pictures are not for you!

10:15pm - phew, long day! Set out around 8:45 and got an amazing half-bread, half-croissant thing filled with chocolate for breakfast. Found Eugenia, our free walking tour guide. The tour went through all the main sites and included a ton of detail and history. And it lasted over 3.5 hours! she was amazing and not only remembered where everyone was from but also all our names! She recommended a good place for home cooking but it looked like a decent walk away and Liza had to get a train later so we walked up a bit to a place we had wandered by before that had looked good called, I think, Luso. I had what turned out to essentially be steak and potatoes. It was delicious. All they put on the potatoes was olive oil, salt, and rosemary, but they were ridiculous.

After lunch we hit a couple of sights the tour went by but not in, including the Lello bookstore, which supposedly inspired JK Rowling for Harry Potter when she lived in Porto. Very pretty, but under renovation right now.

Then it was time for Liza to leave! :( We thought she was going to have to walk down to the closer train station to get a taxi to the other train station, but there were taxis lined up at the main square right down the street, so that was lucky. By the way, we figured out that the big event tomorrow is a huge CAR rally/race, not a political rally. Tomorrow the middle of town is basically going to be a nightmare. I'll come back to that later.

After Liza left I went to the market and bought some cherries and a couple types of olives. 400 grams of olives (almost a pound) cost 1.50 euros. I freaking love this place. Dropped off the produce and wandered around a bit. Around 7 I went for an early dinner at Tapabento, which was recommended by the guide as having good snacks/petiscos. I had a toast with tomato and top-quality ham and sautéed portobello mushrooms in garlic and olive oil. Delicious! And a white sangria, also delicious! It was a bit pricier than other places at 20 euros, but worth it. I then went back to Cremosi and actually had gelato this time. Also delicious!

Walked over the river on an inordinately high bridge and caught the sunset. Totally worth all the effort. And it was also totally worth the 1.80 to take the tram back to the stop right by the apartment.

Tomorrow I was supposed to take a tour of a couple cities north of Porto, but it was canceled because no one else booked. I will try to do the towns on my own, which shouldn't be too hard if I can figure out how to catch a bus between them, since they are both connected to Porto by cheap hour-long trains. And since that rally thing is going on tomorrow I thought it would be good to still try to get out of the city!

I took a ton of pictures today so they will take forever to upload. Will get them up as soon as possible!

Today's totals: 26,574 steps, 10.58 miles, 72 floors

Portugal day 7 - Douro valley and Porto 5/18/16 and Day 6 pictures

First, all of yesterday's pictures are HERE

10:00pm - back at the apartment after a long, great day. CoolTour picked us up in the little minivan just after 8. The tour only had 8 people on it, which was great. We picked up a few other people and headed to the Douro Valley, which is famous mostly for Port, but also other, wines. It took about an hour and a half to get there over some mountainous roads. It was foggy like June gloom. we talked with the tour guide Joanna about all kinds of cultural things. She explained how most people earn about 500euros post-tax here. Minimum wage is 2-3 euros an hour. Her rent is half her income and she has roommates. YIKES.

First we went to a regular winery (i.e. not Port) WAY high up over the village of pinhao. The views were unreal. We tried a few wines as well as their honey and olive oil. If I wasn't facing carrying around a glass bottle to four more stops and checking it in my bag on the way home, I totally would've bought a bottle of oil. 

Then we went back down to the river and took a little boat cruise, it was really peaceful and beautiful and a perfect weather day.

Then we had lunch at a little typical restaurant. It was salad and grilled pork and potatoes and rice and 2 kinds of wine and codfish and coconut pie for dessert. And it was delicious!! We then headed to another Quinta (winery) where we saw port being aged and tried four more kinds. Port is definitely not my thing.

We got to taste the last ports in the family's own home from the 1800s.. They had set up a plate of local cheese, fruit, etc. for us to have with the port. It was just lovely. 

Then we made it back to Porto, which took about an hour and a half. We rested for a bit and since it was such a light walking day, we then wandered around, catching the river around sunset. I grabbed a sandwich for dinner and found a cute pair of earrings at a little artisan shop. We walked past a local ice cream shop and I was going to get some, but they advertised having the "best" chocolate cake so I got that instead. It was meringue and mousse and a chocolate glaze and it was definitely delicious but not as good as the one from Landeau in Lisbon. Sorry Cremosi, it's good but not the BEST chocolate cake. 

Tomorrow we will do a walking tour of the city and some more sightseeing before Liza unfortunately has to leave!

