Viva España!

Plaza de Espana

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A four hour bus journey from Lagos and we were in Sevilla, Espana. Martin had stayed and enjoyed Seville back in 2000. For me, with its narrow alleyways of history and mystery, exuberant buildings rich in ancient architecture and just the whole buzz of the orange tree-lined streets, I fell in love with the city - instantly.

The Real Alcazar or Royal Palace was an amazing highlight. Home to several rulers of Sevilla over the centuries from Muslim times to Catholic royalty, the palace complex (originally built in 923AD) was filled with Islamic tile and stucco work mingled with later additions of gothic, renaissance and baroque elements. We spent a whole afternoon exploring the complex and palace gardens (complete with maze). I think this is one of Sevilla's best treasures.

Queen's Bath house - Alcazar

La Giralda

Another favourite, was the Cathedral - the largest gothic temple in the world - and third largest christian cathedral (after St Peter's in the Vatican and St Paul's in London) and it is massive! The Cathedral was built on the site of a Moorish mosque originally built in 1184. In later centuries chapels, altars, choir stalls, and various extensions were added on and on and on.

View of the Cathedral from the tower

La Giralda, or tower, of the Cathedral was the original minaret of the mosque (82m high) and built on Roman foundation stones. We climbed the tower for some spectacular views of Seville via the ramps that were originally built for the Sultan to ride up on horseback to pray at the top. Over time various architectural levels were added taking the tower to 97m high; in the 16th century, twenty-five (working and very loud!) bells were added along with a two-tonne rotating statue (the Giraldillo) that acted as a weather vane for the mariners of the time. One mariner in particular, the Italian Christopher Columbus, was on the scene doing his thing discovering and bringing back gold and spices from the West Indies. The Spanish, of course, loved him and his alleged! tomb is on display in the cathedral.

A walking tour of Sevilla revealed more gems of architecture and history such as as the recent (1929) Plaza de Espana, the posh Alfonso XIII Hotel (where actors and celebrities stay) and the Gold Tower where taxes were collected for traded goods brought in from the Bahamas and Central America.

Michelle making Paella

We spent hours walking the lively orange tree-lined streets of old Santa Cruz, enjoyed sangria and paella at our hostel, and picnics of tortilla de patata (spanish omelette). No visit to Sevilla, however, would be complete without seeing some traditional Flamenco. The singing, dancing and passion were pretty authentic (the lady almost had a look of anger on her beautiful, latin face), not to mention some genuine "Olés" were thrown in. The stunning venue - a thick curtain of creepers and plants in an ancient azulejo-tiled courtyard created an atmospheric backdrop for some very passionate and impressive flamenco. Olé!  *Mush

Alcazar from La Giralda

Lounging in Lagos, Algarve, Portugal

Martin drinking Sangria in the Lagos Square

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It was time to leave the nest in Cascais and what better place than Lagos, on the Algarve coast in the South.  I had visited Lagos 10 years ago with my buddy Parker, and we loved the place.  Probably had something to do with meeting a couple of other Canadian lads, and partying our time away during the nights, and relaxing on the beaches in the daytime.  Oh yeah..... I was also there in the height of the summer, and obviously the busy season!!!
Lagos was, nonetheless, still fun and beautiful in it's quiet phase.  It's also nice to see that the town hadn't changed too much.  The old town was still the same quaint area it was before.

Michelle on the 'private' beach in Lagos

 We walked the streets as I reminisced about the previous trip - many of the landmarks were still there.  I even returned to the square to drink my sangria, although there was nobody else there this time, when before there had been hundreds!
We watched sunset from the Praia Batata (Potato Beach) the first couple of days while getting in some relax time.  On the second day, we hopped on a boat to check out the rugged coast and grottoes around Lagos.  There were many features that looked like elephants, camels, and even the Titanic and iceberg.  The boat passed through archways into little pools and grottoes.  It's nice to be on water again, as Michelle mentioned, she couldn't remember the last time she was on a boat - which is strange for her!!

