Ah Porto, so glad that our apartment doesn't suffer from airbnb construction syndrome. It was a great night's sleep compared to Aveiro and there's a coffee machine in the place. What else could you want? We made ourselves a quick breakfast and went to talk to the ladies at the office of the company running the airbnb. They are super friendly and gave us some ideas of where to go and what to see, and better yet, how to get there. They gave us a route that was downhill and walkable that went along the river to see the sights. They also suggested a really nice spot to see the sun set where the locals gather to sit and drink beer or wine. We pretty much took all their suggestions and it helped a lot. We ... read more

We seem to have a knack for booking places with nearby construction, or maybe that is just normal for busy European centers. Woke up at 5:30am and had to close the window as the city started to come alive and was really up when the construction started at 7:30am, literally right outside our window. Im not so upset as the matress in the hostel was not comfortable and Anne and I had sore hips and back. The kids seemed to love their bunk beds. In the end I'm not sure the hostel experience was worth it but it was only for one night so no big deal. It was nice to be right downtown in the action when we went out though. We bought tickets for a traditional boat ride on the canals and they informed ... read more

What a good night sleep. I think we all fell asleep 5 minutes after lying down. It was so nice to have peace and quiet, a dark room and air conditioning. Feeling a bit guilty not getting out as early to explore but a mllazy morning is probably needed. Anne and I spent a bit of time trying to get some blog posts up to date while the kids slept in. It would have helped to have a bit more coffee. I think both of us have had much less coffee than usual on this trip but itbwas so gpod to have some provided by the air bnb. That is after we figured out the espresso machine and added water ubtil ut became a regular coffee. We all packed up and went to drop Anne and ... read more

Day 3: started.off a bit slower, I think we are all a bit tired from walking around in the 30 degree heat all day. We woke up a bit later and to be honest we were struggling to figure out what to go and see. We went to the local LX market and finally found the library that looked so much cooler in pictures. We were desperate for a good coffee and found a cute chocolate cafe, sat for a coffee (which means espresso to Portugese) and Anne had an iced coffee. We set out to go to the Torre de Belem, which was the one thing we didn't make it to in the first night. The neighborhood around the tower was super impressive with large white washed houses owned by foreign embassies. It was interesting ... read more

The day is finally here! Long day of travel started stressing out with wondering if we were going to make the connection in Montreal. We had 1 hr layover and because of covid airports were seeing delays. Turns out we got on the earlier flight standby and go there just in time....and then the flight was delayed 45mins. We managed to get on early and clean up and set up well. The only kicker was the food on the Lisbon flight had nuts or no ingredients. Wtf. We were stuck eating snacks we brought on. None of us got much sleep and were pretty tired but excited to arrive. After a long wait in customs, we were on our way downtown. Stopped in to pick up our key early- woohoo and they a walk to vodafone ... read more