Antigua has exceeded our expectations. We came here as it was a cheaper flight than to Mexico or Costa Rica, but we are so glad we did. A friendly town of 60,000 people, a UNESCO Heritage site, and with the year round weather of eternal spring. We chose an excellent location, adjacent to a nursery and cafe.
View of Agua volcano from our rooftop. It has only been this visible for several days of our 6 weeks here.
Cafe de la Escalonia was a delightful locale, very close to our Airbnb. Great for breakfast, lunch or a later afternoon tea while playing cards or reading.
We were fortunate to connect with Adam, son of Robin’s best friend, Debra Jean.
Iglesia San Pedro
Museum, churches and ruins are spread throughout the town.
Iglesia de La Merced
Deet is the Ambassador of Antigua. The 86 year old has lived here for 34 years, and greets everyone and invites them to local get togethers.
Catedral San José
Celestino took us on a walking tour of Antigua, filled with history and culture.
Cathedral of Santiago
Quincieras are very often celebrated on the scenic streets.
We joined a local gym.
Meet up group (left)
Fuego Volcano is still active.
Marvin at King’s Barber Shop gave Randy the most incredible shave and haircut, complete with aromatherapy, hot face towel wrap and shoulder and neck massage.
Fuego volcanowould poof every 15 minutes or so.
Cerro de la Cruz
400 year old public laundry. We saw some still being used in another town.
Christmas was on full display from mid November here in Antigua.
Halloween Party at Caoba Farm
We were surprised to find a Halloween celebration and even more surprised to find it had a kinky BDSM theme 😆.
Flower Festival
The flower festival is a recent phenomenon where all the businesses come together to celebrate. The theme this year was Alice in Wonderland.
Giant Kite Festival
The giant festival is held annually in both Santiago and Sumpango. We went to the larger one in Sumpango, but would suggest the smaller one as there was an insane amount of people. The kites are supposed to connect with the souls of the dead.
Tombs at the local cemetery, decorated for Day of the Dead
We are already planning our next trip to Antigua. The food was amazing, the people, cheerful and friendly and a very budget friendly location.
This post represents our last several returns to Panama, so off and on visits from November 2023 to the present. Rainy season is from May to December, but living in the dry arc, it is not as rainy as other areas of the country.
We got a new king size bed!!!
Christmas is a popular holiday time for locals as well as tourists.
Carnival is celebrated nationwide. We went to Buenaventura Resort with David and Sheila to kick off the Jazz Festival.
Cala, our local beach bar
Buffet at Italiano in Playa Blanca Resort
Entertainment (left) at Mansa in the Buenaventura Resort
Sarith and Ishmail shaking up salsa.
Madonna, Frank and Bogda celebrating birthdays.
A variety of entertainment from local birthday celebrations at the Cala Beach Bar, to performances at Mansa at Buenaventura Resort.
Our little pony born recently
Happy hours are smaller in the rainy season with most of the Canadians gone.
Robin is contantly creating new artwork.
Yolanda’s amazing mermaid project.
The Wilded Women met on Wednesdays to help craft the mosaic mermaid and drink wine, or vice versa 😀 .
Oh Toro in Penenomé is our new favorite restaurant and have excellent mojitos.
Happy birthday Lenore
View from our front window on the 6th floor
After lunch at Buenaventura (above) and visiting the stables next to the zoo.
Loki is 5 months old
With Lenore at Karaoke at the Bench
Our neighbor, Alejandra has a duck named Lulu.
Robin absolutely loves the french onion soup at Los Camisones
Mansa is another of our favorites. Robin celebrating her birthday.
Nico’s Beach Bar at Farallón Beach
We dog sat Molly one day. Faint rainbow.
Short trip to Casco Viejo area of Panama City
Our Airbnb was a block from the Panama Canal Museum
Anniversary in El Valle
We borrowed a friend’s car and it broke down as we entered El Valle. Fortunately, street mechanics and locals all helped us get it repaired for $30. We had a lovely stay at the Golden Frog Inn.