Grottoes of the Lagos coastline

On our final day, we decided to walk the cliffs above the grottoes, and check out some of the small beaches we had seen the day before.  We had grand ideas of making it all the way to a town called Luz, but after much weaving along the cliffs, and time on the beaches (with hundreds of steps down to them), we found ourselves barely halfway to Luz when we decided to stop.  We had seen all the same formations from the cliff tops, and stunning views out into the ocean.  The trips down to the beaches were great, and we almost had our own private beaches if it wasn't for a few nude sunbathers.  There is a lighthouse at the point, but definitely not that impressive looking, so we passed on by.  We parked ourselves on the Praia de Mos, and took in the dusk lighting while watchers some surfers, before walking back into town for dinner at the hostel.  On to Spain early in the morning.   *Stub

Using the Lisboa Card, Lisbon, Portugal

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Lousy weather delayed our final trip to Lisbon, then a glitch about most museums closed on Mondays, delayed it another day.  On the Tuesday, we made it back to Lisbon on our Lisboa Card.  This card gives you free entry to a bunch of museums and attractions, and all the public transport you can handle for 24 hours.  So, we had to get our money's worth.

National Coach Museum - Lisbon

Our first stop was Belem, and a walk down the waterfront past the monument to the old Portuguese explorers - Padrão dos Descobrimentos.  These guys got everywhere hundreds of years ago, as I think Portugal was one of the most advanced in overseas exploration.   The Torre de Belem was a short walk away, and this tower dates back to the 1500's, as a defensive point along the river Tagus.  The tower is a Unesco Heritage site and still in great shape.  You can walk up the little stairway for great views over the river to the South. 
Again in Belem, there were the beautiful buildings of the Museo de Marihna, and Museum of Archealogy that were attached to the Monesterio Jeronimo.  In the chapel of the Monesterio is the tomb of Vasco de Gama - the Portuguese explorer that discovered India, and then on to South America.  A very elaborate tomb, in a church where all the pillars looked like palm trees.  All part of the Unesco Heritage site.  We had a lunch planned with Michelle's parents in Lisbon, so we would have to return to tour it in more detail later. 
We met the parents in the Rossio area of Lisbon, and enjoyed a great lunch with them at a favourite restaurant of theirs where they enjoyed their staple bacalhao (dried salted cod).  I tried my luck with squid, and had two of the slimy guys on my plate.  MMMmmmmm, tasty.

Martin enjoying a tasty custard tart - Pasteis de Belem

Back to the Belem area, but our first stop was the National Coach Museum.  We were really surprised with this place.  In a beautifully decorated neoclassical building were housed some amazing old horse drawn coaches built for royalty.  Dating back to the 17th Century, all were quite elaborately decorated, but showing their age, except for one coach which had undergone extensive refurbishing and glowed with all the gold trim.
A short walk away to enter the Monesterio Jeronimo.  Again, we were really surprised at what we saw here.  The cloister behind the cathedral was amazing.  Every column, archway, water spout, etc was of a different design and were in excellent condition.  It was a treat to walk around and see this Unesco Heritage site, and get a view of the cathedral from up on the upper choir platform.
One more treat in store for us in Belem.  We had noticed this little bakery/pasteleria down the street that seemed to have a big queue all the time.  Upon entering the place, we spoke with the security guard, who took us back to the kitchen area for a look.  Here, they bake around 40,000 pasteis de belem (a delicious custard tart with flaky pastry) EVERY DAY.  The place was huge inside with rooms all over the place.  Not at all what you see from the front!  40,000!!!  Unbelievable.

