Notre Petit Jardin: Portugal 2010!

Portugal has held a special place in our hearts ever since 1991 when Paul and I decided to put our marriage plans on hold and go and serve missions. We knew very little about Portugal when Paul was called to serve in the Porto mission. We knew a little more about it when I received my call to Lisbon six months later!

Finally, seventeen years after returning home, with the help of airmiles, we were able to make our trip.

Paul's Journal:

Day 1
Portugal was an adventure right from the very start. Véra was waiting for us at the airport as we exited customs, but she is just as directionally challenged as Amanda and didn't quite know how to get to where she was taking us!

From the airport we drove through parts of Lisbon, across the ‘new to us’ bridge, and into Barreiro. The whole time I was trying to take in every second of the drive, while at the same time getting our handy GPS to work, only later did I learn it has to be motionless to start properly. In Barreiro Véra decided to find the local chapel, and there we could find someone who knew where Maezinha’s house.

Our first chance out of the car was wonderful, to be able to stand in Portugal once more. To have all five senses take in what has been missed for 17 years. I can still picture the apartment building across from the chapel, it was so Portuguese.

At the chapel we were able to gather directions, but out problem was that Véra is truly Amanda’s twin. Directions are a foreign language in any language. So it was up to me to really understand what was being said. Funny enough, my Portuguese was more than a little rusty. It was here we learned our first new Portuguese word of the trip. “semáfara”…stoplight. Maybe it was 17 years of forgetting, or maybe it was because we never drove a car, but semáfara was new to both of us. It was also fun because the directions were wrong, not right after 4 semáfaras but after 8.

Maezinha’s place was pure Portugal. She lived in a tiny apartment in a small apartment building, in an odd little town. Her place was crammed full of all sorts of odd little things that little old ladies hang on to. For example, her bed room barely had any room to walk around the bed, yet the bed itself had 20 plus decorative pillows that would go ‘who knows where’ when it was time to sleep.

The photo above is of the Torre de Belem (Belem Tower), it is very iconic of Lisbon. When the explorers left Lisbon, this tower which sits at the mouth of the Rio Tejo (Tagus River) was the last thing they saw. It was also the first thing they saw as they navigated back into the city. The tower was not far from the Lisbon South Mission home.

Vera, my MTC companion who is from the Lisbon area picked us up and took us to Maezinha's in Barreiro where we would be staying. Barreiro was the first area in my mission.

Vera hadn't changed a bit (and she said the same thing about me). Paul said we were salt and pepper twins because we are both a bit scattered and completely lack navigational skills. Maybe I should have combed my hair after the transatlantic flight?

During the mission, we had to was our clothes by hand in a cement wash basin like this. This is Maezinha's washbasin out on her patio. It is now a planter because she now owns a washing machine! We also noticed that she had a dishwasher. The portuguese people all seem to have cell phones now. When we were in Portugal, very few people even had a phone in their house.

Maezinha's open air dining room. For some reason we didn't take any pictures of Maezinha in the first few days. Maybe she was camera shy, there is one later on that I will add in. Maezinha loves to feed and entertain people. When I served in her area, she fed us all the time and always said "Come mais filha" (eat more, daughter).

Here's a picture of Maezinha that I grabbed from Facebook. Vera spoke English to us on the ride to Maezinha's but when we arrived at her house we were surprised at how well we were able to understand Portuguese. I had spoken to Maezinha on the phone prior to leaving Canada and was quite dismayed that we didn't seem to be able to understand eachother. Fortunately when we were face to face it was fine!

Amanda:

We were so excited when we arrived in Portugal, but after a very long flight we were also a bit tired and bewildered. I was happy that we saw Véra waiting for us as we left customs. She looked just as I remembered her. We had been companions in the MTC for three weeks, then returned to Portugal to serve in the Lisbon North Mission. We had written a little bit during our missions and later had some contact through email and Facebook. Véra had been unsure as to whether she would be able to pick us up at the airport because she is a very dedicated "football" fan and Portugal had made it into the finals at the world cup. She didn't want to miss a game. Paul was not exaggerating about her navigation skills (nor mine) but I did take comfort that I'm really not the only one that can't find her way around.

Before we left the airport, we bought 3 day Lisboa Cards, these were good for transportation in Lisbon and discounts at various tourist attractions. I really didn't care about how lost we were, it was just unbelievable that we were in Portugal. We had been dreaming of doing this for years and now we were really here! It was really awesome to just look all around us and take it all in. Everything looked and smelled so familiar but not in the way that home is familiar.

When we stopped for directions I was really relying on Paul and Véra to somehow get it straight between them. I don't understand directions in any language, so I was just hoping that Paul's Portuguese was strong enough to pick it up for the both of us. I was pleased that I was able to understand quite a bit of what was being said. We were very tired so it was a little difficult to focus on what was said. There was one guy there that I understood quite well, so I made the assumption that he was an American speaking Portuguese. I was quite pleased when I found out that he was actually Portuguese. I started to feel that we would actually be able to speak and understand on this trip.

We finally found Maezinha’s house. She was living in a different apartment than the one where she lived when I served in Barreiro. She had since divorced and moved. Her husband was not a member of the church and had been a very heavy drinker. I had been a little afraid of him when I was there. This was probably because I had no idea what he was saying (I had just arrived in the country) and I knew he didn’t like the church. He had cataracts and was always drinking so I was never able to figure him out. Nothing about Barreiro was specifically familiar to me, but everything felt familiar in a general sense. When we walked into the apartment building, the sound of the door closing and the smell of the stairwell were familiar as though it was yesterday. Maezinha’s place was very small and full of furniture and knick-knacks (very common for Portuguese apartments).

Maezinha was awesome from the moment that we stepped into her place. She had prepared food for us and was anxious to chat and catch up. We brought her a framed Greg Olsen print as I knew that she liked church art and I was pleased that she liked it. I was also pleased that we had one thing out of our suitcase. She showed me all of the art and things that other people had brought to her throughout the years.

Maezinha told us that she had a student renting her spare bedroom and that she would sleep on the couch so that we could sleep in her room. I felt badly about that but she seemed so pleased to see us that I thought it would be okay for the two nights that we planned to stay with her. She was a real sweetheart. When we settled in and started to talk to her I was amazed at how much we were able to understand. I couldn't catch everything she was saying but it was easy to follow the topic of conversation and understand the main message of what was going on. This was exciting!

The day after our arrival, we set out to visit Sintra, just outside of Lisbon.

Day 2 -Sintra

This blogger does a great job of describing Sintra:
http://www.travelfootprints.ca/2010/12/sintra-the-town-with-a-fairytale-setting?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+travelfootprints+%28travelfootprints.ca%29

Paul's Journal

We started early eager to get a jump on the day. We walked from Maezinha's to the ferry terminal. It wasn’t a long walk and it was still neat being on the Portuguese streets. On route we popped into a small ‘mercado’ and picked up a few bits of bread and fruit, plus a bottle of water for the day. Being the first time I’ve purchased anything in Portugal in 17 years I was a paying a lot of attention to just what was going on. The cashier told me the price and I was sure she was confused. “Are you sure? I’m purchasing all of this.” She was sure. Food and water were a lot cheaper then we had expected. In fact, it continued to surprise me every time.

