Bem-vindo a Portugal!

Ola to our Portugal adventure (with a dash of Spain added)!

We'll travel on land and eastward on the Douro River--starting in Lisbon (Lisboa to the locals).

We love having you along with us as we explore the culture, architecture, history, and of course, the food of these countries. We have been blogging for 22 years and this blog represents our 22nd blog entry--not bad considering 2 years of stay-at-home adventures.  If you're new here, know that you'll get all the advantages of travel plus some attitude--with none of the hassles. And we are always happy to get your comments, especially if you have visited any of these places. 

Here is the official Tauck itinerary. But, as usual, we have added a number of special side trips and activities! We'll note those as we go along. 

Monday and Tuesday, August 7-8, 2023

We flew to Lisbon via D.C.  The temps were at 100 the last few days, but are predicted to be in the 80s this week (whew!). And the Pope was here over the weekend, but he left town before our arrival. The actual tour does not start until tomorrow night (we always get in a day ahead just to be safe), so we had some free time to wander around. 

Our hotel is located in central Lisbon, right across the street from the Parque Eduardo VII. Apparently, this was where the Pope had a large gathering, as workers were still taking down the temporary stands and crowd barricades.  

One of the first things we noticed on our walk was that the sidewalks (and some streets) are mostly made of paving stones. These are not the large rounded cobbles that we might see at home (or the jagged and somewhat scary pavers in New Orleans), but rather each is a stone cube about 3" on a side. There must be 10s of millions of them! We'll be careful but don't feel like we're taking our lives in our hands with each step! 

And in the park are two pathways that are about 20 yards wide and run the entire length, and the stones are set in designs of lighter and darker ones! Think of the man-hours this must have taken to construct!

In the distance is a statue of Eduardo overlooking the Tagus River.

We were mostly out to stretch our legs after the looooong travel day, but of course, we did have one destination in mind: Crush Donuts.  It was fairly close by (how fortunate!), but we did have to experience some of Lisbon's hills along the way. 

 

Beautiful and very sweet (the donuts and the taster!).

                                                     

Then we headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We wanted authentic local seafood, and the concierge recommended 5 Oceanos. This required a cab ride, and along the way our driver pointed out many of the tiled walls. Tile is really big in Portugal. Some of the walls were just very pretty colorful patterns, others represented scenes from the town's 800 years of history. Alas, we could not get any pix as we were zooming by. 

5 Oceanos was right on the edge of the Tagus. 

There is a large statue of Christ (similar to Christ the Redeemer in Rio) on the other side, and a bridge, linking that peninsula, which was built with US materials by the same company that built the Golden Gate Bridge! Note the similarities, though this one also has a deck for trains!

The restaurant did not disappoint. Note: our tour packet included this important nugget: restaurants in Portugal will often bring you a basket of bread and a plate of olives....just like they do at home. But here they charge you for it! So it is perfectly fine to say "nao abrigado" (no thanks) if you don't want it. 

We started with a plate of fried whitebait. You eat the entire fish, head and all!

Then Wendy had Dourada escalada, dorado. Delectable, with a coating of salt....so very fresh. 

Wayne had the Catapana de Bacalhau com Arnejoas......cod and clams stew! Filled with potatoes, peppers, onions and little tiny clams! So delicious, but there was easily enough there for 3 people!

Then, we walked down the pier and had some outstanding ice cream...pistachio for her chocolate for him....

then back to the hotel to try to catch up on our sleep before the tour officially starts tomorrow.

Interesting factoid: Portuguese is much different than Spanish, but to our ears sounds similar to Polish! A Google check shows that we are not the first to notice this. However, the "similarity" is only in some of the sounds, as the two languages have entirely different origins and etymologies. 

Ate mais tarde (see you later)!

love, 

w&w 

Sintra

 Wednesday, August 9, 2023

The Tauck tour starts tonight with the standard welcoming dinner. Although with this group of about 60 people, it may be slightly different than we are accustomed to (our groups are normally about 15 - 25 people). So to fill the day we had previously booked a day tour through Tours By Locals. We have used them in other places and the tours are always top notch.