Martin on Castelo de Sao Jorge over Lisbon

Our time was now running short on our window of opportunity to use our Lisboa card.  So one last stop in the old Alfama area of town.  A climb up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge (St. George's Castle), which occupies a commanding post over the city and dates back to the 2nd Century BC!!  Although, most of the present castle is from medieval times.  For us it was worth it for the views over the city, and walking around the fortifications was just a bonus. 
We finished up our long day and took a train back to Cascais to spend our last few hours with Michelle's parents as we were off on our own in the morning, heading down to Lagos on the Southern coast called the Algarve.   *Stub

Cascais, Portugal

Cascais harbour at sunset

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Using Cascais as our base has been great for exploring locally and afar. It´s a great little tourist town with clean beaches, pretty cobbled streets,  nice old town, and a pleasant harbour and yacht club. We got free bikes and rode to Boca do Inferno (Mouth of Hell) to watch the monstrous waves come crashing in to a small cove. Rode as far as we could along the coast, on a really nice well paved bike trail.  Walking along the seafront promenade to the apparently world-renowned Estoril (though we didn't think much of it) was pleasant and made for interesting surf and surfer/skim boarder-watching as the swells came rolling in. Good, too, to hang out with my parents, occasionally tucking in to monster feasts as it seems to be the way of the De Sousas!  We are staying at my parents apartment/flat in Cascais, which has been a relaxing change of pace.  * Mush

View of Cascais waterfront

You Can't Win Them All, Sintra, Portugal

Turrets at Palacio da Pena

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We had enjoyed Sintra so much that we decided that another trip back was warranted.  We had skipped the Palacio da Pena then first time as we thought it might be too busy because it was such a beautiful day.  Well, on our return trip, the day started out fine, but as we closed in on Sintra, we noticed there was a big cloud hovering over the hills where the Palace de Pena is situated.  And then came the rains!! 
We attempted to avoid the downpour by taking a couple of buses around to see the town, but when the rain stopped, we decided to head up to the Palace to take a shot.  We were up at the Pena Palace for about 3 hours, and the thick fog never lifted at all.  What a shame as there must be some spectacular views from up there.  And it would have been great to see the architecture in some good light.
In saying this, the pea-soup fog did add some mystery and eeriness to the palace, but it was damn cold on top of that hill. 

Palacio da Pena

As you can see from the pictures, it is rather a storybook castle, with interesting turrets and towers everywhere.  I really like the entrance road, as it circled around on itself like a modern multi-storey parking garage.  Except this one passed through drawbridges and interesting archways.
A tour through the Palace took us through all the main rooms as they had been left in 1910.  The royal family went into exile at that time in a revolution, and the palace has been preserved in that state ever since.  Some of the interesting decorations were concrete ceilings painted to resemble wood, a room decorated with half finished painting canvases, The Arab Room - elaborately painted in frescos and tempera that gave it great depth, statues of Turks holding electric chandeliers, and a big circular Stag room decorated with plaster stag heads all around.
The exterior was not to be outdone, as a bizarre sculpture of a Triton was over the gateway to the courtyard.  The Triton is a half man-half fish figure, with an angry looking face.  It was decorated all around with coral and shells.

Cabo do Roca

We had stalled as long as we could and the fog just wouldn't clear, so we scrapped our plans to tour the gardens and grounds because you just wouldn't be able to see anything.  Back into town on the local bus, who manoeuvred around those tight corners with ease.  I always marvel at the driving skills of the bus drivers in Europe!!  Don't know how they get through some of those really tight places.
One more 'palace' to see in Sintra (the town of many palaces it seems).  At Quinta la Regaliera, we hadn't realized that the grounds were so large, and didn't leave enough time to tour the it all, so decided that a look from the outside was fine and save the 6 Euros for now. 
We still had one more stop for the day, and that was on the bus ride home.  Cabo da Roca is the most Westerly point in Continental Europe.  Here, there is a large light house 140m up on the cliffs above the ocean.  A monument also marks the location with latitude and longitude (9 deg 30" West).  We looked out from the cliffs towards Canada!!!  *Stub

Port in Porto, Portugal

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Tasting Port at Croft Cellars

Of course! What else is there to do - especially when it´s raining! Walking around
the commercial yet rustic city of Porto, we got soaked the first day there, then thankfully discovered the Port district which is actually across the river Douro outside of Porto. We toured a couple of  independent family-run Port cellars, like Taylors and Croft. The wine for Port is made in vineyards up in the hills of the Douro area and is fermented just a few days before it is fortified with brandy (or whatever spirit) which stops the fermentation process. After this it gets shipped to the warehouses/cellars of Porto to age and mature. Needless to say the Ports we sampled were very warming and delicious. Plus we learned (and now forgotten!) the differences between tawny, ruby, white, vintage and late bottled vintage etc etc.

