Sintra and Pena Palace

Pena Palace in Sintra

We've been in Lisbon a few days and have taken in a lot of sights. Today is a down day. We only walked around for a couple hours. My legs are telling me to take a rest.
We visited the Belem Tower the other day. It is so cool because it's so old and guarded the city long long ago.  Yesterday we took a train to Sintra  took about 40 minutes. There we hired a taxi to take us around the area.  It is near Lisbon but in  a rain forest. It was really cloudy and rained off and on but that added to the mystery of the place. My favorite place was the Pena Palace which was constructed in various parts. The tiles and furniture in the various rooms were so interesting.
 The pictures are Pena Palace, the town of Sintra and the surrounding rainforest.

A street in Lisboa

The south and Lisbon

The south of Portugal and Lisbon
We went to what was previously thought to be the end of the world -- Cape St. Vincent. It's the westernmost point of Portugal. 

The weather in the south hasn't been very warm but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. When we go out for dinner I try to rat fish that is fresh. How can you go wrong?  Fresh fish always tastes great.  We ate in a little cafe in a place called Raposieros. We like to try small places and it was good.  We finished off with espresso and a Portuguese egg custard tart. We have all become addicted to espresso which costs between €.60- €1. Cod is common in all of Portugal too.

Lisbon

Lisbon

We drove to Lisbon today and didn't get lost.  I love our GPS. It doesn't seem to work in the city. It tells you to turn at a street but it isn't there.  We plan to use the bus in the city.  Our hotel is near the city centre which is convenient. We saw that one if the squares was having a lot of thing removed.  We think that it had something to do with the European soccer games that were held last weekend.  There was also quite a bit of garbage left over. We walked around today and went into a lot of little shops. One thing about Portugal is that you can find goods made in this country and not in

China. We visited a big pottery place and bought a few things very cheaply.  My sister in law overheard people coming into the shop and asking if the stuff was made in China.  A lot of ceramics
are made here - tiles and dishes. You can buy shoes and purses made from cork which is grown in the south. There are a lot of cotton dishcloths and the like and there is a thriving craft industry.  I can picture little old avos (grandmothers) making cookies and crocheting hats and sweaters to sell to

The south of Portugal

We are now in the south of Portugal where there are lots of beaches. It's a famous place for Europeans to holiday.  The high today will be 17C. I hear the temperature in edmonton is 26.  We are staying in a vey nice apartment for 5 nights. It has a living room, a kitchen and a patio.
We are going to the beach late but I think we will be just walking.
Yesterday we flew from the island to Lisbon and drove 200 k. We passed a lot of cork trees. You can only harvest the bark every 10 years.  I love things made of cork.
This is the view from our living room

The island of Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal

We have been in Portugal for 2 days and have done a lot. The plane rides were ok. It's only 5 hours from Toronto to the city of Ponta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel where my husband was born.  I traveled from Canada with my 2 brothers in law  and sisters in law.  

After we arrived we spend a couple of hours walking in the city. I'll have to post pics of that later. We had a delicious lunch. I ate fresh yellowfin tuna with salad and boiled potatoes. We had beer which was brewed locally. It was authentic island food and so good.

Our hotel overlooks the ocean and is in the main drag of the town. 

This morning we drove around more than half of the island. We visited a few churches, hot springs and a tea factory. The island is the only place in Europe where tea can grow.  We had lunch in my mother in laws home town by the sea.  The 3 brothers talked a lot about their memories of when they were young. They were 6, 8 and 11 when they left the island.

The island's nickname is the green island and the scenery is very beautiful.

On Wednesday we visited the other side of the island. The most famous place is Sete Cidades which means 7 cities. There are 2 lakes formed from the craters of a volcano. 

In fact, the whole island is made of volcanic rock called basalt.  It is black stone with holes in it. The streets of Ponta Delgada are made of it and you,can get jewelry made from basalt.

On Wednesday evening we visited John's aunt Maria Rosa who is 77 and lives in the inner city.  She hadn't seen 2 of her nephews for 55 years and was so happy to see us.  Then we went to John's  cousins house for dinner and of course ate a lot.   Everybody greeted each other with a kiss on each cheek.We ate traditional chicken rice soup and then a cod dish as well as potatoes and meat etc.  for desert there were 4 dishes including Portuguese rice pudding and something like creme caramel.  When we left everybody had to kiss and say goodbye for a long time.  We all had a wonderful evening.

The countdown begins

Well, I'm off to Portugal next Saturday so I guess I'd better get packing. I'm going with Carlos and Judy and we'll be meeting Marge and Tony in Toronto for the flight on SATA to Ponta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel where John will be waiting for us.  So the 3 brothers will explore the island where they were born.