Blogs from Lisbon & Tagus Valley, Portugal, Europe - page 7

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Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon April 14th 2018

It's hard to believe its four years since we last visited Lisbon. We fell in love with the city then, so the chance to go and spend a few days with friends and then travel around the country a little was too much to resist. Imagine then, being able to sit out on a rooftop terrace and drink a glass of wine as the sun went down. We fell in love with Lisbon all over again! Having done most of the walking around and main tourist sights last time, we had a very specific list on this visit. It began with a trip to the fabulous tile museum. Now, this may not sound like the most incredible experience but it was. Inside we learned all about the history of tile making in Portugal. It came from ... read more
Lovely streets
Tiles!
Tiles!

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley April 13th 2018

Friday: Mike and I left our home in Windsor 2 weeks ago! Hard to believe we are half way through our trip. What a wonderful time. Karen and Glen have been great traveling companions and we are excited to have Gary and Marji join us next Friday. Late rising this morning. Yesterday was such a long day, that we crashed until 8:15am. Slug-a-beds, no? After breakfast and tidying up, the four of us jumped into an Uber and headed to the Belem section of town. Glen and Karen wanted to see the Tower of Belem and eat the best pasteis, ever. Mike and I wanted to see the Monastery of Jeronimos Cloister and Church. The line for tickets for the Cloister was forever but we met an interesting, chatty British couple, who we kept running into ... read more
Monastery of Jeronimos
Inner corner of the Cloister
Cloister courtyard

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Sintra April 5th 2018

Pour nos 5 ans de mariage,nous avons décidé de nous offrir un petit périple outre-mer en «presque» amoureux... Presque, c'est parce que nous sommes partis avec «juste» notre petite Mélie de 6 mois et avons laissé nos deux grandes de 2 et 3 ans aux bons soins de grand-maman... Ça devait donc être relativement «simple» et «facile» avec «juste» un bébé...La preuve que tout est relatif dans la vie, particulièrement après 3 enfants... Tsé, y'a rien là un vol transatlantique avec le jetlag et cie avec un bébé de 6 mois... En prime, on est parti juste avec nos bagages à main, pas de grosse valise, rien de tout ça... On est des brutes je vous dis! Après un vol de nuit où bébé Mélie a dormi un gros 5 heures sur 6 (c'est une brute ... read more
Sintra, nous voilà
Azulejos
Tour inversée, Quinta da Regaleira

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon March 11th 2018

Lisbon Day 3 - today's walking tour will be an endurance test. More hills than San Francisco (at least it seems that way). We left the hotel and headed for THE square to meet out tour. You must be very specific not only about which square but which statue in the Square. Every other block has a square and they all have statues and sometimes more than one. We started the tour with a climb ( as it turns out the same climb as the one we had going to dinner last night) this brought us to the top of the elevator with spectacular views of Lisbon. Timed perfectly in between bursts of rain, we walked back down through newer area to head over to the old part of the city. The difference between old and ... read more
The elevator
At the top
Seaside view

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon March 10th 2018

Portugal Day 2 - Knights Templar (Order of Christ) Castle & Church A little back ground story is necessary.... The Knights Templar as we know them today were an army created, jointly by the Kings of Europe and the Pope to protect pilgrims that were travelling to the Holy Land . They evolved into THE elite fighting force of that period. They also acquired many riches and artifacts (allegedly such as the Holy Grail and The Ark of the Covenant) which is part of the reason for their demise. The Pope(s) and King of France did not like that they had become so powerful so on October 13, 1307 (this is where the bad luck of Friday the 13th comes from) they were declared to be Heretics and were all arrested to end the Knights Templar.... ... read more
Almourol
Castle
Convent of Christ

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley March 9th 2018

Left LATE at night (10:30) on British Airways787 headed for Heathrow in London. Most uncomfortable flight I have ever taken! Seats were very cramped, no turbulence thank God! Once we did arrive we were supposed to have a 4 hour layover that turned into a 6 hour one. Boarding the Airbus A320 was soooo nice and roomy for a smaller plane. no turbulence on this flight until we started our approach. Have you ever noticed how some passengers start clapping when the plane lands? not sure if this is because they think the pilot pulled off some miracle or they just never thought they would touch terra firma again. Well on this flight there was wicked cross winds, the plane was bouncing sideways and dipping, Elke was into the deep breathing excercises and at the last ... read more
Glass of port after a long day
Poultry Leavers
Sauce

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon November 16th 2017

Monday November 13, Lisbon The short drive from Sintra to Lisbon had us arriving at the Hotel Mundial by 11am. It was a large, modern hotel in the center of town. We were too early to get into our rooms, but we dropped off our luggage after parking in the hotel's underground lot and off we went on our walkabout. Dawn and I visited here briefly 8 years ago while on a cruise, but my memory of the city was quite vague. We do remember the incredible history and atmosphere here in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal since 1255, and one of the smallest European capitals...vibrant and multicultural. There are many beautiful squares with fountains and statues, one after the other, between our hotel and the promenade on the River Tagus. We walked through the Praca ... read more
Holding up the symbolic gateway arch to the city
Saude!...on Rua Augusta pedestrian street
Dawn always photos the interesting corner building signs

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon November 10th 2017

It’s Friday. We only know because they change the brass inlay nameplate on the elevator floors each morning so cruisers can keep track of what day it is. If it’s Friday, it must be Lisbon. It is not only the capital, it’s the largest city in Portugal and we have all of 7 hours to check it out! This is why we are not Cruise people. We opt for the shuttle into the city center and are dropped off along with 2,000+ other tourists at the same time with literally the worst map ever printed. Relying on Google and Peter’s Spanish, we manage to find a visitors center where we get the skinny for travel options to the Maritime Museum. Pete & Nancy join us mostly to see the church and Jeronimos Monastery that houses it, ... read more
Lisbon ship crest
Lisbon docks
Downtown Lisbon

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon November 8th 2017

We're on our way at last and hope to keep you all updated with a few photos every now and then ! After a long debate about how early we needed to be at the airport, Olivia won and we had to wait n hour for the check in desk to open... Abdel has finally finished moaning and we're waiting in Lisbon before heading off to Accra ! Ça y est on est enfin partis et on espère pouvoir vous tenir au courant en partageant quelques photos de temps à autre ! Après un long débat sur l'heure a laquelle être a l'aeroport, Olivia a gagné et on a attendu une heure avant de pouvoir déposer nos bagages... Abdel a enfin fini de s'en plaindre et nous attendons à Lisbonne avant de définitivement entrer dans notre ... read more

Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon October 26th 2017

Okay, kids, you can stop worrying. it’s your parents reporting. Sorry we haven’t posted. Our internet connection has not always been good and/or we’ve just been too tired at night to write. It’s also taken me a while to figure out this new blog site and especially how to include photos. This will be a pretty unsophisticated blog – not a travelogue. It’s primarily for our family and friends and also to help us remember our walk. For those of you following from American Pilgrims on the Camino you may get bored! But you may indeed learn something new about the Portuguese Camino. If you’ve followed us before our posts may be much shorter. Maybe then we can post something every day. But now we will catch up on the last 10 9 days. We landed ... read more
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