We bought our tickets for the ferry and thoughly enjoyed the trip across the Tejo River. We must have taken 50 pictures on just this little 20 minute boat trip. The views of the Lisbon river front were amazing to tourists like ourselves.

From the Lisbon side we needed to again walk to the Rossio train station as our destination to day was Sintra. This walk lead us right down "tourist central" part of Lisbon. The streets and pracas were jumping with everyone trying to sell anything Portuguese. With a few questions about which direction we were heading we soon found the train station.

Pena Palace in Sintra

On our way to Sintra...

We're definitely in Portugal now! Cobble stones everywhere.

hillside in Lisbon

tilework at the train station in Lisbon

Now again, this is Portugal. This train station was like an art gallery. Murals were everywhere, tall, tall ceilings and wonderful stone work.

The train ride to Sintra began to reveal an ugly side of Portugal. Graffiti. Ugly, worthless graffiti was everywhere. Even the word everywhere can not describe how prevalent it was. You’d think it was not possible to sell that much spray paint, but it kept going for miles and miles. Not just one neighborhood or another. Not just here or there. It was everywhere, all of Portugal and lots of it.

Sintra was cute right from the start. The train station was a cute little ‘pueblo’ style with open arch doors on both sides of the building. We exited to the street, which is inches from the door of the train station and stopped to make sure we had or bearings. At which point an older 50 something gentlemen and a cute 20 something lady asked us, in Portuguese, if we needed any help. We told them, in Portuguese, we were here to see Sintra. They responded, in Portuguese with a strong Brasilian accent, we were welcome to join them as they too were being tourist in Sintra today.

I of course can’t remember their names, but enjoyed the morning we spent in their company, they were in Portugal for a conference on Psychology. He was a professor and she was one of his students. Amanda and I were wondering just what an older guy was doing with something that young and how they were acting together. But things are just different in different countries. No matter, it was great jumping into the language so quick with complete strangers, talking about anything and everything.

The day in the sites of Sintra was amazing. Thinking back I find it hard to put together that it was just one day, all the different building, with their unique personalities, as well as their surrounding gardens, vistas, paths, and hills. So much to take in that the mind must think it took days to do. Fond memories include sitting in the gardens by the Queens manor eating our lunch we purchased that morning, just thinking that we were actually on the other side of the Atlantic, which is on the other side of North America, having lunch
The day continued with a Mr. Toad’s style bus ride up the hill to Pena Palace. More amazing sites and more wonder gardens. Another fun moment was purchasing tickets from the booth. I approached, asked questions, in Portuguese and purchased tickets. The lady, in Portuguese, asked, “Your Portuguese is very good, how long you have been here?” I replied, “Today is my second day here.”

“WHAT?”

I then needed to correct my answer and explain that I had lived in Portugal for two years 17 years ago. She still complimented me on speaking so well for being gone so long.

Tired and all walked out we retraced our steps back to the train, then boat then arriving at MiaZinna’s at a late hour. Only to discover that she was waiting eagerly for our return, ready to feed us and talk our ears off for several more hours.

National Palace - the two cone shaped chimneys ar over the kitchen.

Ruins of the Moorish castle up on the hilltop. There was so much to see in Sintra that by the time we got up the hill to see the ruins, they had closed for the day.

The Moors had a great view point up here as they guarded their territory.

Heading up the hill to see the Quinta da Regaleira. Regaleira palace in the background.

One of the lookout towers in the gardens ... maybe Mum can get Dad to build one of these so she can look out over her acreage. All of the buildings in the Quinta are not that old, they were built at the turn of the 19th century.

I wasn't able to find out what kind of rock this is but they remind me of skulls.

According to Wikipedia, there is some symbolism in all of the turrets and caves in the Quinta. It signifies the trip between darkness and light, death and resurrection.

It's interesting to learn about that symbolism because when I saw this, I thought it looked like pictures I've seen of the garden tomb where Christ was burried.

There was a beautful view from the courtyard of the Pena Palace.

Clock tower on Pena Palace. I don't think it keeps accurate time any more!

Pena Palace

Ruins lit up at night

Day 3 -Lisbon

Paul's Journal

Day three started much like day two, morning at Maezinha’s, walk to the ferry, across the Rio Tejo and then to the train station. Seems like a simple sentence, but we must have taken 50 pictures before getting to the train station. Our destination today was the Lisbon mission office to visit the missionaries there.

We exited the train at the Benfica station. Unlike the cute Sintra station, Benfica was more of a housing area of Lisbon. I had the GPS working so we punched in the address we had and started walking. We thought about using a taxi, but we were still worried about our money lasting the whole trip. We thought about a bus, but we didn’t have a map or schedule and didn’t want to risk riding who know where. So we walked.

After about 30 minutes we arrived at were we thought the office should be, but of course, no office. That wasn’t our only problem at this point. I only had the car charger for the GPS, so it decided to die, leaving us map-less. Also, Amanda’s feet were not made for walking. Heat and walking just turn her feet into ragged shreds of skin. We took a minute to sit and rest. At his point I saw a post-man walking by and asked if he knew where the mission office was located. May seem like an odd question, but if you worked the area, you would notice something like young American boys in white shirts and ties that took every opportunity to contact you, and being a post men, very happy to see you. And I was right.

Trying to save feet, we grabbed a passing bus, missed our stop, and had to walk back only to discover the street we wanted was right next to where we caught the bus. Strolling another block we saw a herd of Elders exiting a car right in front of the office.

“Oh, Elder!”

We had an enjoyable visit with the missionaries. Things seemed a bit awkward at first trying to talk to this bunch, like we just had nothing in common. I was able to hand out the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and the Kool-Aid that I brought. That won a few smiles. Minutes later the mission president and his wife arrived. This was a nice bit of luck as it saved us from tracking them down. The President was nice enough, but his wife was a chatterbox. It was fun chatting with her while the President and the missionaries went about their day.

With our trip to the mission office wrapped up, we planned to head to the Torre de Belem and continue with being tourist. Can’t remember just where, but I was able to get my hands on a bus map. It was nice to put our feet up and let the bus do the hard work.

The area near the Torre de Belem is wonderful. They did a really good job just keeping things simple so people can enjoy the beauty of the river and the two attractions, the Torre de Belem and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos. Sadly we did not pay attention to the clock and both were closed before we arrived. This did not stop us from enjoying the calm of the river, or the shade of the Torre. Having rested our feet for a bit Amanda was eager to find the Mission home. This was a big deal for her as Amanda has zero sense of direction and doesn’t recognize street in our own neighbourhood. But to her credit, using the Torre de Belem as a landmark and direction from her memory we were able to find her mission home.

The hour was late now, and having left directions with Maezinha not to wait up and do not have dinner waiting, we decided to venture back to the Praça do Comercio for dinner. We caught a bus from the mission home and then walked the streets near the Praça looking for something yummy….and walked…and walked.

Nothing looked yummy. A mix between Portuguese items and ‘American-ized’ items, vaguely described, all unappealing. Finally Amanda’s feet could walk no more. So we sat at an outdoor restaurant that looks much like every other place in the area, but ours was right next to a sex shop. Somehow we missed that little detail in our shuffling. I remember ordering the squid and was unimpressed.

