Portugal 2019

As soon as tax season wound down, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to visit Auntie Janet in Portugal.  Getting there is quite the slog!  We had to leave our home around 4am, take 3 planes, and didn’t arrive at our place in Lisbon until about 24 hours later.  Naturally, no one slept that whole time, so I was pretty spaced out when we finally got there.  Janet managed to hook us up with an incredible flat right in the heart of things, just two blocks from a bustling park full of fun.  We took some naps and tried to pull ourselves together for our first day in Lisbon.

I’m happy to report that my Portuguese vacation fantasies were pretty much immediately realized.  We took the metro down to Intendente plaza and the grown ups drank wine and ate delicious charcuterie while the kids ran around for hours playing in the dry fountain and trying to catch pigeons.  It was a great first night for our trip, but I was unfortunately so beat that I had to turn in early.  Josef and I took the Metro back and went to bed but Rachael got to have a tour of a local bar owned by Janet’s friend.

The next day we visited the aquarium and I got to try the famous Lisbon snack of caracois — snails.  We had a very relaxed pace to the day, wandering around exploring a Medieval city, getting little espresso and bakery treats, playing in parks. What a great city.

After that we drove down to Janet’s neck of the woods in the Algarve, where we would spend the next week.  We stayed in a tiny fishing town of Fuseta.  We were a 5 minute walk from the beach, 5 blocks from the fresh fish and produce market, and next door to the coolest locals bar in town.  Our pad had a roof top kitchen and deck, and plenty of the beautiful tile work for which Portugal is renown. 

I quickly found my favorite spots to frequent: a cafe on a small plaza down the road for a morning coffee and toasted ham sandwich, a little taver for a nightly snack of bocarones, the bar next door for a cold one in the afternoon.  We went to the beach every day to play, took excursions inland to see a bone cathedral and a huge bustling fish market, and just wandered around the village exploring.  One night we hosted a feast on the rooftop for Janet and her Brazilian friend Alexandre, grilling up seafood from the market in Olhao, putting away caparinhas, and listening to Tim Maia.

Portugal was in many ways the ideal vacation spot for me.  I love seafood, wine, cured meats and olives, and I could pretty much have that any time any place.  The people struck the perfect balance of friendliness and indifference; I never felt like a maligned tourist, nor target for hawkers.  Folks were just laid back and kind.  The weather lends itself to flowing linen and cotton attire, the air is warm salty and dry.  And man! it was cheap!  I really didn’t expect things to be so affordable; it really makes a trip more enjoyable when you aren’t feeling your resources depleting rapidly with each transaction.  Good thing we have family there, because it will encourage us to return again and again.

On the way back home we made a pits stop in Utah to attend a wedding.  Rachael’s cousin Brenda hosts a wedding venue at her farm and it was the most beautiful wedding location I’ve ever been to!  We had a great time, and I’m proud to say that Josef was the first one on the dance floor and the last one off.  Glad to see he knows how to keep a party going!