Month: August 2022

We returned! Closed the loop! Ran through our travel itinerary! Made our way back to Lisbon for our final week before flying home! (And reminded ourselves to make the most of it; it’s easy to look forward to being back home, with comforts and friends and ease. But first — a last hurrah!)

For some of us (I’m raising my hand), the highlight of our return was a day trip to Sintra, the Enlightenment’s suburb for castles. There are lots of posh home tours to choose from here, but we opted for the highest and most colorful: the Pena Palace. We also chose the most luxurious and least populated approach: a hike through the grounds of Villa Sasseti. We climbed up brick-paved switchbacks (or found secret stone stairs) through a lush spring-fed garden, around water features and sculpted caves, to rock faces littered with harnessed climbers, higher and higher through an enchanted ferny forest, to the mustard-yellow–stuccoed gates of the palace.

The palace was very busy, but somehow we didn’t mind so much. They did a really great job making the interior tour engaging, with lots of original decorations and furniture and historical tidbits. From the king’s desk that looked exactly like a huge ornate advent calendar, to the life-sized bronze torch holders (literally guys holding lamps), to the colorfully upholstered divans with hidden zinc-lined arm rest drawers (for ashtrays), and the kitchen’s copper soup tureen big enough to be a bathtub, it did not disappoint!

We spent an entire afternoon there (it’s recommended you set aside an hour — what?!!), and still left a lot unseen (the Countess of Edla’s Chalet, Valley of the Lakes with its castellated duck houses, the Garden of Azaleas, the stables — so much!). Guess I’ll have to come back! Anyone want to come with me?

As we often do, we also spent a lovely (blissfully cloudy 80-degree) day at the zoo. We lucked out: all the animals were super engaged and active. And there is a fun (and free!) bucket ride, which takes you over many of the exhibits. Never seen a zoo from above before! And they have dolphins and an impressive (and free) dolphin show, which we saw twice, because why not?!

And we did that other thing we do: wander. Because Lisbon is a beautiful city. Lots of intricate tiles and swirly cobbles and bright limestone edifices.

We’ve been going at it, guys! It’s been solid, these last two (plus) months. No one can say we didn’t do stuff; in fact, right now we feel like we did aaaaaall the stuff! We are lucky; we are grateful; we are full and heading home!

In general, we appreciate staying in smaller communities rather than big cities, hence our tenure in Toledo. It’s only a quick 30 minute train ride into the capital, and we figured that would be good for a few day trips. But Madrid might have been an exception — next time, we’ll stay there! It’s quite a lovely big city. Clean, easy transportation options, safe, and chock full of things to do.

Our first visit, we explored their big city park. Big. City park. It entertained us all day. (Well, until the police closed the park because the heat was too extreme. It was 109, so we understood.)

I suppose folks who know New York and Central Park wouldn’t be surprised by this massive green space, but it was sure a treat for us!

There’s a pond where you can go paddling, and Tessa made a bark raft (which little ducklings actually used as an island). And a few repurposed buildings that are now free art exhibitions or libraries or the like. There are still a couple peacocks from the abandoned menagerie, and we saw evidence of bats, and turtles and cats and black swans. Plus a statue (at 666 m above sea level) of Lucifer.

Bill took the girls to the Prado museum for a massive art scavenger hunt another day. And it was such a success that we did the same thing touring the Royal Palace on our next trip.

Plus we availed ourselves of the variety of metropolitan restaurants, ice cream makers, and (air conditioned) shops. Thanks, Madrid, for the taste, and giving us something to look forward to next time!

What would you say if I told you we visited an entire city that’s a UNESCO world heritage site? We also visited the capital of the visigoth empire and the location of the Spanish royal court in the 16th century. And a town with ties to Cervantes (and his man of La Mancha, don Quixote), and the artist El Greco. And also a community with 3 distinct cultural influences (Christian, Muslim, and Jewish), plus Roman ruins, and a reputation for damascene blade production.

Yes, Toledo has it all!

Located just southwest of Madrid, this old hilltop city — nestled by the Tagus River within fortified walls — was our homebase for 2 weeks.

It is a labyrinth of teeny, narrow, cobbled carriage ways, broken up by little terraced treed plazas and sweepingly large churches and synagogues.

Most people visit for a day from Madrid, so we can say that over our half a month, we wrung it dry of all its attractions. From monasteries and cathedrals…

to little museums (including Manchego cheese and ancient dungeons)…

to tourist activities (like the Turkish bath and ziplining over the Tagus River)…

climbing around an old Roman Circus (and dipping into the municipal swimming pool next door)…

and steeping ourselves in military history…

and modern art…

and finding all the secret escalators that climb from the river up to town…

we found a lot to do!

Mostly, the main attraction is the city itself. The brick, stone, and tile canyons are nearly irresistible for aimless wandering. (Thank goodness, by the way, for dry heat. Although it was over 100 degrees every day of our stay, it was more bearable here than the sauna of Barcelona.)

By the time we left, we could mostly find our way a fair number of places (and there were some places we could get to by multiple routes!). Oh — and we played tag in a bull fighting arena and accidentally tried to trespass on a military training base (and almost a locked psychiatric hospital) and watched geese eat fish under a water wheel and ran through a 15-minute thunder storm and ate churros and chocolate under a wisteria canopy with locals and collected flower petals after they were thrown over a bride and groom.

Thank you, Toledo!