Porto is a very busy city with lots of neo-classical buildings,

Unesco World Heritage Ribeira waterfront

ancient gothic architecture with wonderful ceramic tile murals, and rough cobbled run-down alleyways and streets. As the days brightened we walked as much as we could through random streets and eating the local food: Bacalhao (dried salted cod) and Francesihno a delicious, extremely healthy toasted sandwich with ham, beef, and chorizo, smothered in melted cheese and downed in a spicy piri-piri tomato soupy-broth. Talk about comfort food!
The Ribeira waterfront area recently revamped from its use as a the docking and cargo area of town has been classed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We found the area fascinating, and so colourful.  We walked across the huge iron bridge (designed by a disciple of Gustavo Eiffel's) for some good birds eye views across the river and the Ribeira.  As we took an old fashioned tram along the river our of town we hopped off for some traditional Fado music (amateur style) - usually a solo singer accompanied by a

Old port barrel boats on the River Douro

couple of acoustic guitars. The rustic pub / cafebar was jammed packed with old men and women who had come especially to listen and sing along to this urban music.The atmosphere was buzzing and contagious, but when the singers took their turns, everyone was quiet and mesmerised by the soaring melancholy of the melodies and sentimental lyrics. As we got adopted and laughed along with some of the locals we relished in this rare, cultural experience. *Mush

Bones, Bones and More Bones in Evora, Portugal

Ossuary in Evora

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Time to head out for a couple of days, and get away from our home base in Cascais. We took a bus up to Evora, and old walled city about 150km East of Lisbon. The historic centre is also a Unesco World Heritage site, and we tend to like to see as many of these as possible. Evora was a quaint little town, with little old streets and plenty of interesting old buildings.


First thing we had to do was find a place to stay. This feels more like traveling now, and a part that we sometimes enjoy, but also gets a little tiring. In Evora though, we found a little gem. After checking out a couple of dated rooms in some characterless hotels, we stumbled across a little hostel that we didn't have in our Lonely Planet guide book. The place called Evora Old Hostel, has only been open for about a year, and the owner Pedro was a great guy. He spoke excellent English and really made us welcome in his 4 room, very clean hostel. He had plenty of info and stories too, and we enjoyed speaking with him. A great start.

Termas Romana - Evora

He sent us out looking at some of the main sights in town, at we enjoyed just sitting around in the old square, watching life pass us by. Tons of old men in the square doing the same thing as us. Walking around, we passed the Termas Romano (Roman ruins), dating back to the 2nd century. Basically looked like a small version of the Acropolis, with 14 columns still remaining. Another ancient Roman addition to the town was a the aqueduct. This aqueduct was about 20km long or so, with big arches all the way into town. Some of the old townspeople took advantage of the pre-built walls and built houses in the archways of the aqueduct. Don't think they would be allowed to do that nowadays!!

The highlight for me, and the reason I heard about Evora 10 years ago, was the Ossuary. Basically, there were 42 cemeteries, full of monk bones. Since there was little space remaining in the city walls to build, they decided to consolidate all the bones into one sacred place. They dug up the bones, and built the interior walls and pillars of a church with them. It was a bit eerie, but we've also seen something similar to this in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. The walls were as thick as femurs are long; as the femurs were stacked up on top of each other with mortar in between. Some rows of skulls thrown in for good measure! Lining the ceiling were archways of skulls, following the lines of the structure. Add to all this, some dim lighting and it made for a very interesting, but gruesome place to visit.

A great little side trip, but we were headed back to Cascais to our home base. *Stub

Fatima, Portugal

Basilica in Fatima

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The Pilgrimage of Fatima is one of the most important ones in the Roman Catholic world, and millions upon millions of people flock to this sacred place every year. It is founded on a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three peasant children back in 1917. My parents were keen to visit as they do whenever they come to Portuga so Martin and I accompanied them for the Fatima experience. The beautiful neoclassical Basillica was built in 1953 and contains the tombs of the three children; the last one, Lucia, died in 2005.



