Monday, February 28, 2011
The castle peacock in action!
We took this video of the male peacock trying to woo one of the females nearby while we ate lunch, quite a show!
Lovely Lisbon
Our short three day stint in Lisbon is drawing to a close, but we have really enjoyed what we've seen. First of all, the weather has been absolutely PERFECT with bright sunny skies and highs in the 70's. We can see why so many British people like to vacation here! The apartment we rented worked out beautifully, especially the fact that we had a washer so we now have a clean wardrobe. The downside is that it didn't have internet access (I was sure I had asked the guy about that, but I guess not) so we ended up findng a service we could sign up with for a nominal amount. Anyway......
We visited the monument to the discoverers, which is one of the landmarks of Lisbon and dedicated to the early explorers who set off for the new world. In addition, we visited the Sao Jorge Castle which was really an amazing sight. If you want to read more about it, click here. It is built on the highest of Lisbon's seven hills and affords an unobstructed 360 degree view of Lisbon and the Tejo river. We were able to up in one of the towers where they have a periscopic camera where they reflect the view from the top of the tower onto a screen so you can see all of Lisbon while the guide points out all the major areas of the city. There are also resident peacocks on the grounds of the castle that put on quite a show as well. Well worth our 7 euro admission!
It's also been interesting listening to Portuguse being spoken all around us since I thought I'd be able to recognize more of it because I know Spanish. True enough, there are some words that are remarkably like Spanish, but then there are some that don't sound familiar at all! In fact, sometimes, the language almost sounds eastern European and we could swear that when they announce the subway stops in English on the train, it sounds like someone with a Russian accent.
Well, we're heading out bright and early tomorrow morning for a 7:30 flight to Madrid. Should be a pretty short one which is good, because from there we'll be renting a car and driving up to Bilbao, about a 4 hour drive. So we'll be back where we started in Spain for the next posting.......
Hugs to all,
David & Jim
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Porto, oh Porto!
Ahhh……picturesque Porto! What a beautiful city this is. After a 2 hour flight from Bologna, we landed around 2 p.m. to sunny, warm weather. The city got points from us right away when we were able to hop right on their beautiful new metro train at the airport which whisked us right into town. Talk about any easy way to get to the hotel! After checking in at the Hotel Ibis (Talk about a great rate - 39 euro a night!!) we hit the streets with our map to start exploring. Porto is a city built on hills and this was readily apparent to us as we made our way down to the Douro River, where the guy at the front desk told us were some great riverfront restaurants where we could eat lunch outdoors. Well, he was right - the river was lined with lots of little cafes so it didn’t take long for us to find a table where we could soak up the sun and enjoy a light meal. What a nice treat that was after chilly Bologna!! The river is really beautiful with several elaborate bridges spanning it. One of them was actually designed by Gustav Eifel, the very same one who designed the famous Eifel Tower in Paris. The city must have been so impressed with the results of his work that they named one of the boulevards along the river after him!
Given that it was late in the day and we didn’t have a lot of sleep the night before, we decided to head back to the hotel early and just have a bite in the lobby for dinner. The trick was getting back up the steep hill - fortunately, the helpful guy at the front desk pointed out the funicular on the map, which goes from the top of the hill down to the river. Luckily, our metro card which we had purchased at the airport covered the funicular as well, so we just strolled down the street after lunch and were able to hop on the funicular just on the other side of the bridge and up the hill we went. Too convenient! The funicular also looks really new and clean, just like the metro streetcars and provided us a gorgeous view over the river as we went up the hill. All in all, a picture perfect ending to a long travel day!
