We’ll be back Portugal…..

So sad to be leaving this beautiful country. This was seriously such an incredible trip. Never did I think 5 days was enough for a European trip, and yet we did not feel rushed and truly got a taste of somewhere we will absolutely both return. High on our list is the Azores & Algarve- both more beach type places. Of course I will return to Porto…my favorite of the 2 areas on this adventure. Oh and the infamous, Sintra. So much to still explore.

Okay, If your enjoying the blog – cozy up with a cup of coffee or a cocktail as this may be a long post. I was exhausted last night when getting in bed at 1am that Im now sitting on the plane writing about the last 24 hours. We seriously packed it ALL in, seeing every area of Lisbon. By the way, Thank you for the comments and replies. We loved waking up reading so many of them. Susan Gold, Ms Fancy says hi too 👋 Valerie, I think your my next travel partner. And Rach/Dani, always love your messages. Vince and all the others, grateful!! Marc- you kill us with laughter and eye rolls. The balls were made of some kind of chicken with a sweet jammy sauce. More like a croquette. Lol Just glad you read and reply 😉And yes, we agree we are a good combo of different levels of Fancy. 

Woke up to a beautiful sunshiny day, complete opposite of the day before. We ventured out to the breakfast. This hotel, you order off a menu and OMG, the outside patio feels like we could be on a cruise with priceless views of the water. Church bells are ringing and more good music is playing.  We have a perfect view of the Golden Gate bridge. No joke the bridge is called 25th of April bridge and looks exactly like the Golden Gate. We have both decided this city of Lisbon is a cross between Paris, Rome, and San Francisco. Tracy lived their for many years and keeps making correlations. Trolley cars and windy weather, rain one day, sunshine the next. Back to breakfast….I had 3 beverages, lol Coffee, Ice with water, and there special Pineapple/mint juice with champagne, an omelette, and T had pouridge w/chia seeds and raspberries. The scenery was beautiful and we are both super excited for our full packed day we have planned. Two peas in a pod, or go go girls. We both are big time do’ers who require little sleep and are born with energy. Its funny Tracy’s mom is a scorpio like me and my mom is a Virgo like her. I keep saying this is why we travel so well together. 

We exit our elegant hotel on foot, saying Adios to our new found doormen family. They say Adioush different then in Spanish, all the Portuguese words are similar to Spanish but pronounced SO different, its hard to make the proper distinction, we are trying!! Its seriously a perfect weather day. The sun is beaming with a blue sky, yet there is still a nice chill in the air. I have a paper map in my hand, which I love as Maps on phone has messed us up. Excellent for this old-fashioned girl, as my daddy taught me well. I was born with a compass and am a walking navigation system. We take in many new sights of history and beautifully colored architecture. We have learned what the different colors of tile represent, green sends the message your wealthy, blue does well too….yellow and red had other meanings. It was all very status related in the earlier centuries. We arrived at our Segway food tour of the Alfama area. Peter is our guide….okay this guy will also be getting 5+ stars and rave reviews on TA by me. Ms. Tracy even got his email not me. We will be referring him business and sending others to find him. He should have been a history professor. He was like a walking encyclopedia with the best energy for a caring Taurus soul. We had the BEST time with him. It was our own private tour. He was training to other guides, one a cancer from Brazil, the other an Aires from Romania. Reminded me of my recent Segway interview, lol. They were cool guys too. We had the brief training, T got some extra pointers to ensure no falling this time, and we were off. I tell you I want to purchase a Segway. When I live in another location/city that it makes sense I would love one. You buzz around so easily, we were pros by the end. Up/down steep hills, over cobblestone streets, we did it all. 

Back to Peter, we learned so much from this interesting, grounded, beautiful man. He is married with an 8 year old daughter, has dual citizenship both British & Portuguese. His wife the same…apparently the Portuguese stick together…they were both born in London and families always hung out with other Portuguese families. They met that way. Lots of strong family values, catholic upbringing, but shared organized religion is not for them. With all the factual information he knows and the history which has SO much religious connections I was surprised. We had such fascinating conversations of the many versions of historical religious information. He has traced back his heritage, and his Fathers Mendis, has Jewish roots. He shared Portugal has a 18% Jewish population, he would be part sephardic jew on his dads side. He went to pastry chef school and did that for 15 years, then worked in high end retail in a bigger job at Ralph Lauren after his daughter was born. Traveling to NYC, and many other big cities for Fashion weeks. He started doing this as a free lance gig and now does it full time. He LOVES it, and you can tell. We learned SO much. Some of his stories reminded me of the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, as he taught us how everything in life is from/ or related to Portugal from the 1100’s-1600s, before there big decline. A correlation to James Bond and Casinos, the Skull & Bone society at Yale employs many in the intelligence world of wk, the reference of a Pirate sign, spice trade, and so many more wild historical stories with a connection to Portugal. Fascinated and wish I could recall the details. Hence why I like writing at night better. 