We bought a serendipitous sign. Rana Dorada means golden frog (our hotel’s name) and Aug 14th is our anniversary, which is also Golden Frog Day in Panama.
More adventures back in Playa Blanca
Many great happy hours with our large contingent of friends.
Sami, our Zumba instructor, and her husband, Greg, cameover for Robin’s ice cream social.
Hungarian family made goulash for the water aerobics group.
Line dancing class
We enjoy the street dogs here.
Robin and Lenore enjoying Jeanette’s terrace view.
We had an incredible visit to Las Vegas, staying with daughter Katy, seeing the sights, going to medical and dental appointments. Mid month, we flew to Sacramento and spent 4 wonderful days visiting my sister, Kathie and husband, Charlie and catching up with her family. When we returned to Vegas, my daughter, Rikka and her boyfriend, Joseph flew down from Seattle to celebrate her birthday with us. For our last week, we checked into our timeshare exchange at the Carriage House, just off the strip.
We went to see Carrot Top at the Luxor and were surprised at how funny he was. We enjoyed daily strolls on the walking path.
Ice Age Fossils State Park, north of Vegas, recently opened.
We saw the magic of Jen Kramer at the Westgate Hotel and made a new friend, Daniel.
The new Durango Hotel on the west side has lots of dining choices and a fun pool area.
Mother’s Day was a blast starting with mini golf at the new Popstroke, followed by burgers at In-N-Out.
Happy Mom’s Day!!!
We took off for Sacramento and had a lovely Airbnb room in Elk Grove, located conveniently right between my sister, Kathie and my niece, Ashley and her family.
We drove to Stockton on one day and met with a longtime friend, Monica for lunch at a greek restaurant. Flaming saganaki above at Papapavlov’s.
Great to see my sister again.
Willie and Bella
Ashley and her 3 kiddos.
Nolan aka “Baby Head”
Sacramento Zoo is always a fun walking experience. Thanks to Kathie for treating us and we got to see niece, Catey as well. We met up with cousin Gary in Loomis, CA for a delightful lunch at the High Hands Cafe. We finished Sacramento with a visit to Old Sacramento.
Charlie really enjoys the animals.
Cousin Gary Mcknight came down to meet us for lunch at the High Hands Cafe in Loomis, California.
We got back to Vegas to connect with my daughter, Rikka and her boyfriend, Joseph, to celebrate her birthday. We had a lovely birthday dinner at Diablo’s in the Luxor (below). We spent a wonderful day trip in Boulder City.
We had to show Joseph the bighorn sheep at Hemenway Park and man were they close today.
The Bellagio Conservatory is always a wondrous sight.
18-hole indoor Mini golf at the Twilight Zone course at the Horseshoe Hotel: a total kick if you’re a TZ fan, and only $12.00!!
Our home on the strip just down from the Miracle Mile Shops, and a glass of sangria at House of Blues where the BBQ ribs did not dissappoint!
It was an amazingly rewarding trip, seeing family and friends, enjoying the low humidity (compared to Panama), taking advantage of entertainment options and experiencing the luxury of having real stores like Walmart and Albertsons, and Amazon delivery!
After a 2 month respite at our home base in Playa Blanca, Panama, we are off to Colombia. Our Airbnb is a lovely unit in Punta de Piedra apartments. We are in the La Candelaria area, just north of El Poblado. We have easy access to malls, grocery stores, street food and restaurants. The City of Eternal Spring currently has temperatures from lows of upper 50’s to highs of mid 80’s, requiring neither AC, nor heat.
View from our footbridge at Punta de Piedra Apartments
Footbridge from back of our apartment complex to elevator, which takes you to Premium Plaza Mall. If we walk out the front entrance of our complex, the El Indio Mall has shops and cafes like Mi Arepa and La Gloria.
Churros at our close by Premium Plaza mall (left) and relaxing on our deck where we watch the birds and squirrels.
Colombian chachalaca- a noisey bird!