With my Mum and Dad in Fatima

At the other side of the huge sloping Piazza (which is twice the size of Rome´s St Peter´s Square) an new epic church has been recently built to hold 9000 people. To the side of the Piazza the tree in which the Virgin Mary appreared is long gone with a small glass chapel in its place. As for the farm village, sadly, that is now a busy, commercial town overtaken by pilgrims and tourists, and drowned in tacky souvenier shops.

Leaving our parents to return to Cascais it was time to move quickly on to Porto. The bus station, my parents assured me, had been improved, but you could have fooled me: it was pretty grotty and didn´t even look like a bus station from the road!

As we were getting into the swing of being on the road again, we arrived in Porto to find the budget guesthouse we were aiming for was closed for renovations. After our initial disappoinment luck was with us - as we turned around wondering what to do next, we saw the word ´HOSTEL´ across the street and discovered yet another gem - functional, friendly, helpful and the big one... clean. Phew! * Mush

Lisboa, Portugal

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Lisbon from the Elevador Santa Justa

We are staying in Cascais, a beach town only about 30 minutes by train from Lisbon.  We have made a couple of trips in to Lisbon to check it all out.  As it typical with European cities, there is of course, a lot of history.  With impressive old buildings, main squares, and tons of churches.  Well, Lisbon also had a huge castle on the hills above.  The Castle of São Jorge looms over the city.  We traveled on the old style trams up the steep hillsides to get an idea of the town.  On our first journey, we got stuck behind a parked car, that the owner managed to return to eventually, but was greeted by the police.  They had backed up a couple of the old trams, and of course, when you are on rails, there is not really anywhere you can go.   Ooooopppps!
We took a tram to the end of the line at Prazeres, not knowing that this is the biggest cemetery in town.  We walked around to take a look, as I always find cemeteries a little interesting if not morbid.  Some massive tombs and such, and one that was in the shape of a castle itself. 

Elevador Santa Justa

We also too an old funicular up the steep streets of Lisbon.  I hadn't realized how steep some of these were, but the ancient little tram like funicular was a fun and welcome ride.  On the way back down from the hills, we stumbled upon the Elevador de Santa Justa.  Apparently designed by a disciple of Gustavo Eiffel, it is a weird elevator in the middle of town, that takes you up to a viewing platform above.  We loved it, and hadn't even realized that we only paid for a ride to the top (where you can continue along a platform to the upper part of the town) and not for the PRIVATE viewing platform.  Needless to say, we had accidentally passed the ticket taker, and were checking out the town up on the perch above.  Loved all the red roof buildings and the castle above.
We spent some more time walking up and down the labyrinth of little streets but vowed to return to see more of the interiors of some of the museums, towers, and castles in town.   *Stub

Palaces and Castles of Sintra, Portugal

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National Palace, Sintra

We arrived in Portugal on Feb 6th.  This really felt like a vacation before our travels (sorry if you don't understand).  We are staying with Michelle's parents in their apartment in Cascais, just West of Lisbon.  It is a short 30 minute bus ride up to the old Unesco World Heritage site of Sintra.  From the bus, we walked into the old town and were greeted with views of the National Palace with two steeples (apparently one of the travel guides describes it as looking like one of Madonna's bras).  Sunday was FREE day around the palace, so our kind of price.  This place dates back to the 15th century.  It was a good cruise around the place, but we both loved the kitchen area.  A large room with fires under each pot, fires and spits, and two big chimneys which are the 2 steeples we could see from the outside.