DAY TWO
We had done some research prior to getting here and discovered a cool sounding musical performance that was happening at a place here in Porto called the Casa de Musica so we headed over there first thing in the morning to get tickets for that night. What a cool building!! It was built in 2005 and has a really futuristic look, which is right up our alley. The tickets were only 10 euro which is a great price but it wasn’t until 10 p.m. so we were going to have to pace ourselves! After getting our tickets, we headed back down to the river, where we had planned on taking a riverboat tour. The tour boats are actually old commercial boats that used to ferry barrels of port wine from the distributors on the other side of the river (more about that later) to the restaurants and stores on the other side. Again, an absolutely flawless day weather wise and the boat tour was everything we expected…..except……we were told the tour was offered in English as well as other languages but once on the boat, the recorded information was only in Portuguese, French and Spanish. When I asked the guy about the English translation, he said the disk (or whatever) was broken and it wasn’t working. Well, that was a drag because we didn’t get to hear about all the bridges and other points of interest along the river (although I did my best to translate the Spanish information for us). Long story short, we decided to go to the boat tour office to see about at least a partial refund since we really didn’t get what we had paid for. Upon entering the office, we found the woman who we bought the tickets from and explained the situation to which she immediately became defensive and explained that they do not guarantee an English translation (even though we clearly had seen it advertised on the brochure) and that it was offered in three languages. It wasn’t looking like we were going to get anywhere but then, clearly exasperated, she called her boss who told her to just giver our money back so we got a full refund. Yay!! So, successfully refunded, we headed across the river to visit the port wine houses, (there are about 17 altogether with Sandeman being one that I’m guessing most people might be familiar with) where you can tour them and get free samples. Well, we hit the first one we came to which was Calem Port and for 4 euros each we got a great tour of the cellar with lots of information about how they make port wine. And, we got a generous tasting of both white and red port wine. Love the port!!! We could have easily continued on down the riverfront visiting a few more of the port houses, but we knew we had a 10 p.m. performance so we decided to play it smart and head back to the hotel to rest up a little before the show. So we headed back towards the funicular only to find out it was having maintenance done for the next two days - yikes! - so we had to walk up the 5000 or so stairs that go up the hill. Talk about a cardio burn…….anyway the performance was quite interesting - it was an American group called the Dave Levin quartet and they specialized in, how should I put it, wildly discordant music. Dave Levin plays the cello and the other guys played the trumpet, base, and bells. Can’t say I’d necessarily want to see them again, but it was still a very interesting show. And the Case de Musica…..well, it was worth it just be in such a cool performance hall!
DAY THREE
Our last full day in Porto and we decided to take the tram out to the beach on the west side of town. The trams here are much like the ones in San Francisco so it was a really fun, nostalgic way to head out along the waterfront. For our Northwest friends, the area here where the Douro River empties out into the Atlantic is much like where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific between Washington and Oregon. The area of Porto along the Atlantic side is really picturesque, with condos and beachside restaurants hugging the coast. Since it was another beautiful sunny, day we walked from where the trolly dropped us off out to the spit of land where the river meets the ocean and there is a concrete spillway you can walk out to a now defunct lighthouse. It was so cool to be out there on such a gorgeous day and watch these HUGE waves crashing over the rocks and up onto the beach! In many ways, it reminded us of walking around Alki Beach in West Seattle. So we sat on the seawall for an hour or so and enjoyed the warm sun as we looked out over the ocean.
We have certainly enjoyed our first days in Portugal and if Porto is any indication, Lisbon should be just as enjoyable! One nice thing is that prices are MUCH lower here than in Italy - maybe it’s due to the financial struggles the country is facing, but you’d think the whole place is on sale. Oh and for the absolute first time yesterday, we were looking at a map trying to get our bearings when a man actually asked us if we needed help finding our way! We have been traveling throughout Europe for a month and a half and have been on many city street corners studying maps and this was the first time anyone has ever offered to help us out. You go Portugal!!
Given that it was late in the day and we didn’t have a lot of sleep the night before, we decided to head back to the hotel early and just have a bite in the lobby for dinner. The trick was getting back up the steep hill - fortunately, the helpful guy at the front desk pointed out the funicular on the map, which goes from the top of the hill down to the river. Luckily, our metro card which we had purchased at the airport covered the funicular as well, so we just strolled down the street after lunch and were able to hop on the funicular just on the other side of the bridge and up the hill we went. Too convenient! The funicular also looks really new and clean, just like the metro streetcars and provided us a gorgeous view over the river as we went up the hill. All in all, a picture perfect ending to a long travel day!