Comuna 13
No trip to Medellín is complete without a trip to Comuna 13 and best completed with a guide. This is one of poorest areas in town, previously one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world. The urban renewal here, with tourism, escalators, shops, cafes, art and vendors, has been amazing.
Juan bought us churros
Food and Drink
An arepa – ground maize tortilla with chicken, corn and cheese. An iced coffee lemonade.
Fresh, warm churro and a cherry lemonade.
Grilled chicken with butter and criollos potatoes- a skillet arepa with chicken and shrooms.
A Brazilian steakhouse a short walk away.
Scrumptious burger at Chef Burger in Laureles and full lunch at La Gloria, including soup and juice.
Plaza Minorista Market (left) and smoked salmon salad (right).
Adventures
From the zoo, the Botanical Garden, planetarium, Barrio Transformation tour, the Museo de Antioquia (art), food tour, a separate exotic fruit tour to meet-up with fellow Senior Nomads, we have been busy here. We tend to pace ourselves by alternating activity days with leisure days.
Disney sponsored an incredible lighting exhibit for Christmas by the Medellin River.
Bolero Plaza celebrates the Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, who donated a multitude of sculptures.
There are 6 different cable cars, all accessed with your Metro card. Not just for tourists, they enable access for locals as well.
Great new friends, Valerie and David from the Washington DC area. Fellow members of Senior Nomads.
The Botanical Garden is a lovely walking area with birds and plants. We went twice as it is free, just need to show ID. A first class restaurant, In Situ, with our amazing waiter, Juan.
Randy spotted a small scorpion on a walk. Flowering plant at the garden.
After the Botanical Garden, we went to Chef Burger in Laureles, then Fidelina’s for Sangria.
Getting to Parque Arví requires taking the Metro and then 2 cable cars to arrive at 8,000 ft. Unfortunately, the first cable car was out of service, so we had to take a circuitous bus ride. On the way back, we opted for a taxi to save time and motion sickness.
We met a fellow American, Erika, from Ohio.
Awesome visit with fellow Senior Nomad Facebook group members, Georganna and Tom (from Southern California), and Rick and Chris(from Calgary, Canada). We toured El Castillo museum and gardens and enjoyed conversation at the cafeteria afterwards. Nomads are so interesting and unique and we learn so much from each other.
Our farewell to Medellin is here. We had an incredible month of adventures, learning and relaxation. We will come back here. Next time we would like to stay in the Laureles area. We also will make it to Guatapé next time. We avoided the 2 hour drive this trip in order to spend our time exploring the Metro area. No regrets. Now back to Panama for a few months before heading to Las Vegas to visit Katy and Sacramento to visit Kathie and Charlie.
Washington DC was a whirlwind of activity. Since Robin had never been here, we wanted to see a lot of the top priorty tourist sites. Yes, here we were more like tourists than Slowmads. We always like to start a new city visit with a Hop On Hop Off tour. The trolley in DC was awesome. Many times there is a recorded guide in multiple languages and you can never seem to find a bus to hop back on. This one had an excellent local guide, who was entertaining, fun and educational. We got off at the Jefferson Memorial and walked through the FDR Memorial and MLK Memorial.
FDR Memorial is quite extensive
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was full of his memorable quotes.
World War II Memorial
Vietnam War Memorial
Air and Space Museum
We enjoyed this Museum. However after seeing the Destination Moon exhibit in Seattle, this part was redundant for us. Fun seeing the Wright Brothers first plane.
Wright Brothers first plane (above). Great quote(below).
Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit and Robin flying a plane.
Mars rover and a 136 mph V8 motorcycle from 1907.
International Spy Museum
This is a really fun museum. You are issued a cover identity and occupation. You proceed through different stations to complete your mission.
If you get a chance, go to this museum. It is not a free Smithsonian, but I believe that you will enjoy it.
James Bond Aston Martin
American History Museum
Some great artifacts at this museum. I guess I was surprised that there was a lot of modern history, cell phones, guitars, movie paraphernalia, but it was extensive.
Presidential Medal of Freedom and Horatio Greenough’s Washington.