A cool thing he shared was the tarot of Portugal, he said if you find the middle way, you will always find the middle path- numbers and connections speak to you…the significance of 7 and 7 being 14, gold/silver on each side for balance. This had to do with how the rebuilding of Lisbon was planned after the earthquake in the 1500’s. There was a good story here, that we are both blanking on…..find that middle and it will lead the way. 

We finally tasted the Ginga, a talked about Cherry liquor in Portugal, had more of the famous tart, another cod fishcake(not our favs) and the tour ended with cheese, bread, a glass of wine for me, Cappuccino for Ms. Fancy. More cool learning….Portugal became a country in 1132, the skull and bone thing was crazy. He shared that his family unburied his grandfather in 2016 after he had died and been buried in 2009 in London to bring him back to Portugal to be in the Family Crypt. I was mouth-dropped, how do you unbury a body?! Who does this?!? You know how the symbol of death is the skull head and 2 bones crossed? Similar to the symbol of a pirate flag, well apparently this derived from Portugal as every family has a mausoleum with tiny boxes that just house the skull and bones. He said, how do you think you fit 2 femurs in a small box, the answer was you cross them like an X. Tracy commented that it sounded like an efficient way of packing- a shoppers mind 😉. I was dying. We keep buzzing around the most narrow alleyways in the historic area of Alfama, beauty of bougainvilleas, laundry hanging, as real life happens on this pretend movie set of peoples lives. 

2 Huge cruise ships are parked at the port, we hear SO many stories of the churches, there is a Star of David engraved in the stone of a huge cathedral, a story of Jews having to attend church to be able to live in the area, lots of stories of holocaust times and Portugal playing a part. Both good and bad sides. We both asked SO many questions all day and soaked up a lot of knowledge. Bottom line, so much corruption and deception in religion and history, because so much boils down to power, money, religion, and control. Basically from 1100-1600 Portugal was a BIG DEAL, after that they declined terribly. Back now, and many Americans are buying up the place, which they don’t mind. Its very good for the Country, as they love to travel all over. I loved learning his perspective as he says Americans are welcome, they want to learn the culture and the language. The French & British not so much. He has only been to NYC & Boston, they have plans for a US trip soon. I was interested to learn his Travel plans. He wants to experience- San Fran, Nashville, Colorado, and Seattle…such an interesting choice I thought. A lot of driving. We really enjoyed our 3 hours with Peter. It was like hanging out with an old friend pondering huge topics in life. I could be a professional explorer, truly living my name of Dora!

In 1986 is when Portugal joined the European Union(EU), at that time all kids started to learn English in the first grade. Its truly amazing to me, they all speak perfectly 2 languages. After the tour and Peter organizing our next planned activities for us to explore in an efficient order, we walked along the water to our next venture. We stopped at a beach side cafe to have an Aperol Spritz, taking in the day, the water, the live music all over, and the hustle & bustle of other happy travelers. Made our fun posts with pics, I wrote in the sand, while Ms Fancy spoke to her love ❤️. This moment of peace and quiet staring into the peaceful, gorgeous Tegus River was magical. Is this the life we are living….pinch me!! Feeling extreme gratitude! We walked to the TimeOut Market. A fancy food hall not to be missed in Lisbon. After circling the entire place(a huge,sort of Quincy Market type) we selected a crazy donut T had heard of, and a prosciutto/ cheese toast. Omg delish…..the toast, neither of us loved the Donut, but I did get a glass of green wine. Ms Fancy bought herself a Portuguese Black/White coffee table book. She collects these for the chic decor of her home. She is now certain we are on a search for a new bag or suitcase. No room for all her purchases in the bags we came with. We make our way to the train station to head to the LX Factory. I of course talk to our train seat mate, Tracy texted MG that I was interrogating a girl on train, this made me giggle. My dad didn’t call me, Baby Blabber for nothing…🤣😂 This girl was so nice, helped us with directions for next destination. I of course found out her story….she is a Yoga instructor, has lived in Portugal her entire life. She recommended areas for us to visit when we get to Cas Cais. The wealthiest area of Lisbon. As we exited the train, I said wait whats your name….she said “sara, my name is Sara”. I die laughing as I tell Tracy its another Serendipity sign. For other lovers of the movie…you get it🙃. 