In front of Old Sintra in Palace archway

The old town itself was very interesting to walk around.  Cobbled streets and alleys, with some steep inclines.  The other sights of Sintra were actually high above the town, so we took a hair raising bus ride up the switchbacks to the Moorish Castle seen at the top of the hill in the picture on the left. 
The castle was built between the 9th and 10th centuries.  It is high above the town and had stunning views of the town and ocean below.  It was still preserved in quite good shape, so you can really get an idea of what things were like.....well, maybe!!  Can't really imagine actually!! 
From here, we cruised out to the Parque de Monseratte.  I was expecting this place to be quite

Moorish Castle above Sintra

run-down as the tour book said, but I guess 3 years really changes things.  This place had quite a facelift, and was close to being fully restored.  The palace was most recently owned by Sir Francis Cook, who spent a great deal of time renovating it for his family, and also creating quite the extensive garden with plants and trees from all over the world.  I can't quite imagine living at a place like this, especially in the 1800's - too lavish!!   There were actually too many palaces and impressive buildings to see in Sintra in one day, so we have to return another day.  *Stub

So much time, but no time at all! England

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The Doozers

I won´t get too sentimental, but how great was it to be back in England seeing family and friends? Challenging, juggling everyone, yes, but fantastic all at the same time! (Plus I wish Martin didn´t have so many friends here!)

Anyway, we divided our time between my parents, sister, brother, Martin´s family...and then everyone else. Quite a feat! The good thing is, is that everyone pretty much stays the same and you pick up where you left off. The kids, on the other hand, do change. My nephew and niece, Dylan and Christina, for instance, had grown and grown up so much in just a year and a half since I last saw them, and since Martin had seen them five years ago!

To catch up with other family members and friends, our travels took us to Birmingham, London, Ludlow, Liverpool, Leeds, Oxford, Manchester to name just a few. Some friends, I hadn´t seen some in 5 years or more: friends from primary school, secondary school, university days, my PhD, research work, and even from Portland, Oregon. Thankfully, everyone´s still the same (apart from some have kids now) and it´s sometimes really like I never left. Okay, sorry. I lied when I said I wouldn´t get sentimental. This is Michelle De Sousa talking!

Unfortunately, before we knew it, time had flown by (and there were several people that we didn´t get to see - forgive us), but after 6 weeks, it was time to get our act together and hit the road for our African adventure... by way of Portugal! *Mush

One Day in Wales

Martin on Conwy city walls

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As my country list grew to 48 with the recent addition of Iceland, I realized that there is an easy one I hadn't yet added, and it is right under my nose so to speak.  We HAD to make a drive to Wales.  So, after a visit with Michelle's friend Vida in Liverpool, we drove from the Wirral across into Northern Wales.  It was a cold, crisp morning with a nice layer of frost, but the sun was shining.  We had decided that we would aim for Conwy, a short drive along the coast.  On the way, of course, we past a few castles including Bodelwydan.  This one seemed to be a relatively new castle (last 100 years or so), and there was a hotel and spa residing in it now.   Another few kilometres down the road we past this massive castle on the hillside, but we couldn't find the way to get in.  Turned out it was a private castle........ A PRIVATE CASTLE!!!
We found Conwy, parked up and proceeded to climb up on the city walls.  You are able to walk almost the entire circle of the walls and you get some great views over the town, towards the castle and over the River Conwy.
We picked up some take-away fish and chips and climbed back on the wall to have lunch with a view over town.  

Smallest House in the UK

After lunch, and a few steps around the corner, we found a funny sight - The Smallest House in the UK.  With dimensions of 3.05 metres x 1.8 metres, it was in continuous occupation from the 16th century (and was even inhabited by a family at one point) until 1900 when the owner a (6 ft fisherman – Robert Jones) was forced to move out on the grounds of hygiene. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully.  The place made me look like a giant, which is nice for a change!!!
We followed the waterfront and went into Conwy castle.  The castle is still in pretty good shape and you are able to climb up some of the
towers to get a great view over the River Conwy and the town.  We enjoyed winding our way through all the nooks and crannys of the castle, even down to the old dungeon and kitchen areas.