Actual furniture from surrender at Appomattox
Great Historical Clock of America
Steel column from 70th floor of World Trade Center South Tower and piece of Berlin Wall.
Abe Lincoln’s hat from the assassination and Dorothy’s ruby slippers.
Mr Roger’s sweater and sneakers and George Reeve’s Superman suit.
I have always wanted a $100,000 bill.
Visit with Roxanne and Tom
Robin’s cousin, Roxanne and her husband, Tom live in Silver Spring, Maryland. We took the Metro one day to the nearest stop to them and they picked us up. We took a lovely walk at Sligo Creek Park and afterwards relaxed on their screened porch and made conversation. Roxanne whipped up a fantastic dinner and dessert of homemade ice cream and cookies. Tom was kind enough to drive us home.
National Zoo
The zoo was fun. The pandas are going back to China Oct 1, so we were fortunate to catch them. Not to seem like zoo snobs, but this was not our favorite zoo. Quite spread out, shuttle no longer runs and many exhibits did not open until 9am, while gate opens at 8am.
Arlington National Cemetery
A must see was the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Also, had to see JFK’s Eternal Flame.
Museum of Natural History
This was a fun museum. A bit heavy on climate change guilt tripping, although the exhibits depict greater climate swings and extinctions for eons before we even walked on 2 feet.
Rooms full of gems and minerals.
The Hope Diamond
Fragment of cartonnage coffin 600 BC
Me as an Australopithecus Afarenses. More hair, less brains.
Holocaust Museum
This is a very memorable, yet emotionally challenging museum to tour. A well structured historical sequence displays the 3rd Reich’s rise to power and the increasing steps of the initial persecution and eventual extermination of 6 million Jews.
The Hall of Remembrance
We are approaching the tail end of our recent travel adventure. Next, we head to Vegas to visit Robin’s daughter, Katy. We will stay with her in her new home. Lots of routine doctor appointments, stocking up on supplies, and going through our storage bins. Therefore, the next blog post will be minimal, but we will experience a few tourist excursion and entertainment options.
We flew into Logan Airport in Boston, where Robin’s son, Joe picked us up from the airport and drove us to our Airbnb in Beverly. Joe and Amber live in Salem, a quick 10 minute drive away. We spent the first 4 days tooling around Salem and Beverly, enjoying coffee shops, visiting the North Shore, meeting Levi, the Morgan horse, taking the Salem Trolley Tour, and exploring the Peabody Essex Museum. We then spent 3 nights at the Killington Mountain Inn and went to Rutland, Ludlow, Quechee, the Hubbardton Battlefield site and saw Joe and Amber’s riverfront property by North Clarendon.
Breakfast stop at A & J Kings in Salem with Joe and Amber
Fun evening at Mission Boathouse in Salem
Robin and Joe exploring Rockland
Joe’s?
Robin’s?
Meeting our grand pony, Levi at the stables
Joe with Anna and Jacob
The Peabody Essex Museum was huge and so well presented.
Vermont was awesome. Joe & Amber treated us to 3 nights at the Killington Mountain Inn. We had some drizzle and cooler weather than we did in the Boston area. We still were able to explore a lot of the area.
Killington Mountain Inn
We explored the town of Ludlow.
We got to see Joe & Amber’s land by the North Clarendon area. They will start building soon. It is close to a small airport where Joe plans on parking his future plane.
The Hubbarton Battlefield Site, where the only Civil War battle in Vermont took place.
We had a fantastic time in New England. Gratefully, we were able to spend a solid week with family which was more than we have in the last 10 years combined! Thank you Joe & Amber for all of your detailed planning, flexibility and generosity. We love you ❤️.
Chefchaouen was quite a change from Tangier. It has a smaller population of 45,000 and is located at 2,000 feet. Known as the Blue Pearl, due to the blue painted walls in the medina and surroundong town, Chefchaouen draws a lot of Instagrammers for its many picturesque hotspots. Just like Tangier, cats, especially kittens were everywhere. Supermarkets are non existent and wine is found at one store and is very expensive. You have been warned 😜.
