Palacio da Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal

Douro Valley and Grape Stomping

Went to Douro Valley Porto farm walked around tasted wine, cheese, bread, flan and ham and cheese sandwiches. Fun place but dusty.

Hotel Pousadas DePortugal was very nice. Had a Court yard view with a pool and hills in the back ground. There were 3 kitty's walking around all different sizes. It made me miss my cats:).

Had a Yummy fish dinner, with rice, and for dessert had ice cream with a variety of berries that were all purple. It was a delicious meal.

I can't load any pictures on blog because I need a desktop Internet computer. I have loaded some on facebook. Here is the link. Just to facebook and search for PamelaVitaleBevelhymer and you should find it. There are pictures and one video of people singing and stomping grapes.

Douro Valley Grape Stomping

This is a group of people stomping grapes and singing. They are stomping grapes to make Porto Wine, 19% alcohol, powerful tasty wine.

Nazaré, Fátima, Batalha, and Coimbra

Nazaré we had fun walking around the marina seeing old fishing boats. There were some with very bright colors. I saw a dog lying under a boat and I thought it was dead. I made a clicking sound with my mouth and all of a sudden 15 dogs woke up from their naps and headed towards me. It was kind of scary but they were really friendly dogs. Once they discovered I didn't have any food they walked away.

Nazaré had a beautiful big beach with a very steep cliff. There was a cool tram thing that went up the cliff which you could ride called a funicular. I like the word.

In Fátima there was a huge complex with two big churches. We were there Sunday and there was a mass going on. It was outside, there were thousands of people listening to the message. There were people walking on their knees up to the alter, it was something to see. People were buying candles to throw the candles in a big fire pit. This place Fàtima is recognized by the Vatican it is called the "Virgin of Fátima" there is a story where Mary appeared to three children and only the children could see her. She told them...Peace is coming (World War 1 is ending), Russia will reject God and communism will rise, bring a second war and Someone will try and kill the pope. Pope John Paul 11 was shot.

Went to Batalha to see Monastery of Santa Marìa. Beautiful Gothic (Pointed-Arch). The city was nothing special but the Monastery was beautiful.

Coimbra is a university town, many young people walking around. This week it's been interesting because the freshman have to listen to the upper classmen and do things that they are told to do. Today we saw a group of freshmen on their knees in the street. The older classmen wear all black. They do a lot of the hazing in the streets like singing and yelling back and forth at each other. It's hard to take a nap with all this yelling and singing going on.

Coimbra use to be the capital of Portugal so it has a lot of history there. Lisbon is now the Capitol. There was lots to see in the city, very narrow streets, churches and gardens.

Went to Évora

Went to Évora it was a beautiful city with Roman ruins and wonderful narrow streets.
Then we visited a cork farm where trees grow a covering of cork,
We ate a homemade lunch with the family own farm. Home made chicken pie
and squid soup which was really good.

Went to Alcobaca, Óbidos

Went to Sintra today

The town of Sintra was very beautiful. There were many steep hills and curvy roads. They had many old beautiful buildings with ornate doorways. We saw interesting buildings and plants but I was not able to take any pictures of them, because we were on a bus going to the castle. It was quite adventure getting there. There are really steep hills going up to the castle. We ran out of time to walk the hills,and the village.

Went to Óbidos

Today we visited Obidos which is north of Lisbon.

We had to take the Metro under ground (train)
and a bus to get there. That was an experience.
Glad there was two of us.

The city is surrounded by a high wall of stone,
and every corner had something beautiful to capture
My arm hurts from taking so many pictures with
my heavy camera. The city was a maze cobbled stone
streets. The castle was beautiful.
We absolutely loved it in Óbidos.

Everyone here drives small cars there are no SUV's.
There are also palm trees and pine trees.

Walked around Lisbon

Were here in Lisbon

The flight was perfect. Even the pasta dinner was good. They sure don't give you a lot a room on the plane to move around. I thought since we were going to be stuck in our seats for 8hrs that the plane would have more room. Trying to Sleep was difficult. We arrived in Germany 3:30am our time 8:30am their time. The sun was shining. The ground looked like velvet the farm fields were beautiful. A lot of different angles and different shades of green All the roof tops were red. Now everyone around us is talking German, it's strange we can't  understand anything being said around us.

On are way to Lisbon from Germany they gave us wine for free on the plane, I was surprised. I ordered a coke to get some caffeine in my system. 

Arrived in Lisbon 1:30pm

Here is a map where we will be touring in Portugal.

Today's the day we go to Portugal

I am so excited to go to Portugal. I have never been to Europe so this is going to be so exciting. I can't even sleep anymore lately because I can't wait to go. I've had my suitcase packed for about a 3 weeks now. The picture opportunities are going to be crazy. There's going to be great Architecture, Fishing Villages, Beautiful Boats, Colorful hanging clothes over the narrow streets, Castles, Churches, Port Wine, Rolling Hills, It's on the coast of Atlantic Ocean. It's going to be a great place to take beautiful pictures. I can't wait:) I am going for 17 days, we are going on a Rick Steve's Tour with 28 other people from all over the world. The tour is called "Heart of Portugal in 12 days"