Portugal Day 6 - Porto 5/17/16

Was hoping to have the pictures ready too bit as usual uploading in Europe is slow, so it'll have to be later. Anyway, on with the blog....

6:45pm - taking a rest before dinner after an uneventful trip from Lisbon to Porto. The taxi from Rossio to Santa Apolonia station for about 6 euros, I grabbed a coffee at the station and enjoyed my delicious pastries. The train was about half empty and there was free wifi. Can't complain!

Another 6 euro ride from the train station and we arrived at our apartment, literally steps from city hall where thre is a huge rally on Friday for something for other that they are setting up for. We started wandering around and found the Bolhao market, which feels kind of rundown but is still awesome. I mean there is a woman with live chickens and pigeons right next to the eggs and chicken she is selling. And a lot of stalls are delapidated or closed. But I still loved it. There was one place selling so many kinds of olives in huge vats that I wanted to go swimming in it. 

We then wandered around the area around the market, which is a lot of shopping and lively streets and had a quick lunch at a bakery. Kept wandering, visited the impressive cathedral, and made our way down the long winding staircases to the river. And I do mean long and winding (check the pictures) I had a gelato and after we wandered the busy, touristy river area, we went to Vinologia for a port tasting. It was educational and I tried five different young white ports. Not a huge fan (big surprise there!) 

We tried to tour the stock market palace but the English tours were sold out for the day so we'll try again another day because it looks very worthwhile. Kept meandering back through the city to our apartment.

10:00 - back for a fairly early night after a long day and a great dinner at Flor dos Congregados, which I had read about. Luckily it is only a five minute walk from the apartment. It is a cute slow food place. We split a bunch of petiscos - snacks - like chourico, ham and cheese plate, and olives. Two glasses of vinho verde, waters, and a cookie cake for dessert and the total was under 25 euros for the whole thing! Porto definitely seems less expensive than Lisbon, and it feels like fewer people smoke here too, which is so nice.

Today's totals, not too bad considering we were on a train for three hours in the morning: 19,698 steps, 7.83 miles, 40 floors.

Tomorrow will be a very long but hopefully fun day touring the Douro Valley!

Portugal Day 5 - Obidos & Lisbon 5/16/16 plus pictures!

Pictures from today are HERE

4:30pm - back at the apartment keeping my fingers crossed that we're using the washing machine correctly! Set out around 8:30 this morning, took the green subway line from Rossio to Campo Grande to catch the 9:30 bus to Obidos, but we had trouble finding the right bus stop. Wandered around for about 15 minutes getting increasingly annoyed before we finally asked other drivers and they pointed us in the right direction. Took the coach, which takes an hour and costs 7.60 each way.

Obidos is an adorable little whitewashed village encircled by walls, with a high castle, touristy shops, and picturesque cobblestone streets. it reminds me of every little adorable over-touristed town in Italy. Worth the visit, but not much to do. Restaurant menus have things like spaghetti bolognese and lasagna and terrible looking pizza. 

We wandered around for a few hours and I grabbed a sandwich. We caught the 1:15pm bus back to Lisbon and made it just in time before our LisboaCard expired to use the metro back to Rossio. We then wandered around a bit and I got some ridiculous looking pastries to take on the train to Porto tomorrow. Now it's packing and laundry time (we hope!!) before an early dinner.

10:15pm - back after an early dinner and some packing. Our laundry endeavor was an adventure, it took 140 minutes of drying to get even remotely dry clothes. But at least I have a suitcase full of clean clothes, which is amazing!

We went early to A Taberna da Rua days Flores, a little Tasca I had read about many places. We got there about 6:50 and there was already a half hour wait, but we were willing to eat on these little steps with cushions so we did not have to wait! We got a few different things, including Iberian pork, stir-fried veggies, fried goat cheese (yep, I still hate goat cheese), and some kind of white fish. I actually ate a few bites of it. All the food was so good, just such good quality, and the service was fantastic. I had a flourless chocolate cake thing for dessert. The total wasn't even bad, 55 euros total including wine for some really high-quality and traditional food. Well worth the splurge!

Today's totals on this "easy" day - 16,576 steps, 6.59 miles, and 38 floors.

Tomorrow it is off to Porto!

Portugal day four pictures!

 All the pics HERE - up to date, yay!

Portugal Day 2 & 3 Pictures - Finally!!!

Getting closer to being up to date!