We always appreciate a professional guided tour, especially walking tours. Abdennour was an excellent guide who spoke good English and had a sense of humor. Even though we had been here a full week, he showed us many new places we had not seen and explained the history of the area.
Chefchaouen means 2 horns and those are the 2 peaks behind the town.
Berber rugs have been handmade for millenia.
We love the little kitties everywhere. All are friendly, but some are in rough shape.
We actually had use of a small pool at our Airbnb.
The architecture, doorways and views are unique.
Plaza Uta el Hamman, the large central square with many visitors and hawkers eagerly urging guests to dine at their cafes.
Food is unique and generally inexpensive. On left, is Madfouna, also known as Moroccan pizza, a flatbread stuffed with spicy beef and served with a spicy green chutney along with a delightful ginger lemonade. On right, a typical breakfast, OJ, hot Moroccan mint tea, fried eggs, green olives, softcheese, goat cheese, chopped bologna type meat (mortadella-chicken, turkey, or beef) and the plate behind, with a thick crepe and cornbread type bread (harcha) marmalade, butter and honey, all for $4.50 USD.
Panoramic view of Chefchaouen from the Spanish Mosque just after sunset. Quite a hike to get up there, albeit paved. We ended up with over 16,000 steps that day.
Traditional neighborhood baker. Hundreds of years ago there were no home kitchens. People brought bread to him and he baked in his wood fire oven. Tradition carries on today.
Robin with her new best friend, Azzin.
Chefchaouen was a great adventure. Most tourists we see are visiting for a day trip from Casablanca, Fes, or other nearby cities. Spending 2 weeks here gave us time to further experience the Moroccan way of life and their rich and colorful culture. We enjoyed our favorite restaurants several times and really learned our way around the medina. The Blue Pearl was magical, peaceful and exhilarating.
Tangier was quite the surprise. A very international city, with a mixture of history and modernism in a multicultural setting. Languages, wow! Arabic and Berber, French and Spanish, some English and assorted other European and African idioms as well. The first step in communicating here is to determine what languages you have in common.
Our Airbnb was just blocks away from Bab Kasbah. Bab means gate, so it is the Kasbah entry gate. We enjoy being in the gritty neighborhood as opposed to the tourist area. Street cats and kittens are everywhere. Some are adorable, yet some are mangy and others appear to be near death. There are some dogs as well and they have ear tags if they have been vaccinated.
The culinary experience has been very exciting. Moroccan mint tea is found everywhere. It has a base of gunpowder tea and is always served hot in a glass with fresh mint leaves and sugar. Tajines are one of the main national dishes and usually consist of chicken or beef with couscous and vegetables in a tajine clay pot.
Pastillas are delicious meat dishes swrapped in a filo type pastry topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
Blue Mojito (virgin) at Cafe Hafa and decor of Palais Zahia hotel restaurant.
The supermarkets have beautiful arrays of spices and olives. Many locals purchase their food from small, neighborhood markets and the Medina.
The doors and architecture are unique and captivating. Bab Kasbah (gate to the Kasbah) and a side view of the fortress.
Door from James Bond movie, Spectre (above left).
Plenty of history everywhere you look and panoramic views abound.
View from La Maconda restaurant in the Kasbah
Enjoying mint tea at Gran Cafe de Paris, where a scene from Bourne Ultimatum was filmed.
Yes, we even saw Barbie here. Only 35 Dirhams or $3.50 USD.
We took a wonderful walking tour with Majid on our 14th wedding anniversary. He took us through the winding medina giving us intricate historical and cultural details. We learned about Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan Marco Polo of the 14th century. Majid was once named as the #1 guide in Morocco. He guides members of the US Embassy when they are in town as he speaks multiple languages. We signed up for a 3 hour tour, but we had to ask him to stop after 5 hours as we were worn out. He even bought Robin a rose to celebrate 🌹.
El Morocco Club
Cafe Baba- Rolling Stones hangout.
