Howard and Debbie Windsor

Day 1 (Oct 7, 2014): We stayed at a B&B in the Barrio Alto. We never would have found this place without our taxi driver. The streets are narrow, winding and uphill. Also, they seem to end for no purpose. He was rather proud that he was able to get us here. He backed up our oneway street, in the wrong direction, to drop us off at the hotel. So far we have been lost twice in two days. Thank goodness for the Garmin. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

We were very tired when we arrived. Howard didn't sleep at all on the flight coming over. We started touring as soon as we arrived. So as is our tradition when travelling (and being very tired), we had sushi for supper. So far we have had sushi on arriving in Paris, Vienna, Brussels, and now Lisbon. The only exception was Toyko. You just can't beat sushi for a dependable, delicious meal.

The cobble stone streets and sidewalks get very slippery when wet. This only adds to the challenge of walking down steep hills. The B&B is nice. So far I have heard the manager speak english, french and portugese.

Day 2: Our second day in Lisbon was very busy, We visited the birthplace of St. Anthony. There is a church built over the original home of St Anthony. As well, we toured the Se Catedral which was built over 800 years ago. Originally there was a mosque on this site.

The centre of the old city is the Castel de Sao Jorge. This is a massive fort overlooking the city and the site of the original settlement of Lisbon.

The tile work on the buildings is quite amazing. The sides of whole buildings are finished with hand painted ceramic tiles, some with intricate designs and others that depict people or events.

The old cable cars run through the city. Both the elevator cars that take you up the hills and the cable cars are very unique to our European experiences. These sights have a turn of the century feel to them.

Day 3: Today was another busy day in Lisbon. We started out after breakfast for Belem to see the Mosterio dos Jeronimos. Since we walked the 6k, it took us a while to get there. To say that this church and monestary is large doesn't fully capture it. Perhaps it is because it is the dominant building in this smaller community. It is very impressive not just because of its size but the intricacy of the stone work. The only draw back was the tour buses. They arrive in hordes and overwhelm every site. The tour folks move like a herd which makes maneuvering around a bit challenging.

We also visited the Tower of Belem, a fortification built in the 1500s.

It has rained most days that we have been here. It starts quickly, rains for 15 minutes and then stops. On sunny days it is welcome. We walked back to our hotel along the waterfront. Reminded us a bit of Singapore with all the bikers and runners.

Tomorrow we head to Evora. We are travelling by bus. We come back to Lisbon for a few days at the end. We are looking forward to the rest of our trip but there is still a lot for us to see here.

Day 4: We are off to Evora! We took the bus and it was reasonably simple. Very surprised and happy with the amount of English spoken in Portugal. Amazingly we had great internet service on the bus from Lisbon to Evora.

Evora is a UNESCO world heritage site which flourished under the Romans and throughout the Middle Ages as a centre for learning and the arts.

Our B & B is very nice. We have an apartment essentially with a living room, kitchen and bedroom. The very large bathroom has a washing machine. Bonus! Just outside our room is a patio/dining area. It is very relaxing to sit on the patio, drink wine and eat cheese. The Portuguese wines are very good and reasonably priced.

We took a short walk around the town to get oriented. First impression is that Evora is a lovely town. Supper consisted of a Portuguese tomato soup with bread and sausage (interesting but..) and sea bass (very good) at a small restaurant recommended by the B&B .

Day 5: First full day in Evora. The first stop was the Chapel of Bones. Franscian monks established this chapel to remind people of how transitory life is. The thousands of bones were collected from graveyards. The walls are covered with bones and skulls. Creepy!

You certainly get an appreciation for the history of Evora when you see the Roman temple and aquaduct. The Cathedral Se is massive and exceptionally well maintained. We took a short coffee break at a little book store that offered coffees and teas. Great fun. Wish we had more of these at home. There is a private church in Evora that was once owned by the Duke of Cadaval. The church is attached to the Duke's palace (which we also explored). The church is really a miniature cathedral!

We are covering a lot of territory every day but we are making sure that we take opportunities to sample all the local treats and wines. By the time we get home we will have to increase the running and paddling.

Day 6: This is our last full day in Evora. We leave tomorrow for Sintra. It is a cool and cloudy day. It started to rain heavily last night just as we were leaving the restaurant. It rained so hard the owner invited us back in for his homemade Sangria while we waited out the rain. We accepted his offer, but the rain just got worse so we ran through it to our hotel.

This morning at breakfast we met a couple from Georgia, USA. He was a professor (child psychology) at the University of Georgia. Now he is visiting professor at Coimbra University in Portugal. We had a very interesting conversation about US and Canadian politics, education and travel.