All pictures and videos from day two HERE

All pictures and videos from day three HERE

Portugal - Day 4 - Belem, Cascais, & Lisbon 5/15/16

7:00pm - back at the apartment for a quick rest after another long day. I slept til 7:45am and woke up feeling like a new person. Weather was gorgeous and clear skies today. Started around 8:30 and caught the 15 tram to Belem. Went to famous Pasteis de Belem for breakfast, they are famous for the Nata pastry. Got a table and waited forever and a day (or until we were just about to give up) for service. But they were delicious indeed. Then went to the incredible Monastery, where there was no line for the church and about a 30 minute line for the gorgeous cloisters. Our LisboaCard got us on all transport and into all sights today for free, lovely! 

Walked down to the Belem Tower, where there were hoardes of people because there was some kind of charity walk today with thousands and I really mean thousands of women in pink shirts and the tower was at the finish line. We did not really want to go inside, so we then made our way back and went to the coach museum, which is now in two different buildings. One is an old riding school and really pretty. the other is this strange modern brand new museum across the street that did not exist when I was last here. The coaches are really cool but felt out of place in this new museum building.

After that we were hungry and got lucky and found Rut dos Pregos, a little restaurant across from the coach museum that was chock full of locals. We both had a house specialty, Iberian pork strips, which were deliciously seasoned grilled pieces of pork, served with amazing fries. And including a small tip and water, it was 10 euros each! I then got a gelato at Santini, which I had read about. I got chocolate truffle, a local flavor, and coffee. almost as good as Italy!

We caught the local train from Belem to Cascais, a little resort town on the Atlantic, which was just lovely on a beautiful day. Sat and enjoyed the sun and beach for a while, wandered the little down, and then came back for a rest. 

10:30pm - back a little earlier tonight after a fantastical dinner at the Time Out Market da Ribeira - a huge building next door to the morning produce market was totally redone and is basically a food WONDERLAND with stalls of cuisines from all over the world, desserts, drinks, and famous Lisbon chefs. Liza and I split a toast with cheese and cured chorizo, and then I got a little snack of pieces of steak in a wine garlic sauce, with more marinated olives, and a glass of Portuguese sparkling wine. Busy, lively atmosphere and outstanding food. Can't ask for much more. Instead of taking tram 15 back, we decided to walk the 15 or so minutes back to the apartment. The streets were lively because there was a local soccer game I presume. I also presume based on the excitement that the local team won?

We mad it back to one of the main squares and some idiots were setting off flares. They then proceeded to get arrested!! Stopped at a bakery and I picked up a slice of cake for breakfast tomorrow since we are headed to Obidos for the day, or at least part of it. Then we're going to do laundry if I can figure out how to use a European self-contained washer/dryer and have a bit of an easier day since we've been going pretty hard since we arrived!

Totals for today - a "lighter" day with 23,089 steps, 9.18 miles, and 34 floors. Pics as soon as possible!

Portugal - Day 3 - Lisbon & Sintra 5/14/16

7:20pm - back at the apartment for a much-needed rest after a long day in Sintra. Did not get much sleep so I am pretty tired. we caught the 8am train from Rossio station to Sintra, which only takes 40 minutes. Found Piriquita, a famous bakery known for local pastries. We each had a little queijuada, a little cheese pastry, and a travasseiro, a puffy pastry filled with almond cream. It was still warm and so delicious.

Then we bought our ticket combo pass at the tourist info office and caught the bus up to the moorish castle. We had skipped this the last time I went to Lisbon and now I know why. It was really hot that time and there is a lot of uphill hiking at the moorish castle ruins. But today it was foggy and chilly and that made it ultra-cool. Liza and I are both petrified of heights so we only went a little ways up, but it was still amazing. We then took the bus up to the next stop, the Pena Palace, which isn't even that old but it's gorgeous and opulent and so colorful. 

Caught the bus back down and had a simple sandwich and delicious marinated olives in a cool old little wine shop type place. Then we walked to the Quinta da Regaleira, a 20th Century mansion with some gorgeous gardens and fountains. Wandered back and of course on the way I found a little ceramic shop and bought a couple of cute little purple things, because what else is new?

Finally, we went into the national palace, which is right in the center of town. We were behind an obnoxious and large French tour groups. I can't tell which makes a sight more unenjoyable, huge obnoxious tour groups or selfie sticks? Speaking of those insults to society, the security lady at Pena Palace told us they banned them AFTER A GROUP OF TOURISTS ALMOST DESTROYED AN INVALUABLE PIECE OF ART WITH ONE. Rant over.

