I left off on Lisbon

View of the castle from the Arch in Palace Square

We loved traveling in Portugal. The coast line is beautiful, the people are nice, the weather cooperated, and the food and wine were great. We drove up from the Algarve region in the southern part of Portugal, then hit Lisbon for our last four days/three nights of our Spain/Portugal holiday.

We started our time in Lisbon as we do in most places by just kind of wandering around the city. We stayed at the Sofitel Lisbon Liberdade, really near the center of the city and close to most of the neighborhoods we wanted to visit. Great hotel; highly recommend.

Central square in Lisbon- I love the wave design

I found Lisbon to be really beautiful. The architecture is stunning, and you can obviously see which era buildings were constructed and which/if an outside empire influenced the design; it doesn't hurt that the sun was shining and everything was blooming while we were there as well.

One of the many, many monuments dotting many squares around the city

Our first night we went to a great restaurant called Grapes & Bites. It was Portuguese tapas and had a huge wine selection, fun atmosphere, and local live music. You should go if you're in Lisbon.

 
Our first full day there, we had a private walking tour of some of the major sites. We booked with Your Friend in Lisbon, which was definitely one of the better tours we've had. Our tour guide was Adriana, and if you go to Lisbon, you should book with her. While in Seville, we randomly heard a group of women talking about their trip to Lisbon, so I decided to ask what they would recommend ...their highest recommendation was this tour, so we did it, and it was well worth it. Adriana was really good as well because she is quite the storyteller and knows lots of Lisbon history.

Here are just a few things we did and saw on the tour...

We started in the Palace Square, right on the river. It is a huge space with a monument to one of their Kings. The buildings are all primarily government buildings and are all painted various shades of gold, to symbolize wealth. The arch pictured is the one we climbed the day before.

The Lisbon "elevator" seems to be a must-see attraction for some, I guess specifically for the views. The thing is, the line for this thing is crazy, and in reality you can just go up into the neighborhood behind it and get the same views, with no line and no cost. It was originally built as a people-mover to get them from the downtown area, up the hill, and to the adjoining neighborhood.

Salted Cod is a staple in Portuguese food. Funny thing is, cod is not in the oceans around Portugal, it was brought back by explorers from the north, who had to salt it to preserve it on the long journey home. Adriana said if you ask a Portuguese person what fresh Cod looks or taste like, it's likely they won't know.

BK and I both loved this church: São Domingos Church. It is, of course, one of many churches in Lisbon, but it has a significant story attached to it. It was the site of a Jewish massacre in the 1500s, when everyone in Portugal was supposed to be converting to Catholicism. Many, many people were killed. Numerous centuries later the interior of the church burned. At that time the people of Lisbon and the Catholic Church decided to leave the interior as-is and make it into a memorial for the thousands killed in the Jewish massacre. The church us just really unique, as you typically see very ornate interiors, and this one is left with nothing.

There are small palaces all over Lisbon, with this being one. It was kind of a random stop, and was a mix of booth Moorish and European design. Baby K appreciated the opportunity to get out and walk.

This is the Lisbon train station, where the doorway is designed as two horseshoes, even though they are upside down. It's supposed to be good luck to all who pass through. As a note, we cut through the train station to get to the neighborhood behind the elevator.

The Carmo Convent is one of the oldest standing buildings in Lisbon, and one of the only structures that survived a devastating earthquake in the 1700s. Where it stands is essentially where Lisbon ended at the time.

Yum! Looks good right? We made a stop at the national bakery during our tour and partook in some of the traditional pastries. They have an egg custard filling and then you sprinkle cinnamon on top. It is said that nuns in Lisbon started making these pastries because they had so many egg yolks leftover after using egg whites to starch their habits. See, funny little tidbits we learned while there.

This is a Lisbon street car, and many of them still have this look. I think #28 is the most famous one, but you can take nearly any of them and get to the major sites. The benefit of not taking the 28? Way less crowded and much more enjoyable.

After taking the street car up, we were in the Alfama neighborhood, which is a crazy maze of streets and buildings. Above the neighborhood is a great point to look out over the bay. On a site note, this is also where cruise ships dock directly in the city.

We ended our tour with a glass of port after seeing the Alfama neighborhood and making a brief stop at the cathedral. The cathedral was interesting because it is built and looks almost like half cathedral/half fortress, which is what it's purpose was many years ago. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around some of the neighborhoods we didn't explore in-depth on our tour.

