The Burnetts have put a lot of miles on their rental car lately. Greg & Mel explored Lisbon before they picked up the kids from the airport. Lisbon is a great city to explore because it has great views from all of the hills and really, really likes tourists. There are whole streets downtown filled with restaurant after restaurant, tile shop after tile shop, museum after museum. It was interesting to learn how they reconstructed the city after the earthquake/fires/tidal wave of 1755. We also went to a lovely Fado music presentation in the middle of an eerie, abandoned mall. There is only one small problem with Lisbon. You won’t read this in a travel ad, but Mel thinks that some of the people in Lisbon should put down their brushes for their handpainted porcelain tiles and learn the art of making placards. With good English translations. There is a ton of interesting history there to convey, but the city seems reluctant to tell it. One does a lot of Googling. In the end, the best part about Lisbon was the Magnum Pleasure Store. Seriously. Went there twice.
We picked up the kids and took them to the town of Evora, a Unesco World Heritage site. Signage was much better here, and Evora had centuries of history within a few city blocks. It was great. We viewed Neolithic rock formations on the way to fabulous Monsaraz, a town in the hills completely enclosed within its old city walls.
Mel just took the kids to the Portuguese Discoveries Wax Museum, where they learned about Vasco de Gama and Henry the Navigator. The kids were relieved it wasn’t a museum about making wax.
The Burnetts are off tonight to Cadiz, Spain, so Mel will leave you to the pictures!
We stop by a bone house on the way to Lisbon. Just sitting there by a cafe.
The Archaeological Museum in Lisbon. Lots of stuff, no helpful facts.
The Magnum Pleasure Store. It’s ice cream, people!
So good. Mel salivates just looking at this.
Cool carpet in a cathedral in Lisbon
Church organ.
Every day must be a party in Lisbon
More city streets in Lisbon
Everyone is out watching soccer. Except us.
Views from one of Lisbon’s many overlooks
The Castle of Saint George is in the distance
Lisbon has quite the sprawl
The streets are active at night
An elevator takes you up the hill
Air France lost the kids’ luggage, but they delivered it to the marina in Lagos
The kids are ?happy to see us!
And Mel takes her place in line, at the rear because she stops to take pictures
Allie and Mel are trying to find out when humanity learned how to draw babies that weren’t ugly. Not yet.
Ruins in Evora
This baby isn’t ugly so much as really excited about something
The churches in Evora are understated when compared to the Azores
Is that…E.T.?
More baby heads. For our research.
17th century Chapel of Bones in Evora.”We Bones Here, for Yours Await.”
They had to let the painter do something, I guess.
Seems there are more long bones than skulls…
The bones take on different colors depending on how you view them
The sacrum complicates the composition
Roman ruins in Evora
Tommy likes the Roman ruins
Typical narrow street in Evora
Neolithic rock formation
Allie by ancient carvings
We show the kids the cork trees
We take a break from looking at old stuff for some go-carting
Tommy likes to go fast!
Allie drives like an old lady
We head to Monsaraz
A sculpture has a view of the town of Monsaraz
Allie points out their absurd posture. Ah, art.
Monsaraz
View from our inn in Monsaraz
Olive groves and vineyards
The old castle in Monsaraz
Portuguese countryside
One of two main streets in Monsaraz
View from the castle/bullfighting ring
Greg and Mel gross out their kids
Night in Monsaraz
Cat on a hot tile roof
Great restaurant in Monsaraz
Allie takes shade. The Solstice is coming
Neolithic tomb, 6-8000 years old. No bones left. We checked.
Another cute town. They are everywhere!
We stumble on another castle in the countryside–Portel Castle
People like to build houses near castles
Tommy is excited to be the only ones claiming this castle
