We began our day a little bit late. We all slept in more than we planned, but we still met our tour guide at 9:30 AM on the dot! We started the journey by traveling to the "Pink palace" in Queluz where King Don Pedro lived when he came back from Brazil. It was a summer palace and every room opens up to the garden. We witnessed a puppet show and many kindergardeners running through the gardens. :) There were two huge rooms that appeared to be ballrooms. SG, Rachel and I decided to take a turn around the room just like in Pride and Predjudice. There were portraits of royalty and Grandma was good to point out the shi shi pot (pee pee pot) or a chamber pot that was in a receptacle of its own and not under the bed. Rachel the art history major was good to point out the rococo style that was evident through out the palace. It was all very elaborate and ornate. There were beautiful crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. It was a very large palace, but Grandma noticed that we didn't see the kitchen or a library...hmmm...maybe they always called for take out and never read. :)
Next we traveled to Sintra a quaint little town outside of Lisboa. There were so many cute shops and pastelerias. Our driver insisted we have a queseria that was absolutely wonderful! Grandma didn't have coffee because she insists that the coffee is terrible in Portugal, minus the esspresso she had at lunch, but I am getting ahead of myself. In Sintra we saw an old palace with a twin chimnies and a spectacular view of Lisbon below. We knew it was noon when the bells tolled and we had to be on our way.
We climbed the mountain with our car passing quintas, which are old houses with a lot of land on them, and climbing the winding roads. The scenery was beautiful! We went to lunch at a traditional Portuguese restaurant specializing in fish, especially bacalhau--cod fish. It has been a major challenge to be vegetarian in Portugal. The fish and presunto are amazing! The portuguese eat presunto, which is pork, with honey due melon, olives and sera de estrella cheese. It is AMAZING! We shared an entire bacalhau and sea bass for lunch and we rolled out of the restaurant when we were finished.
We drove to the top of a mountain reaching the Boca Roca. We were at the western most point of Europe. The closest we could be to the Americas. Rachel could have sworn she saw a whale, but unfortunately it was only a rock. The wild flowers were pleantiful and the rocks were huge that stretched out near the Atlantic Ocean. There was a light house that guided the sailers safely home. It was the most impressive thing we saw that day.
We got back in the car and we drove through Esoril, that had a huge casino and beautiful homes. It was definitely where all the upper class lived. Cascais had beautiful beaches and we could see sail boats in the distance. We have decided if we were to buy a condo that is where we would have it! The beaches were beautiful and the waves rose sometimes up to 4 meters high!
Then we headed back to Lisbon on the highway. We were so satisfied to experience places that were not only new for SG, Rachel and I, but also for Grandma. We loved reflecting on all of our adventures and Grandma is getting her groove on by walking every day!
Our favorites from the day:
Grandma: Boca Roca and the "Pink" palace in Queluz
Rachel: Boca Roca the "Pink" palace and the food especially the bacalhau
Margot: The presunto and cheese with fish (after all I am here for the food) :) The puppetry was an extra surprise.
SG: She is asleep right now, but we know she loved it all! But, she tells us she especially liked the ice cream for dinner, which we will get to right now.
When we got back to the hotel, SG, Rachel and I walked to get our evening dinner of ice cream. We walked down to the water front near the Rossio which was a big plaza where Don Pedro's statue is located. The Rossio is the plaza where our Great Grandmother left for America back in March 1917. The weather has been wonderful and it was like a dream, sitting by the water eating our dinner, of ice cream, and writing post cards and talking about our futures.
Tomorrow is our day of rest and we hope to take the tram and meet some of our Portuguese cousins. Ate logo!
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