Journeys and Time

Sintra (Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a town in Sintra Municipality in Portugal, located in the Grande Lisboa subregion and the Lisbon Region. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on account of its 19th century Romantic architecture. It has a population of c. 33,000 inhabitants. Sintra has become a major tourist attraction dow to the fabulous Pena Palace (19th c.) and the Castelo dos Mouros (8th or 9th century, reconstructed in the 19th century) with a breath-taking view of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, and the summer residence of the kings of Portugal Palácio Nacional de Sintra (largely 15th/16th century), in the town itself. The Sintra Mountain Range, one of the largest parks in the Lisbon area, (Serra de Sintra) is also a major tourist attraction. In 1809 Lord Byron wrote to his friend Francis Hodgson, ... read more

Saturday night and we're off to dinner at the home of Maria's cousin Jorge and his wife Olga. They live in a suburb called Carregado, which can properly be called one of the new urban villages of Lisboa, designed to house the workers in the various factory operations that surround the city. To look at Carregado, it is utilitarian and ordinary and you would never know that it houses the likes of a man like Jorge. I say this because Jorge is a big, life-loving fellow who swings through his existence with unsupressed joy. Within minutes of meeting him, I could see that we speak the same language. Jorge drove out to Cammarat to pick us up, and on a whim, decided to give us a driving tour of the newer parts of downtown Lisboa. At ... read more

We had to finally leave our dear friends the Verdade's. With a bag of fresh oranges in hand, we boarded one of the super-fast (like, 220 km an hour) trains. The journey took 1 1/2 hr. By car this same journey would take 4 to 5 hr depending on traffic. It was not long before we landed in Lisboa (Lisbon). This is a big city mixing old and new,with a love of architecture prominently displayed. The train station Orient is a marvel of eloquence, the steelwork representing palm trees and the massive concrete infrastructure signifying strength and simple mathematic power. But, we left that and headed for the suburbs. These areas (as we will detail later) are fascinating in their own sense of development, the modern held at bay while the forces of globalism work to ... read more

The expansive generosity of the Verdade family was expressed once again as we were shuttled down the road to Coimbra. This was particularly appreciated because of rotating strikes on the part of the train service. I suppose they imagined us waiting at the station, with kids, for a train that might never come...depending on the whims of the union. But, good natured lovingkindness won over civic unrest. Coimbra is the home of Portugal's oldest university. It is the part of the country where one begins to notice the strong influence of Moorish culture. When Afonso Henrique threw off the Moorish yoke in 1145, Portugal as a distinct society began its development. But a large part of that identity is Arabic in origin. You can see it in the architecture and the music, in the darker skin ... read more

Aveiro, what a city. After our boat tour we walked around the back street. I had been here years before, but this time I was seeing Aveiro throw Kevin's eye's so every thing was new. We walked down a small street and found I would say a fancy restaurant. They had a tourist menu which includes soup,entree that comes with rice potatoes,salad and what ever meat you want. Kevin had grilled steak with fried egg (portuguese eat eggs with almost every thing) rice, home made fries (no pre- frozen here) and salad plus wine, coffee and a dessert for 12 euros not bad right. And we got to enjoy this under on a very sunny afternoon. After lunch we went to the fish market which was constructed by non-other then Eiffel, yes the same one as ... read more