Heading West

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Needing the rest, we decided to sleep in a little. Walt woke up with a sore throat and sinus infection and I wasn't feeling great as well, so we took our time getting ready. Ana made Walt a "concoction tea" of fresh ginger, onion peel, honey, and garlic! Yum. :) (super helpful! He felt much better today)

Eventually we left and drove about an hour to Lagos (pronounced La-goosh). We decided to avoid the tolls and take a smaller road. Consequently, we passed through several small towns which were fun to see. 

Once there, we parked next to a harbor and walked over to a small fort. Not to be underestimated, this fort played a major role in protecting the city. It's low, yet thick walls were unique to that time, but gave it the advantage it needed. Sadly, it was closed for lunch hours, so we admired it from outside then moved on.

We wanted to find the castle, but all that remained of the castle were a couple of its walls. It is now a residential town with several shops and cobblestone streets. Several of these streets were covered with a red carpet. I have also noticed that in other old cities here. 

Walt and I were hungry so we ate at Bora. Salmon, arugula, and avocado toast accompanied with a rich goat cheese and honey dish made up our delicious lunch. I also ordered my first cappuccino of the trip: a tradition I keep whenever I come to Europe. So good!

When I went to pay for lunch, I found out they don't accept credit cards. And I had no Euros yet. So Walt stayed there while I ventured to find a bank. All the banks required a code to get in, but I found a currency exchange that worked out wonderfully. 

They gave us "warmers" in case we were cold. :)

A lot of Christmas decorations are still up everywhere. I have noticed a lot of oranges in their decor.

After paying with my new Euros, we kept exploring the town. Our favorite part of Lagos was a beautiful, green park that followed the old castle wall. It was also higher up, so we had some great views of the city and surrounding area. To Walt's dismay, we never did find a way to get on top of the wall. 

Exploring the streets

                

Sure. Why not cut your hair in the middle of a park?

We left Lagos and kept driving west until we could go no further. Sagres is a town on the southwestern tip of Portugal that doesn't have a lot of history but is popular with surfers. Jutting out from this town are two significant cliffs. We visited the first which held a fortress and some incredible views. Legend has it that this was also the place that Prince Henry built a navigational school. 

It was really windy!!

like I said...windy

A lot of surfers catching some waves

He kept leaning over the sides and making me nervous...

While exploring the fortress, we saw fishermen standing at the very edges of the cliffs casting their poles and trying to reel in fish. One almost succeeded, but the fish somehow fell off the hook on its way up. The sun was beginning to set which only enhanced the view. 

 Danger: do not run off a cliff ;)

making me nervous again

The other cliff is known for being the most westerly point on the European continent, so we rushed over to finish out the sunset. Apparently everyone else had the same idea because there quite a few people there. However, because this isn't tourist season, it really wasn't a big deal. 

The sunset was beautiful. Walt continued to explore the edges of cliffs and continued to make me nervous. Fortunately, he made it out alive. :)

the "crowd"

my cheesy way of showing that I am as far West as I can go in Europe ;)

Before leaving, we stopped for a few minutes at one other little fort. It was getting dark, so all we did was peak inside and around and then left. 

About an hour and a half later, we arrived at our apartment and looked up a place to eat dinner. We ate at a fancier French inspired Portuguese restaurant in the old part of town, Fazgosto. Again, delicious.
We split a five course meal that started with bread sticks and a salmon-and-something-else paste.

Then we had an amazing maize with clams and something that tasted like ham. It was one of our favorite dishes of the night.

Next came a salad with crab wrapped in a thin pastry.
Then Hake fish sticks on puréed bread and garlic.

(I forgot to take a picture of those)

A cleanser in between the fish and our next course: Duck with a pastry shell as well as fig and grapes. Our other favorite dish. (I almost forgot to take a picture...so it was almost done by this point)

Last but definitely NOT least was chocolate cake (melted chocolate sauce on the inside) with vanilla ice cream.

We left the restaurant very happy.

Our tummies were full, but our gas tank was nearly empty. We made it home ok (there were no petrol stations on the way...I looked) but then I realized...I had left my bag at the restaurant. Worried we might not make it there and back again, we reentered the car and drove back to the restaurant. After retrieving my bag, Walt successfully navigated us home using the most direct route while avoiding one way roads. One particular road took us through a verrrry narrow gate. We just barely fit. We drove back with the needle on empty, but God was gracious and we made it back without running out.

We went to bed thankful and tired (and hopeful that we would make it to a petrol station in the morning).

A Tale of Two Layovers

*Disclaimer: I am trying to catch up, but also get sleep, so sorry if my posts are not grammatically correct or very interesting. :)

December 26-27, 2016

Short on sleep the night before, we left early December 26 from Walt's parents' house. His brothers and sister-in-law graciously drove us three hours to the Indianapolis airport. 

Checking in went smoothly and we had time to spare before our flight departed an hour late. Fortunately, our connection in Philadelphia was not affected, and we still had time to grab some lunch before finding our gate.

A 7-something hour flight dropped us off in Munich, Germany. We had slept a little bit on the plane, but after 20 hours on the road, we were both very tired. We still explored the airport a little bit and found a gem. There before us were several reclining chairs to rest in. They weren't necessarily built for comfort, but in our sleepy states, that didn't matter. What did matter was the time. Neither of us had set an alarm, and I certainly would've slept on and on, but fortunately, Walt woke up and noticed that our plane was leaving soon! Very soon. We quickly found our gate, got our tickets, then jumped into line to board the plane.

Over Brussels, we could see night turn into day.

ha. ha. ha.

My first stamp in my new Passport! Poor Walt didn't get any.

Nap time!

A couple hours later, I was enjoying the aerial views of Lisbon, Portugal as our plane began its decent.

Once we had rented our car, a little white VW manual, we set out on the last leg of our journey: a three hour drive to Faro. To leave Lisbon, we had to cross the longest bridge I have ever seen. It felt as if we were crossing the ocean! Ok...that's a bit of an exaggeration. :)

For as long as we had daylight, which was another hour or so, we enjoyed the Portugal landscape, most of which was agricultural. Citrus trees and forests of what looked like oak and olive trees, along with the climate, reminded us of California. 

We arrived in Faro, but couldn't find the building where we were staying that night. I drove around in circles...literally...for a few minutes until we stopped to ask some people at a restaurant. They also did not know which building we were looking for, but a man named Nonu called the number we'd been given. We chatted a few minutes to our new friend and a few minutes later, our host met us at the restaurant and led the way to our first stay. Our host and hostess, Miguel and Ana, are extremely friendly and welcoming. 

Walt and I were exhausted but also hungry, so we ventured out to eat at a restaurant that Ana and Miguel had recommended. It was delicious. We split a meal of Dried Tuna Bruschetta along with Salted Cod and veggies.

We then drove home and went straight to bed.