Mike and Megan's Honeymoon: Day 5 - Olá Lisboa!

July 2nd

Megan boarding the slow train to Lisbon (or Lisboa as the locals call it). It was interesting going through the rugged interior of Portugal.

TAXI! Take us to our fine hotel!

We're pretty excited because the hotel is right next to St. George's Castle. The taxi driver pulls up the the castle gate and says, "I'm sorry. I don't think I can go any farther. Your hotel is though the castle gate. Take a right and then a left after a couple streets." WHAT! We're in the castle. The only downside was having to pull a 200 lbs. (90.7 kg) suitcase uphill several blocks. Where's a mule when you need one?

Ahhhh... Getting the honeymoon treatment at Solar do Castelo in the Alfama neighborhood. It was a wonderful place to stay with great amenities, location, staff, food, and so much more. Plus, it use to be the kitchen of St. George's Castle. How can we complain?

Portugal is full of these hole in the wall sandwich shops. Two sandwiches, a pastry, some kind of fancy coffee, and a beer for 3 Euro ($3.87 US). Guess where I am going to retire?

Sé de Lisboa was built in 1147. Think about that for a bit...

God lives here...

Portugal is the mythical land your grandfather told you about (sort of). You know when he told you the stories about having to walk to school every day in a foot of snow uphill both ways? Well, Portugal is uphill in every direction without snow. Just beautiful sun that will melt your flesh...

Praça do Comércio is the centerpiece to a rebuilt Lisbon after the earthquake of 1755

King José I by Machado de Castro. He was in charge when the 1755 9.0 magnitude earthquake knocked down most of Portugal, caught on fire, and finally hit by a 20ft. tsunami. They thought they were being punished by God and it's difficult to argue against that. He put Marquis of Pombal into a near dictatorial role of rebuilding the city, mostly the Baixa district.

The arch leading to the Baixa shopping district, which is auto traffic east-west and pedestrian north-south.

Us

Getting our transit passes and finding the coolest escalator in the world. Albufeira had one outside helping people climb a huge hill. This one went flat in the middle and then continued up. It was like lazy surfing.

TILE! TILE TILE! That's what you need to know about Portugal. They tile everything and you should learn about it when you are there. The Museu Nacional do Azulejo (National Tile Museum) is well worth the stop and should be done first.

These are all from churches and houses and whatever else they built

The museum is in an old convent called Convento da Madre Deus and here's another section they are planning to cover in more tile.

a huge church interior they saved and rebuilt

Everything that isn't tile is gold from Brazil. Something else you will notice...

Looking south from Rossio Square.

The electric tram. "Watch your wallets tourists!" is what we were told a million times. I like the ad on front saying "Be stupid." I don't know what the product was, but it's good advice.

A beautiful little park in Alfama overlooking the Tegus River.

The pointy tile building on Rua de Alfandega

A Baiuca at Rua de São Miguel 20 is a Fado restaurant. Fado is a kind of fisherman folk music of Portugal. This tiny place was where I had one of the top 5 moments of my life.

The band warming up while we get our order

The Portuguese Mick Jagger.

The food was delicious.

This is Michael from Newark playing his first night in Portugal. We are his biggest fans.

This lady was awesome. She sang, she danced, she cooked, she served, she had a tank top of a girl with a rabbit head, and did it all excellently in heels.

Singers would come in off the street. The cooks would dance. It was great. Everything in Lisbon was great and it's only day one!

Mike and Megan's Honeymoon: Day 4 - Goodbye Albufeira!

July 1

Megan and her new lobster husband. We had to go to the beach despite our burns. So, we scouted, travelled and moved a lot finding little pieces of shade wherever we could to enjoy our last day in Albufeira

Sangria and Don cookies under the drinking tree in the main plaza.

Igreja Matriz de Albufeira was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755 by the then Bishop of the Algarve, Francisco Gomes de Avelar. One thing you learn about Portugal, is that everything is somehow related to the earthquake of 1755. The way some locals talk about it, you would think it occurred yesterday.

another old church I know nothing about...

another church...

Somewhat of a view of the city and Atlantic Ocean

hot wife posing with favorite flowering tree

Albufeira on the shore.

