TIME LINE
Sunday, October 8 We flew from Porto back to Montreal direct. Our flight was wonderful and uneventful. I had the best meal onboard too. We did not sleep well on Saturday night at the hotel because the air conditioner kept going off, which is fine, but then it beeps and a light keeps flashing on the machine.... which can wake up anyone. Not great because alarm was set for 5am! We have heard horror stories of Lisbon airport so I was so glad we did not fly into or out of that city. Saturday we used Bolt (think Uber for Europe) for the first time. The car literally arrived one minute after we booked it. We took Bolt to the airport hotel. This has inspired us to put Uber on our phone. I have one or two more posts and this blog is done. I will go back to my Time Out blog for our boat. Thanks for reading.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEKEND CANADA!
Friday, October 6 This has been our last full day here. Our journey is coming to an end. I have 3 more posts coming up. Tomorrow we take the Metro to Porto airport area. We have a hotel booked there.
We had an amazing time in Porto. Here are so.w shots before I post on the Porto post I want to put together.
Wednesday. October 4 We took a bus to a Amarante, about 45 minutes away from Porto. We saw photos online and wanted to see this place. No crowds and so much beauty.
Tuesday, October 3 Yesterday to took a bus to Porto. This is our last week on this great trip. We are right downtown.
Sunday, October already Nazare is absolutely beautiful. Our Airbnb is on the 14th floor way up above the town. Uphill takes a whole new meaning here. This is a very steep, hilly town. Actually one needs good knees just to walk down the hills and obviously good footwear. The view is amazing from our apartment.
We have one week left in Portugal. What an amazing, fun packed, educational, adventurous trip!
Friday, September 29 Nazare is where we are! This is a place Paul wanted to see on a day trip but I planned a 3 night stay. There is just too much to see.
Our view from our Airbnb! I am waiting for sunset!
Thursday the highlight was me FB face timing 3 grandkids! This time change makes it hard. We took the train from Lisbon to the beachfront town of Cascais. We loved this small town. It was inexpensive to use the public transportation all the way there. Similar to the Toronto subway....but nicer.
Wednesday. September 27 We enjoyed a unique dinner out last night which included an excellent leek side dish. Paul has the recipe.
We walked over 11 000 km today, however that number takes on a different meaning when there are hills, stairs and cobblestones. Another great weather day and a Portuguese lunch out.
I loved this door to someone's home!
Tuesday, September 26 We have left the Algarve region of Portugal and are in Lisbon. The bus ride was interesting and easy to get here. Our Airbnb is another awesome place.
Sunday! Wow! We took a rib tour boat to see the Benagil Caves! Tourists travel here just for this sight. These caves are absolutely outstanding! I have so many photos that I will dedicate a post just for these. These caves are only seen by water. Roger, our tour guide was amazing.
We ate pizza out last night. Almost as good as mine 😆 !
Saturday, September 23 Big Walk day of 18 km or 11+miles. We walked to a nearby town Alvor. We ate lunch and toured this seaside fishing village.
Friday We walked this whole beach here. It is a sight to see. It is classed/rated one of the best in Europe. A cruise ship was anchored out tendering in boatloads of passengers. We walked to the marina in the morning . We used to own a boat that was a 3 Buoys Houseboat and now our boat is another named Time Out. We saw two boats named these.
Thursday, September 21 We are loving Portimao. Our Airbnb is close to everything we need. The beach is absolutely amazing and we have been on many beaches! This is an area where many people vacation for months at a time or retirees move here.
The locals are extremely friendly and English is spoken widely here.
Our view at night from the apartment.
P.S. the salt was not salt lol. Baking soda
No wonder ! Lol 😆 😆 😆 Paul's peas were not salty enough hahaha
Wednesday THE WACKY --NOT SO WONDERFUL DAY
Today we checked out of Seville and taking a ten o'clock bus to Portimao, Portugal. We left at 9am for the 20 minute walk. The sidewalks are not meant for wheeled carry-ons, so we hailed a taxi. Paul gave instructions where we were to go. We pay 10 Euros say goodbye and go into the station. This place is huge and I see Renfe Ticket office. I said to Paul this is the TRAIN station! Paul gave the wrong station, not taxi's fault. We now head back to entrance to take a taxi to the bus station.