Our tour guide, Gloria, picked us up at 9:30 and we headed north to Sintra. This ENTIRE TOWN is a UNESCO World Heritage site, due to its collection of castles, palaces, and its special ecosystem (the first place to be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its ecosystem). 

Sintra has seen occupation by the Romans, the Moors, and even an attempted invasion by Norwegians, until it was finally taken once and for all by Alfonso Henriques in 1154. Much of the town was severely damaged by the massive earthquake in 1755.

The two main attractions now are the Pena National Palace and the Sintra National Palace. Both started as summer homes for the royalty, and were added to and remodeled over the centuries. We only had time to visit one. Gloria explained that the former (the model for the Cinderella castle in Germany) has that "this is a palace" look from the outside, but the inside is rather plain. The latter, is not so impressive from the outside (except for its two 100 meter tall massive chimneys), but the inside is quite impressive. So (despite Wendy's FOMO concerns), we went for the latter. This palace was originally built in the 15th century.

Yes.....those are chimneys!

Here we are standing in an archway near the entrance. On the top of the hill behind us is the Moorish castle.

Gloria explained that technically a "castle" is the wall or fortification, and the "palace" is where the royalty actually lives. We tend to use these words interchangeably

For a hundred years or so, this palace was the center of economic and legal administration throughout the region. As we noted in yesterday's post, tiles are big in Portugal. So as you might expect in a palace, nearly every room we visited (and some of the outside walls) had beautiful tiles on the walls. Many were geometric patterns, others featured leaves symbolizing the various plants in the area, and others were like giant mosaic paintings!

We learned that most of the tiles are 14 cm square. Why? In the old days, you didn't order say, 100 tiles. You would order sheets of clay by the meter. 14 x 7 = 98, which is almost 100cm (e.g., 1 meter). So you could get 49 squares out of that. 

Here are some examples:

This is "The Magpies Chamber", because of the 136 magpies painted on the ceiling. The story behind this is that King Joao was once caught in the act of kissing a lady-in-waiting by Queen Philippa and to put a stop to all the ensuing gossip he had the room decorated with as many magpies as there were women at the court (136) with the immortal words por bem (for honor) written over their beaks! Those wacky kings!!!

This tile is one made using the "relief" technique, where the glazing colors (made from natural elements such as copper and iron oxide) were applied to the raised areas.

The next group of pix is from the Heraldic Hall, deigned by and for King Manuel I. 

Remember: all of these were made by hand! Truly impressive

These next photos are from "The Water Grotto". This is a small building off of an outside courtyard. The courtyard itself had a shallow pool, but that was mostly used for the cooling effect of the water as opposed to actual swimming. So the royals and their guests would go into this room. Why? It may be hard to see, but there are hundreds of holes in these tiles, and water would be pumped through these to create what we might call a spa shower!  Just imagine!!!!

We left the palace and walked into the town itself. Yes...one of those medieval towns with the narrow winding "streets" (all cobblestones of course!). 

 

 And, the "Jewish Street"--the only remaining sign of the Jewish population in Sintra. (More on the Jewish history of Portugal after our Thursday afternoon tour.) 

We had been told by many people that the special thing to eat in Portugal is the pastries. There are so many different fillings. Too many to try to remember, so here is a post from another blogger that has already done so. So we HAD to stop in at Piriquita....a bakery that has been turning these out since the 1830s. That is not a typo....1830s!

Our driver Andre treated us to a half dozen queijadas (almond egg custard cookies; top left in the photo). They were  amazing. 

A final view of the palace as we drove out of town.

We then drove toward the ocean. It was about a 20 minute ride. In the time of the monarchs, this would have been an 8 hour carriage ride.

The most notable point here is Cabo da Roca (Cape Roca). This is the westernmost point of continental Europe.

Hard to see from where we were, but there is a lighthouse at the top, one of several along this part of the coast. 