This is where our trip takes a bit of a turn we didn't expect, and unfortunately after this we got caught a little off guard by Baby K, who had developed a fever during the day. We felt bad for not realizing it, but knew our little trooper was not doing well when she didn't want to get out and push her stroller. Needless to say, we canceled our plans that evening, ordered room service and relaxed that evening. She still was not feeling well the next morning, so we canceled our trip to Sintra (I've heard most would highly recommend) and laid low all day.

Baby K was feeling better and had a lower temperature at the end of the next day, so BK and I decided to have one more night out and experience Fado music. Fado is specific to Portugal, with varying opinions on it's origin, but ultimately resulting in a sometimes sad love song. We went to a Fado house for dinner and enjoyed a show that evening.

Our last day in Lisbon we had some time before catching our flight, so we climbed to what is supposed to be the best spot to see all of Lisbon. Most think it's from the castle on the hill, but we were told to climb, climb, climb and hit the top of a hill where you could see the castle, as well as the city. The view was great, but the surroundings not so good. You would think for the best view point they would do a little more with the surroundings.

We also walked up past a park near our hotel that had great views down Avenue del Liberdade. The Liberdade area was really nice (also where our hotel was) and a great area to walk around and explore...although that's much of Lisbon to be honest.

Lisbon was really good to us (outside of Baby K having a fever) and I think it's somewhere we might actually go back to if we had the chance. I think the day trip to Sintra is a must see, so it's hard for me not to want to go back, if only to see that.

So like the majority of other places we've traveled, I would definitely recommend going to Lisbon if you get the chance. All of Portugal was great for us and overall quite relaxing and enjoyable. Who knows, maybe we'll go back, then head north to Porto, the home of Port.

We've had one weekend away since our big vacation and are off to Barcelona next. Must catch up soon!

An update on the cooking project

I posted a month or so ago about the cooking project I'm embarking on; that is- cooking through an entire cookbook. I obviously had a lengthy break while we were on vacation, and have been working on getting back into it. Unfortunately, my recipe choices have not gotten great reviews. As someone who likes to cook, this really irritates me.

Since we've returned, I've just made a few more things, and actually repeated a couple (hummus, Greek lamb) we really liked.

Here's what we've had the past little while:

Sauteed Tuna on Green Onion Stalks on Romaine: I really liked this one, BK thought it was okay. I think the tuna could have been seasoned more, like maybe pepper or sesame crusted or something like that. In the recipe the tuna looks really well done, and we like our seared, so that's how I cooked it. The dressing on the salad really makes it and is what gives it flavor. Score: 5.

Chicken with Rosemary Dumplings: This one went over quite well. BK has not been feeling well and he wanted Chicken Noodle Soup, which is not so common over here. I had seen the chicken and dumplings recipe in my cookbook and wanted to try it, so I figured it was close enough. I haven't ever made chicken and dumplings, so I followed the recipe closely. We all liked it a lot, and I think this is one I would make again. BK loved the dumplings, but thought the filling/soup could be thicker. Score: 7.5; Soup: 6, Dumplings: 9.

Ma Po Tofu: We did not like this recipe...it's just missing something. I did change one thing, in that I used all pork and no tofu (just not a fan of the texture), but you would think that doing that would make it more flavorful, which was just not the case. I even added yellow bell pepper to add a little something. BK likened it to Hamburger Helper, which was kind of like a shot to the heart. No offense if you like Hamburger Helper, but it's just not what I was going for. Score: 5 

Hopefully tomorrow will be something better. I haven't decided what we're having yet. Maybe I'll try a dessert this week as well. We still have lots of recipes to go!

Time to "relax" in Portugal

Praia da Marinha

Relaxing on vacation is not something BK and I are so good at. We tend to hit the place we're traveling and go, go, go. But on this trip, we planned for the middle part of the vacation to be a bit of a change from traipsing around a city for four days nonstop and hit the beach.

Praia da Marinha

On our way from Seville to Sagres we stopped at Praia da Marinha (Marinha Beach), that was highly recommended on Trip Advisor. It was well worth the stop, with beautiful views, cliffs, and a couple of great beaches to walk down to. We assumed there would be some beach restaurants there, but instead we only found a fruit stand with some snacks, which also worked. We loved it, and it was Baby K's first beach experience!

BK and Baby K enjoying the view

First time in the sand

She loves the beach!

We decided on the southwestern most point in Portugal, in a region called Algrave, and specifically stayed close to the town Sagres. We stayed at Martinhal Resort, which I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to vacation with their kids. Yes, that's right, BK and I vacationed at a family resort for the first time ever. Who would have thought?

