Trial post

 Heading to Madrid and Portugal on Friday. 


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Day 14th Oct 27th. Day 2 Lisbon

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 A day of walking! Today we were on our own to continue exploring Lisbon. We decided to go up one of the 7 hills to the St. George Castle. Upon our concierge's suggestion we found a trolley to take us up. However when we were almost to the top, there was a car parked on the trolley tracks and we weren't going anywhere. So we hopped off and made it to the castle. What a view! The castle in the distance is where we trekked to today The first fortification was built in the first century BC by the phoenicians. Then the roman's, moors and the portugese in 1147. It served as a royal palace and military barracks. Excavations continue.  It has a beautiful garden and a magnificent view of the city and bay. The perimeter was 17700 feet, that's more than 3 miles. Afterward we meandered down and down to the plaza level for lunch. We needed to get in some more steps so we headed up to the ruins of the Carmo convent. It was founded in 1389, with construction started in 1393. Unfortun...
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 Sorry about thus late post. We couldn't get Dennis' pictures to download, but we have now succeeded. After another wonderful breakfast buffet at our hotel, we were off for a tour of the area around Funchal (foo-shall). We headed up one of the "hills" to the town of Monta (elev. 1800 ft) and rode down in wicker toboggans (basket sleds). These were originally used to bring the produce and wine barrels down into town. Then to a fruit and flower market.  The last of the tour was our final wine tasting. This time of Madiera wine.  As we started our stroll back to our hotel we stopped in the cathedral. A lunch along the plaza and a stroll through a beautiful garden to return to our hotel.          This flower is called angel's trumpet. And yes this "that" Christopher Columbus Once back at our hotel, we decided to try one of the 3 swimming pools. After going down 3 different elevators we were at sea level. Dennis took a dip in the ocean and I decided to...
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Day 12 Oct 25 A trip down the coast

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 A day of bus travel, but we had some wonderful stops as we headed to Lisbon.  A stop at Nazaré, a sea coast town of about 10,000. Its fame is BIG surfing waves (around the other side of the rock cliff). It's a popular fishing port and holiday location. We saw where the local fisherman were drying the fish along the shore (and yes that's octopus in the foreground) We had a great fish luncheon provided for us. And we managed some nice weather in between showers.  Then on to Óbidos, a medieval city, now inhabited by about 3100 people. Originally a Roman city, it fell to the Moors in the 700s. Later the city was given to the Queen as a bridal gift from King Dinis. She and the queens that followed were in charge of the city. Most of the city was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of 1765, but was later rebuilt. At one point the local nuns starting making a sour cherry liqueur called ginja. The locals now serve it in little chocolate cups.  Oh so good.  
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