We drove farther along into the town of Cascais (in Portuguese, it is pronounced cahsh-cah-eesh). This town also started as a seaside retreat for the royals and nobility, in this case King Luis I in the 1870s. It is now a resort town and has one of the highest cost of living and real estate markets in the country. 

Here is a photo of some nobles currently visiting:

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the kick-off dinner. Along the way, we asked Gloria about the Portuguese language. She said it has 7,500 different sounds...way more than English. She explained some of the rules...."s" between two vowels has the "sh" sound....you can't have 3 consonants in a row (like we do in "street")...and lots of different vowel sounds. The alphabet has 23 letters, no "w", no "y" and surprisingly, no "k". So we would be Ouendi and Ouaine!! Languages are so much fun.

Our Welcoming dinner was at the Queluz (Quel-ooz) National Palace. This was the last great Rococo building built in Europe (mid-eighteenth century). It was another summer getaway place for the King and his court. It is often referred to as "the Portugal Versailles".  And it is the venue of choice when foreign dignitaries visit.  Because the "usual suspects" (kings, queens, prime ministers and presidents) weren't in town, we were able to have our reception here. The grounds and gardens were stunning, especially as we walked around and were offered hors d'ouevres and drinks!

The dinner was a typical Tauck food-a-thon....way too much....pretty tasty, but not picture worthy. And, as is the custom in these parts, food was not served until 8 pm!  How in the world did we even stay up until 10:30? 

Til next time, 

love w&w.............

     

Belém and Lisbon

Thursday, August 10, 2023

[dear readers, we are sending these blogs from the river boat; the internet service is not as robust as you might hope, so know that there will be a delay with these posts. thanks for understanding.]  

Our first actual day of touring with the group! The buses headed out to the area we had dinner on Tuesday night. This is Belem (legend says this was shortened from "Bethlehem", the name given by Phoenicians who came to this area 1,000s of years ago), a district of Lisbon. This is a major cultural area, as it has several museums, monuments, a monastery, and Belem Palace - the official home of the President. 

The first place we stopped was the Monument to the Discoveries.    This is quite impressive! It is in the shape of a giant sail and was built to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator. It features 33 prominent people of that era. The detail on the figures is incredible.

                                                          

There is also a giant map in the adjacent plaza that shows the location and date of all the places the Portuguese "discovered" and claimed (they had agreed with the Spanish to divide the world between them). You would really need to have a drone shooting from above to get the full map, but here is a section:

These days, this period is referred to as the "Time of Exploration", as the government has officially stated that they did not "discover" anything. This will come as quite a relief to the people who were living in India, western Africa, South America, etc. at the time.

Across the street is the National Coach Museum. Much to Wendy's disappointment, this was not a gigantic display of Coach purses and bags (nor did they have any in the gift shop; a major oversight!).

Rather this museum has the largest collection of coaches in the world (wait....didn't our guide in St. Petersburg tell us that about their collection?). These are the kind of coaches used in Cinderella; made for and used exclusively by the royalty. But we learned that they were a horrible way to travel, perhaps walking would have been better!. There were no springs to soften the often rutty or cobble-stoned roads, and the coaches had to travel pretty slowly. Thus the typical 8 hour ride to the coast mentioned previously.

They had coaches from the 17th - 19th century...gradually getting more ornate, and adding technical advances (such as being able to turn the front wheels, or a hole in the seat for the king to relieve himself!). Here are a few examples:

These are all made of carved wood! The one in the center has been restored to its original glory.

 

Just down the street is the Monastery of St. Jerome. This was first built in the early 1500s and is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

It contains the crypt of Vasco (who we now know is pronounced "Vashco")  da Gama, the greatest of all the Portuguese explorers.

We've now seen both Vasco's and Christopher's resting places! 

That actually ended the touring for the day (wayyyy too much time at the Coach Museum). The bus took us back to in the Praca dos Restauradores area of the city...a mostly touristy shopping area, but also residential. Gloria had recommended Casa do Alentejo for lunch. OMG! Check this out!  It was originally a residence built in the 1600s! It was as impressive as any of the other palaces. 

