Favorite Lisbon Restaurant

We found our favorite restaurant, the very first day, for our very first meal in Lisbon. This was a recommendation from the hotel. They sent us to a typical, local place to eat.  It was FABULOUS!

The place was packed...with locals....inside and out. The smokers are outside, so we opted for inside. We ordered soup (since three of us are still feeling puny) and put rice in it. The bread in Portugal is great too. The fried potatoes are like potato chips back home. And doesn't that salad look fabulous? That's Michael's.

We loved this place so much that we ended up dining here three separate times.

Lisbon Hotel

Our driver picked us up at the airport in a spacious van.  It was a smooth ride and he dropped us off at a hotel, the Avenida Palace.  Notice that I didn't say "our hotel"? Well there's a little problem with the tour company. They don't have names & addresses on the instructions. Many of the hotels have similar names. So we're trying to check in to this beautiful hotel, with lovely staff, and they can't find our names. Fortunately the  traffic was heavy and didn't allow the driver to get too far. The doorman chased him down and he returned to get us and our bags and then get us to our proper hotel.  Another adventure.

We went up the street a block or two to our hotel, the Heritage. We were so sad to leave the last one. It was lovely. But our hotel is really well located, once again. The staff is spectacularly helpful.

And this is the BEST room of our trip.  There are big windows...that open! There was so much light that it was difficult getting photos of the room.

Oh, and they even have a tea bar in the lobby!  And WiFi is available, for free, throughout the hotel, even in our rooms!!!!!

Leaving Spain

The airport gave us yet another opportunity to purchase a big leg of ham......

We may have mentioned that the people here are VERY serious about ham.  See the plastic umbrella at the bottom?  That's to catch any fat that drips down.  They think of everything. Can you imagine if we brought this back home with us?

Now we checked in and we're ready to board.  We all loaded up on to a bus and headed to the tarmac where the plane was waiting.  The smallest plan that any of us had ever flown on!

We laughed when we saw this plane.  The co-pilot told us they were flying at a low altitude and it would be smooth.  We got to our seats and there was a lovely boxed lunch in the seat. Very simple, yet very tasty.

The take off was a little, well, we were going back and forth in the wind...is there a word for that? Other than those few seconds of flight, it was extremely smooth. Flying at the lower altitudes allows a nice view too. And we had an uneventful arrival in Lisbon, Portugal and our driver was waiting for us when we arrived. I love it when things go smoothly.

Have you noticed that it's warmer and we have our warm weather clothes out? It was just lovely.

Leaving Seville

This is such a sad story. We were really looking forward to Seville. We just didn't get to appreciate much about the place.  The Troubles were overtaking all us....except for Michael. Here's the breakfast at our hotel....that we didn't get to enjoy much......

 We're off to the airport to leave Spain......

Last Evening in Seville

We all headed out for dinner.  Michael is the only one that's not suffering.  None of us wanted to waste our vacation. We were also feeling very weak from  not eating, so we thought we would try to eat something.  The Imodium seemed to be working, so out we went.

This felt so good and satisfying.  Do you see how they put tuna on just about anything?  We were getting used to this and may even do this at home.

Then we hit the pastry shop next to the hotel for one last treat...Michael has been longing for the meringue....

This is nothing like a meringue at home.  It's really dense, extra sweet, almost creamy.  Too bad only Michael could really enjoy it.

Then we walked around a tiny bit (didn't want to be too far away from the room...and remember, we have a hike to get to our rooms) and enjoyed the outdoors.  I still couldn't get anyone to go for a ride in one of the carriages.......

We went back to the hotel, checked the internet for scores of the A's games...it was the end of the season and the A's were making a run for the division title (which they did win), and then went to bed. This vacation isn't sounding too exciting, is it?

Sights of Seville

After a full day, stuck in the room, wasting precious vacation time, I woke up and was feeling better.  Or perhaps I was just sick of being sick.  In either case, I headed to breakfast and ate small quantities of simple food.  Dave wanted absolutely nothing.  I brought him some bread, but he wouldn't touch a thing.  It is just the oddest feeling to have zero appetite.  I mean, I can always stuff myself so I just couldn't figure this out.

I ventured out with Michael & Sabrina, hoping to at least see the two big attractions in town, which are located about a block from our hotel.....the Cathedral of St. Mary and the Alcazar.

First we tried the church.......

It was closed for Mass, so I just poked my head in and we decided to try back later.  And when we went back, it was closed again for Mass.  So......

Then we headed over to the Alcazar.  This was a quick trip because Sabrina began to suffer the Troubles....

It seems that this is the former Jewish Quarters.  But once again, all Jews were killed, forced to convert, or fled.  The churches are built on top of the former synagogs.

Another One Bites the Dust

I wake up in the middle of the night with cramps.  I head to the bathroom and I'm just feeling awful.  I feel just like I did in Mexico where I passed out, hit my head, and ended up in the hospital.  With that experience under my belt, I must have sat on the edge of the tub.  The next thing I knew, I was crumpled in the tub and Dave was standing over me trying to wake me and get me to drink water.  He gets me back in to bed....until I woke up again and knew I had to get to the bathroom.  He held me while I walked, until I passed out and he slowly lowered my slumped body to the floor.  I'm sparing you the totally yucky parts. But he finally gets me back to bed.

In the morning, he was feeling a little better...at least enough to go to breakfast and bring some toast, butter, and a bottle of water back to the room for me. He didn't eat much and ended up back in bed. Where we spent the entire day. Oh, except for the one trip to the outside....to the pharmacy just outside of our hotel.  Here's what he purchased......

Thankfully the name is the same in Spanish as it is in English....no translation required.

Dave thought he'd venture out with Michael and Sabrina for dinner.  That didn't turn out too well.  He had zero appetite and after eating a little, he just felt awful.  So back to bed.  This isn't our most favorite travel story.