On our drive back to Birmingham we cruised through the elegant resort town of Llandudno, with big Victorian buildings lining the rocky waterfront and a long pier out into the water.  A great little day trip out to Wales and another country checked off my list.   *Stub

Conwy Castle and River Conwy

River Conwy

England's Pubs

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It seems like it's become a tradition, but in England we seem to make it down to Shakespeare's

Stratford-Upon-Avon Pub Crawl

Stratford-Upon-Avon for a pub crawl with my old friends J-Lo and Biscuit.  We bounce around from pub to pub, visiting the famous Shakespeare sights in between, but not stopping long as there is another pub to get to.  Always a good time, and Michelle had another female this time, as Amanda joined us.
We also spent a few days down in London staying with both J-Lo and Amanda, then Biscuit.  J-Lo and Amanda live in a fancy place at Canada Water, with views over the whole city.  Pretty impressive.  We then crashed at Biscuit's place, and were pretty impressed with his first home purchase.  Just down from the fun pub too, that we celebrated his birthday.  A bit turnout of friends, that far outdid our reservation numbers.

England's Smallest Pub - The Nutshell

In keeping with the pub theme, we planned a trip up to see my Mum's best friend Barbara in Bury St. Edmunds.  We were happy to help out with her and Philip packing to move into a newer and smaller place after 30 years in their present house.  We always get treated so well at theirs, it was nice to be able to help them out too.  Since we were in Bury, we HAD to spend some time with our traveling friend Sarah.  We met her in Thailand and traveled to Laos.  She took us on a pub crawl of Bury, including the Smallest Pub in England called the Nutshell.  The place was PACKED!!  There must have been at least 10 people in there and things were tight.  I have heard that they sometimes have a band and back in the 80's, they actually fit 102 people in there to set a record.  Pretty cramped indeed for a pub that is only 7ft by 15 ft!!   *Stub

My Big Fat Portuguese-English Christmas!

When we did finally arrive in England, there were only 3 days to go to Christmas! And we pretty much launched into Christmas day. As always it was loud and crazy - a very big, a very fat and a very Portuguesey-English Christmas!

Christmas dinner

Since the last time I was home, my sister, Jacqueline, had taken up cooking, so all I heard the first day or so was "Jamie Oliver this and Jamie Oliver that... etc etc". The plan was that my sister and I were going to cook Christmas dinner. When Christmas day arrived, Martin, my brother in-law Mark, and myself, prepared everything, except for my sister swanning in at the last second to do her Jamie Oliver Cabbage Dish! Needless to day, it was a huge wonderful feast, and so great to be with my family again, even if my sister was acting like she'd been slaving a ALL day in the kitchen! * Mush

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Surprise Stay in Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

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We had planned a 10 hour layover in Reykjavik, Iceland on our way to England.  We figured this
would be enough time to take the 30 minute trip into town from the airport, have a good look around and then get back to the airport in time for our 4:30 PM flight.  Well, we got a bit of a surprise as our flight to London was cancelled because of snow in England, so we ended up being "stranded" in Iceland!  I say stranded, but as you can imagine, we saw it as a bonus vacation.  It's not like we had to be anywhere other than in England for Christmas Day.  I feel bad for the other people who had jobs to get to and families to be there for, but we actually felt lucky!!
We had arrived on Dec 19th, almost the shortest day of the year.  It was a bit strange having dawn for a couple of hours prior to sunrise at 11:30 AM.  And then the sun didn't really rise up very high in the sky at all.  This day, we walked around in the bone chilling wind, on a very quiet Sunday morning.  The capital of Reykjavik, was a quaint little downtown, with some colourful little buildings. 
We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant at the fishing docks, and had a nice bowl of lobster soup.  We noticed at the cabinet that they had all kinds of fish skewers, including whale meat!!  A walk along the coast brought us to the Solfan sculpture.  It looked like a a metal frame viking ship, and the mountains across the bay provided a beautiful backdrop.
Since we knew our flight was cancelled, we found ourselves a nice little hostel in town, and took a nap for a couple of hours as we had been up for almost 24 hours at this point.  Iceland is quite an expensive place, especially for us budget backpackers, so we found the cheapest food in town, and went out for a drink at a little local pub, where they show a movie on Sunday nights.
The next day, we had a flight scheduled for the afternoon, so we woke up early and went to a local outdoor hot pool to relax and try to warm our cores.  It worked, but on the walk to the Hallgrimskirka church, we quickly cooled off again.  The church had a very modern, simple look inside and a very new massive pipe organ  with hundreds and hundreds of pipes!  An elevator up the main steeple brought us up to some great views over the city, and when the bells chimed for Noon, the sun finally rose over the hills in the distance.  This provided some great light for photos of the town.