The inner courtyard, like those we saw in Morocco

The dining room...more tiles

And the food was also outstanding.  

Wendy had the grilled Dory (cute little teeth and all) with vegetables and potatoes.

Before.....

...and after:

Wayne had the fried cod on a bed of chickpea mash.

Both were delish but rather large portions for lunch!

Afterwards, we resumed our private Lisbon tour with Gloria.

We all know about the Spanish Inquisition in 1492. The Portuguese king, Manuel I, had no issue with the Jews (and, indeed, employed many Jews as advisors in different capacities) so many had resettled here. But the local Christians were not always as kind, so some Jews decided to leave and go elsewhere. The king realized that he was losing a lot of skilled people. So he sprinkled some water over a whole crowd and proclaimed them baptized as "New Christians"! They would be Christians in public (and would go to church), but remained Jewish in their homes. The New Christians even created a sausage made out of chicken so that the Old Christians would believe the New Christians were eating regular pork sausage.

Here is an example (top middle) from a current sausage shop:

This went on for a dozen years or so until 1506. The Old Christians decided the New Christians weren't being observant and reverent enough in church and so massacred several hundred of them. This tragedy preceded the Inquisition and Auto Da Fe in Portugal--so the Portugese were certainly not exempt from 16th c Anti-Semitism. To that point, between the deliberate destruction of the community and the earthquake afterwards, there are no actual traces that Jews lived here (except for a street sign and memorials). There is a Jewish community in Portugal today and we ran into a young man starting up a JCC--but certainly nothing significant. 

In 2000, the Pope made a formal apology for all of the wrongdoings of the Church over the years, and said we should all treat everyone with respect and live together nicely.

In 2006, the Portuguese Jews created a monument on the 500th anniversary of the massacre:

We also learned the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, often called the "Oskar Schindler of Portugal", though in reality Mendes probably saved more Jews!  There were no memorials or other public commemoration of his heroic deeds. Click here to learn more about him. He is honored in Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among Nations. 

The major historical marker for the city is the Great Earthquake of 1755, which, along with the associated tsunami and fires (from all of the overturned candles and fireplaces), devastated the city and effectively ended the Golden Age of Portugal. Gloria mentioned that scientists predict that others will happen every 200 years or so. She said there was a smaller one in 1969, so we hope that that was the one for this cycle. This video gives an idea of what happened. 

We then went to the Igreja de São Domingos, a church which is probably most famous for a fire which occurred there on August 13, 1959. Why so? Like Notre Dame in Paris, the fire pretty much destroyed the wooden roof, and did much damage to the interior. However, unlike N.D., here only the roof was replaced. The inside to this day still has major damage and charred, smoke-covered columns So it is a pretty eerie place. 

Another ubiquitous icon of the city are the trolleys. Like in San Francisco, some of them are crammed with tourists (though these are run by overhead electric wires as opposed to cables). They are certainly a great way to travel if you have to go up any of the steeper hills, of which there are many. Since we had a nice air conditioned vehicle and a very savvy driver, we did not get the chance to actually ride a trolley, but did have some "up close and personal" interactions with trolleys and, as a result, some pix along the way.

  

Then Gloria took us to the highest point in the city for a fantastic view to the North, South, and West.

  

We also popped into Manteigaria to eat some more pasteis da nata, the small custard tarts. Yummmmo! These are broadly known as "conventuals".  Not "conventionals" as you might have misread and mispronounced, with the stress on the second syllable.  It is actually "CONventuals" because the original recipes came from the nuns in a local convent!

Walking around we came to a famous fabric store (where Wayne made a purchase) and the world's oldest bookstore (1732!), Livraria Bertrand. Note the tiled wall.

Finishing up at 6 pm, we both had hit the wall (the heat, the cobblestones up and down). So dinner was a shared chicken Caesar salad in the hotel bar! 

Tomorrow we leave and head north. Wish we had more time to explore this fascinating city!

Love w&w.................