Postcard from Portugal

Bom Dia!

Bob and I began the Continental European portion of our house sitting adventures with a quick non-house-sitting tour through Portugal with stops in — Porto, famous for its port wines, Coimbra, famous for its university (and gorgeous library), Sintra, famous for its castles and palaces, and Lisbon, the capital. We head to Olhao, in southern Portugal tomorrow to connect with the home owner of our next house sit.

But first — how did we get here?

By car — Though we no longer own one. After throwing way too much money into it this summer just to have things keep breaking, we sold it to CarMax for more than we expected and feel like we have lost some undesired weight. We will see how we manage upon our return.

By air — We flew (for the first and likely last time) SATA (now Azores) Airlines from Boston to Porto via Lisbon. The flight from Boston to Lisbon was a short (compared to some of our other international flights) 6 hours, but the seats were tight, there was little legroom, and no pillows, blankets, or media were provided. The interior lights seemed to be off when they should have been on and vice versa. I didn’t sleep at all, and Bob slept very little. This was following a poor night’s sleep in our hostel in Boston due to street noise and sleeping in twin bunk beds with a room with no bathroom — fun journey down the hall during the night, especially from the top bunk! We did have an awesome day in Boston though. Great weather and a fun tour of Fenway, a stroll down the Charles River Esplanade, and then a great lunch at a Faneuil Hall restaurant overlooking the street performers.

Upper deck of Fenway — finding the seat where Ted Williams hit the longest inside-the-park home run

Everywhere in Portugal, we have enjoyed the super friendly people, the tiled architecture, the hills, and the beautiful summer weather. Check out some of the highlights (click on photos for captions) —

Porto