So, Albufeira is super touristy for Europeans. There are tons of English, Dutch, and other northern Europeans hanging around, which means a lot of the restaurants cater to and are owned by folks from their respective countries (i.e. Dutch people eat at a Dutch restaurant decorated orange for the World Cup owned by a Dutch guy). So, we asked a local where the locals go to eat. Without hesitation, he said "Casa Madeira. Go there." We replied, "Great, where is it?"

"I can't show you on a map." he stated.

"Um... Okay... Is it near anything?"

"Old town." Mind you, everything is near Old Town. Anyway, we decided to try another restaurant and accidently made it to the one he recommended. It was on a main street easily show-able on a map. I think he realized tourists shouldn't go to local restaurants...

MMMmmmm... Kabab Madeira-style. What makes it Madeira style? Apparently, you take all the animals of a farm, butcher them, put all their meat on a huge skewer, cook it and let all the meat juices fall onto a huge plate of fries. In other words, the perfect meal.

CLIFF CAT! We finally saw one on the last day. We've seen dogs, such as "beach bum dog" who plays with all the tourists at the beach, and cats roaming around perfectly well-behaved throughout Albufeira and Portugal apparently without owners. In Albufeira, many of the cats live in the cliffs. This one was looking for bugs to eat or something.

Goodbye Albufeira! What a great way to relax after the insanity of a great wedding and long flights...

Mike and Megan's Honeymoon: Day 3 - Hiding From the Sun

June 30th

So, our skin is fried. We had the 200 SPF sunblock, applied it 20 times and scorched our lily white northern skin. So, this was a day to hide from the sun as much as possible. And here Megan and I are under our tree in the plaza drinking Sangria with a few other of the town winos...

They have a 7-11 here? No, just a 7 Days...

After walking the beaches east the day before, we decided to try going west and quickly became discouraged by a harbor we knew was there, a sun so intense it was turning us into bacon, and an expanse of land so vast we lost hope. But, this was a pretty view.

It appears Albufeira hired an architect from L.A. or Miami to design the Marina Apartments on their west side and everyone decided to stay as far away from them as possible. It's another sign that wide roads and plentiful parking do not make good cities. The bright colors are nice though...

Festival of the Suckling Pig! Finally something to do. What "Bairrada right by your side" means is still a mystery that I don't think I want to know...

A short, fat palm.

The cemetery I almost died in. It's a nice little place on Rua Sir Cliff Richard with interesting at grade graves covered in tile, photos, and fake flowers. Megan and I were just checking it out when a large Atlantic seagull bellowed at us. It seemed irritated, but nothing unusual. A bit later it did the same thing, but louder and continuous. I was near a tree and we decided to walk away from it because it must of had chicks in it or something. As soon as I moved further from the tree the seagull went nuts and dove at me. Luckily, I had the big backpack my new big brother Dave gave me for Christmas and used it as a shield. Seagulls started to fly out from all the trees and attack me. Megan bolted. It was like the movie The Birds and I tried making my way to the cemetery entrance swinging my backpack at every seagull dive bombing my head. Eventually, they left me along and I saw the Cemetery attendant laughing her ass off and pointing to the tree saying, "babies." That was my first Portuguese near-death experience...

The place I'd by in Albufeira to fix up if it was a bit closer to my job. The green tile exterior makes it along with the walls made of a pile of rocks.

The last fisherman boat left on the beach for the tourists' sake.

Nice fishing boat logo

You would think that the sun would lose it's intensity later in the day and you would be wrong.

Me getting sunburned through my shirt

A little boy and his inflatable tube looking for a river in what appears to be heaven...

Drinking Port wine, grown in a local we'll visit later, at the hotel before getting dinner. Our hotel manager chatted us up a bit since most of the tourists they get are European, very few Americans. US: "So, is the weather always this nice here? We haven't even seen a cloud."

Hotel Manager: "No, in December and January, it can get bad. We'll get rain." Sounds terrible...

YEAH! THE SUN FINALLY SET! We went to the pharmacy to get aloe, which the pharmacist told me was called "solar no-no." My lack of Portuguese and his broken English made for a great medical recipe.

A local band rocking the local folk music in the main plaza.