Anyway, stopped and got a chocolate pastry as an afternoon snack and caught the 4:50pm train back. After searching Lisbon for 2 days we finally found a supermarket and of course it was only steps from our apartment. We were in near-desperate need of toilet paper and I could finally get some fruit! We were considering going to Cascais after Sintra, but with the weather not great, our dinner reservation later, and being so tired, we decided we may make a quick trip there tomorrow afternoon as it's also a short train ride away.  

By the way, I finally figured out what was messing up all the pictures on Flickr. they should be fixed and up to date by tomorrow. Got a lot of great ones today!!

11:30 pm - back at the apartment after a lovely evening. Set out around 8 for our reservation at Tasca do Chico in Bairro Alto. This is a tiny cramped little place and they do communal seating because it gets so crowded. They only serve snack foods.  We split a chourico, cheeses, olives, and bread and enjoyed lively fado by a bunch of amazingly talented people. After two sets we wandered a bit to see the nightlife and headed back. Liza had yet to try the famous cherry liqueur so we found Baco alto that was open and had a sign for it. Liza got hers and when I told the guy I tried it years ago and hated it he gave me a little sample of a supposedly lighter one. It just tasted like cough syrup. Then I proceeded to dump it all over me. Then he gave me the Lisbon one, which is stronger. Yeah, still totally hated it. Liza loved it, though... Guess someone has to!

Today's total: 26,326 steps, 10.47 miles, 116 floors!

Tomorrow hopefully I will be caught up on pictures!

Portugal - Day 2 - Lisbon 5/13/16 & day 1 pictures

Pictures from yesterday/day 1 HERE

7:10pm Portugal time - back at the apartment (with working wifi hurrah!) after a long day. Left around 8am, took a look through Lisbons main market, the Mercado da Ribeira, and made our way to our walking tour. stopped for breakfast where I had a ridiculous cake made of cookies and coffee cream.

The walking tour was over 3.5 hours and covered basically the whole city. There were these random sporadic downpours, which I was embarrassingly unprepared for. We ended up near the castle, which we decided was probably not worth the entry fee. Had lunch outdoors, a delicious fried chicken, and took tram 28 back to Chiado and visited the really cool convento do Carmo ruins, the Sao Roque church, and a great viewpoint overlooking the city. stopped at a chocolate shop I had read about and obviously bought my weight in fancy chocolate, then stopped in another chocolate shop I read about and had a piece of the most incredible chocolate cake you can imagine - half sponge, half mousse, all delicious. We also stopped by a famous ceramics shop and bought a couple things. 

11:45pm - back at the apartment after a looong day. Went back to the Bairro Alto area to find somewhere cute to eat for fado music. The place I read about was all booked up so we made a reservation for tomorrow night and ate across the street at Retiro dos Sentidos. We split a bottle of delicious vinho verde and I had steak in some cheesy sauce with fries. Pretty good!! Oddly enough, three pace only accepted Portuguese credit cards, never encountered that before.

26,260 steps and 10.45 miles walked plus 92 floors - thanks hilly Lisbon!

Keeping this short because it's really late and we have a very long day with an early start planned tomorrow. Hopefully I can catch up on pictures soon now that the WiFi is strong!

Portugal - Day 1 5/12/16

3:20 pm England/Portugal time (what is the name of this time zone anyway?) On the plane from Heathrow to Lisbon after an uneventul redeye. Flew through airport security at LAX thanks to being given TSA Pre-check despite not paying for it. Then lucked out with an empty middle seat next to me. Couldn't have asked for a better start to this adventure! The co-captain was a woman! Amazing!

Luckily the nightmare of Heathrow wasn't too terrible because it was midday and not that busy. You have to take out your iPad at Heathrow, but you don't have to take off your shoes? oh that makes sense.

The flight to Lisbon is full so they made almost everyone gate-check rolling bags. Really hoping my flimsy little lightweight bag makes it in one piece!

11:15pm - back at our lovely apartment after an eventful day. The Airbnb ads do not lie, it is really up many many flights of stairs! But we have a view of the convent on one side and the castle on the other so that is pretty cool. Unfortunately the wifi seems to have stopped working so I'm not sure when this will actually get posted.

Anyway, after traffic and a long wait at the taxi stand we got to the apartment around 7pm, took a quick walk, and found a little restaurant that serves Portuguese small plates called Antonia in the Bairro Alto. We split an amazing sausage, cheese plate, and mushroom dishes. Plus a glass of wine each and only about 20 euros!

Now it's time to somehow find a way to sleep because we have a long day planned tomorrow!!!

Working on the pictures....