After dinner we took the ferry back across the river and Amanda could walk no more. There was a cab waiting at the terminal, like most bus, train or ferry terminals, it is easy to find a cab. We entered the cab and told him the street. He responded that there were 3 streets with that name. I responded that the house number was 12. He responded that didn’t help at all. I told him that it was quite close, that too didn’t help. I told him to drive and I’d give him directions...At which he decided that he no longer understood my Portuguese.

Exiting the cab Amanda endured the walk back to the apartment.

Padrao dos Descubrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries)

Paul at one of the doors to the Belem Tower (Torre de Belem).

The tower was built in the early 16th century of limestone. It was actually originally built on an island in the river but after the 1755 earthquake the river was redirected and now the tower sits on the shore of the river. I was surprised at the amount of beautiful detail that went into the stonework considering that the tower was built as a military stronghold.

This is the crest of Portugal that appears on the Portuguese flag. This stonework was on the side of a bank at the Praca do Commercio in Lisbon.

Day 4 Lisbon

This is taken at the Jeronimoes Monastery in Lisbon.

Paul's Journal

Having learned from the Torre closing on us the day before, we made a goal to exit the house early to hit the tourist attractions. This time we took the bus from outside Maezinha’s to the ferry. Buses were quite cheap; the hardest part was knowing where each bus was heading. Having asked about we were confident we were going the right way. That and we were trying everything to save Amanda’s feet. From the bus, we hit the ferry, ferry to more buses, and the buses dropped us right at the Monasterio dos Jeronimos. It was on our list of three things to see that morning, so we decided to hit that first.

Now somehow in our morning we did not pick up any snacks or water, water being very, very important. The weather was quite warm and we were out in the sun a lot. Battling to stay hydrated was a constant thought. So Amanda held a spot in line and I dashed down the street to find some water. Prices, like in most places, spike and dip by location. If you are in a heavy tourist area, a small bottle of water is a buck. If you are go to a market on a quiet street a huge bottle is twenty cents. So not wanting to spend tons of cash on stupid water I went for a quick dash down the lane. After not finding anything anywhere, I dashed back.

Upon returning to the Jeronimos, I found Amanda was no longer in line. To our surprise, the Lisboa card that we purchased a few days earlier included this museum. The massive line was only to pay.

Now, I won’t even begin to try to describe the Monasterio dos Jeronimos. It was purely incredible.

One of the many confession rooms at the Jeronimos Monastery. Paul is being cheeky trying to listen in on the confession.

Upon leaving the monasterio we crossed the street and the park to the Padrão dos Descobrimentos. A beautiful monument built to celebrate all the voyages of discovery that left from the ports of Portugal.

After the Padrão we need to head back to the ferry terminal. We had booked a river cruise of the Tejo and were quite excited to have a relaxing moment. On the way to the ferry we tried to contact Véra. Having finished her classes, she was eager to meet up with us for the cruise. After talking with her on the phone she explained that she would not be meeting us for the cruise, but would see us after. This was a touch worrying to me as ‘after’ was booked solid for us.

We arrived on time for the cruise and even had time to grab some water to drink on the cruise. The boat began taking on passengers and everyone dash about trying to find the best spot. We chose a place on the back deck that was just in the shade of the upper deck, but still allowed a nice view of the journey. Sadly we were soon joined by others.
These others were a school group from England, 20+ kids between the ages of 16 and 18, plus their teachers. Now these kids had zero interest in being on this cruise. Most talked loudly to each other, others played on their PSP and what not. Most were just bemoaning that they were there. Now I did enjoy the cruise. It was a nice boat ride up and down the Tejo that provided great views and nice photo shots. However, it would have been much nicer if those kids would have just shut up.

Exiting the cruise we found Véra. She explained that she and some friends were having dinner at the Hard Rock Café. They wanted us to join them so we all could just chat. Now, our problem was that we needed to be heading to the airport to pick up our rental car. We needed this car as we were traveling to é tonight. This was a pickle for us as we had an understanding, ‘we are in Portugal to see people first, sites second.’ So Véra and her friends came before other things. Finding a pay phone I called the car company to explain that I would be late to the airport as I am grabbing dinner first. With that out of the way we headed off to dinner.

this cathedral was also built as a military fortress

Having dinner with Vera and her sister and niece at the Hard Rock Cafe in Lisbon.

Part of me was annoyed that we were eating at the Hard Rock. I’m in Portugal, thousands of miles from home, and eating at the Hard Rock? However, it had been a few days since I had a real American meal, and I was soon thankful for a massive American burger. Another down side was that the restaurant was very noisy, so it was hard to hear anyone speaking, which makes understanding Portuguese even harder to understand.

After finishing with dinner Véra offered us a ride to the airport to grab our car. So in no time was buzzed though the city and arrived at the airport. We waved good bye to everyone and went into the airport to arrange for our car. Now the deal is, I was supposed to get to the airport, phone the rental company, and they would drop off the car. However, when I called the company, they were closed. I scrambled for the rental information off my phone and confirmed the numbers and arrangements. Tracking down a second number, which belonged to their Algarve office, I hoped to find anyone to talk to. Luckily someone not only answered the phone, but they actually were interested in helping us. After lots of waiting and seVéral calls we found out what had happened. The employee that was setup to bring us our car had gone home for the day. They had come by the airport and waited and waited. Not finding us, they called it quits and left.

I’ll accept part of the blame. We should have been at the airport at a certain time and we were late. However, we told the company that we were running late and they said they were fine with that. They never said, if you’re not there by X we’re leaving. At the moment, none of that mattered. We were at the Lisbon airport. No car.

Unbroken, we quickly came up with a new plan. Stay one more night at Maezinha’s, then from her place go to the car company as soon as they open. Grab the car and head to Loulé. The travel back to Maezinha’s seemed long. We were tired. We were ready for something a little slower. But that would have to wait for now, cause we had to sleep tonight and find the car in the morning.

Maezinha let us come back and stay with her another night

Day 5 The Algarve

The start of day five was a bit of a pain. Seeing how we were supposed to be in Loulé already, yet, due to car rental confusion, we were starting from Maezinha’s place. However, we were on vacation, in Portugal, so how bad could it really be.

Once again across the ferry and once again we moved about Lisbon on the metro. It was a bit of a grudge as Amanda’s feet were near death, plus we were hauling all of our luggage with us, but we managed. After asking directions a few times we did arrive at the rental car company. At this point it seemed all the blues faded away and once again we were back in the ‘Nao faz mal’ way of life.

Renting the car was a breeze, the GPS lead us out of the city and just like that we were south bound to Loulé. The drive was wonderful, really wonderful. Everything was fresh to us and exciting to take in, the whole drive to Loulé was enjoyable.

fields on the drive between Lisbon and Loule

Once in Loulé the grudge set in again. We found Nestor’s house easy enough, but of course no one was home. We knew they would not be, but we had to call to let them know. In speaking to Sandra, she said to drop our bags then she would meet us on the drive into Loulé, as their place was a touch outside the city. Seemed odd, but we are the visitors.

Following the GPS we moved along the road…not fully understand a sign that said something like “Detour. Road Closed. Don’t go that way.” Well, we went that way and found ourselves right in the middle of some road construction. Not major road construction, just a new round about and some streets, but it gave me a chance to ask directions just to be sure we were heading the right way. The worker gave me a weird look, but kindly pointed me on my way. Next thing I know, we are in Loulé. Oh, and our phone had died, and no Sandra, and no idea where in Loulé we were. Cherry on top is that we were hungry, grouchy nasty hungry, and couldn’t decide what to eat in this foreign land.