We walk around LX Factory, an old outdoor warehouse type area with shops, art stuff, restaurants, bars, etc. it was a cool place. T bought a few things, we were real tourists here. Ventured back to train station, while getting a lil lost needing to call an Uber to the rescue. Ended up getting front door service to next spot, a town called Belham. We really explored ALL of Lisbon and its surrounding areas. Belham is known for the place that originated that tiny famous tart that is ALL over Portugal. The 1837 Pasteis de Belem Factory. We initially only ordered 1, as no joke we MUST stop eating sugar or food, PERIOD! This one was SO good and they give you packets of cinnamon and powdered sugar to add. We had to have another. We decided we did like it better with the toppings. CUJ, if you are still reading this never-ending post(so sorry) I thought about you in hopes to try this one day, along with the best Pistachio gelato I had later, 🐷🐽. I have all your brown spots, lets hope I don’t get your diabetes. 🙏🏻 We oinked it down, walked to the beautiful lit up monastery nearby for photos and ventured through a gorgeous lush park to the train/metro station. We are finally on our way to CasCais. Its getting dark and we both are down to 10% on our phones. I had brought my cord today with me, but no converted charger thing. I was scheduled for 2 wk calls, thankfully the first was cancelled(angels are always with me💫🙏🏻). We had huge hopes of a restaurant/dining exp to be able to charge up. Tracy gets worried about how we will function without the phone, again in my non-chalant no worry mode, i say it will be fine, lets just hurry. Balance is truly the 2 of us together. 

As we arrive at station, we meet Rita…..you are either dying or shaking your head, or have stopped reading 😂😂🤣😉 Another new good samaritan angel that will help us find our way. She tells us all about train schedules, how to get back to the heart of Lisbon, hours of operation, you know the meat of surviving, ha. Restaurant suggestions, a lil about her life story, lol. We board the 30 min ride to CasCais….pronounced Kaash Cash- we love saying this word and practicing our Portuguese with any who will helps us. And I must say I believe everyone we encounter loves us Crazy American girls. Along with another we met after Rita exited the metro. 

We are both soooo taken by this little Christmas wonderland village we arrived too. Both feel like we are in the movie, The Holiday with Cameron & Jude Law, that cool town of Surrey. In awe at every new sight again. CasCais is not like Porto or downtown Lisbon…it compares more to Capri or Positano. We are hungry at its almost 8 pm. I sadly missed my wk call, as my phone died. Tracy is on a search for a bag, this was her worry all day as I worried about finding a charge for phone. Lol we both were A- Ok. She now owns the cutest tiny silver wheely that will always have memorable meaning. We stuff in our packages and roll away. I had stopped at my childhood store of Benneton and bought a Red sweater. We begin our exploration of restaurants…its dark and cold. This is a town on the water. It is boutiquey beach town with a lit up ferris wheel, hotels, and Xmas wonderland of lights. After not liking a few selections, we turned down a lit up, but darker side alleyway, you know those venice like spaces….around a corner is our hidden gem. Oh, prior to finding we stumbled into a church as we heard a live mass taking place. This was so awesome to have witnessed…the priest was in a full robe, fancy outfit against the gold beauty of this lovely cathedral. The dinner gem, was Sushi tonight, 🍣 A fancy high class place. Ms Fancy says this place made up for last nights meal.

We had delicious cocktails that had fancy presentations, were seated in a romantic corner next to a beautiful american couple who were discussing polyamorous relationships of there friends, rescued cats, amongst other bizarre topics. We enjoyed rolls, nigiri, tuna tartar cones, and miso soup. We were dressed like hobos with our suitcase, A funny scene. A best last dinner in Portugal. On our walk back to the train, we spotted Peter’s must try gelato spot. Enjoyed it while walking back to train station. The 40 min ride back to city center was lovely. Again a fabulous Portuguese angel befriended us, he was handsome. Helped direct us on our walk back to our 5- Star home. Im telling you Portuguese are nicer then Americans. I LOVE international travel. 

We plug in dead phones at 1130pm, having left at 9:30am, and head up to rooftop bar. Energizer bunnies we are, laughing that it is good we both never want to stop going. We had a $100 credit for f & B we have not used, and want to experience this spot, as different than breakfast patio. We were served these little snacks…shrimp flavored rice cakes, and yummy marcona almonds, i had a yummy spritz, T had hot tea. We are in these lounge chairs with feet up, staring into the night sky over the water. Even though it is dark, the sparkle in the sea from the moonlight is very special. We both reflect on our fabulous 5 days in Portugal and how there was not even 1 low to pick. This entire adventure has been a high! So thankful for our lives. 

We head down to pack up. I get in that comfy bed, oh my I really need a new good bed with puffy blankets. This was dreamy. We watched a little US news at 1 am….and were up by 6am for this flight. I opened up the balcony door this morning and took in one last priceless view of this European square already filled with people, rich in historical architecture surrounding me, with the brisk fresh air of a new day. Baruch Hashem❤️🙏🏻✡️

Heading to Seattle on Wednesday and Savannah on Friday. Im in love with travel, adventure, and new explorations. Wishing My favorite Ms Fancy a wonderful first week starting her next chapter at a big new job. So proud of her….she is fully refreshed and will rock it!

If you want to be left off the next adventures….let me know. Blog not sending to subscribers, I am manually. Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season! Can’t believe it is already December!! Time flies…..

All my Love,❤️

Laurie Sue, aka Dora and Madame Tracy! 👠