It Was Supposed To Be A Three Hour Tour

We put Tarifa on the schedule so we could take a ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar to Tangier, Morocco. Weather-permitting...the winds can be fierce and ferries canceled. So when we woke up Friday to a beautiful sunny day with howling winds, we thought "uh-oh."

But when we reached the ferry terminal, everything was a go, so off we went. Note that this was 9 AM.

Our guide in the bakery/peanut roasting shop

What they don't tell you is that you might make it to Tangiers, but your return ferry could be cancelled. Our guide Aziz was concerned from the start and let us know he was monitoring the situation. Oh, hurray. In addition, it was Friday, so many places would be closed after the midday prayer (which we also didn't know and it wasn't mentioned anywhere). But we had a good, if rushed, tour of Tangiers in both a van and on foot. A tour of the medina included a brief history of the world, Morocco, Tangiers and Islam; we went through the Sultan's Palace, visited an artisan co-op for an obligatory sales pitch with our sweet mint tea (and the carpets were gorgeous, I have to say, and "For you, 450 euro, includes shipping and we take MasterCard!") and took a quick jaunt through the grand Sacco which was amazing with the fresh fruits, veggies, meat and fish.

I did the typical tourist thing and bought a palm bowl of goat cheese and two loaves of bread for later, and it was a good thing I did, because snacks and lunch were taken off the agenda by a phone call saying our return ferry was cancelled. And this is when the real value of hiring a guide comes into play - Aziz put Plan B into effect which meant a crazy drive along the coastal mountains to the more industrial port of Tangier Med, where we could get a larger ferry into Algeciras. 

But not before we went to Hercules' Caves, which has nothing to do with Hercules as far as I can tell, and stopped for a photo op with a dromedary, and then for gas for this unplanned trip to a different town.

Goat cheese and bread lunch on the ferry

Insert several hour wait at ferry terminal and on ferry, and a very rough ride across the strait, here. We consumed the goat cheese and bread, then Ryne and I simply passed out, rocked to sleep, while Bob slept a little and paced (he's a little more prone to seasickness than we are). AND insert a wireless connection that allowed a text from Vonn to come through to call him right away (see next post, because it deserves it's very own).

So yeah, the revised destination was Algeciras NOT Tarifa. You know, where we started. And where our hotel, and the car, was. "You can get a shuttle to Tarifa for free," says Aziz, except NO WE COULD NOT, AZIZ. The unassailable logic of the ferry company was that they were not running shuttles because the ferries were not running out of Tarifa.

View of the Atlantic and Mediterranean

After a few false starts, we found the bus station and a bus to Tarifa at 7:30 PM - home by about 8 or so. The original schedule got us into Tarifa at about 3:30 or 4, so I guess we weren't THAT far off, right?

Lisbon Day Two

(Will be loading photos later so check back!)

We took care of some boring logistical stuff before really starting our day today. We are picking up a rental car in Sevilla on Thursday and this proved a little more complicated than we had anticipated. Original plan was to get the car in Lisbon, drop it in Barcelona on our way out. Until the rental car company tacked on a 450 E fee for a one way rental across the border, effectively turning a $400-500 rental into a $1200 rental. Ah, no. So we will get the car in Sevilla instead, but getting there is not easy since apparently no one feels the need to go directly from Lisbon to Sevilla.

Inside the cathedral at Jeronimos

Anyway, we decided it might be smart to take the metro to the bus station and get the tickets today, and then we would know how to get there, etc. Smart move, for sure, since there are no signs directing you to the bus station from the metro stop. We figured it out eventually, got our tickets and headed back downtown to take a trolley to Jeronimos Monastery in Belem. By this time, we needed lunch and the guys were on the hunt for toasts. Again. I clearly need new traveling companions. We passed up several places offering various seafood and rice dishes, and fried cuttlefish (which I now have a huge craving for, thank you very much), and fish stews...looking for grilled cheese.

Shoot me now.

The cloisters at Jeronimos Monastery

We arrived at the monastery too late to get both the cloisters and the tower in, but the cloisters and the cathedral were well worth the trip. The cathedral houses the tomb of Vasco de Gama, and we had to explain who that was to Ryne and WHAT ARE THEY TEACHING KIDS IN SCHOOL THESE DAYS?

I wanted to stop and get a famous Pasties de Belem (custard tart), but my gastronomic agenda continued to be hijacked (and what did they want for dinner later? PIZZA. WTF.)

Vasco de Gama's tomb

Next up: another trolley ride (and another cobblestoned hill trek) to the Sao Jorge castle, another Moorish fort above Lisbon. Wow. Despite the fact that none of us wanted to climb up more stairs, we did anyway. You can walk almost the entire way around the ramparts of this castle and the views of the city and the river were amazing. As the sun set we were treated to a chorus of peacock screaming; they were roosted in the trees around the castle.

The iPhone's pano feature - really cool view of Lisboa from Sao Jorge

The Importance of Pastries Cannot Be Overstated

Custard tart, a Portugese specialty

Our pensao is fabulous. Our room was three twin beds and a bathroom in a flat on the second floor (which is the third floor in our land). No elevator. Have I mentioned all the stairs? Goddamn. They get it in Lisbon though - the hills, the stairs, it requires fuel and that fuel should come in the form of pastries. All the time.

I have died and gone to heaven. There is nothing I like more than starting my day with caffeine and sugar, and holy black coffee and pastries, Batman! BLACK coffee so strong the spoon can almost stand up in it, and about 10 different pastries including cookies, pound cake, orange mini cupcakes, coconut cake, apple pastry, sponge cakes, some amazing caramel cake thing that I ate way too much of, veggie quiche, sausages in a croissant, plus fruit, plus ham and cheese and hard boiled eggs. Whew. Good thing lunch doesn't happen until about 2 or 3 pm.