Day 7: Arrived in Sintra. Well, we made it from Evoa to Sintra by bus and metro. Very proud of ourselves for this accomplisment even if it is relatively straight forward. Sintra is beautiful. A town built on a mountain set in a park. Trees, plants , flowers everwhere. It rained ftom Evora to Sintra and when we arrived here the rain came down in torrents. Water flowed in the streets. We arrived about 2pm. But at 4:30 the sun came out and we were able to see the beauty of of this City. It was great to be able to get out and walk. Tomorrow we will start our touring. It will be challenging because much of what we want to see is uphill.

Day 8: I t is day 2 for us in Sintra - sunny and a perfect temperature for touring. Today we started out to visit the Palacia Pena. It is located on a large hill overlooking Sintra. It is a steep uphill walk of approximately 2 kilometers to get to the palace. Of course we initially got lost. But when we found the right course it was well worthwhile. The path is a cobble stone stairway and walkway in a a beautiful parklike setting with many lookoffs points to view Sintra and the countryside. Along the way you pass a castle built the the Moors. The Moors ruled Portugal before the country became Christian, many hundreds of years ago. The castle is very large. The walls are massive and seem somewhat like the Great Wall of China because of the size. Above the Castle, is the Palace which was built in the 1800s. It is white, yellow and red in color. There are many towers and turrets. Because of its unique colours, it seems a little unreal (like the Disney castle). After we toured the many rooms of the Palace, we walked back down hill. The grade was so steep, the walk down was actually more challenging than the hike up. Of course after all this effort we needed sushi. So we stopped at a local Japanese and Italian restaurant (it served both). One of the maki rolls had a crunchy ingredient that was actually fried salmon skin - very tasty.

When we arrived back in the town we started to explore more of the side streets. We found a wonderful patio restaurant overlooking Sintra (incredible view). So we sat on the patio and enjoyed a glass of wine.

We ate dinner at an Italian and Portuguese restaurant. We had pizza - which was great, After the meal the waiter gave us each a glass of complimentary Portuguese Port. Then on our way out, he gave us a bag of Portuguese pasteries. Lovely.

Overall it was a great day in Sintra and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

Day 9 (Oct 15, 2014)Our final day in Sintra has been hectic. First we visited the National Palace which is just across from our hotel. Some of the rooms and ceilings are spectacular. As expected there is a lot of hand-painted ceramic work. The main dinning room is ornate but beautiful. And the chapel is small but contains a lot of decorative work. The kitchen is most interesting. It is huge as expected. The ceiling is several stories high and from there, two large cone-like chimneys extend several more stories. There were many sources of fuel to fire the stoves throughout the kitchen and the chimneys were certainly required. There didn't appear to be coverings over the tops so rain must just pour in and get collected. Some of the best views of Sintra can be seen from the Palace windows. You can see the Moorish Castle high on the hill top . From the Palace, Sintra is so picturesque that it looks like it was pulled from a storybook.

After the Palace we went to Quinta da Regaleria. It is a palace and garden built at the turn of the 1900s. This Palace is about 1.5-2kms from our hotel in the city centre. Walking outside the city centre can be dangerous - the roads are winding and there is really no room for walkers. But that doesn't mean that cars or tour buses slow down. So you have to be ready to jump out of the way. The Quinta da Regaleria Palace also is wonderful. But we spent most of our time in the gardens which are very extensive. A system of cobble stone trails snake through the property. There is a small but very beautiful chapel. There are several large towers for looking out over Sintra, Through the garden, concrete benches have been built into the walks for relaxing. There is a waterfall that ends in a small pond and there are trees and wild flowers everywhere. You could easily spend many hours in the Park.

After our tour we came back to Sintra for a lunch of wine and cheese. The wine in Portugal is very good. When we get home we are going to make a point of buying more Portuguese wines. It will go well with the CD of Portuguese music we bought at a bookstore in Evora. Tomorrow we head back to Lisbon by train and then get a bus to Coimbra.

Day 10 (Oct 16): We are on our way to Coimbra. We successfully made our way by train to Lisbon, Ste. Rios Station from Sintra. The Ste. Rios is a hub of activity for men selling "quality" watches while attempting to avoid security. They are probably so hot they would burn your finger tips if you bought one.

When we first arrived at our apartment in Coimbra, it was a bit of a concern as there was no one at the apartment to let us in. However, very soon we saw the owner running up the hill, waving the keys. Our apartment in Coimbra is beautiful. We have a large balcony off our bedroom. It is very pleasant to sit here in the evening and look over the river. . The apartment has two levels. There is a full kitchen and living area on the first level and a bedroom ensuite on the second. There are 2 full baths and a clothes washing machine. The apartment is very new, bright and well decorated. The owner treated us to a bottle of local Porto on our arrival. He also runs a cafe 5 minutes away, so he treated us to espressos there. The owner did not speak any English, which was challenging at first, but we soon discovered that he spoke French, so he and Debbie were able to understand each other quite well in that language.