Tangier was very unique, different than we expected. The people were warm and welcoming and we felt very safe even in the grittier areas. We learned a lot about the history and culture of Morocco. We don’t plan to return here, but are glad we had this wonderful adventure.
Madrid was a surprise. Initially it was just to be a few hour layover en route to Morocco, but we decided to change our plans and make it a 5 day stopover. We are so glad we did. Madrid is a world class vibrant city, full of museums, art galleries, restaurants & cafes, musicals, palaces, parks and history sights. An extremely efficient Metro system allows for smooth navigation throughout the metropolis.
Plaza Mayor is a large public square full of history. It was the location of torture and executions during the Spanish Inquisition.
The Bullfighters Bar in Plaza Mayor has mounted bull heads and gory pictures of matadors losing.
Churros and dipping chocolate at Valor
El Retiro Park is a large city park that used to be the President’s garden. (See more pics below.)
Crystal Palace in the park displays art exhibits. Currently empty though.
Sangria! Flamenco dance show was awesome.
We generally take a Hop On Hop Off bus during our first few days in a new city. It gives us a good overview and allows us to add and subtract items from our sightseeing list.
We drank sherry at La Venencia, where Hemingway drank.
Puerta del Sol Plaza a famous plaza.
Temple of Debod, a gift from Egypt. Relaxing with morning coffee
There is so much to do in Madrid! The Rastro on Sunday, Europe’s largest flea market is huge and a worthwhile visit. We want to return and take a private tour of the Royal Palace and the Prado Museum. Also, many musicals are playing, Chicago, Mama Mia and Lion King, all in Spanish. We can’t wait to come back and see some of them. We also want to go to the zoo, and Casa Botín, the world’s oldest restaurant for suckling pig- need reservations way in advance.
Almada is just across the Tagus River from Lisbon. We initially planned on spending more time in the Algarve, however the rental costs get so high in July and August that we opted for Almada. We are a few blocks from an area called Cacilhas, which is a ferry town. People come over from Lisbon to dine at the streetside cafes and visit the tourist sites on this side. Many people on this side use the ferry to commute to Lisbon. The water taxi ride is only 1.30€ or $1.43 USD. We purchased a Zapping card, which allows you to reload and is valid for the water taxi, the trains, the Metro and the bus. The transportation is very centralized. All the stations are in the same vicinity making the use of multiple forms of transit easily accessible.
Our Airbnb is smaller than the one we had in Lagos, but we have a spectacular view from the 13th floor balcony, which we call our office 😀. There are multiple markets and cafes, all within short walking distance and even a laundromat down the block.
Our office view from the 13th floor balcony overlooking the Tagus River and Lisbon.
Our day and night views (above), our unit marked in red (below).
View from our 13th floor window shows the convenient location. We have stayed in many Airbnb’s, but we lucked out with this location.
🟣 On left- ATM
🤍- bus stop
🔵-pastry shop
💚- garbage drop
🟡- tram- light rail stop
♥️- mini market
🟣 Arrow – street with 35 cafes, pastry shops, and gelato stores- below
Cacilhas, with its oodles of sidewalk cafes with grilled sardines, pizza, pasta, steaks, salads, Indian food and more.
A glorious seawall walk along the river with the April 25 bridge in the background. It was originally the Salazar Bridge, but renamed after the Carnation Revolution in 1974.
The map shows our loop, as we walk Casilhas to the waterfront, then the seawall, take the elevator (above left) back up to town and then down back to home.
We actually found live music in Almada at Cine Incrível where we saw the Samuel Lercher Trio. Samuel was amazing on piano and Bruno Pedroso awesome on drums.
Our local eateries include Restaurarante Marisqueira “Valle do Rio” and Valdo Gatti. Robin loved the mushroom ravioli at Valdo.
Church of Our Lady of the Good Success is just a short walk down the main street in Cascilhas.
Grilled sardines are everywhere and very tasty.
Beautiful beaches at Praia da Caparica, just 6 miles away.
