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Albufeira, Portugal

Albufeira, Portugal

Time for Some Beach Living

April 152015

It as early April and I wanted to stay warm, so I went south to this seaside town to soak up the “not quite but just west of” Mediterranean climate. For the most part, I got it. Highlights of this week was that there were no highlights. I just relaxed, read, mused, took walks on the beach, ate.

Albufeira.01.Beach

A very nice beach, that’s the Atlantic as it creeps south around the Iberian Peninsula towards the Mediterranean.

Albufeira.02.BeachChairs

Why, you may ask, if it’s such a nice beach, are there no beachgoers? It’s April, still early. Temps in the low 60s.

Albufeira.03.Shells

Lots of shells! Who knew?

Albufeira.04.ViewfromFlat

The view from my airbnb flat. Just a short 6 minute walk to the each, including the outdoor escalator to scale the cliff.

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Lisbon, Portugal
April 122015

I had a decision to make. If I went back to Kenya, I would have really pushed the whole schedule back a month, and I would basically miss out on most of Europe.  And it would cost a lot of money. Since I had a 3 weeks teaching commitment in Morocco starting April 19, I decided to spend some time in Portugal now instead of tacking it on to Spain later.   So I flew into Lisbon via Ryan Air (fun!), and spent a few days there. Highlight was probably the Sintra tour, a “storybook” region just west of Lisbon. Ate the biggest sardines I’ve ever seen too!

Lisbon reminds me of San Francisco SOO much!  Even to the same cobblestones as we have in the Embarcadero Center!

Lisbon reminds me of San Francisco SOO much! Even to the same cobblestones as we have in the Embarcadero Center!

Lisbon.02.DonsCandeIgrejaSaoDomingosl

I found the Sao Domingos Catholic church. The roof had collapsed during the huge 1755 8.0 earthquake that caused damage as far away as Morocco. They renovated it. I took the moment to light a candle to my friend Don (his is the second from the right), and meditate.

Lisbon.03.HappyDaveDining

Me eating. A happy moment. The ladies behind me were…bemused.

Lisbon.04.Sardines

And this is what I was eating. These are sardines. The biggest sardines I’ve ever seen!

 

Sintra!  Sintra is a fascinating little area, full of European Romantic architecture.  So unique that the UN created a World Heritage category for it, Cultural Landscape.

 

 

Sintra.01.PalacioDePena

Whimsical palace with good views. Palacio de Pena. Royalty lived here.

Sintra.02.ViewFromPalacio

View from Palace de Pena towards Atlantic Ocean.

Sintra.03.MoorishInfluence

Moorish influence on wall of Palace.

Sintra.04.HomeFront

Typical home entrance in the town of SIntra.

Sintra.05.DaveGoingIntoCave.

Dave heading into a man made cave at the quirky and mysterious Quinta de Regalaria castle. Was he a Mason…or wasn’t he?

Quinta de Regalaria.

 

Sintra.06.EndofEuropeIcePlant

This is the westernmost point of continental Europe. Beyond this there be dragons, well, Americans. Specifically, New Yorkers due West.

 

 

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