May 2nd
Today is once again a beautiful day. You might be tired of my saying that. We have really been blessed so far though with perfect weather. Today we drove from Sintra to Obidos via Caldas da Rainha. There was not much to see in Caldas da Rainha. We stopped at a park where there was an old quite dilapidated hospital then went on to Obidos where we will spend two nights. Obidos is a walled medieval city with cobble stone streets and interesting old shops. It has many Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque features. We decided to walk the top of the wall. It was a good work out with many high steps and no hand rail. The top was all cobblestones. Here are some pictures from today.

Old Hospital in Caldas da Rainha

Obidos Street

Library that was  once a church in Obidos

The city gate in Obidos. This is part of the wall that surrounds the city.

Obidos from on top of the city wall

The fortress with the wall around the city taken from on top of the city wall

On top of the city wall- notice no hand rail. Just a bit scarey

 

 

May 1
Today we saw a variety of things. The weather was again beautiful. Our first stop was Cabo da Roca which is the farthest point west in the European continent. It was very rugged and windy. The ground was covered with blooming ice plants. The lighthouse keeper was just sitting at the window looking very bored. Our next stop was Cascais which is a beach resort town for the well heeled. It was quite lovely. I don't think I'd like to be there in the summer though as there were many people there now. Our last stop was the palace and gardens of Monserrate. The gardens were quite rustic with wooded trails. The palace is in the process of being renovated. It will probably be finished for my great grandchildren- if they are lucky. It was interesting to see the renovation process. The areas that were finished were lovely and extremely ornate. Here are some pictures from today.

Cabo da Roca

Cabo da Roca a place called the mouth of hell which gets much wilder during a storm.

Cascais beach

Cascais town

Palace of Monserrate

Ceiling in the palace of Monserrte

The side of the palace from the garden

 

April 30th
Today we left Lisbon after picking up our rental car, Our first stop was the National Palace at Queluz. This is a huge palace with gardens. The interior was beautifully furnished with ornate ceilings and walls. The gardens were nice but needed some work. Our next stop was the Pena Palace in Sintra. This palace almost defies description. It was amazing. We hiked up a long trail through an interesting forested landscape to reach the palace. After spending time here we drove a little way to our hotel in the heart of the historic part of Sintra right next to the National Palace of Sintra. Portugal really has a lot of palaces or so it seems so far. The weather was beautiful again today  Here are a few pictures from today.

Interior of  National Palace of Queluz

National Palace of Queluz

National Palace of Queluz

Pena Palace in Sintra

Pena Palace

Interior of Pena Palace

View from Pena Palace which was built into the side of a mountain

View of Sintra from our hotel room

 

Sintra Portugal

April 29th. Another beautiful day for exploring Lisbon, Today we took the metro and the tram to the Belem area of Lisbon. We first went to the Belem tower which is a very ornate tower done in a typical Portuguese architectural style common around the 17th century. The tower was used to shoot unfriendly ships with canon fire and had a dungeon for those they captured. Our second stop was the San Jeranomo Monastery. This is a huge place built in the same ornate style as the tower, After this we stopped by the famous Patis da Belam for one of their pastries- a must do when in Lisbon. Our last stop was the Electricity Museum- a must see for George.

Belam Tower

Half way to the top of Belam Tower

Cloister at San Jeronimo

San Jeronimo Monastery

The ElectricityMuseum

Part of the outside of San Jeronomo Monastery

 

We plan on meeting a man that was on the ship with George for dinner tonight. I need a nap before then. Fun day but exhausting.



 

April 28th
I woke up this morning at about 7:15 later than I wanted to but I had a good night's sleep. I tried to call George but I could not. I was about to get dressed and go up to the other hotel where he thought I was when he knocked on the door. Fortunately they told him that they had up graded us to another hotel. The weather here is beautiful= sunny and warm. We walked all over Lisbon until George's feet had had enough- so we took the metro back to our hotel for a rest. Maybe more walking later. Lisbon is very hilly with cobble stone streets.

One of many monuments in Lisbon. All of the cobble stone streets are done in patterns. Quite lovely.

Arch at the plaza of commerce

Plaza of commerce by the waterfront in Lisbon

Panoramic view point at the top of Lisbon where we walked. The castle is in the picture. We did not walk there.

View of Lisbon with the bridge designed by the same person who designed the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge

 

 

 

 

April 27th
Well I made it to the hotel room. The flight was good, the bags arrived, and the man with the sign with my name on it was at the airport to take me to the hotel. At first he couldn't find the hotel but with the help of his GPS and finely my saying there it is we got to the Real Paeque hotel. Then the fun began. They said we can't find your reservations. Fortunately I had emailed all the hotels a while back to get written confirmation from them-not just our travel agent that we had paid reservations. More waiting and some back room phone conversations. Then another women appears with the women behind the desk and they said we are taking you to our 5 star sister hotel down the street and you will be staying there-no additional cost. The original hotel was 4 star. I said my husband will be showing hp in the other hotel tomorrow. I will try to meet him but if I don't please redirect him. I had a nice buffet brunch after I got settled and decided to go for a walk around a large park near by.

This was a tile mosaic on a very elaborate but derelict building in the park 

Another view of the same building

A view from the park looking all the way down to the water at the bottom of Lisbon. They say it's about a half our walk down but then you take the metro back up the hills.

View from the park looking up to the Palace of Justice

The top of that first ornate derelict building

I came back to the hotel and was totally exhausted. I didn't get much sleep on the plane and with a 5 hr. time difference (6 hrs. in Madrid) well you get the picture. I absolutely had to have a nap- George always says stay up and don't take a nap- George isn't here so..... I feel much better after my nap and I'm sure I will still sleep tonight. More tomorrow. I hope. I'm having trouble with the external memory card I got to store the photos. I'm hoping George can help with that when he arrives.

Wed. April 23rd.
George sent me an email with a few photos from Terceira the first Island port in the Azores. He said I could add these to my blog. There was no captions as to what they were so I went to Google and Google earth to try and find out. I met with some success.

 Dolphins somewhere in the Atlantic

 Serra do Come

 Church se Angra do Heroismo

I couldn't find the name of this church,

I believe this is the town of Pria da Vitoria

 

I will be glad to here more about the transatlantic part of our trip when George and I meet up in Lisbon on the 28th.