This is taken in the country outside of Loule, the names of the streets are written in tiles.

Over the next hour or two I was able to find a library, air conditioned, with free internet, they were also nice enough to plug in my cell phone so it would charge. I was able to park Amanda there while I hunted for a phone card to call Sandra. With said card I was able to call Sandra, reaching voice mail, and explain what happened. While making sure the car was parked somewhere safe and find food to eat. With calm tempers we at last made contact with Sandra and agreed to meet her later at her house.

Loulé Mormons, would be a very good way to describe Sandra and Nestor. As if you plucked a good Mormon family from the heart of Provo and plopped them in Loulé, Portugal. They were overly welcoming, kind to be around and generous with everything they had. Dinner was wonderful and the company delightful. Though we had never met, we talked for hours.

Loulé was an area that Amanda had served in all those years back and although she was not there long some of the members there remembered her. Sandra’s mom, Tome, was one of them. Shortly after dinner, her and her husband joined us at Sandra’s home. The mode was wonderful. Mario, Sandra’s mother’s husband, was in the tourism business. He goes about selling books and postcards and such to all the little stores. Hearing about us, he came with his arms full of everything he could grab while leaving the house. Generous gifts all about the Algarve.

As the sun was setting, I was growing tired. It had been a long day and I was done. However, Sandra had something else in mind. Now when one is tired, speaking and understanding a foreign language gets harder. I understood something like ‘go, walk around, park.’ Ok, I thought, I can muster the strength for that, after all, these people are wonderful. ‘Go, walk around, park’ turned out to be an all night festival. (My brain was mush too, but I did understand where they were taking us, lol - Amanda)

It was a great Portuguese festival complete with dancing, music, food, shops and crafts. You’ve heard the phrase, “catch your second wind.” This must have been my fourth or fifth ‘wind’ of the day of a long ‘wind’ catching trip. But it was a lot of fun and I would have been sad to miss it. It was a Portuguese festival, and we were in Portugal just for this kind of thing.

Sandra and Nestor's three cute children Tomas, Natacha and Jonas.

Amanda - It was fun to come back to the Algarve. I had not kept in touch with anyone there and of course prior to our trip had wanted to do a little more research and track people down but it hadn't happened. Paul had made a case with me for trying to rent a room from members of the church. That way we would save some money and also have a chance to practice our language. The travel guide we had been using had also recommended renting "quartos" (rooms) as an affordable accommodation. Paul had found the name of the branch president in Loulé through the church website. He had contacted him and asked for him to recommend any members that might be interested in renting a room to "ex-missionaries". Nestor, the branch president had offered his home to us, but at no charge. As it turned out, I did remember Nestor's mother in law Tome, who had been very kind to us when I was a missionary. Tome's daughter Sandra was inactive at the time and was living with her father, so I had never met her. Tome was extremely welcoming towards us and insisted that she could remember me from my missionary days. It was wonderful to be treated so warmly.

When Sandra and Sandra took us to the feira, they brought all their children along. I thought they were real troopers to have their kids out so late just to entertain visitors, but I've later learned that having kids out at all hours is the norm in Portugal.

Tomas

Day 6 -Lagos

Early of Day 6 we popped in the car and headed out to the coastal town of Lagos. We had heard from Sandra, Tome and Mario the night before that this was a ‘must see’ of any trip to the coast. Not far from Loulé, the town of Lagos was only a quick, and very beautiful, drive. All along the route were lovely vistas of the ocean on one side and beautiful rolling farms on the other.

entrance to the city through the old city wall

Lagos was a town with multiple personalities. In no particular order, it is a fun beach town, with several unique beaches. It is a tourist town with bunches of modern shops, restaurants, street booths, and cafés. It is an old town with stone city walls, narrow streets, ancient churches, and a harbor fort. It’s a harbor town with dozens of yachts, skiffs and sail boats. All of these wrap together and make it a wonderful place to explore.

We parked just outside the old town. It was easy to tell this cause the parking garage was right next to the old stone wall that would have kept pirates and other marauders out 300 years ago. Just inside the wall the streets narrow down to the thinnest dimensions. Two bicycles would have trouble passing on these ‘streets’. Though tiny, the streets were very beautiful. They curved and twisted seeming without reason, while two story buildings walled both sides of the lane. Here and there along the way you’d find a store, a restaurant, or café.

most of the buildings in the Algarve and white with red tile roofs

After a few hours of exploring the town we made our way to the harbor of Lagos. One item on our list was to see the near by Grutas and we needed to hire a boat to take us there. Just next to the harbor we found a few stands where gentlemen were selling boat tours. Being adventurous, Amanda spoke to one, while I chatted up another, this way we could quickly learn how things work and compare notes on which boat service to use. In the end they were different companies doing the same thing, same prices, same tour, but it was still fun to do things in Portuguese.

After a short wait eating gelato at a café over-looking the harbor, oh what a rough vacation, we hopped aboard a little tin motor boat and headed out to sea under the expert care of our Captain “Nemo.” Also signed up at this time was a family of four from Germany. Nemo would speak to us in Portuguese, we’d talk to the mom in English, she’d talk to the kids in German. The Grutas were amazing. I could describe them, but you have to see pictures, or better yet, see them for yourself to experience them.

We left our tour of the Grutas on a real buzz. We’d planned on sitting on the beach for a while to enjoy some sun and sand, but we were far too excited to just sit still. Instead we continued to explore more of the sites and shops of Lagos. It was a beautiful place to spend a beautiful day. Getting hungry we stopped at a take out frango chaurrascada and enjoyed a yummy chicken lunch (4 o’clock) at a park outside the city walls.

We didn't find Portuguese cooking particularly exciting, but one thing we loved on our mission was the barbequed chicken or frango assado (or churrasco). We were always on the lookout for places like this, it was very inexpensive and good.

typical narrow street

The Fifa World Cup ended on the Sunday night that we arrived, but there were still many flags and signs up all over the country.

It was pretty typical to see a mixture of old and new buildings. We saw a lot of old decrepit buildings that should have been torn down.

In Lagos close to the marina. We dressed for the beach, but were so excited to see the grotoes and everything else that we didn't settle down enough to actually lay on the beach. We have decided to make sure that we return to do that!

fort in Lagos

Lagos Marina

Now, we had plans to meet Nestor and his family for an eight o’clock dinner in Loulé. We also wanted to see the little beach town of Salema. We had been reading Rick Steve’s guide to Portugal, and he recommended Salema as a true old style Portuguese town. So after our yummy meal we popped into the car and raced out to Salema.

We took a tour through the grottoes on a small boat. The water was beautiful and weather was warm. We loved the tour and would love to do it again.

Wow, you have to go down a lot of stairs to get to that beach!

sitting with the boat captain "Nemo" - Paul thinks all of the boats have a captain named Nemo

Lagos

After Lagos, we went for a stroll on the beach in Salema, a quiet, non-touristy fishing village.

Tiny would be a good word to describe Salema. On the beach there were maybe a dozen houses, three or for shops and one cabana. Quite would be another good word. We took an hour and walked the beach, took some photos and enjoyed a peaceful moment. I don’t think I’d ever go back to Salema, or recommend it to anyone, but it was nice.

