Hochmuth Adventures 2020 - PAIR - Portugal, Alaska, Ireland and the Rhine: January 2020

Trip to Portugal - Day 10 - Wednesday, January 22, 2020 - Lisbon - Home

We arrived at the airport at about 3:30 a.m. yawn and then while we were at the gate I see that our flight from Charles De Gaulle in Paris has been delayed. Our flight from Lisbon was fine and then we had a 20 min. walk to our next gate. Our flight was to fly out 2 hours later. The people at the desk thought we should still be able to get our luggage and go through customs and still make our flight to Syracuse. Made the trip from Paris to JFK - 7 1/2 hours without any problems except maybe a sore back. Cleared customs, picked up our luggage and rechecked it and made it to our gate in plenty of time. Quick flight from JFK to Syracuse and got home by 8:00. Great trip but always good to be home. Not for too long though on the 1st we fly to Sacramento for 3 weeks.

Trip to Portugal - Day 9 - Tuesday, January 21, 2020 - Lisbon

Trying to enjoy our day in Lisbon and not worry about if Ron's passport will arrive in time. We only have today to discover Lisbon so we thought the most expeditious way would be to take the hop on hop off buses. Actually things in Portugal are pretty spread out so this allowed us to see many of the high points but not quite as up close and personal as usual. We did an 1 1/2 hour tour, a 1 hour tour and then took a break for lunch before our last 2 hour Grayline. Just some of the places we saw were: Restauradores Square, Torre de Belem, Padrao dos Descobrimentos, Alcantara (bridge built by the same person that built the Golden Gate Bridge, El Corte Ingles, Colombo, the Lisbon Zoo, Parque Eduardo VII, Campo Pequeno, the stadium and the university, just to name a few. We then went back to the hotel hoping to hear about the passport. Unfortunately no luck - I was really starting to worry and began to ask Ron what we should do if it didn't come. He said don't worry - of course he was cool as a cucumber. Thankfully within 10 min. of returning to the hotel it came. Prayers answered. It was early but we had a very early flight (5:30) the next day so we walked a block to a restaurant called Dote which was recommended by the hotel. Their special dish was called francesinha - a sandwich with different ingredients covered with cheese and an egg. Ron's had 4 different types of meat, sausage, cheese, mine had veal, brie and mushrooms covered with cheese and egg. We celebrated the passport arrival with 2 beers and 2 glasses of wine. Went back to the hotel, scheduled an uber, packed and called it a night.

Restauradores Square

Ponte 25 de abril

Same builder as Golden Gate Bridge

Monastery of St. Jerome - Impressive building

Monastery of St. Jerome

Torre de Belem

Padrao de Descobrimentos - Commemorates 500 years since the death of
Henry the Navigator

One of Lisbon's beautiful facades

Cabral Monument

Torre de Belem

Campo Pequeno - Bullfights used to be held here - they do not kill the bulls in Portugal

Edward VII Park

Edward VII Park

Edward VII Park with a view of the Tagus River

Shopping - Spanish Style

High end shopping center - 300 + stores

The Stadium

Interesting architecture

Vasco de Gama Tower

Commerce Square

Francesinha

Trip to Portugal - Day 8 - Monday, January, 20, 2020 - Albufeira to Lisbon

Said goodbye to our little breakfast diner and set off this morning for Lisbon. It is a bit cooler and quite windy but the sun is shining brightly. We had a couple of missed turns this morning but whoever's heard of a double roundabout. I told you these Portuguese engineers are crazy. We made it through the crazy streets of Lisbon to what we thought was our hotel and that's when the fun began. Ron came in and said he didn't have his "murse" (man purse) and he didn't know where he left it. We talked to the receptionist and she contacted the hotel (3 1/2 hours away) who said they had Ron's satchel which of course held his passport. If that wasn't bad enough our new hotel couldn't find our reservation. At that point in time though that was the least of my worries. How to get Ron's passport. The thought of reversing our steps and going back was not appealing but could we get his passport in time for our flight the day after tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. We finally figured out that the hotel where we were registered was 10 min. away. Another Vincci hotel - the mistake was the tour companies though - I had our printed reservations. The company will definitely hear from us. I contacted the hotel where Ron left his passport to see where we were in the process. They promised to call in one hour to see if they could send it or if we had to go back. I called in an hour and they said they had emailed and were waiting for my confirmation. I never received an email (I even checked my spam) so I called the messaging company and gave them my credit card. They guaranteed it by the end of the next day. Fingers crossed. Since it was already late in the afternoon we decided to return our rental car. Driving in Lisbon isn't fun. Crazy big city drivers with narrow streets isn't the best combination. We'll leave it up to the professionals and we were just happy to return our little Yaris in one piece. We were starved at this point so we asked for a recommendation from the concierge. He said A Gina. We went there but of course they weren't open yet. We walked Avenida de Liberdades and enjoyed looking at the statues and all the high end stores - Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada etc. At 7:00 we went for dinner. Ron had rice with grouper and prawns and I had the pork tenderloin piri-piri. They even gave us a shot of port after dinner. Yum! It had been a stressful day so we went back to our hotel to regroup and get ready to see as much as we can of Lisbon tomorrow.

A typical house that we saw as we drove the countryside

Another bridge for Paul

Statue of Christ the King - Cristo Rei

Statue of Marquis de Pombol - our hotel was 2 blocks from here

Urban graffiti

Lisbon at night

Restaurante A Gina

Trip to Portugal - Day 7 - Sunday, January 19, 2020 - Sagres

I have to say something about driving in Portugal. We have done very well with google maps and I think we only rerouted once. The roads we've been on so far have been good and well marked but we haven't had to do much city driving. All that being said, these people love roundabouts. I have never seen so many before in my life than I've seen here this week. I previewed today's route to Sagres and there are 54 traffic circles on our trip of 91 km. Crazy!

Today in contrast to yesterday, it was bright and sunny as we headed off to Sagres, a desolate point at the end of Portugal or the end of the world as they say. Despite the beautiful sun I had on 4 layers and a scarf on my head since it was really windy there. I suspect it always is with its location. Reminds me of Maine. The trip was about an hour and twenty minutes and our first stop was the Fort of Sagres. It was an impressive sight and you could see why this was the perfect vantage point for a fort. We walked the entire grounds and saw the batteries, a church, caves, mammoth cliffs, the sentry lookout and the powder magazine. There were all kinds of warnings to keep off of the cliffs but there were numerous fishermen still fishing from the sides of the cliffs. You had to wonder just how they got there. Next it was on to Faro de Sao Vincente. It was only a short drive away and you really could only look at the lighthouse so we didn't stay too long. We then went to Mareta Beach to admire another picturesque Portuguese panorama. There was a nice restaurant on the beach but a local had given us the name of another restaurant that he thought was better so we just stopped in for a glass of white wine at Telheiro do Infante. They say Sagres is known for its white wine. Following the young man's suggestion we ate at Carlos' restaurant. Ron wanted to try the chicken piri piri that we had been hearing about and I followed the recommendations of an expat couple who raved about the cuttlefish with beans. Both were excellent but after seeing what a cuttlefish looks like it's lucky I ate it before I googled it. It is not a fish but a mollusk and looks scary and prehistoric but as I said it tasted great. It was an easy drive home. Let's hope we do as well tomorrow driving to Lisbon. Too full to eat dinner. We will read and call it an early night.