We’re traveling! Four weeks in Europe including Portugal – a first for us – and Spain. We’ll finish in Amsterdam. Tom’s been there, but I have not. I’m really looking forward to it. And yes, you might notice that we’re down from six weeks to four. It felt right to shorten this trip. As we tried to fill in the days it just wasn’t working out. I will say that we’re already one down on the bucket list. More about that in a later post. The flight from Dallas to Helsinki was wonderful, and someday it will have its own post.
For the first time that I ever remember Tom had more trouble with the jet lag than I did. We checked into our favorite airport hotel in Helsinki and were on the train not long after that into the city center. It was Sunday and rather quiet, but the weather was very mild. In fact, that afternoon was 38 degrees Fahrenheit, the same at that time in Irving, Texas, where a cold snap was setting in. It was, unsurprisingly, a little lackluster in the snowmelt. We made it back in time for drinks and small plates at the hotel’s Executive Lounge and then crashed until the next morning. I rarely manage that first day without a big nap, but by golly, I DID IT!
Monday was our flight to Lisbon. At about four hours, around the time you found yourself restless it was coming to an end. It was one of those airports that required you to come down stairs on the tarmac, board a bus to the airport, and then find your luggage. In theory it’s all Casablanca on the tarmac. In reality it’s just a lot of extra work. The Lisbon airport needs some help with redesigning their baggage claim as it bottlenecks in a couple of places. They might need a hand with signage, too. (We don’t realize how good we’ve got it in the States until you cross paths with some of the European “premier” designs post WWII.) We found our car and drove an hour and a half to Évora.
Évora is a lovely little hill town with a few Roman ruins east of Lisbon. The area is known for its winemaking. We sampled several at Vinhos do Alentejo. It’s the wine cooperative in the region for lack of a better explanation. In addition to being close to our hotel and easy to drink, you could buy bottles there. We found a white we particularly liked for €4,50, so we bought two bottles. Of course none of it will make it home with us, but it’s nice to have an inexpensive option in our room before dinner.
It is, as I mentioned, a hill town. And so you are reminded that what looks to be a five-minute walk on the map is lickety-split if you are downhill, but a little more time going up. The temple ruins were just outside our hotel. We also visited the cathedral with a fabulous climb to the tower and then later down the hill, the bone chapel.
While tasting wines we asked for a restaurant recommendation and it turned out to be spot on. Tom had pork cheeks and I enjoyed a cod and spinach dish that I could swear was cheese but turned out to be a simple (and very well done) Bechemel sauce. I plan on working that up at home soon with a bit of Parmesan and adding gnocchi. (I’ll let you know how it goes.) We’re also talking about asking our Wisconsin butcher for pork cheeks. Europe eats everything. They have for as long as I’ve been coming here. (We have a story for you someday from France.) Maybe it’s ok if we take some of that back to the States now that we know a meat processor that will make it easy.
This morning after breakfast we packed up to enjoy a couple of days in Spain. On our way we visited a megalithic site with standing stones. Some of the stones had been brought back up to full height, and I’m going to trust that the archeologists got it right. To me, the most interesting thing about this 6,000 year old site is that no one knows why. It was not done in circle like Stonehenge. It was not a funerary site. Several of us walked around wondering what the heck.
Tom’s out scouting for a touring plan for tomorrow in Merida, Spain, where we’ve landed today. He can’t wait to be out in any new location. I have to listen to myself and decide if it might be time to rest. In the meantime, I caught up with you.
(More photos soon. Or in a few weeks. I’ll get back up to speed. I promise. Maybe.)
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