Shaking off the sand we hopped back in the car and drove back to Loulé. Again, the drive back was a nice as the drive there. Day 6 and I was still loving the sites and scenes of a drive in Portugal.

Back at Nestor’s place we rounded up the kids, Mario and Tome and headed off to a small restaurant near the beach in Loulé. We were taking everyone out to dinner to say thank you for all of their hospitality. After a bit we arrived at a nice place named Golfinos, which I believe is Dolphin, in Portuguese. In true Portuguese style it was small, packed, and very noisy with the conversation of people. Dinner was lots of fun. The company was great and the food was very good. I ordered, Beife da Golfino, which translates to ‘Dolphin Stake.’ Yummy, no, it wasn’t dolphin stake; the name of the place was ‘dolphin’ so it was “the house stake.”

Tome and her husband Mario

Paul with Nestor and Tomas

my dinner

Paul's dinner - bife de Golfino. I thought this meant dolphin steak, but Paul said it was beef. The name of the restaurant was Golfino's so it was the house specialty steak.

About the only snag of the night came when we tried to pay the bill. Seems Tome had other ideas about us buying dinner. I insisted over and over again that I was going to pay that bill, and she would have none of it. The poor guy at the till didn’t know what to make of us. After about the tenth go around of insisting I decided to let her win. Last thing I wanted to do was get upset this great friendship. I did however win one point. She could pay for dinner, but I got to pay for dessert!

After a great dinner we all walked the sandy strip down past dozens of shops, restaurants, and stores to a new ice cream place. It was one of those ‘take all you want and weigh the bowl’ kinds of place. Everyone had a great time chatting and eating ice cream. After dinner we all walked and talked along the beach at midnight, I got some great photos using the flash in the dark.

trying to shrink my swollen feet

Day 7 - The Alentejo

The morning of day 7 was bright and beautiful, just like the last 6 days. We packed and readied ourselves for the next leg of our journeys. Nestor, Sandra and the kids were wonderful to stay with and were now new friends to us. Their house was warm and welcoming and Sandra was a great hostess. As if a couple from Provo Utah were plucked and placed in Loulé, Portugal. It was have been wonderful to spend longer there, but we had an agenda planned and wished to keep it.

After a wonderful breakfast we hopped in the car and headed north through more wonder Portugal country side. This time I was trying to avoid the common highways and modern toll roads and tried to seek out back country lanes and roads used for centuries. I had the GPS if we got lost, but used a common map to look for things like vistas and points of interest on our travels north to Evora. The result was fabulous!

One of Portugal’s greatest strengths is its age. It is truly stunning to come across houses, lanes, or bridges that are thousands of years old. These items are often tucked away with little fan fair or perhaps one small sigh pointing in a vague direction.

We drove north winding through Portugal’s southern ‘mountain’ region, large rolling hills really, trying to keep my eyes on the road while trying to stare out the window the whole time. We passed through dozens of tiny towns that consisted of ten or so houses all walling the street surrounded by miles of country side.

We passed through cork tree groves, saw freshly harvested trees and trucks stacked with new cork. We navigated a road so windy it must have switched back on itself 30 times as it wove through the hills. There was a tiny bridge outside a town that was built by the Romans. We saw storks nesting on top of whatever tall structure they could find. We came across a sign that said “barragem”, so not knowing what that was we decided to go exploring. A few kilometers down a dusty dirt road we exited the car and hiked a small hill. Barragem is he Portuguese word for ‘dam.’ Not a real dam, just a small earth wall holding back a very small pond. We had no deadlines today so everything was relaxing. It was times like that, in the middle of nowhere, on a small hill in Portugal where we could stop and thing. “This is totally crazy. I’m on the other side of the world, thousands of miles from family, on some small hill in Portugal.”

We took a very leasurely drive through the Alentejo and enjoyed seeing the countryside.

cork harvesting - Portugal is the leading producer of cork

after the cork has been harvested from the tree, it takes seven years before it can be harvested again.

Beja

Luckily we didn’t hang about the barragem too long cause just a little further down the road was the town of Beja and our first real castle. Castles are wonderful things because first off they are built on top of hills. Then they are built to be mighty and impressive. Last they are built to last forever. So it is a wonder to round a corner or crest a plateau and see this might stone structure dominating the country side.

Now you’d think. “I am here and there is the castle. If I drive towards the castle, that would be the easiest way to get to the castle.” Now remember that the castle was built hundreds of years ago, along with all the building surrounding said castle, including all the streets leading to and from said castle and buildings. Now for a touch of history, did you know that in the building of castles the designers often made the roads leading to the castle such a confusing mess that attackers would waste time and energy just trying to get to the castle?

Bagh, what did we care. We took a dozen photos of town even before we even got near the castle walls. I won’t even go into describing the castle as pictures do it far more justice.

stork nest

more cute Portuguese old people

Portuguese people have very long names, so when you name a street after one, it makes for a very long street name.

Portelo

After Beja we popped into the town of Portello. It too had a castle on a hill. This castle had not kept up with the ticking of time. Its walls were still there but were old and worn. There was no gate door and the insides looked as if had been sacked hundreds of years ago. It was a different kind of beautiful.

Evora

After a full day of adventure and exploring we actually arrived at our destination, Evora. Evora is billed as one of the must see cities of Portugal, and here we are arriving at the end of the day, equally full of excitement and completely drained. I had booked a nice hotel for us as a reward for seven days of hopping from place to place. I think it had all kinds of amenities, pool, sauna, hot tub and so on. But we had no time for any of those silly things. In 14 hours we had to be on the road to Lisbon for church the next day. So we dropped our bags in our room and raced into Evora.

Seeing how our arrival time got us to Evora quite late many of the things to see there were closed. Not to be put out we grabbed our “Rick Steves” book and did the ‘walking tour of Evora.’ Two thumbs up Rick. It was an hour plus stroll through the historic city. It pointed out all types of history, architecture, culture, and shops. The highlight for me was the Roman Temple. All that stands now are a dozen columns about 30 feet high. But they are still showcased in the middle of the town thousands of years after they were first laid down.

To wrap up such an amazing day we did laundry in the bathtub, ate grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, "tosta mistas" (less the cheese for Amanda) and set the alarm clock for early. As tomorrow was another full day.

I would not have changed a thing!

In true Portuguese style we didn’t get to bed till after 1 am.

Roman ruins in Evora dated back to the first century

When you have a garden like this, you'll never have to ask your neighbor to water when you go away.

Costa da Caparica

Amanda : All of the laundry that I washed out in the bath tub last night, rolled in towels and then hung to dry in the bathroom was still quite damp in the morning so I used the back seat of our rental car as a clothes line. The weather was hot and sunny, so I hoped that the hot sun beating through the windows would also dry the clothes. I didn't really want to park for church with our underwear draped over all of the surfaces of our car. We would have had some funny looks!

Paul's journal:
Waking early, again, we packed up the car and headed towards Lisbon. We hoped to arrive in time to attend church with Vera. Because of the set time there were unable to stop at any of the neat places we buzzed past on the road from Evora to Lisbon.

