Lisbon, Portugal

Columbus Day weekend was the first long weekend where we felt adventurous enough to take a trip from Spain.  We decided on Lisbon, Portugal since it was drivable and we wouldn't have to deal with planes or trains.

We left Rota around 10:00 in the morning and arrived at 4:00 Lisbon time (they are one hour behind Spain).  I found this great apartment on homeaway.com to rent for the weekend.  It was 10 minutes outside the city with street parking and the cost for the whole weekend was what one night in a hotel would have been.  The great thing about the apartment was that the girls were able to sleep in a separate bedroom from us and their was a kitchen so we didn't have to eat out all the time.  The apartment also came with cable and wifi, hotels usually charge for wifi use, so that was another benefit.

Our first night we took a cab into the city center of Lisbon.  It cost 10 euro but was worth not having to worry about the car.  We ate a Portuguese restaurant that was okay and then found a Starbucks!  Yay...coffee that isn't the size of a shot!  We spent the rest of the time walking around and checking out the area.  The girls were in the stroller and pretty content since they had gelato and were pretty wiped out.

On our way up the mountain

View from the top of the Castle

The next day we ventured into Sintra.  It was a twenty minute drive and is known for its architecture, landscape and castles.  We parked in the center of town thinking this would be a good central location.  It was...unless you want to visit the Castle of the Moors...and walk there.  After pushing the stroller up steep hills the hills turned into stairs and Eric had to carry the stroller while I carried Lily and Rebecca walked.  The kids were troopers though and made it to the top.  The walk down was a little better because we took a different route that didn't involve stairs...still about a 5k walk down.  After our walk down we ate at a cute little restaurant then headed back to the apartment to take a nap!

Wiggling like fish!

The last full day in Portugal we took the kids to the aquarium.  It was huge and the kids really enjoyed it, especially the penguins.  After the aquarium we took a sky ride that both the kids loved and the views were beautiful.  After the aquarium we went to Belem, a little town a short walk from our apartment that is known for yummy custard pastries.  The place to get these pastries is called Pasteis de Belem.  We got some pastries and coffee (at Starbucks right next door) and enjoyed our snack while the girls napped in the stroller...Yay! 

The ride to and from Lisbon took about six hours and had its ups and downs.  The great things were that we hit no traffic, it seemed like whenever we took a road trip from D.C. we had to add at least two hours for traffic, and the drive was beautiful.  The not so great things were that we weren't sure where to pull off to eat, go the bathroom and gas up since we don't know the area or the language.  The other down was the girls were done being in the car after four hours!  

Off to start planning our next adventure!