feelin' hot hot hot!
Well we are back from Portugal/Spain...!
Mum ended up organising to get an emergency british passport as well as an Australian one in Lisbon... - they don't have passport checks or anything when driving from Spain into Portugal... On the websites it seemed way easier to get a british passport after you have had one lost/stolen than australian, plus we couldn't get hold of the australian embassy - which was why we went for the british one first... but then eventually got hold of the australian one and their emergency passport lasts 7 months, whereas the UK one only lasts 4 days (enough to get you back into the UK)... - so now mum can get back to Oz ok so she is happy it is all sorted...
But back to the actual holiday... went thru Porto on our drive from Valladolid to Lisbon. Porto was nice (when we actually found our way into the city - driving into and out of major ciites is not fun!!) - all steep little alleyways and nice old houses. And Lisbon was pretty good for a capital aswell - nice old part as well, big castle on the hill, weird elevator things in the middle of the streets. We went to Belem where we had the best custard tarts in Portugal (so says the Lonely Planet) - and just to make sure we did keep sampling - and we unanimously agree! :) Belem had a beautifully carved monestry and the Torre de Belem:
The following day we did a drive to Luso - a little country spa town which was very nice, where we went onto the Bucaco Forest. The Forest wasn't huge but was definitely worth a visit - had a gorgeous palace. We went home via Tomar - which was the headquarters of the knights templar and has the Convento de Cristo - which was actually closed when we got there but I had a walk around the building, and once again it was on the top of the hill overlooking the town so had brilliant views... Making our way there made me appreciate the fact that we were driving, rather than me making my way thru public transport etc - cos there weren't too many buses or anything that way! - Plus the fact went out to nice restaurants each night etc, not skimping on much at all! and it was good to share it all with someone... mum and I had some good bedtime chats etc.
On our 3rd day in Lisbon we did a drive to Sintra towards the coast - it was nice and green and had some really good castle ruins... From there we attempted to make our way to Cabo da Roca - mainland europe's westerly most point - stopped and asked directions a couple of times as they were tiny little narrow winding roads that we were following (that were meant to be main roads!!) - on our second stop I asked this grandpa who was with his grandson. The grandfather came from Lisbon but spoke pretty good english, and the grandson (about 10?) spoke perfect english as he had been to school over in America. We followed them to a beach near to Cabo da Roca where he recommended the fish restaurant (the fish was very fresh - caught that morning, which they bring out for you to see + agree to). Uncle Guy was told to put his lights on by him and not to drink wine at lunchtime, and when we got to Cabo da Roca we had to follow him round the hill top in single file so we didn't go close to the edge, and when we wanted to get closer we had to hold his hand!!! Hilarious!
Portugal definitely seemed a friendlier place than Spain - the people were smilier and more helpful... The weather: the temperatures - phoa! We ended up having long 2pm lunches to get out of the heat! always in the 30s. Altho on one of our drives the temperature dropped from near 40 to 24 in 10mintues! (but quickly climbed back up again) - but there was always blue skies which is good...
So now at my Auntie Christine and Uncle Greg's for a couple of days before we all leave together for a short break to Devon!
Time is absolutely flying by - have booked to go back to Germany (yep - did like the place) between Iceland (only 2 weeks away) and going to Greece! I'll be home before I know it!
Mum ended up organising to get an emergency british passport as well as an Australian one in Lisbon... - they don't have passport checks or anything when driving from Spain into Portugal... On the websites it seemed way easier to get a british passport after you have had one lost/stolen than australian, plus we couldn't get hold of the australian embassy - which was why we went for the british one first... but then eventually got hold of the australian one and their emergency passport lasts 7 months, whereas the UK one only lasts 4 days (enough to get you back into the UK)... - so now mum can get back to Oz ok so she is happy it is all sorted...
But back to the actual holiday... went thru Porto on our drive from Valladolid to Lisbon. Porto was nice (when we actually found our way into the city - driving into and out of major ciites is not fun!!) - all steep little alleyways and nice old houses. And Lisbon was pretty good for a capital aswell - nice old part as well, big castle on the hill, weird elevator things in the middle of the streets. We went to Belem where we had the best custard tarts in Portugal (so says the Lonely Planet) - and just to make sure we did keep sampling - and we unanimously agree! :) Belem had a beautifully carved monestry and the Torre de Belem:
The following day we did a drive to Luso - a little country spa town which was very nice, where we went onto the Bucaco Forest. The Forest wasn't huge but was definitely worth a visit - had a gorgeous palace. We went home via Tomar - which was the headquarters of the knights templar and has the Convento de Cristo - which was actually closed when we got there but I had a walk around the building, and once again it was on the top of the hill overlooking the town so had brilliant views... Making our way there made me appreciate the fact that we were driving, rather than me making my way thru public transport etc - cos there weren't too many buses or anything that way! - Plus the fact went out to nice restaurants each night etc, not skimping on much at all! and it was good to share it all with someone... mum and I had some good bedtime chats etc.
On our 3rd day in Lisbon we did a drive to Sintra towards the coast - it was nice and green and had some really good castle ruins... From there we attempted to make our way to Cabo da Roca - mainland europe's westerly most point - stopped and asked directions a couple of times as they were tiny little narrow winding roads that we were following (that were meant to be main roads!!) - on our second stop I asked this grandpa who was with his grandson. The grandfather came from Lisbon but spoke pretty good english, and the grandson (about 10?) spoke perfect english as he had been to school over in America. We followed them to a beach near to Cabo da Roca where he recommended the fish restaurant (the fish was very fresh - caught that morning, which they bring out for you to see + agree to). Uncle Guy was told to put his lights on by him and not to drink wine at lunchtime, and when we got to Cabo da Roca we had to follow him round the hill top in single file so we didn't go close to the edge, and when we wanted to get closer we had to hold his hand!!! Hilarious!
Portugal definitely seemed a friendlier place than Spain - the people were smilier and more helpful... The weather: the temperatures - phoa! We ended up having long 2pm lunches to get out of the heat! always in the 30s. Altho on one of our drives the temperature dropped from near 40 to 24 in 10mintues! (but quickly climbed back up again) - but there was always blue skies which is good...
So now at my Auntie Christine and Uncle Greg's for a couple of days before we all leave together for a short break to Devon!
Time is absolutely flying by - have booked to go back to Germany (yep - did like the place) between Iceland (only 2 weeks away) and going to Greece! I'll be home before I know it!