A knock on the door an hour later, and we reunited with Anna’s family: parents Mark and Donna and brother Peter, fresh off the plane from home. We went out to a late celebration dinner, then collapsed in sleep.
The next morning, Donna said that we had to try the Portuguese custard tarts, so we bought a few along with espressos, picked up our spacious VW Passat rental wagon and zoomed off toward the tiny town of Penedo, west of Lisbon and nearer the coast. We were expecting a nice leisurely drive, but instead got hair raising turns and two-way streets that only let one car by at a time! We made it to our Casa de Artistes, an older-style Portuguese house, then went straight down to the center of Colares, the town just south of us, to check out a local festival that was going on that weekend. We were starving, and one of the two places to eat was at a booth that ended up serving us chicken livers, snails in the shell, and sangria.
We picked through our food, not being sure if we liked the snails or not, met the town priest, as well as a nice British woman by the name Agnes Anderson, and watched our new priest friend lead a church processional up the street.
We then went to a weekend market of fruits and vegetables, where we picked up some supplies for the following days.
Then next day, we drove to the beach town of Ericeira, enjoyed the ocean scenery, ate a wonderful seafood lunch, and saw another church processional down the street. Then, it was time to do some sightseeing, so we got up early the next day to drive into Sintra, a little inland of Penedo. There, we visited the Palacio Nacional de Pena, and the Moorish Castle, both perched high atop the mountains overlooking the coastline. The Palacio was a bit Disneyland-ish, but interesting nonetheless, and the Moorish Castle made you feel like you were back defending your people against invaders:
We also got the satisfaction of standing at the western-most point of continental Europe!
We’d eat dinner, drink some good Portuguese wine and port, then tuck ourselves in, in our upstairs bedrooms.
Like all the other regional tourists, we spent a day at the beach (Praia de Macas) on one of the only beach-worthy days, and dined at restaurants where Ryan had to practice his somewhat-Portuguese Spanish. We also visited the Palace in Mafra, north of Penedo, which had an outstanding preserved library complete with resident bats that eat the bugs that would otherwise ruin the books!
We visited a market outside of Mafra, where we bought our lunch of salami, cheese, bread, fruits, and wine - these items were a consistent lunchtime staple throughout our Portugal visit. The next day we drove to Obidos, an ancient walled city with some sketchy non hand-railed walkways high above the city:
Afterwards, we wanted to do some wine tasting, but following the map we had, there was only one open tasting room, which had some good wine which again accompanied our consistent lunchtime staples.
Our stay in Portugal was winding down, so the next day consisted of visiting Agnes Anderson, an 1800’s-style English lady who we had met the first day, and who owns an old wine making estate. We got a tour of her unused winemaking barns and the old house she lives in. Then we chowed down on sausage rolls from a stand at the weekend market that we’d been eyeing since the previous weekend. Our last outing was to the Queluz Palace, a summer house for royalty that even had its own manmade canals for the pleasure of its residents.
Our last day in Portugal was spent doing chores and last minute things, and then it was already time to say goodbye to Anna's family! Peter would be going back to Babson College the following Monday, and the parents back to their jobs (which we'll be looking for in a couple weeks!) so we were going to be back on our own. It was so wonderful seeing and spending time with people we know, and thank you so much Mom, Dad, and Peter for giving us a "vacation from our vacation!"
We picked through our food, not being sure if we liked the snails or not, met the town priest, as well as a nice British woman by the name Agnes Anderson, and watched our new priest friend lead a church processional up the street.
We then went to a weekend market of fruits and vegetables, where we picked up some supplies for the following days.Then next day, we drove to the beach town of Ericeira, enjoyed the ocean scenery, ate a wonderful seafood lunch, and saw another church processional down the street. Then, it was time to do some sightseeing, so we got up early the next day to drive into Sintra, a little inland of Penedo. There, we visited the Palacio Nacional de Pena, and the Moorish Castle, both perched high atop the mountains overlooking the coastline. The Palacio was a bit Disneyland-ish, but interesting nonetheless, and the Moorish Castle made you feel like you were back defending your people against invaders:
Our next day consisted of visiting the Capuchos Convent, otherwise known as the Cork Convent, an old stone complex with cork lining the windows and doors for insulation. It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind place.
Monserrate, with its expansive gardens and summer house was our favorite, as its less fussy rooms and big wood library we could imagine “summering” in.
We also got the satisfaction of standing at the western-most point of continental Europe!
and buying a 5 liter jug of wine for only 4 euros!
At the end of each day, we would drive our wagon (which got around 55 mpg!) home through the narrow streets, honk as we arrived at our driveway on a curve, and then be greeted by a friendly Siamese cat that made herself at home our entire stay:
We’d eat dinner, drink some good Portuguese wine and port, then tuck ourselves in, in our upstairs bedrooms.Like all the other regional tourists, we spent a day at the beach (Praia de Macas) on one of the only beach-worthy days, and dined at restaurants where Ryan had to practice his somewhat-Portuguese Spanish. We also visited the Palace in Mafra, north of Penedo, which had an outstanding preserved library complete with resident bats that eat the bugs that would otherwise ruin the books!
We visited a market outside of Mafra, where we bought our lunch of salami, cheese, bread, fruits, and wine - these items were a consistent lunchtime staple throughout our Portugal visit. The next day we drove to Obidos, an ancient walled city with some sketchy non hand-railed walkways high above the city:
Afterwards, we wanted to do some wine tasting, but following the map we had, there was only one open tasting room, which had some good wine which again accompanied our consistent lunchtime staples.Lisbon was just a short drive away from our little hilltop, so we hopped in the car to visit the city. We visited the Castelo de Sao Jorge, which was nowhere as cool as the Moorish Castle, Anna got bird-pooed on at lunch, and by that time we were a little over Lisbon. It’s a big city with the usual big city happenings. On our way out, we explored the Tower of Belem, a watch tower built by the ocean, and then drove the long, scenic way home.
Our stay in Portugal was winding down, so the next day consisted of visiting Agnes Anderson, an 1800’s-style English lady who we had met the first day, and who owns an old wine making estate. We got a tour of her unused winemaking barns and the old house she lives in. Then we chowed down on sausage rolls from a stand at the weekend market that we’d been eyeing since the previous weekend. Our last outing was to the Queluz Palace, a summer house for royalty that even had its own manmade canals for the pleasure of its residents.Our last day in Portugal was spent doing chores and last minute things, and then it was already time to say goodbye to Anna's family! Peter would be going back to Babson College the following Monday, and the parents back to their jobs (which we'll be looking for in a couple weeks!) so we were going to be back on our own. It was so wonderful seeing and spending time with people we know, and thank you so much Mom, Dad, and Peter for giving us a "vacation from our vacation!"