DAY TWO
We had done some research prior to getting here and discovered a cool sounding musical performance that was happening at a place here in Porto called the Casa de Musica so we headed over there first thing in the morning to get tickets for that night. What a cool building!! It was built in 2005 and has a really futuristic look, which is right up our alley. The tickets were only 10 euro which is a great price but it wasn’t until 10 p.m. so we were going to have to pace ourselves! After getting our tickets, we headed back down to the river, where we had planned on taking a riverboat tour. The tour boats are actually old commercial boats that used to ferry barrels of port wine from the distributors on the other side of the river (more about that later) to the restaurants and stores on the other side. Again, an absolutely flawless day weather wise and the boat tour was everything we expected…..except……we were told the tour was offered in English as well as other languages but once on the boat, the recorded information was only in Portuguese, French and Spanish. When I asked the guy about the English translation, he said the disk (or whatever) was broken and it wasn’t working. Well, that was a drag because we didn’t get to hear about all the bridges and other points of interest along the river (although I did my best to translate the Spanish information for us). Long story short, we decided to go to the boat tour office to see about at least a partial refund since we really didn’t get what we had paid for. Upon entering the office, we found the woman who we bought the tickets from and explained the situation to which she immediately became defensive and explained that they do not guarantee an English translation (even though we clearly had seen it advertised on the brochure) and that it was offered in three languages. It wasn’t looking like we were going to get anywhere but then, clearly exasperated, she called her boss who told her to just giver our money back so we got a full refund. Yay!! So, successfully refunded, we headed across the river to visit the port wine houses, (there are about 17 altogether with Sandeman being one that I’m guessing most people might be familiar with) where you can tour them and get free samples. Well, we hit the first one we came to which was Calem Port and for 4 euros each we got a great tour of the cellar with lots of information about how they make port wine. And, we got a generous tasting of both white and red port wine. Love the port!!! We could have easily continued on down the riverfront visiting a few more of the port houses, but we knew we had a 10 p.m. performance so we decided to play it smart and head back to the hotel to rest up a little before the show. So we headed back towards the funicular only to find out it was having maintenance done for the next two days - yikes! - so we had to walk up the 5000 or so stairs that go up the hill. Talk about a cardio burn…….anyway the performance was quite interesting - it was an American group called the Dave Levin quartet and they specialized in, how should I put it, wildly discordant music. Dave Levin plays the cello and the other guys played the trumpet, base, and bells. Can’t say I’d necessarily want to see them again, but it was still a very interesting show. And the Case de Musica…..well, it was worth it just be in such a cool performance hall!
DAY THREE
Our last full day in Porto and we decided to take the tram out to the beach on the west side of town. The trams here are much like the ones in San Francisco so it was a really fun, nostalgic way to head out along the waterfront. For our Northwest friends, the area here where the Douro River empties out into the Atlantic is much like where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific between Washington and Oregon. The area of Porto along the Atlantic side is really picturesque, with condos and beachside restaurants hugging the coast. Since it was another beautiful sunny, day we walked from where the trolly dropped us off out to the spit of land where the river meets the ocean and there is a concrete spillway you can walk out to a now defunct lighthouse. It was so cool to be out there on such a gorgeous day and watch these HUGE waves crashing over the rocks and up onto the beach! In many ways, it reminded us of walking around Alki Beach in West Seattle. So we sat on the seawall for an hour or so and enjoyed the warm sun as we looked out over the ocean.
We have certainly enjoyed our first days in Portugal and if Porto is any indication, Lisbon should be just as enjoyable! One nice thing is that prices are MUCH lower here than in Italy - maybe it’s due to the financial struggles the country is facing, but you’d think the whole place is on sale. Oh and for the absolute first time yesterday, we were looking at a map trying to get our bearings when a man actually asked us if we needed help finding our way! We have been traveling throughout Europe for a month and a half and have been on many city street corners studying maps and this was the first time anyone has ever offered to help us out. You go Portugal!!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
So Long Italia......
Well, our caffeine fueled tour through Italy has come to a close (the cappuccinos really are the best I've had) and it's ended on a pretty mellow note. Bologna has been a very laid back place to spend the last four days of our time here and besides the handful of sights there are to see here, we've mostly just settled into a fairly ordinary routine - which has been really refreshing! We found a favorite restaurant here - Osteria dell' Orsa - that serves amazing home made pastas at really great prices. We've been there three times and their bolognese sauce is truly the best we've ever had. The restaurant is really just a hole in the wall and not a place you would even think about looking at twice until you tried their food.
Bologna does have two leaning towers here that do not get quite the publicity that Pisa's does (probably because they're not quite as dramatic) but still very interesting. In addition - no big surprise here - this is where the luncheon meat bologna comes from. However, here it's called mortadella and looks kind of like our bologna but is dotted with chunks of lard, which the FDA in the US doesn't allow (good thing, right?!). Bologna is also home to the oldest university in the world, the University of Bologna, which was founded in 1088.
