Theo

After 24 hours of travel we finally made it to Brenda and John's place. We got to spend some time with Mason, Tina, Brooks and Linda, Tina's mom, and we met Theo, Curtis and Anne's son.  He's very cute and full of expressions and starting to do lots of coos and goos. He enjoys when people sing and dance for him so lucky for him one of his grandparents is Brenda.  She, Mary and Anne have worked up a few song and dance routines already.
K&M

Location:Newbury St,Victoria,Canada

Holy Toledo, Was It Ever HOT(I think it's time to stop blogging)

I think Spain is trying to make up for the lack of hot weather we've experienced all in one day. We did a day trip to Toledo today and it was over 40 degrees. It was still 40 degrees at 6:30! Needless to say it took a lot of sangria and beer in order to walk all the narrow streets of Toledo. It was a good day once we got all the train tickets in order. We missed our first train because of some metro delays and dealing with Renfe(Spain's national trains) is not the easiest thing to do.

Anyways we're madly trying to get ready for our early flight tomorrow. Take care, we'll see you all soon.

K & M

Location:Calle de Campezo,Madrid,Spain

Stroll Through Madrid

Our flight from Lisbon to Madrid was great and it took less time then our trip from the airport to our hotel. After settling in we went downtown to get train tickets for Toledo...that was a 2 hour ordeal. Anyways after that we accidentally came to Retiro Park in the heart of Madrid and eventually got out the the beautiful maze, drank some sangria and took the metro back to our hotel.
Toledo on our last day in Spain.

K&M

Location:Calle de Campezo,Madrid,Spain

Time to Say Goodbye

We caught the train to Sintra after finally figuring our their ticket machines...not really to hard but it helps if you actually read the directions. It was a quick trip and we arrived before lunch. We started walking as soon as we got off the train and finally sat down for some food and drink around 5:30. There are a lot of things to see in Sintra and they all seem to be uphill. We walked uphill for 45 minutes until we got to the Moorish Castle. We bought our tickets and started walking up all the stairs to the top of the castle walls...great views. Especially interesting views through the crenellations of walls when you're bent over trying to catch your breath.

From there we walked downhill a bit and then back up hill to the Palace of Pena. An interesting castle with a very eclectic architectural style. Mostly built by King Fernando II after he took it over when the monks gave it up. The whole setting had a bit of a Neuschwanstein feel to it.

After this we walked for another half hour back into town to catch a bus out to the park and palace of Montserrate. The first construction of this palace was done by Gerard de Visme, an English merchant. William Beckford rented it in the 1800s and did some major works in the gardens, which included creating a waterfall. It was finally taken over by Francis Cook who did the major work on the palace and created a very interesting garden. We found the Mexico garden the most interesting.

We ate in Sintra, caught the train back to Lisbon, did a final stroll and returned to our hotel after encounters with some very persistent and aggressive panhandlers. We've found a lot more of this is Lisbon than anywhere else on our trip.....which is quickly coming to an end.

Tomorrow we fly back to Madrid for a couple of nights before flying back to Vancouver on Thursday. On Wednesday we hope to make a day trip to Toledo.

K&M

Location:Largo de São Domingos,Lisbon,Portugal

Trolleys in Lisbon

We had originally planned to make a day trip on Sunday to take a look at Torres Vedras and Ericeira but the weather was cold and rainy so decided to do a trolley day in Lisbon. So we got our Viva Viagem card and found trolley E28 which does a circular route, so we thought. Things were going well until the driver stopped in Estrela and said this was the end of his line. So we got out and tried to figure out the next step. We were near a park so we did a bit of a stroll and then came back to the stop to catch the trolley back. We waited for over a half hour with one full trolley going right by. We decided to cross the street, as more trolleys seemed to be going in the other direction and this is a circular route, right?

So we jumped on the next one and two stops later....this is the end of his line...everybody out. We found ourselves at the end of the line where, appropriately, there was a cemetery. It was named Prazeres, or Pleasures for the district it was in. So we went in as we had some time to kill. We were both amazed by this place, it was huge, as were some of the family crypts. And a lot were very ornate with statues, columns and stained glass windows. Some had glass doors with curtains and you could see the coffins inside. We saw some crypts dating back to the 1400s, but I'm sure there are older ones. Mary read later that this has been voted as one of the 10 most beautiful cemeteries in the world. After spending close to an hour strolling through the lanes we decided to give the trolleys a go again. About 45 minutes later and some pushing and shoving we were able to get in a jam packed trolley which took as back into the Alfama. We found a little bistro where we had a great visit with a woman from California, a young couple from Poland and an older couple from St. Andrew's, Scotland, who were giving us some tips about golfing packages at "The Old Course". A bit of a ramble through the Alfama(they do party every night), a stop for some pastels de nata and then back to our place. We stopped in this port store on the way back and saw a dusty, old bottle of port for $1500...thought of picking it up but no room in the old suitcase, you know.

Monday we go to Sintra.

K&M

Location:Largo de São Domingos,Lisbon,Portugal