We are very pleasantly surprised by Coimbra. We wanted to come here primarily to see the University , but it has turned out to be a very nice city. Obviously because of the University it is very vibrant but it also has an historic city centre and a waterfront that is quite interesting. Tonight when we went for a walk through the city centre, we saw many students in their academic gowns. The wearing of the gowns is still a tradition here and not just for a few students. Tomorrow we have the full day to explore the city and, in particular, we are looking forward to seeing the University library which is a major Portuguese attraction.

Day 11(Oct 17): This is our second day in Coimbra. University classes started here in mid- September but this is initiation week for students. There were no classes this week because as a student told us"everyone is too drunk". As part of the university celebrations, there was a major rock concert last night across the river from our apartment. It started just after we went to bed at 11pm. It was still going strong when Howard fell asleep around 4am. There is another concert tonight. But today we bought earplugs. Surprisingly we were still up at 8am and walked along the river to get some great pictures of the old town which is situated on a hill above the water. After breakfast we climbed up to the University of Coimbra to see the campus. There are several sites worth seeing on the campus. The new cathedral, which is only new in European terms(about 1300, is well worth a visit. As are the, chapel and lecture halls which are very ornate. But the highlight is the library which contains many thousands of books going back as many as 500 years. The ceilings are several stories high. It is beautiful - a work of art. There is also a student prison that was used during a part of the dictatorship to house student leaders. Seems somewhat topical when you watch what is happening in Hong Kong.

Later in the day we did a little shopping. After that we were so exhausted we stopped at an outside cafe for wine. In the square beside the cafe, an older couple were roasting nuts. They certainly had brisk sales. We were curious, so we bought some. The nut tasted like a roasted potato and looked like a cashew. But we were not sure what they were. We did enjoy them. We are back at our apartment, sitting on the balcony. Tonight's concert has started already. Maybe this means they will end a little earlier - or with any luck it could rain! Tomorrow we are off to Tomar. It is off the beaten track so it will take some time to get there.

Day 12 (Oct 18): We are headed to Tomar from Coimbra. We asked the owner of the apartment in Coimbra to arrange a taxi to take us to the bus terminal. He offered to drive us and so that is how we got to the station. We also got to meet his son and wife. The landlord speaks Portuguese and French. His son speaks Portuguese and English, no French. It was very helpful that Debbie learned French when working.

The drive to Tomar on the bus was a little long but the countryside was interesting. We went through Fatima. Reminded me of the first time I visited Orlando Florida - too many tourists. Tomar is lovely. Beautiful city centre. A river running through the town and castle on the hill. From our hotel balcony we can see both. At night the castle is lit up. Quite spectacular. Our hotel is very nice. The room is large with a good size balcony. Debbie will enjoy the very large pool. We ate supper tonight an Italian restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. It was excellent. We have noticed that it is not uncommon to see dogs roaming the streets. Not in any way threatening, they are well maintained and healthy - usually with collars. Tonight there was a dog at our restaurant wandering the street. As we walked back to our hotel there he was in the park. Just out for his bedtime walk. A nice touch in this very peaceful town. Tomorrow we have a busy day of sightseeing to do as we are just here for one full day of seeing the sights.

Day 13 (Oct 19):

We love Tomar. Today, it was close to 30 degrees. We walked up the hill to the Templar Castle and the Convento de Cristo. The Convent is amazing to see. The chapel is incredibly unique. But it was also interesting to see the dormitories, kitchen and dining hall. We walked all around the Templar Castle walls, trying to find an entrance and not realizing that there is no entrance (Tripadvisor let us down here). The Castle walls are spectacular but somehow we were expecting rooms and chapels and other areas. We kept asking staff for directions. They responded by pointing to the walls. And still we kept looking until a staff person who spoke some English told us the Castle is never open to visitors. We expect tonight that we will be the subject of much laughter in homes here in Tomar.

There is a carnival in town this weekend and we went this afternoon. There were rides and games. But also merchants were selling shoes and purses and even cars. The fair was packed. The bakeries were doing the best business. We stopped in the main square for a glass of wine at an outside cafe. Many people had their dogs. Made us miss Amigo, Thor, Harrison and Keji.

Day 14 (Oct 20):

We arrived back in Lisbon today. We took the bus which has worked well for us. It was a good idea to book the tickets in advance as several routes are very busy and fully booked. We are staying in a one bedroom apartment in the Baixa/Chiado district.We are very close to all the main historical attractions, as well as high end shopping. We are just a few streets up from the waterfront, which is very pleasant. The apartment is in a 4 story building. There are approximately 12 apartments. Ours is quite compact but very well laid out. It is an older building so the ceilings are very high. Very wide wood trim on baseboards, windows and door frames, with shutters on all the windows - lots of character. The shutters will help at night to keep out the traffic noise.

After arriving we went out to get some groceries at the small, neighborhood market. Since we have a kitchen, we will use it in the morning.

We then went for a walk to investigate the neighborhood. We had supper outdoors again tonight. It was 27 degrees at 8pm when we were eating. A great temperature for enjoying an outdoor meal!