Martinal Resort, set into the coast

The resort was just what we needed on our vacation. The biggest draw for us to the resort was that BK and I could get away and do some activities while Baby K stayed in the nursery. We also liked that they had a variety of types of accommodations, including a hotel, villas, and ocean houses. We had an ocean house, which gave us plenty of room, with Baby K having her own room, a kitchen, living room, and terrace.

Resort beach

I say BK and I chose this area so we could relax, which doesn't exactly mean that we lay around on the beach or by the pool. Typically this means we do all kinds of outdoorsy activities, which is exactly what we did; stand up paddle boarding, off-road jeep tour, and scuba diving. Oh yeah, we also squeezed in a spa appointment too.

Playing on the beach in the morning

Our activities usually started around 10am, so often we would have breakfast, then go to the beach to play around a bit. It was still somewhat chilly on the beach, but Baby K still enjoyed playing in the sand and ocean. She also figured out that she loves to eat sand and pick up rocks, leaves, and anything else that looks interesting.

More mornings on the beach

Baby K really liked the nursery, as she seems to enjoy other kids and loves having room to roam and lots of random toys to play with. So, while she was having fun, so were we! We usually did stuff in the morning and afternoon, so we would pick Baby K up to have lunch with her, then go put her down for a nap in the nursery sleeping room and head to our next thing.

Here's what we were up to...

We did a two-hour stand up paddle board tour around the bay by the resort, including going around the island in the picture below. I was the only one who fell, and technically it was twice, if you count when I was getting off the board. I really enjoy the sport, and think we might try it on Lake Geneva at some point. After the great workout, we hit the spa that afternoon for some pampering.

Island we stand-up paddle boarded around

On our second day there BK and I went on a jeep off roading tour around the Algarve area with Sagres Discovery Tours. Sandro was our driver, and was really fun to go with. He was really experienced in driving off road in the area, and also had lots of information for us about the area, history and other tidbits to know. Highly recommend!

Our off road vehicle

Headed to the Atlantic coast

One of our trails

Climbing up the hill

Atlantic coast

Then we started our scuba adventure. I had never scubaed before, so this was a new experience for me; BK has been certified, but had only done a lake dive in DFW. We did our training in the afternoon after the jeep tour in one of the pools at the resort. Our teacher was really good, and worked well with us. Of course to do the training, we had to completely suit up and get to know all the equipment we would be using the next day in the ocean. For me, the strangest thing was the concept of being under water and being able to breathe. I had to really fight the urge to want to go to the surface for a breath.

Dive center

The next morning we took it easy and relaxed at the house, then in the afternoon headed to dive in the ocean. The water is fairly cold on the coast of Portugal, so our instructor had us wear 7mm suits, along with shorties. We stayed warm, but for me, I had to really work to stay down, since the suits had so much buoyancy. To counteract this, we wore weight belts and put weights in the vest. When it was all said and done, we each had about 20 extra pounds on us to hold us down.

Place we started our dive

The dive was a different experience, but a good one, and something that I would like to try again. A few minutes after we started I wanted to come to the surface because the sensation of being under water for that long was just strange. I floated to the surface one other time, but just because I didn't do a good job at controlling my buoyancy. BK got a little worried on that one because he turned around and I was gone...luckily I had just floated up. There wasn't all that much to see, but I had a hard time concentrating on what I would see, as opposed to just constantly watching for the instructor and BK to make sure I didn't get left behind or something. So, like I said, I would like to try it again, but maybe in a warmer climate.

Fun times in our scuba gear

And that about wraps it up for this portion of the trip. We did a couple of dinners out and had a babysitter a couple of nights (easy to come by at the hotel). With our other time, we spent some time by the pool, let Baby K play on one of the numerous playgrounds around the resort, and spent time relaxing at the house.

A river meets the ocean

We left Martinal on Sunday and began our journey north to Lisbon. On the way we took the scenic route along the coast and stopped at a beach where a river flows into the ocean, and also stopped in a small town called Palmela for lunch. The drive along the coast was great, very scenic and we picked some good stops along the way.

Lisbon was our last destination on our vacation, but more to come on that later!

Our day-trip from Seville: the Straight of Gibralter

View of the Rock from La Linea

We were excited to go see the Straight of Gibralter. After having just traveled to Istanbul and been at the gateway from Europe to Asia, we thought it would be pretty cool to do the same in Spain and see the gateway from Europe to Africa.

