Europe Trip July 2013: July 2013

July 19 - Last day - Lisbon and Sintra, Portugal

So, this is our last full day - we leave tomorrow. We had a short drive to Lisbon after leisurely sleeping in and eating breakfast in our condo. Beautiful day - perfect weather the entire trip! We decided to drive straight to Lisbon - not knowing the traffic and timing it would take. It took less time than we thought - so we had time to kill. The folks were staying for another 5 days in Lisbon and had done some research - so they suggested that we visit Sintra. What a spectacular place!!! Could have spent at least 2 days there to see everything. It is/was a vacation place for the aristocrats and royals. There were SEVEN royal palaces. We just saw the closest one in town. It was amazing - and turns out - it was the "ugly" palace compared to the others. We bought some food at a bakery for lunch - I bought some traditional food for Sintra - kind of a quiche that was more like the texture of custard and some cinnamon/egg yolk pastries. We drove to a grassy spot and had lunch before checking into our hotel in Lisbon. Jeff finally got rid of the salami he had been packing since Arles - ha ha! Since it was siesta time again - nothing was open to eat again until later. We did find a traditional Portugal steak house and splurged. It was... interesting. Thin, dry steaks with a fried egg on the top. Passed on the octopus tapas - the tentacles just weren't doing it - plus it was a pricey item. Then, back to the hotel to say our goodbyes and pack up for tomorrow's departure. Great trip and great company!! :-)

Sunflower fields as we were driving!

Another view

The awkward panoramic of me getting that last shot ;-)

Rest stop on the road - Magnum bars. Ted has an awkward seat ;-)

Side of the castle in Sintra

Main entrance

Great hall

View of the courtyard

Another courtyard view - I like the gargoyles on the closest wall

That is a horse galloping away in the background... ask Sheree what she thought it was ;-)

Really really strange painting of John the Baptist... in lingerie??

really narrow staircases to get to each floor

Gifts to the royals - I like the lady holding up the chest

balcony - loved the ivy tiles

Tile work around the room - amazing!

Check out the detailing in the tile on their clothing

Painted ceiling above the tiles. If you turned on the spot in the center - you could get the deer to gallop in the pictures

Hand painted doves - no two the same - in the chapel hall

Trying to take away the treasure

Cool door!

Dad and those cool Portugal 3-D tiles

Now THAT is a kitchen!!!

View of Sintra from the castle

Map of Sintra

Picnic lunch

Dinner in Lisbon

The rest of the dinner crew

July 18 - Albufiera, Portugal

We left Morocco by ferry this morning and headed to Portugal. We stayed in a beautiful condo/suite close to the beach overlooking the pool. Other than our dud in Arles - our hotels have been fabulous! Really nice and pretty cheap - nice job Ted!!! The room had pink lighting - cracked me up. After getting some food to cook for dinner - we headed to Albufiera beach for a dip in the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful beach and the water was nice. No waves, of course, but great for swimming. There were mulberry trees growing on the hotel property -so we made a mulberry dessert. Sheree bought sweetened dessert waffles and whip cream to share. It was yummy and a really relaxing evening, too! It is strange, though. It gets dark so late, you don't realize it. We were going to play a game of scrabble until we realized it was close to 11!

leaving Morocco!

Our condos in Albufeira

walking from the parking to the beach

panoramic of the beach

walking to our spot to camp out - it was perfect weather!

at the beach

after a swim

leaving the beach

Mom posing with her name-sake restaurant ;-)

This was billed as American food in Spain! Hotdogs in a bottle - gross!

The pink room with pink lights - ha ha!

July 17 - Tangier, Morocco

So, this was my contribution to the trip. I really wanted to visit Morocco. It just sounds exotic! Now that I have done it - I probably will not return. We took a ferry in the morning and stayed overnight. We hired a guide to take us on a walking tour around the city. But, it was during Ramadan - so most every thing was closed or only open strange hours. When the people were out - it was packed!! But, during the morning while we walked around - pretty much everything was closed. The pretty places and architecture were remnants of older cultures. The general people were not really wanting us there (some made that known) and the begging and street vendors were pretty aggressive. Our guide wanted to know if we wanted to see a snake charmer. We said yes! So, these 2 guys come out. One bangs a drum and one takes the snake out of the box. Then he asks if you want to pose with the snake - and charges you 1 Euro. Let down - I could do that at home for free! ;-) But, there were some really interesting places and foods. I am glad we had the experience.

I don't usually like goat cheese, but the traditional pita bread with goat cheese and honey for breakfast was FABULOUS! It was like fluffy ricotta cheese and the pita was also much fluffier and soft. We also had a traditional Moroccan lunch with all sorts of variety of foods. What surprised me was the soup - which had a sweet cinnamon taste along with the traditional savory flavors. Of course, we ended with strong mint tea. Loved that stuff. We really ate our fill - which was good, because nothing else was open to eat for the rest of the day. By 4:00 outside restaurants, food places, or any retail place was closed for the night. Breaking their fast at 7:45 pm was like a countdown to New Years. You heard the call to prayers and they all started eating. It was a party all night and the streets were littered with trash in the morning. It kind of reminded me of Tijuana.