Our bus ride is 4 hours so no drinking for me, again no bathrooms. This is not nonstop. The bus is getting warm by noon. As apparently the AC is not working. We have a scheduled stop at Faro, Portugal airport to let off persons and pick up. Mechanics came after a one hour delay. We were all off bus using airport bathrooms, eating and standing in the shade. Again, still a long bus ride, I am sipping a Pepsi. Not too much.
We arrive in Portimao bus station and there are zero taxis. My phone is not set up with my Esim for Portugal yet so Paul is using his phone to try to call a taxi. His phone does not like international calls. After 30 minutes we start walking to a taxi stand with our wheeled suitcases. After a 15 minute walk we hail a taxi. Yippee.
Taxi has our address but he knows exactly the building. Ten Euros later we are dropped off. We need to find building number 1 but these buildings have a front gate and fence. Someone kindly let us in as we did not have a gate code. We find building A which could be building 1 in Portuguese? Again, someone so nice let us in the building, no code for that door. We get into the tiny elevator and doors close. We need to get to the 11th floor. Hot and sweaty we are! And very thirsty. WHAT? There are only 10 floors in this building. Wrong #$%@!% building. This gets even better! We try to leave this building complex by using the man gates outside, no way! You need a fob key to get out. We are locked in this building compound! We are sweaty, hot and thirsty. Maybe stressed? Hmm? Again a couple was coming in so they helped us out.
Paul put address in his phone and we walked the half km away to the right building, no fences or gates, no front door code. We went up the elevator and used the one code I was given to enter this beautiful Airbnb. One beer in our bag. Paul drank it.
We needed groceries and food for tonight. We are not in the mood for a dinner out. We buy 3 bags of goodies right close by, no more walking for us! We walk into our building and all three elevators are not working! Yep, that is right. We walked up all the way. We were exhausted from a day of travel. Mentally too!
Paul is getting the salt shaker out of his suitcase for our dinner and the lid had come off. His clothes and suitcase had most of the salt.
This is now Thursday morning! All is well. We are loving our trip. I thought I would share that not all days are going to go well. Lol
This is a top beach in Europe! We will head there for an afternoon!
Tuesday, September 19 we saw the Castle and the Cathedral. In Seville these are the two main attractions. I will do a post on these two sights, absolutely a beautiful day.
We climbed up Giralda Tower which is part of the Seville Cathedral. You can't climb up if you can't do 15 stories or if you are claustrophobic. These are bells at top which are mechanically operated and lots of them!
Monday, September 18 we left in morning for Alcazar Castle and the Seville Cathedral. We were unable to acquire tickets as they should be bought in advance. So we visited Torre del Oro which is a museum for the Spanish navy. This tower is an old lighthouse/meeting place with fantastic views from the top. We also went to various other sights that was recommended on different websites. We walked 17,000 steps AND not all flat lol.
We tried to book tickets for Cathedral tomorrow but their website wants a 5 digit postal code. We ended up purchasing with a third party. We paid extra. Two sights are a must the Castle and the Cathedral.
Sunday September 17 we left Malaga at noon on a bus to Seville. Bus ride was boring but comfortable, about 3 hours long, no bathroom! We are here for 3 nights. We are up early tomorrow to see the world's largest Gothic Cathedral.
It is Fashion week in Malaga. The longest catwalk in Europe is here.
Friday, September 15 We visited Alcazaba Fortress today. This is absolutely beautiful and so much easier to visit than Gibralfaro. The heat is an issue as there is a heat wave here. Our lunch was fantastic and different. We ate fried anchovies and cuttlefish. Outstanding!
Yesterday we walked the marina and cruise ship area. The ships were not in port so all the shops were easy to enter.
Clean! This area in Malaga is so clean, never a piece of garbage on the roads or pathways.
The market here is a sight to see so we visited it too!
Wednesday, September 13 it is not crowded now. There were three cruise ships in dock. They are gone. We had a great dinner out last night and who sits beside us? Fellow Canadians! Small world. The food and wine are delicious.
Tuesday
Saturday, September 9 we took a bus to Montreal Airport, ate a fantastic lunch at Archibald's then flew to Malaga. We arrived on
SUNDAY, September 10. We took a bus from Malaga airport to downtown. We were able to get keys to our Airbnb right away. I did not sleep on the plane.
This is the ceiling at the airport restaurant.
The sunset in the sky over Montreal was spectacular but through the window I took this shot.
We have a carry on suitcase and one personal item! We are travelling light.
Tuesday, September 12
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