As of today, I am two weeks away from beginning my annual August vacation. But at the same time, I am three weeks from heading off on an exciting adventure with my new wife, which is a honeymoon, and an adventure at the same time. We will be heading to Portugal for a two week self-guided tour of that beautiful and historic land. I promise that as we go and take in all that we can, I will send up a blog post each day to fill you in now what is going on, and send up pictures of the things that we are seeing and doing.
Shortly after we announced that we were engaged, one of my former students, (The Reverend Silerio Ferreira) called and offered us the use of his home in Portugal for a place to visit on our honeymoon. It was the sort of offer that would have been impossible to say no to. It made it so that on the budget of a very ordinary Honeymoon trip, we could have the experience of two weeks in a great European country. Becky had really never travelled before, so Portugal was a great idea in her books, and I had not been to Portugal myself, so it offered me an opportunity to see more of the world, and so I quickly booked discount flights online.
So we will depart Pearson Airport on Sunday August 6th at midnight. Dear friends have offered to stay in our home in Camden East for the time we are away, and tend the lawns and gardens and the pool. We will arrive in Lisbõa on August 7th at just after noon. I have arranged a car rental for the two days that we are there, and so we can tour around and see everything possible.
Beginning in Lisbõa, we will enjoy a half a day of walking tour there in the capital before spending a night in a Bed and Breakfast in the old city called the Bead and Breakfast Family Medera. By staying overnight in Lisbõa, it affords us a chance to take a second day walking in the Belem district of the city.
That second night we are booked into another hotel in Fatima called the Resedencia Silva. As you will find in a much earlier blog, I have made a large number of pilgrimages to many of the world's Holy sites, and knowing that I would be passing through the Pilgrimage site at Fatima, I felt I just had to stop and see the place where the three children once saw the Blessed Virgin and take an opportunity to pray. After visiting the Shrine of the Holy Mother, we will finally continue on to the home of my dear friend Silveria in Mira.
After a night in Mira and all the travel time getting there, I have planned for a day at the beach at Mira It is one of the most beautiful beaches in mainland Portugal, and so it seems like a great way to spend a little time in rest and relaxation. The Market at Praia de Mira is known for good cheeses, good wines, and wonderful fresh seafood, so I anticipate that I will be cooking a good meal on this night to be enjoyed with a nice bottle of wine.
After another night at the home in Mira, We will head out to explore the Medieval city of Coimbra. I managed to arrange a hop on hop off bus and riverboat tour that allows us to explore all the city at our own pace all day, and includes entry to all the city museums for $23.00 CAD so that we can take in as much as possible. That night we will return to sleep in Mira.
Since I don't want to keep too heavy a pace, as I want Becky to return well rested, and without a flare up of her Rheumatoid Arthritis, I anticipate that the following day will once again be spend at the Beach in Praia de Mira, and perhaps with a visit to Monumento dos Pescadores. With what I have heard of the local mercado, I fear that another visit for another gourmet meal of seafood and cheese will certainly be in order.
There are so many interesting places I have found that are within an hour's drive from our homeless, that it is hard to decide on where to head next. I am thinking that the following day will involve another walking tour of the Town of Figueira da Foz. I want to visit the Palacio Sotto, Mosteiro de Santa Maria em Paião, COnviento de Sieça and the Mostiero de Seiça. I am still researching local restaurants in Coimbra and Figueira da Foz to arrange where we will eat while we are exploring.
The following day, we will head north up the coast to Porto -- The home of Port wine. Here i have mapped out a first day of walking in the old city that promises to be incredible with cafés and Se Catedral, Torre de Clerigo, and the great bridge, followed by a traditional Porto lunch and then Port tasting before dinner on the way back to our Hotel in Porto. Staying over the night in Porto allows us to have another full day of exploring the city and a chance to visit Rua Santa Caterina (the famed shopping district of Porto) -- a stop set apart especially for Becky. We will return to Mira for this night, and stay close to Mira for the remaining 4 nights of our stay. On the 20th, we will have an early morning start so that we can have a half day more of exploring Lisbõa before returning to the airport for a 6:45pm flight back to land in Toronto at 10:00 pm on August 20th.
To me, it sounds like a remarkable adventure. I'm speaking to all my Portuguese friends who might be able to tell me the absolute "must see" places in Portugal so that Becky and I can make every moment count.
