But... I love traveling alone. Yes, I love my family, and we've had a blast traveling around Europe. But... I love the freedom that comes from going where I want, eating what I want, not knowing a soul in the whole city, and making plans on the fly. No one to please but myself.
It sounds very self-centered, and that's pretty much how my weekend went. It was just what the doctor prescribed. (Dr. Heather, that is.) My kids were in my husband's capable hands, and I got to relax.
I joke with Hyrum that I 'earned' that trip, because when twins were a month old he was out in the field for a month while I held down the fort at home. I spent the month telling myself that if I survived, I was taking a personal vacation. (There are some perks to bottle feeding!!) But in reality, neither Hyrum nor I wanted to do another big family trip (because after traveling with three babies, you need another vacation) so we each got to take one last trip of our liking. I went to Portugal. And Hyrum is off to Bucharest, Brussels and Budapest.
Anyway, back to Portugal. It's gritty. I wouldn't call it run-down, necessarily, but Lisbon was full of half-abandoned buildings, broken windows and colorful neighborhoods. Simultaneously, it has a lot of personality, with vintage trolleys zipping around the roads, beautiful tile-work everywhere, and super affordable delicious food. Oh yeah, and beaches.
I spent my first afternoon exploring a newer area of town, right near my hotel. Lisbon hosted the '98 World Expo, and most of this area was constructed specifically for that. Everything was shiny and modern.
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| Clockwise: Plaza de las Naciones, a teleferico along the coast and the Vasco de Gama Bridge (it's super long!), the Oriente metro/train station, and some random building |
I spent Saturday exploring a town 45 minutes outside of Lisbon, called Sintra. It's pretty accessible by train, and was worth the trip. (Especially since I get burned out sometimes with big cities. It's nice to see some of the smaller towns, too.)
Sintra is famous for Pena Palace. I don't remember a lot of the history, but the King that built it was a cousin of "Mad King Ludwig" who built Neuschwanstein (the "Disney" castle). Also, it's fairly modern. If I remember correctly, the royalty was ousted in 1910, so everything is only about 100 years old. History aside, anything with this much color is right up my alley.
It's one of those places that you can't stop taking pictures of, because every angle gets even better.
It reminded me a bit of "Big Land" from Mario Bro.'s video games-- over-sized and colorful.
I was able to walk through the inside, which wasn't as entertaining as outside, but interesting nonetheless. Particularly pretty were the doors and ceilings.
And I for one am glad I don't have to clean a kitchen this size! Check out all those pots and pans.
Not bad views, right? From the palace you can look out and see Lisbon, as well as the Moorish castle ruins, which I went to next. You're up on the top of a huge hill, so you can basically see everything.
There are gardens that surround the palace. You could literally spend days walking (more like hiking) around the area. I wanted to explore a little, so I headed downhill on a random path, hoping I'd reach somewhere recognizable. It was nice to be out in nature completely alone for a while, and aside from crossing through a big construction zone and walking over piles of dirt, I made it out okay and found a bus to take me to my next destination, the castle ruins.
To be continued...
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