Flying to Europe is painful. But much like having a baby you forget the pain when you start to enjoy the ‘fruits of your labor’

               

Lisboa was a very pleasant surprise. It is much more than we expected. It’s vibrant, modern & very antique at the same time.  The city is easily accessible even without a command of Portuguese.

Our lodgings are modest, but perfectly located in the historical center of town. Our first evening here we wandered out for dinner before returning home to sleep off the sleepless night in flight.

Friday we set off to explore Lisbon’s neighborhoods. We rode a trolley up to Largo Das Portal Del Sol, and it was truly the window to sun. We had a sunny day to walk around the Alfama, winding streets filled with shops, homes, and a church at every other corner.

At the Castle of St. George we met a new friend, Marco, from Berlin. He is very bright young man who loves history & to talk! When it started to sprinkle a little he invited us for a cup of coffee. We returned to the Portal Del Sol and sat in the sun at a very upscale coffee shop overlooking the river. Marco was trying to reach a friend of his from Serbia, Diana.

Our next stop was Belem on the train.

Diana hopped on near her flat and joined us as we visited a most amazing church, Monastery of Jeronimo,

 followed by the Monument of the Discoveries 

 ending up at the Belem Tower.

We shared a coffee/wine stop with Marco & Diana before parting ways so that we could return to Lisbon for dinner while the younger couple went out for the night.

Most amazingly to me, Diana was given a scholarship to study wine making from the European Union. She spent one year in the south of France & during these last year she defended her dissertation in Portugal. She demonstrated wine tasting Shana's house wine; her expression at the end of the demo was priceless!

On the way back into town Shana & I asked Diana all kinds of questions about growing up in a Communist, then Socialist country now turned Free Market. She reminisced about the ‘good old days’ when everyone in her village turned out to help build a factory in her village with pride.

Today, Saturday, March 23^rd, we took a train ride to Sintra. 

What a place! 

         This is a place where kings & queens vacationed.

We toured a 1000-year-old Moorish fortress in a rain forest environment. 

Afterwards, we went to the tip-top of the mountain to visit the Pena Palace, built for romantic King Ferdinand. What a magical place.

I was most impressed by my mom today! Go Shana Jan! 

We hiked uphill for miles and she was a total trouper!! 

I hope I can maintain such stamina!