Of course no trip is complete without trying new foods and we ate well in Portugal. I think the boys’ favorites were the pastries. I’m not really a pastry kind of person but even I liked a couple. Probably the most typical (and one of our favorites) pastry is the queijada, a little cheesecake made …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Still in lockdown
As we come to the end of our 15 days of lockdown, Spain’s prime minister has called for an additional 15 days of lockdown, extending it until April 11th. With the numbers of new cases still increasing, we understand and have accepted the decision. It is hard, harder knowing that it will last longer and …
Mornings at Michele’s
By Mamo This was written weeks before our current situation…I’m just getting around to post it. When planning my 2 trips to Spain, Michele asks me what I want to see. I say I want to see and do their daily life. This is what school mornings are like: First Michele creeps downstairs six-ish. Being …
The road home from Portugal
It seems so long ago now, but I realized I hadn’t finished posting about our return trip from our last adventure to Portugal. After leaving our Monsanto, our last stop in Portugal, we still had 7 hours to drive home. Our first stop was just across the border at the Roman Bridge of Alcántara, built …
Lockdown
Starting Saturday night, or Monday morning, depending on who you ask, Spain was put in lockdown. Pretty much everything has been closed, except for grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations and hospitals. We are confined to our house. Spaniards have taken this very seriously, almost no one leaves their homes. There have been countless video campaigns …
Coronavirus in Spain
Like the rest of the world, we watched as the Coronavirus hit China, then Italy, and then it came fast and furious to Spain. Originally, it was concentrated in Madrid, the Basque Country and Mallorca. Then it started hitting closer to home. Spain’s government acted fast. The first signs of changes in our town that …
Monsanto
Monsanto is located basically in the middle of nowhere, but it looked so fascinating, I had to add it to our Portugal itinerary. And it turned out to be a definite favorite. Monsanto is a very small medieval town high up on a hill near the middle of the border with Spain. Monsanto was voted …
Sintra
Oh, Sintra. What a beautiful and magical place. We pretty much loved everything about this region. Sintra is lush and green. At the heart is a historical town filled with palaces and crowned with a Moorish Castle. Our first stop was Palacio Nacional da Pena (Pena Palace), built by King Ferdinand II in the 19th …
Évora
Our first stop in Portugal was Évora, perfectly situated about 3 hours from Palos de la Frontera. Our main point of interest was the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones). Built in late 16th century, the Capella dos Ossos was Évora’s answer to the overcrowding in the cemeteries. The monks used the bones 5000 bodies …
Around Huelva
As we exited Doñana National Park, we made a couple of stops in the Huelva region on the way to Portugal. Our first stop was Cuesta Maneli Beach. We were just looking for a place to let the kids play on the sand dunes and get onto the beach and were attracted to the wooden …
Adrift in Andalucía 