In addition to starting the day that way (presumably), Lisbon residents also stop throughout the day for a little pick-me-up of espresso and more pastries. Croissants, custard tarts, cookies, all sorts of creamy layered cakes...and then there is the gelato...

Sugar. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

Three Castles A Day...

...could mean orthopedic surgery at some point.

Castle #1 - Pena Palace

It's bad news when even the kid is complaining that his ankles and calves hurt. Today (Monday March 3) we headed to Sintra, outside Lisbon, home to Pena Palace, the Moorish Castle, the National Palace, and assorted other "lesser" palaces, all situated in a hilly wooded park. Uneventful train ride was followed by a rather harrowing bus trip up the hill in narrow, winding, cobblestoned roads. Pena Palace started life as a monastery, and was purchased in the early 1800s by the Portugese king, who added more palace-y bits.

The tilework is incredible, and everywhere. Even modern structures here are covered in tile on the outside...the palace wasn't any different. The views from the walls were fantastic - we lucked out on the weather, although high winds filled out too much hanging out on the walls on in the courtyards.

Exterior tiled wall at Pena

Note to self: install tiled courtyard in next house. Also, gargoyles.

After clambering around Pena, we hiked down to Mouros, the Moorish Castle. The original fort was restored by the Portugese royals, who also added some romantic period elements including winding pathways and gardens. Amazing views from the ramparts...and another workout. Really need to start using the Stairmaster at the gym, holy crap.

The kitchen at the National Palace.

Important side note: And the shoes these women were wearing! Boots, with heels, it's just craziness. I felt old and unfashionable in my sensible walking shoes, but also...self-righteous and smug, knowing that while I would need a glass of wine and a couple of ibuprofen at the end of the day, those women were going to need a boatload of alcohol and a morphine drip. Ha.

We chose not to walk down to the historic center of town, and hopped back on the bus (which is so going to be a terrifying amusement park ride, coming your way soon). Lunch of "toasts," aka "grilled cheese" followed by gelato fortified us enough to head to Sintra Palace, the national palace. The most notable feature here are the whopping double chimneys, which vent the whopping kitchen. This thing has meat spits for about 6 cows, and a "cooktop" that can accommodate a dozen huge copper pots at one time.




And if it wasn't hills and cobblestone roads, sidewalks and squares, it was stairs and stairs and more stairs. And more of the same in Lisbon itself. Ow.

Moorish Castle view

The kitchen chimneys at the National Palace

For Geeks Only. Rant Alert

What the heck with Blogger, man? I've used Blogger for several blogs - last trip to Europe in 2010, food porn - so I'm not a beginner. But this iPad app is seriously screwed. There are two different interfaces to create a new post. The one I am writing in now - accessed from a "tap here for new post" option, allows me to upload photos from my iPad, but does not have any formatting features beyond being able to bold and italicize the type.

If I go into "view post" and hit "new post" from there, I get the usual blogging formatting tools. But I have the following options to upload a photo: from my blog (meaning I would have already loaded them somehow), from Picasa, from my phone via Google +, or from an URL. Not from the iPad photo library.

The iPad, meanwhile, allows me to "share" photos via messaging, email, iCloud, Twitter, Facebook or Flickr. I can also upload them to Google Drive, which I use quite a bit.

Note, however, that Blogger, a Google product, has zero access to Drive.

Which means that the options to share photos on the iPad do not match the uploading options on Blogger. 

Which means I have to jump through several hoops to get photos to, say Google +, so I can post them in Blogger.

Which means I will probably have to borrow Ryne's laptop to upload photos and get a blog done easily.

Which means I will be in a position of OWING THE TEENAGER. 

Which is bad.

In Which We De-ice for Two Hours and Lose Some Luggage

The Michigan winter of 2013/2014 has provided some interesting experiences, including my first-ever plane de-icing. It only took two hours of sitting on the runway, waiting in line for the "de-icing pad" and then the de-icing itself. Of course, this meant a mad scramble for a connecting flight in Amsterdam and some lost luggage. And Ryne wondered why I brought febreze.

Another out-the-window shots.

Wind mills in the Channel.

Getting Ready

The movie was great. Because Batman. And Liam Neeson's voice.

So, I made the guys take me to The Lego Movie for my birthday last night and now I can't get that damn song out of my head.

"Everything is awesome! Everything is cool when you're part of a team..."

Which naturally leads to running the lyrics through Google Translate.

So when we arrive in Lisbon, I can sing "Tudo é incrível! Tudo é legal quando você faz parte de uma equipe..."in Portugese.

And then later in Spain, I can sing "Todo es increíble! Todo está bien cuando eres parte de un equipo..." in Spanish.

And in Tangiers I can say this: كل شيء رائع ... كل شيء بارد عندما كنت جزءا من فريق

And that concludes the fun part of my day, as I move on to vacuuming and laundry and airline check-ins and such.

Watch This Space!

We're leaving,
On a jet plane...

On Saturday! Watch this space for photos and commentary on our trip to Portugal and Spain.

The general itinerary:

March 2: Arrive Lisbon, pass out in pensao
March 3: Pull ourselves together, explore Lisbon
March 4: More Lisbon and environs
March 5: Train to Faro, first leg of excruciatingly complicated procedure to pick up an rental car. Cheaply. Bus to Seville. 
March 6:  Drive to Tarifa, via Arcos, maybe
March 7: Day trip to Tangiers. Boys want to ride a camel. Girl does not.
March 8: Head to Nerja or Ronda
March 9: Nerja/Ronda
March 10: End up in Granada, get Vonn at train station
March 11: Alhambra
March 12: Drive to Barcelona
March 13-15: Barcelona
March 16: Homeward Bound

Hasta la vista, baby!