Our timing was perfect and we arrived at the address fifteen minutes early…but there was no church there. We rolled up and down that street several times and could not find the church. Now in Portugal a LDS church could be anything from a large building to a tiny store front. Up and down we rolled and couldn’t see anything. Finally we called Vera so she could come out to the street and show us just where this building was hiding. Sure enough, hiding it was. The actual church building was tucked in behind several apartment buildings and the address pointed to a drive way that looked like an apartment parking lot.

This is the chapel in Costa da Caparica. We had a horrible time finding it because we didn't expect an actual chapel. We assumed it would be in a rented office building.

Church was fun. Well attended and very Portuguese. I was a bit surprised at how un-greeted we were. Church started, church went, and church was over, no big fuss about the foreigners visiting. Afterwards we hung around a bit and explored the building. This took us upstairs where all the ‘leadership’ of the ward was mulling about and it was here that people finally took notice that there were visitors in the building. We had several great conversations with people and made several new friends. Some even offered rooms for next time we visited the country. We in turn shared many of the Canadian memorabilia that we brought just for situation like this.

After church we popped over to Vera’s place for lunch. Again, it was a lot of fun. We sat around the table and talked up a storm. Remembered past mission events, talked of future plans, families, children and so on. That may seem like a full day, but we’ve just gotten started. After lunch we needed to head over to the train station as our final destination for the day was Coimbra.

Irma (sister) Joaquina, she offered us a place to stay. When I gave her a maple leaf pin she mentioned that she liked maple syrup. Lucky for her we had a bottle "para offerecer" (to give away). We think that we might like to take her up on her offer of a place to stay when we come back.

This is Vera's kitchen. She is currently living in her dad's house. She made us some cachupa which is a traditional Cape Verdean dish. Vera is originally from Mindelo on the island of Sao Vicente.

Paul practicing his Portuguese and by swapping mission stories with Vera.

Aguas Livres Aqueduct "Aqueduct of the Free Waters"

Wikipedia states: It is one of the most remarkable examples of 18th-century Portuguese engineering. The main course of the aqueduct covers 18 km, but the whole network of canals extends through nearly 58 km.

The city of Lisbon has always suffered from the lack of drinking water, and King John V decided to build an aqueduct to bring water from sources in the parish of Caneças, in the modern municipality of Odivelas. The project was paid for by a special sales tax on beef, olive oil, wine, and other products. Construction began in 1731.

Construction ended in 1746, it is 36 miles long and has 109 stone arches.

Paul is replenishing his care packages for missionaries. The Reeces peanut butter cups and Kool Aid were a big hit, however the Reeces were completely melted. He had fun handing these American treats out to missionaries we ran into.

Coimbra
Up until this point our travels in Portugal have been pretty tame. We’d done local buses, trains, metro, ferries and such. But it has all been short hops with nothing more then a backpack. Now here we where at a major rail station, loaded down with major suitcases, trying to figure out just where, what, why, when of our train to Coimbra. Know what? It wasn’t that hard. We were old timers at this Portugal travel; in fact, we were even helping some English speakers purchase tickets and find trains to where they were heading.

Trains in Portugal are a great way to travel. Comfy, roomy, quick, and depart frequently. A bit of a pain to lug bags on and off and seating is assigned so sometimes your seat is not the greatest. Over all, can’t complain.

Arriving in Coimbra was AWESOME! This was home turf for me. I’d been here. We grabbed a cab and headed to our hotel. I was multi-tasking the whole time trying to look around at all the memories of Coimbra while also trying to make sure the cab driver was going the right way. In short order we arrived at Hotel D. Luis. It was a very nice place perched on a hill on the Santa Clara side of the river. Amanda had booked the hotel using Air Miles and we really knew nothing of just what to expect, one word, ‘View’. Our room had an amazing view of the city of Coimbra, absolutely fabulous.

Tired from our day of traveling around Portugal we decided not to leave the hotel. We used the internet to Skype call the kids, (first time in 8 days we’ve talked to them.) Then went and had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which again overlooked the city. After dinner we retired to our rooms to rest. I think this was the first time since we arrived that we actually went to bed before 10 pm. Cause again, we had another full day waiting for us tomorrow.

After church we headed out to Coimbra by train. Here's a picture of my cursed Portugal feet. They were swollen and full of blisters because my shoes were now too tight, not very fun with how much walking we were doing. This picture is taken after they had healed a bit, blech.

I booked a hotel in Coimbra through Airmiles and wasn't really too concerned with what we were getting so we were pleasantly surprised with the view from our room.

Ah Coimbra! The memories! It was so nice to be on those streets once again. That morning we walked down the Hotel drive and caught the bus across the river into town. We were able to exit the bus right at the foot of the main plaza. It was here that as a missionary we would head on P-day. It was so nice to see this town again. Amanda and I moved through the street looking at all the shops and stores. Amanda spent quite a bit of time going to all the stands looking for cute things to buy. I was able to browse through Rick Steve’s book and see things on this street that I never knew where there, Historic land marks, Old town walls, and ancient gate entrances. They were always there in my mission days, but I was doing mission things, not sightseeing.

From the main street we walked all over town. Saw the main food market, took an electric elevator, saw some frat houses and then the University of Coimbra. It was really something to walk the halls of a University that was HUNDREDS of years old. From the University we continued our Rick Steve’s tour down through a maze of windy streets, out the ancient gates and arrived back on the main shopping plaza. From there we walked over to a grocery store and lucky us, right next door was a churricara. Juice, chips and fruit from the store, and grill cooked chicken Portuguese style made a great dinner. Fed and tired we still had one last thing on our agenda, tour Santa Clara.

Now when I was a missionary all those years ago, I was not assigned to Coimbra. I had the area of Santa Clara, which is the other side of the river. Think of it as the suburb of Coimbra. Full of chicken dinner we hopped on a bus and used it as our personal limo…kind of like we did back in the mission days. Again, it was really nice to see all the sites from years gone by. All the old apartments, bus stops, hole in the wall markets and cafes. It warmed the hart and the best part was by bus Amanda was able to stay off her feet the whole time. With the check list filled, we went back to the hotel and had some time to rest and relax.

I wanted to take a photo of this cute little old guy locking up his bike, he was taking so much care and time to doo it and I thought he was too cute. I decided it would be rude to just take it. Of course, when I asked he said that I could but then posed for the picture. I think if I had a really big telephoto I could take some better shots.

All the missionaries love the Portuguese pastry shops.

bolos!

students from the University of Coimbra dressed in their traditional robes

organ in the cathedral

Are the glass walls to discourage people from sinning or from confessing?

bacalhau - dried salted cod

"beware of the dangerous dog"

Porto

The Caldwell family from Utah. They moved to Portugal to set up a chiropractor practice. We are grateful for their kind hospitality. They have since moved back to the States.

Come morning we checked out of our wonderful hotel, called a cab and headed back to the Coimbra train station. (Do remember that train station are full of missionary memories.) From there we boarded the train heading north to Porto. All along the way my noise was pressed against the glass looking for towns I knew along the way. I haven’t taken this route in 17 years and I didn’t want to miss a thing.

Arriving at the Campanha station was another ‘home coming’ for me. (Remember that train station bit.) Trains were how we missionaries moved about. We’d often have to wait around one for a few hours waiting for the right train to come and go. So stations were moments of time alone in the mission to reflect on just where we were and what we were doing.