On our last day, we visited the Modern Art Museum of Bologna (MAMBA) which was really interesting and a nice change from all the REALLY old stuff we've been looking at lately! Other than that, we've just been chilling out and have actually been enjoying watching some movies in our room that we downloaded from the Seattle Public Library. Well, enjoying might be a stretch for a couple of the movies we saw, but oh well - it's not Netflix and at least it's free!!
So what have we learned about Italy during our three weeks here? Let's see........
1) Here, like in every other part of Europe that we've been to, there are WAY more smokers than in the U.S. You just get used to holding your breath off and on as you walk down the street. We definitely won't miss that!!
2) The walking hand in hand thing - you already know how we feel about that - really drives us crazy. I did get one good sideswipe in today against an oblivious smoker in a fur coat, so I feel pretty good about that.
3) You can't have an iron in any hotel room in Italy because apparently they think you'll burn down the whole place.
4) Restaurants allow street vendors to come in and sell their wares while you're dining, so during your meal you might have anyone from a flower salesperson to someone selling ticky tacky junk walking by your table trying to get you to buy.
Has it been all bad??? Of course not. We've seen some absolutely AMAZING sights that in my humble opinion, anyone who has the chance out to see. Visiting a place like Italy you really gain quite an appreciation for the Roman civilization and what they accomplished for their time.
Tomorrow morning we fly out of here for Porto, Portugal where we'll spend three days and then we'll be taking the train down to Lisbon for another three days before flying back to Madrid for our last two weeks in Spain before flying back home.
Thanks to all of you who are keeping up with blog.....it's nice to know you're enjoying the trip with us!
Sending hugs across the Atlantic,
David & Jim
p.s.: pictures are taking way too long to load tonight so I'll add them to this posting when we get to Porto........I think we'll have a better internet connection there :-)
Bologna does have two leaning towers here that do not get quite the publicity that Pisa's does (probably because they're not quite as dramatic) but still very interesting. In addition - no big surprise here - this is where the luncheon meat bologna comes from. However, here it's called mortadella and looks kind of like our bologna but is dotted with chunks of lard, which the FDA in the US doesn't allow (good thing, right?!). Bologna is also home to the oldest university in the world, the University of Bologna, which was founded in 1088.
On our last day, we visited the Modern Art Museum of Bologna (MAMBA) which was really interesting and a nice change from all the REALLY old stuff we've been looking at lately! Other than that, we've just been chilling out and have actually been enjoying watching some movies in our room that we downloaded from the Seattle Public Library. Well, enjoying might be a stretch for a couple of the movies we saw, but oh well - it's not Netflix and at least it's free!!
So what have we learned about Italy during our three weeks here? Let's see........
1) Here, like in every other part of Europe that we've been to, there are WAY more smokers than in the U.S. You just get used to holding your breath off and on as you walk down the street. We definitely won't miss that!!
2) The walking hand in hand thing - you already know how we feel about that - really drives us crazy. I did get one good sideswipe in today against an oblivious smoker in a fur coat, so I feel pretty good about that.
3) You can't have an iron in any hotel room in Italy because apparently they think you'll burn down the whole place.
4) Restaurants allow street vendors to come in and sell their wares while you're dining, so during your meal you might have anyone from a flower salesperson to someone selling ticky tacky junk walking by your table trying to get you to buy.
Has it been all bad??? Of course not. We've seen some absolutely AMAZING sights that in my humble opinion, anyone who has the chance out to see. Visiting a place like Italy you really gain quite an appreciation for the Roman civilization and what they accomplished for their time.
Tomorrow morning we fly out of here for Porto, Portugal where we'll spend three days and then we'll be taking the train down to Lisbon for another three days before flying back to Madrid for our last two weeks in Spain before flying back home.
Thanks to all of you who are keeping up with blog.....it's nice to know you're enjoying the trip with us!
Sending hugs across the Atlantic,
David & Jim
p.s.: pictures are taking way too long to load tonight so I'll add them to this posting when we get to Porto........I think we'll have a better internet connection there :-)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Love and Other Drugs - in Italian!
We confess - four days in Bologna is more than enough time to see what there is to see so we were actually bored and decided to see a movie. The movie "Love and Other Drugs" (in Italian, it's called "Amore & altri rimedi) is REALLY popular here so we figured we could at least follow the plot line, even though it was dubbed in Italian. You'd be surprised how much you can follow even when you don't really know what they're saying!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)