We caught a rare opportunity to walk by an archeological dig (left) and a myriad of sailboats on the Tagus River (above).
We saw this restaurant owner several times and finally had to stop and tell him he looked like Stanley Tucci. He said ” he’s my twin brother.”
Lam was our favorite waiter. He was always commending us on our passion for life, from dancing, to drinking wine while playing cards, to our kindness to each other. He said that he felt as though we were locals and he told his other customers about us and how “that’s the way it should be.” Once Randy did a few magic tricks Lam was sure that Randy was performing in Lisbon.
We met Eduardo (above left) who showed us his amazing world record mural (above).
Adventure in Cascais
A fortuitous encounter with a fellow American led us to Cascais. We met Kendall on a bench at our train layover in Tunes. We kept in touch and invited him to join us on a food tour to celebrate Robin’s birthday. He was not available, but said he had extra tickets to see the sold out Lionel Ritchie concert in Cascais. We took the water taxi to Lisbon, the train to Cascais and walked to the venue, the Hipódromo Manuel Possolo. A magical night, starting with Filipe Karlsson, a performer Randy enjoyed. Lionel rocked the house with all his best songs and All Night Long for the encore. The concert ran late and we did catch the train at 1am, but would not be able to catch the last water taxi. We hopped off in Belem and caught an Uber to take us over the April 25th Bridge back to Almada, arriving about 3am. Thanks a million to the wonderful kindness of Kendall.
Lisbon Day Trips
Pink Street near the city center
Food Tour with OhMyCod Tours
Our fun group above, minus our guide, Rodrigo. We met under the Arco da Rua Augusta, built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after the 1755 earthquake.
It was Robin’s birthday and she had a fantastic day. We went to 4 cafes and had 17 tastings including sardines, cod, Mozambican food, chorizo, octopus salad, green wine, Port wine, Ginjinha (sour cherry liquor), and more. At the last stop, the workers sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese, same tune, different lyrics 😀.
Christo Rei
The Christ the King monument here in Almada overlooks Lisbon and the April 25th Bridge. It was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and completed in 1959.
Belém (just west of Lisbon)
Belém is near the mouth of the Tagus River, and is at the heart of Portuguese history. It was from here in the 15th century (Portugal’s Age of Discovery) that explorer Vasco da Gama set sail for India. It is also known as the home of the pastel de nata (custard tart), Portugal’s national dessert. Pastéis de Belém uses the original recipe first created by monks in the monastery next door (Jerónimos Monastery).
Jerónimos Monastery- construction begun in 1501 and completed over100 years later.
Monument to the Discoveries was built in 1940 and made permanent in 1960 to mark 500 years since Henry the Navigator’s death. It depicts Henry, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan and others, 33 in total.
The Belém Tower is a 16th century fortification that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers. It was competed in 1519 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Estoril and James Bond
Estoril, pronounced “shto ril” is a short train ride from Lisbon and is just before Cascais. The claim to fame is that Ian Fleming stayed in the Palacio Hotel and visited the neighboring casino in the 1940’s. There he found WWII spies and dignitaries and this prompted him to create James Bond in the 1953 novel, Casino Royale. The 1969 movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with George Lazenby as Bond, was filmed at the Palácio Hotel and Casino Estoril.
James Bond leaving his Aston Martin in front of the Palácio Hotel
Our view in July 2023
Town of Sintra and the Peña Palace tour
We took a half day tour with Phillip from One Direction Tours. He met us off the water taxi by the Time Out Market and drove us to Sintra. He informed us about the history of the palace, the royalty, the 16th century and 19th century constructions, and more.
(above) a model of the palace and Phillip explaining the history.
Almada turned out to be a serendipitous blessing for us. We will definitely return to this location. The easy access to Lisbon, the public transportation, restaurant choices and entertainment all make for a wonderful lifestyle here. We found a small town feel in a big city.
Where to next? Off to Madrid for a short stay before heading to Tangier, Morocco.
Randy and Robin's Roving Retirement 