ADVENTURES IN PORTUGAL & SPAIN - Day 3

March 23, 2009

Our day started at 9:00 with a guided sightseeing tour of Lisbon with Raphaella, our local guide. In Portugal, R’s are pronounced liked Hs, so Raphaella was pronounced Haphaella. Raphaella also taught us the word for very strong espresso "BICA", which Ceil and I tried often.



Raphaella showing us the Explorers map in Belem.

To quote from the GoAhead Guide “recall the great explorers from Portugal’s past as you stroll the riverside Belém precinct, and visit Ajuda Palace, a former royal residence. Travel through the narrow streets of the Moorish Alfama district, along the Tagus River, and into the Barrio Alto”, which is exactly what we did. I was awed by the narrow streets that are still used by cars (very small cars).


Ceil, Pat & I at the Belem Tower






The afternoon was on our own. We “wandered the streets” of Lisbon and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. No running to keep up with our guide, no having to be at a specific location at a specific time. Leisure time really was leisure time.


strolling Lisbon's version of the Champs Elysee



the tram to the top of the Barrio Alto. The picture does not do the incline justice.


Overlooking Lisbon from the Barrio Alto


Wandering tourists seeking liquid refreshment


and, the obligatory stop at the Hard Rock


Day 3 Evening was spent at a traditional Portuguese tavern listening to “the beautiful and haunting strains of fado music”, one of the oldest urban folk music in the world.



a good time was had by all

ADVENTURES IN PORTUGAL & SPAIN - Day 2

March 22, 2009 - Lisbon

Our guide, Roberta, was waiting for us at the airport. We were in and out of there quickly, amazed that we did not have to clear Customs again. As long as the countries visited are in the European Union, tourists only have to hit Customs at the point of entry.

Roberta was a doll. She was from Brazil, but lived in Spain and spoke fluent Portuguese. She quickly became one of the girls.




After dropping us off at our hotel, we had time to get settled, then met back downstairs for a quick briefing. There were 15 in our group, but 10 more travelers were added to bring us to 25, a very manageable number…and all adults!

Roberta gave us options for the afternoon on our own. She strongly recommended the Museu Gulbenkian which was within walking distance and free on Sunday. Several of us took off for the museum and FINALLY found what we thought was the correct museum. What we found was the Modern Art museum and weren’t real impressed with the display of “arranged chairs” or the “toilet paper roll” sculpture. We got a little too close to the toilet paper rolls and were admonished by the guard. Feeling totally uninspired, we wandered the grounds and found the cafeteria. After lunch about half of us went back to the hotel. The other half actually found the real museum…right behind the cafeteria. Apparently it was worth the hunt.

Our first night, we had a welcome dinner with traditional Portuguese food. What stands out was the egg and cod mixture that is a company tradition in Portugal. I at least tasted it.

ADVENTURES IN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN - Day 1

March 21, 2009 - the Flight Over

My day started, technically, at 2:15am, when Lark dropped me at Pat G’s house to wait for our driver, Virginia. From there we went to Riverbank to pick up Barbara. Arrived in Sacramento at the required time of 4:15 AM! The flight left at 6:30am. I pissed off the gate guy immediately by informing him that I am allergic to Peanuts. He was pissed because I hadn’t notified them earlier. I tried to explain that I just found out a week ago, but he wasn’t pacified. When the airlines are notified, in time, they order extra pretzels for the passengers 3 rows up and 3 rows back, who aren’t served peanuts. Luckily most of those passengers were our group, who knew about my allergy and who gave me a bad time, most of the trip.

Met Pat S and Jennifer in Atlanta. Other than a really long flight, everything went fine. My one compensation for the long flight was the cute French guy sitting next to me, who spoke very little English.

Paris – Charles DeGaulle Airport. I think we walked the entire perimeter. We were filtered through Customs since this was our first port of entry into Europe. That went smooth. To get to our hop to Lisbon we had to walk and walk and walk…to get to a bus that took us to the plane out on the Tarmac. The bright spot – the plane was not full and we all got our own row of seats.