We headed back to the airport to find our luggage had already been sent to London on an earlier flight, but no worries, we were soon to join it......or so we thought.  As we were waiting at our gate, they announced that our flight was again canceled because of snow in London, so they we putting us up in a hotel for the night.  One problem for us though, we had been without a change of clothes for 3 days already, now one more!!

Gulfoss Waterfall

With everyone now scrambling to get on stand-by flights in the morning, we decided we didn't want to be handcuffed to the airport, so we rented a car and drove a couple of hours out to some amazing sights on the island.  First stop was Great Geysir and Strokkur.  The latter is a geyser that erupts every 4-8 minutes and shoots about 30 - 40 feet in the air.  Pretty impressive sight and then the mist freezes where it lands as it was really cold!!  A bit surreal really.

Blue Lagoon

From here, we drove 10 minutes further and arrived at the Gulfoss waterfall.  WOW, what a sight.  It was half frozen and all the mist around had created some cool features of ice on the grasses and vegetation around.  Martin walked out to the waterfall pictured, but we didn't stay long because it was absolutely freezing there..... oh yeah, and we had a plane to catch!!
Our last stop of the day was at the Blue Lagoon.  The water temperature is between 37 and 39 degrees celcius and creates a nice relaxing spa experience especially in the cold weather.  It is surrounded by dried lava beds and a geothermal power plant in the distance.  A pretty bizarre sight, but at least they have made the spa a pretty tasteful looking building.  
We headed back to the airport and finally were able to get on a flight to London.  We felt pretty lucky we were able to spend 3 days in Iceland, and it was a real bonus for us.  We would still make it in plenty of time for Christmas and got a little taste of what Iceland has to offer.  When we go back though, it won't be in the Winter!!!   *Stub

California

Bad Water Basin - Lowest Point in USA

Into the barren wasteland that is Death Valley, we found surprisingly enjoyable.  We were 280 ft below sea level at Bad Water Basin, before finding some very scenic sand dunes.  We got turned away at Giant Sequoia National Park because we didn't have chains with us (???) - winter tires and 4 wheel drive wasn't sufficient I guess.  We were worried we might not get in to Yosemite also, but a very nice ranger let us through, and we camped a night in the snow under Half Dome and El Capitan before continuing on to Oregon.

Sand Dunes in Death Valley

To see more of our California photos, click here!

Nevada

Hoover Dam

We visited the Hoover Dam on the way into Nevada, crossing over the brand spanking new bridge towering above the dam and canyon.  We paid a visit to the city of sin, Las Vegas, and surprised ourselves with how much we actually liked it.  We camped outside the city at Red Rock Canyon, and after 2 nights, were on our way to Death Valley, California.

To see our Nevada photos, click here!

Dancing waters at The Bellagio

Utah

Toadstools in Paria Canyon

We love Utah, it's quite an amazing place.  We spent some wonderful days hiking Buckskin Gulch in Paria Canyon, although we missed out on the lottery to hike to the formation they call The Wave.  Also a bone chillingly cold visit to the stunning Bryce Canyon.  All we can say is WOW!!

To see our Utah photos, click here!

Buckskin Gulch in Paria Canyon

 

Bryce Canyon

Arizona

Petrified Forest National Park

We entered Arizona at the Four Corners, and went to Canyon De Chelly National Park.  From there, we drove up past Lake Mead and into Utah.  On our return trip back into Arizona, we decided to head to the Grand Canyon and hike down into the canyon a bit.  From there, we went East to Petrified Forest National Park, before hitting Phoenix to stay with Martin's parents in their winter home.  A quick trip to Tucson for Thanksgiving, before heading on to Nevada!

To see our Arizona photos, click here

Canyon de Chelly National Park

Antelope Canyon