Campanha was also in on of my areas as a mission, also just down the street from the mission home. So I was immediately able to start pointing out book stores and markets that I visited all those years back. Not going over board, as we still had all of our luggage with us, we did the quick walk to the metro and then off towards our destination.

Now we were heading to the Caldwell’s apartment. As with everything in our Portuguese adventure, we’ve never met the Caldwells before. Months before I had spoke with the current Porto Mission President about places to stay. He pointed me to them and I had called them up. Now Elder Caldwell had served his mission around the same time I had. Names were familiar, but we’d never really met. But they had offered for us to stay with them, so they really had to be nice people.

We found the apartment easy enough and after a brief wait Bro. Caldwell arrived home. Funny enough, we must have talked for twenty minutes right there at the bottom of the stairs to the apartments. We were really getting going before I mentioned that we might actually want to go upstairs. Upstairs we met Bro. Caldwell's wife, and the talking continued. We must have talked for hours, gab gab, gab. Like long lost friends that hadn’t spoken in years. If we didn’t have a list of ‘things to see’ that day, I’m sure we would have talked all that day.

Full of smiles we left the Caldwell’s place and headed for our first stop, the Porto Mission Office. Now Porto had changed a bit from my days, for one thing there was an underground Metro now. 17 years ago travel was foot, bus, or taxi. Now the Metro is fast, cheap, and everywhere, few steps out the Caldwell door, Metro on, Metro off, few steps to the Mission Office. Where the Caldwells were waiting for us…..Wha?

Inside the bookstore "Livraria Lello e Irmao", all of the woodwork is actually painted plaster. This place was amazing.

stained glass in the bookstore

The outside of the Lello Bookstore

inside the Porto mission home

outside the Porto mission home

Now, we had told the Caldwells that for their wonderful hospitality we were going to treat their family to dinner one night while we were there. They had graciously agreed. However, seems that when we stepped out the door they realized that tonight was actually the best night to make this happen, so they buzzed over in their car to catch us. Now this impressed us. We like people of action who take us up on our offers and not sluff off our overtures of gratitude. However, this did lead to at least another hour of chatting.

The Mission Office was a joy to see again. Well, mostly it was the missionaries and the President and his Wife. Lucky us as they both were there. We dispensed our gifts of kool-aid, Recess Peanut butter Cups, and Peanut butter for the President’s wife. After much chatting Sister Walton invited us to visit the mission home. YEA! We walked along the same sidewalks that I had walked all those years back as a missionary with mere hours in the country. Then to the mission home where I first met President and Sister Brown, memories, memories, memories. Sis Walton was very gracious and allowed us to wander at will. Again we talked for hours about everything and I’m sure we could have talked for hours more. But our time was short and we wanted to fit in a few more things before meeting the Cadwells for dinner that night.

We took the metro into the heart of Porto and wandered the streets, saw the famous book store, the Sao Bento train station with incredible tile murals that would be more fitting for a museum and then to the tourism office so we could map out our bus tour of the city and boat tour of the Duro River. With everything in hand we met up with the Cadwells and headed off for dinner…..Chinese food.

All you can eat Chinese food buffet. Not the best Chinese I’ve ever had, but quite good. I went back for thirds and fourths, so I clearly got my moneys worth. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the conversation went on for hours. Fat and happy we walked the streets back to the house chatting the whole way. It was a very good day.

Day 11 -Driving Around Paul's Mission Areas

Vila do Conde
Matar sauldades, or in English, killing the longing for memories past. Early morning Amanda and I rented a car with the plan to do a whirl wind tour of several areas of my mission. With our GPS ready we headed north to our first stop, Vila do Conde.

Vila do Conde was my second area of my mission. I had great memories of the sandy streets and salt tossed air. Thou the area had changed from a sleepy fishing village to more of a condos on the beach a lot of the heart still remained. It was really great to see those streets again, the roman aquifers, the ocean, and the beach. From Vila do Conde we moved off to Familicao.

Convent

Famalicao

Familicao was one of the harder areas of my mission, if not the hardest. So it was great to walk those streets again. To show Amanda where my apartment was, our little chapel, train station, Fornication Park, the gypsy slums. It was also crazy to see how it had changed. I mean, there was now a McDonalds in Familicao, there can’t be a McD’s there. Not in Familicao. From Familicao we headed north to Chaves, the top of Portugal.

This is a gypsy (segano) neighborhood

Chaves

Chaves holds a warm place in my heart. It was here that I turned from an unsure missionary to one with confidence and experience. It was so nice that Amanda and I got out of the car and did a lot of walking all around the town. We saw the old apartment with the chapel on the ground floor, (now it was business). From there we saw the Simply Red restaurant, a place we’d go to have a good ‘American’ style hamburger and chat in English to the South African owner. We walked across the river bridge, and even the stepping stone ‘bridge’. Walked the town, the square, post office and even saw the tiny ‘office supply store’ where we’d get your paper stuffs. I even recognized the owner and her daughter. Feeling brave, I entered the store to try and start a conversation. I introduced myself by asking if they remembered the young American boys with white shirts that used to live in the area, as Chaves no longer has missionaries working there. She replied, ‘Yes, the Elders.’ I replied, “I used to be one of those Elders seventeen years ago. I remember coming to your store often.” She replied with a blank stare, like “So what do you want, a cookie?”

We finished our walk around Chaves, cause by now Amanda’s feet were done once again, and made for the car. Having done all I wanted to do that day we had one extra thing on our list. Some where just south of us was the Douro Valley. This valley was famous for its vineyards. So with just a few hours of sunlight left I started racing south.

Paul used to eat here as a special treat when he was serving in Chaves. When we went to go inside we found it had recently shut down. We were a bit disappointed.

This is another spot where only photos will do. The vineyards in this valley region are amazing. They are carved in terraces onto every hill for miles. The fading light put the most wonderful glow onto the hills and lit the rows and lines and terraces just right. It may seem odd, but the freeway cutting through the area had the best views. I was pulling over ever few yards and Amanda just never stopped taking pictures.

With our memories fill and once again good and tired we headed back to the hospitality of the Caldwells and another good night sleep.

Day 12

Porto was a nice slow day.

We left the Caldwell house and used the metro to get to the Sao Bento area. From there we purchased a ticket to use the Red Bus, so called because it is red. The Red Bus is a tourist bus that drives throughout the city. All along the way an automated attendant spoke about all the sights that were along the way. Any time during the tour you are allowed to exit, explore, then board again. It was really nice to be chauffeured about the city, put our feet up and enjoy some sun.

I really don’t know where the day went but soon it was time for our river cruise. When we purchased our Red Bus ticket we got a deal on a boat tour of the river Duro. Smaller then the Lisbon boat tour, it was again low key and calm. The tour went up and back, showing off all the bridges connecting Porto together. The Porto valley is quite deep, with the city lining both sides of the valley, so the view from the river is very nice.

Done with our river cruise we combined walking home with hitting all the shops along the way. Port has a wonderfully long avenue that is for foot traffic only, lined with shops upon shops.

Tired and happy we arrived back home at the Caldwells and resumed chatting for hours.