We rented a car to go from Seville to the Straight of Gibralter, and timed our trip so that Baby K could take a morning nap in the car. On the way to Gibralter we trusted the Hertz Never Lost system (we should not have) and it took almost three hours to get there. Little did we know, the system was programmed to skip toll roads, so it took us the "back" way and off the major roads. This can be fun sometimes, but when you have a limited amount of time at your destination, it's not ideal. We went the iPhone route on the way back and made it back in a little under two hours.

Getting to Gibralter is a fairly simple drive southeast from Seville. The landscape is very hilly, sometimes very lush and green, and we went through some tiny Spanish towns. It is also extremely windy in this part of Spain. They put this to good use, and have thousands of wind turbines dotted throughout the landscape. I've never seen so many at one time, and all turning quite fast.

Wind turbines

When you get to the coast, the last Spanish town you pass through is La Linea. If it wasn't next to Gibralter, I don't know that anyone would ever have a reason to go. We decided to stop here, park and walk over to Gibralter. The line of cars to get onto the island was crazy, and we were not wasting time waiting in line. In case you don't know, Gibralter is a British colony, so when you go onto the island, you're technically leaving Europe and entering the UK, and you have to show your passport at the border. 

Line of cars to get onto Gibralter

As soon as you enter the island, it seems like people are hitting you up to buy stuff, including taking a tour of the island. We took a bus to the city center, found something to eat, then walked around a bit to decide how we wanted to see "the Rock."

The downtown area of Gibralter

You can walk up the rock to see the various sights, but I would say that most people don't opt for that. Unfortunately, there's only one tour company on the entire island that does Rock Tours. They take four to six people at a time in a van up to see the various sights. It takes around an hour and a half, with just a little bit of driving, and most of your time spent getting in and out of the van to see the sights.

We kind of had a bad taste in our mouths to start off with because when you tell the salespeople you want to do the tour, they sign you up right there, but then you have to wait for more people if your group is not big enough to go ahead and go up. So we waited almost 30 minutes for another group to show up and then finally got to start the tour. Additionally, the tour guide we had was just plain weird, and not good at telling about Gibralter, or making the tour fun in any way. His van was a little bit trashed out as well, which just made for a strange experience.

And what is on the Rock of Gibralter, you might wonder? Well, there are about four things to see: the Pillars of Hercules, St. Michael's Cave, the Apes Den, and the Great Siege Tunnel. So, in and out of the van we went to see the various sights. 

View from the Pillars of Hercules

The Pillars of Hercules is the first stop and has a good viewing area to see across the Straight to Africa. Unfortunately, the weather was not that great on the day we went and it was hazy, so you couldn't see much. St. Michael's Cave was a pretty magnificent cave, but the island has kind of cheapened it with tons of colorful lighting and pop music playing. 

St. Michael's Cave

The Ape Den provides another great lookout onto the other side of the island. And yes, there are apes there as well, although I think they are actually some kind of monkey. And let me just tell you, those things are crazy! It's obvious they are used to people being around all the time, and they can get quite aggressive as well. We were instructed to get out of the van quickly, so that none of them would hop in the van, but they do feel free to climb all over vehicles there, and sometimes the people as well! I instructed BK to keep his distance from the monkeys while holding Baby K. I didn't need those things jumping on our baby!

Crazy Apes...Baby K loved them!

Last, and probably least, was the Great Siege Tunnel. It is a tunnel used during times of war, originating back from the 1700s. We walked halfway in, then turned around and came back out. The tunnel does provide some good views of the island though. We then headed back down from the rock to finish our tour.

Plaza on Gibralter

Afterwards, we walked around the town a little bit more, then headed back across the border to get the car and go back to Seville. We took the toll roads back, and it took a little less than two hours.

Baby K slept on the way back as well, so we decided she could stay up late for her last night in Spain. For those of you who don't know us well, this is very out of the ordinary for us.

Back in Seville and excited to be up past bedtime

Overall, I honestly don't think I would recommend the trip to Gibralter, unless you have a lot of extra time in the area. They have kind of ruined the island with all of the touristy, flashy stuff going on. And the island is really not much to see either. I hear that Cordoba and Granada are really nice places to visit; so if we were to do it over, we would probably choose one of those instead. 

New favorite: picking up grass and leaves to carry around

On our last night in Seville, we enjoyed more typical Spanish food, looked around for some art to bring home, and enjoyed being outside on a nice evening. The next morning we had a relaxing morning, leaving Seville to start on the second part of our trip, and heading west to Portugal. More to come soon!