Where winding roads, rusty rails, iffy health and lean budget meet the calm
Sept 29
A month after we took off to Europe.
It is Sunday afternoon and we’ve been back for a couple of days now. Fighting jetlag and enjoying the lovely weather: sunny, warm and dry. Perhaps the best month that we missed. Continue reading “The most happenstantial trip we’ve ever had”
This short video is to let everyone know that we are safe and sound, if a little wet, in Europe. In mid September, parts of Europe suffered severe flooding from a massive and long-lasting rainstorm. We were in Sofia, Bulgaria when all the warnings began, and we had to get to Budapest via Vienna early in the storm’s approach. More to come.
Off to Europe again. This time we’ll visit my Bulgarian friends, Hungary where my grandfather used to live and along the way Austria, Slovakia and The Netherlands. Stay tunned.
It is July and I have booked our next flights. And accommodations. And some trains. In February Alex thought we would not travel again. Continue reading “Warm dry winter, wet cool summer”
In a year Porto has changed. The streets are steeper and the up-hills are longer. We stay with the same people. Loved their studio and the location. That grocery store around the corner is now perched on a steep hill far away. Continue reading “Porto, the revolting city”
Lisbon
We arrived in Lisbon exactly a year after we there in January 2023. Arranged to stay with our old hosts with whom we had kept in touch. Continue reading “Why did we miss Evora last year?”
While sick in bed for over a week, finished the 3 of José Saramago’s (Nobel Prize for Literature, 1998) books, we bought from bookstore Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal. Can’t decide if Death at Intervals (known also as Death with Interruptions) or Blindness takes the first prize, but leaning towards Blindness. Back to writing.
Life got in the way and we haven’t posted anything for a long time. We are currently in Coimbra, the medieval capital of Portugal, Continue reading “Coimbra, the old capital of Portugal”
We’ve been travelling for over 2 weeks in Europe. By the end of our short journey, we’ll visit 6 countries. Usually our travel is slower, however the goal of this trip is to visit friends in Switzerland, Italy and Belgium. We have a return flight from Amsterdam. And along the way we stopped in Germany and France. We’ve enjoyed European train travel in the past. This time German trains were chaotic, so we have a few stories to tell when we have time to post.
Alex’s final video from our January trip to Portugal. Although he has a few more recorded and I have few more draft posts it is now May, Continue reading “Snippets of Lisbon”
Portugal is an interesting country, packed with history, known for its maritime explorers like Vasco Da Gama, Pedro Álvares Cabral and Ferdinand Magellan. Continue reading “The trains and public transport we took”
(Yes, 3 months later we still have a few posts and videos to finish)
We loved Porto. It is the second largest city in Portugal, yet very easy to explore on foot. It revealed itself slowly, street by street, with a new scene or scenery every step of the way. Continue reading “Porto on foot”
Sintra is a whimsical, fairy tale city with gothic architecture, castles, mansions and villas perched on steep hills. We walked to every place we visited and some more as you know from our previous posts. Continue reading “A day trip to Sintra”
A post on our visit to Sintra in January is still to come. Here is Alex’s focus on Quinta da Regaleira with its Initiation Wells, and Pena Palace. We definitely had a good workout hiking up to the Palace. But busses, shuttles and tuk-tuks are readily available.
This rye bread was out of the world! It was very hearty and lasted us the entire week in Porto. One slice each was enough with the breakfast. Continue reading “Porto on a plate”
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