Tuesday! Time for our trip down to the southern coast of Portugal, the Algarve region. Mike and I were so excited, having been planning this little outing since we decided to go to Portugal. Unfortunately, we hadn't planned on the rain. It was pouring as we got ready to leave, it poured while we sat in traffic with our Uber, it poured and it poured. Sigh. No problem, we will be there for three days and there has to be sun some of the time. First thing, the rental car: Mike found, on line, such a deal! $11/day for a Mercedes sedan...plus a little something here, plus a little something there. Oh, the person at the agency spoke no English but we managed with a lot of sign language, pointing, and knowledge of a couple key ... read more

Sunday morning, it is beautiful and bright, and we are anticipating today's activities. Mike, and I figured that we would do a quick load of laundry, eat a good breakfast, and then head out. By 11am, the four of us were Ubering to an area called Rossio, Lisbon's historic center. This peaceful square, with its beautiful wave-like mosaics and flowing fountains, belied its infamous past, tho. Both the headquarters of the Inquisition and the 16th-century slave markets were located here. Every culture has its sad, dark side, no? The Portuguese people tore down the old buildings, and, in their place, built a beautiful theater. North of the plaza, starts a long, tree-lined boulevard called Avenda da Liberdade, that works its way up to the newer, more modern part of town. It is Lisbon's answer to the ... read more

Another busy day for the jani! Today, we decided to do a walking tour of Lisbon, thanks to our best buddy, Rick Steves, and a set of headphones. It was cool because, not only did we see a lot, but we learned about the history of the area. I can tell you, that the 1755 earthquake-tsunami-fire that devastated the city was a reboot for Lisbon. It is as if the entire city changed their whole life philosophy. Housing, churches, and government were altered to most efficiently get back on its feet. The city center was laid out in grids, with a design including universal five story live work units. Very walkable! Thanks to the Marquis of Pombal for getting us back to our new urbanist roots. Our walk took us through various neighborhoods, each with their ... read more

The crew arrived at our airbnb after a long but uneventful travel day. Our home for the next 30 days is lovely. Most importantly, its in a great neighborhood. Lots of shops, markets and restaurants and not in a touristy area. Much to Cathy's delight, there are pastry shops everywhere! Here's the link for the Airbnb, if you're interested: https://www.travelmob.com/p4098491 Some initial observations: 1) English is widely spoken; 2) Products and services are very inexpensive; 3) Uber is a great way to get around; 4) Using a European SIM card in your iPhone is a great option for taking advantage of the Internet while traveling. Recognizing that we need to pace ourselves, we explored our neighborhood a bit then headed down to a big flea market in town, Fiera da Ladre. Actually, Cathy and our entourage ... read more

Cathy and I are headed to San Francisco for a couple of days before we depart. We get to see our friend Dudley Connell and the Seldom Scene perform in Berkeley on Friday night and spend Easter with Alex and Jeff before boarding on Sunday. When we retired, one of our priorities was travel. Our experience so far told us that the aspect of travel that we appreciate is to get to really know the areas we visit, by "living" there. While we try to log some tourist attractions, what we really enjoy is to spend time in the neighborhoods, visiting coffee shops, wine bars and local restaurants. We joined up with our friends Glen and Karen and chose Portugal. It's an area we haven't seen, that is a little less traveled and frankly, a little ... read more