Day 13

Today was the day we scheduled to head back to Lisbon, but our train wasn’t leaving till the afternoon. Given that we had time for a little more sight seeing in Porto. I opened the Rick Steve’s Portugal book, Porto chapter, and looked for the item with the most stars, thus being the most recommended. Listed there was the “Porto Stock Exchange.”

The Stock Exchange was located right down town next to the Sao Bento train station, the same area we’d been running around in the last few days. Now, the word ‘stock exchange’ my draw up all kinds of images, and they would be all wrong. The Porto Stock Exchange would better be described as a Moroccan Palace. One of the rooms in this wonderful building was built solely to intimidate foreign business men as to the power and wealth of the Porto business machine. It deserved all the stars Rick gave it.

Sao Bento train station

With Porto done we grabbed our bags from the Cadwells and made for the train station. The train took us all the way to Lisbon. There we used the metro to take us to a second train for our final stop, Costa da Caparica. Vera had offered us the use of ‘her’ place. Vera’s dad had to go out of town at the last minute so she had room for us. We like that idea as it saved us a hundred Euro on hotels. Tired and well traveled we arrived at the train station in the early evening.

Outside the train station Vera was not to be found. She knew we were arriving today, she knew where we were arriving, she knew that we were expecting her, she knew she was our ride to her place, but there was no Vera. Putting Amanda on a bench I found a pay phone and called her a few times, no Vera. I kind of knew where we were and kind of knew that Vera’s house was near by. I’ve got a good memory for things like that, so if I started walking I could probably find her place. Problem now was I had a wife with busted feet and a bunch of luggage. There’s no way we could get there from here with out some help.

O Elder! May seem unreal, but there we were, just at this point where we couldn’t possibly continue on with out some help and who did we see at the train station? Two young American boys with white shirts, ties and a name tag that read Elder. Flagging them down we explained our situation and they were happy to help (they recognized us from church the previous Sunday when we had sweetened them with Reeces and Koolaid). Luggage rolling behind we headed off into the unknown looking for Vera’s house.

I remember driving across a bridge, a left here a right here a narrow tight street there, but we weren’t quite in the right area. All the while we walked we talked to the Elders and they, using their cell phone tried everyone they could think of to either one, find Vera or two, learn her address. After a good long time of this we finally got a hold of Vera! “Why are you guys walking all over? You should have called me.” ‘We did call you, but you didn’t answer.” “Oh, my cell phone was running low so I turned it off this morning.”……oh.

With Vera found we got to her place, stashed our bags and headed out into the night. We hooked up with more of her friends and drove out to a little restaurant somewhere in the Caparica area. There we talked and ate and talked some more. For the future there are three things we need to remember about Portugal. One, dinner at ten at night is normal. Heading out for a busy evening at ten is normal. If you’re going to hang out with some Portuguese people that night, get in a good nap earlier in the day. Two, just because you check with the owner of a restaurant before you order your food, that they accept your type of credit card, doesn’t mean the card will work when you try to pay. Several times on the trip we’d gone to pay and they it turns out they do not take our type of card. We even started checking, and still got caught short several times. Pack along extra cash, in fact, we found that the exchange rates we were getting from bank machines were very fair, plus the fee was quite low, much better then running out of cash, or pulling out four or five hundred at a go.

Finally three, after several days of traveling, and another adventure late into the night, the foreign brain can no longer do the Portuguese language. Amanda and I had been very, very pleased with how quickly the Portuguese language came back to us. We had been traveling in Portugal for two weeks and not once had been hindered do to language. Shops, stores, tourist booths, bus drivers, strangers on the street all complimented us on how well we spoke the language. Sure, we were not perfect, no where near, but we spoke and communicated. But when the brain is tired, English get hard and Portuguese very hard. Finally on this night we could barely string two words together. Our brains fried and tongues tied we called it a night and headed for bed.

Day 14.
Lisbon Once More!!

Looking down from the top of the Monument to the Discoveries.

Just to give you an idea how large the explorers on the monument are.

Padrao dos Descobrimentos

The last day in the country we had planned on doing all the things in Lisbon that we didn’t do the first few days there. First on our list was the Torre de Belem. We’d seen this sucker up on side and down the other. Near and far, from outside the main door and from the river, but we always seemed to miss getting inside and that was just what day 14 was about. Also on our list was to walk the historic Alfama area with Rick Steves as our guide, then to end the day with dinner and entertainment at the Clube Fado.

The weather was once again perfect. The sun was bright and strong, but not over powering. Enough to let you know that summer was in full swing, but not to hot to make you hide inside. The Torre was the perfect venue as it was next to the river and being made of stone nice and cool inside. We took our time going from room to room looking over all the nice stone work and admiring the windows with stone benches perfect for relaxing.

We then took the bus over to the Alfama area of Lisbon, hitting a few shops along the way, and just as Rick told us we used the bus to climb the giant hill that used to be the strong point of Lisbon’s defense. From there we were able to walk down hill to all the sites in the area, finally ending up just outside the Clube Fado.

Fado is a Portuguese style of music. Ladies sing ‘the blues’ while a small string band accompanies. It is slow and classical in nature and we enjoyed it while we were there. One thing we did not do was remember rule number one. Things usually do not get started till late in Portugal. Being the Americans we were, we made our dinner reservations at 8 pm. So for a good hour we sat alone in the restaurant all by ourselves. Being strangers in a strange land it was awkward. Sure I lived there as a missionary, but I didn’t learn restaurant skills. So we stalled the waiter for a good while and had a few drinks, which were expensive, but finally the crowds showed up and we felt comfortable ordering. After a nice dinner, I was getting good now at ordering a meat dish instead of some kind of mystery seafood, the entertainment arrived.

The mood was cheerful and the singers were very good. It was a wonderful Portuguese experience to wrap up a great Portuguese trip. We departed the restaurant around eleven, to the wonderment of the staff and headed for the commuter train home. Portugal would not be Portugal without Portuguese people. On the train we were greeted by a swarm of football fans on the way home from an even. They were overly friendly and quite chatty. They asked us all about ourselves and told us all about them, their team, and on and on. Wonderful Portugal.

Day 15…..Home.

We planned our flight home in the afternoon so we wouldn’t have a mad dash to the airport at some crack of dawn hour. So it was really nice to have a calm morning of packing those last minute things, eating a nice breakfast and then loading the car. Vera is such a funny girl that she was more comfortable with me driving her car to the airport then for her to drive, so I did. Again it was another great sunny day; again Amanda was hands on with her camera and popped 40+ shots just on our last drive through Lisbon. Some were quite nice of an old stone aqua duct that runs through the city. At the airport we said our goodbyes to Vera and made our way to our flights.

It was just an amazing trip. Probably the best part would be all the people we have to thank for making the trip so much fun.

Nanny and Grandad who watched our kids.

The Schortinghuises taking us too and from the airport.

Vera for helping us with rides at the Lisbon airport and for introducing us to a bunch of new friends.

Maezinha for giving up her bed for us and feeding us and then allowing us to come back when we messed up with our car reservation.

Irma Joaquina for offering us her house (maybe next time we'll take her up on it).

Nestor, Sandra, Tome, and Mario, and the kids for making their home feel so welcoming.

The Caldwell’s for a nice place to stay and the hours we spent with them.

The Mission Presidents, their wives and all the missionaries we met along the way.

Can’t wait for next year!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Portugal 2010!

1 comment: