Lisbon Castle Day

While Bill was off golfing, I spent friday wandering around Lisbon.  My plan was to have lunch and see the castle.  Some of the smaller street names were not labeled on my map so I got a little turned around.  I knew the castle was up so I headed up this steep hill...

 At the top I had a lovely view - - of the castle!!  Turned out I scaled the wrong mountain. 

 But the view was too nice to waste.  I had lunch and looked at my destination from afar.

Hmmm…maybe if I'd seen these signs earlier I would have known.  But getting lost is half the fun, right?

 This way to the castle.

 This castle was perfect for my mood. Basically it was just walls, trees and views.  I wasn't up of lots of fussy interiors.  I also wasn't in the mood to learn anything so I didn't even take the pamphlet at the ticket counter.  I can't tell you anything about the history of this castle, who lived here, what happened or why.  I just wanted to be there.

When you first enter the grounds there is a wonderful courtyard that overlooks the water.  There were really awesome trees throughout - - I took a million shots of them thinking of Whitney but I will only post a few of them here. 

 The castle was just a maze of stone staircases, archways and turrets.  There were different levels of walkways - some of which had very low walls and tested my feelings about heights.

Beautiful views of Lisbon.

 Time to head back down the hill to the hotel.

 I had hours to relax before dinner since they don't even think about eating here until 9pm.  Bill was sound asleep after his big day of golf so I had a pot of tea and cookies in our little sitting room with my book and a blanket. I might have napped a little myself.  All Friday afternoons should end like this.

Oitavos Dunes

Friday was my golf day on our holiday in Lisbon.  I had a 9:48 tee time at Oitavos Dunes, a top rated course in Europe.  

It is located on the west coast of Portugal and 20km outside of where we are staying.

Without a car I had to be creative in getting there.

Took a taxi to the train station on the other side of Lisbon.

Took the train to Sinta.

Took a cab to Oitavos.

I didn't eat breakfast, figuring I'd grab a pasty from the clubhouse.

Wrong.

They offered cookies, but no food.

They told me that the cart girl would be around and I could buy something then.

Only she never showed...

Come on, Oitavos Dunes!

And I forgot my fitbit, so I threw away 30,000 steps.

My little setbacks were quickly dismissed once I got out on the course.

This view below is where I chipped in for a birdie.

What a beautiful course.  They made a big deal about how they worked with the Audubon Society to preserve the dunes.  The good news is that it feels like the course just grew into the land.  The bad news is if your ball strays into the marsh, tough shit.  You can't get it.

My fabulous day is in jeopardy as lightning and thunder roll along the water.

 Getting closer.

 And I'm wet.  Fortunately, no lightning, just some driving rain for about 20 minutes.  If Dave and I can battle the wind and rain at Carnoustie, then this little shower was not going to slow me down.

In fact, I parred the hole after the rain started.

I'm better in the rain!

 Check off another country in my quest to golf the world.

Lisbon Thanksgiving

We have a lot of pictures from our first full day in Lisbon so this post is the first batch.  At this rate we'll be able to drag our trip out for weeks.  I'm sure Fletch will be happy to see another country for a while.

First I want to show you some of the common rooms of our hotel.

This is where I sat to blog this morning with my tea.

 This is the breakfast room.  They put out a nice buffet of meat, cheese, fruit, bread, cereal and more.

After breakfast we hit the streets.  The heart of the city is full of narrow winding streets and steep staircases up the hills.  The woman at the hotel explained that much of Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 1755 except for the Alfama neighborhood so that area retained the historic lay out and architecture.  The buildings are somewhat dilapidated on the outside - most are covered in multicolored graffiti but then you go inside and it's completely clean and modernized.

One little neighborhood in the Alfama district had this sign and the walls had sepia toned photographs of old people lining the street.  I loved these photographs.  Maybe I need to bring this idea to Atwood Street when we go home.  We could have pictures of Laura and Barbara and me on the outside of our houses.

Bill and graffiti.

 A door behind a wall.

 Lisbon laundry.

We climbed up to get to view of the city.  Our hotel recommended this spot for a drink.

 By the time we got to the spot, though, we were too hungry to just sit for a drink.  We needed to find our lunch spot.  A little ways back down the hill we found a tapas restaurant with an open table outside.

I was going to end the post there…but I decided to add a few more pictures of the streets and stairs.

So far, we love Lisbon.  Except the rain - - we battled downpours to get to dinner tonight.  Bill's golf tomorrow is under threat.  Here's hoping for dry weather ahead.

**Added note from Jen:  I'm posting this Friday morning while Bill is out on the course.  So far no rain but there are plenty of clouds. Fingers crossed we get through the day without a soaking.

Lisbon Arrival

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We were not very good with the camera yesterday.  We said goodbye to Christin and said hello to Lisbon.  We got to our hotel around 7pm and took a few shots of the room.  The hotel is beautiful - it's an old house that was converted into a 12 room boutique hotel in the Janelas Verdes neighborhood of the city.

This is the view of the courtyard from our room.

This is our room.

And we have another sitting area.

We had dinner at a place that was an old convent.  As soon as you sit down they start bringing you small starter plates of smoked salmon, cauliflower soup, goat cheese wrapped in phyllo with a pumpkin sauce etc.  I was already completely stuffed when they said they had white chocolate mousse for dessert.  I couldn't resist.

This trip is Bill's birthday present from October - you'd think with almost two months of planning we would have one a little research but once I booked the flight and the hotel I didn't give it another thought until now.  We have no idea what to see or do here so let's hope it's blog worthy!!

Weak Sauce with a Bit of Scotch

Tuesday night.  The Vic is packed for another quiz night with most of the regulars. 

The Jedi Knights arrived with a full team, ready to play mind tricks.

First timer, Christin, was able to snuggle up next to this table and hitch our wagon to  Wayne and Andy.  Christin and the two Scots from Edinburgh became our newest members of Weak Sauce.

 Jen has no trouble eating in front of our new teammates.

 The picture round would have been a disaster except for Wayne and Andy.  The mutilator picture (where they mush up a photo a bit, to make it more difficult) looked like Arsenio Hall, we guessed P Ditty and it was Kanye West.

 Hi Ellen!

 Marlin proving she takes great photos.  I'm photobombing her, but she really didn't need any bombing.  She bombed herself.

 Quizmaster Chris had a wee nap before the quiz, so he was fresh and sarcastic this night.

Quiz Questions:
Engineers have created the first unstealable what?
A gang of cannibals were recently found guilty of murder and selling meat pies with the bodies - what country?
Genesis is the first book of the bible - what is the second?
What is the main ingredient in guacamole?
In the Mr Men series of books, what color is Mr. Strong?
Who was the first lady of song?
What is the English word taken from the Turkish meaning Fate?
In the periodic table, what is the lightest metal?
What US star will join the Indian version of Big Brother?
Who was married to Bobby Brown?
What month was Martin Luther King's birthday?

Orchestra set up shop on the other side of the pub.  They had a full table with Mike and (British) friends visiting from the states.
Meanwhile, Andy was settling in as the new alpha male of Weak Sauce.

 Christin could be heard across the room.  We tried to encourage her to act like she'd been here before, but her enthusiasm got the best of her.  Christin has a great laugh.  At one point I was across the room next to Quizmaster Chris when she let out a guffaw.  He looked at me and said 'Is she your mate?'.  I nodded and nothing more was said.

Quiz Answers:

Engineers have created the first unstealable what? Bicycle

A gang of cannibals were recently found guilty of murder and selling meat pies with the bodies - what country?  Brazil

Genesis is the first book of the bible - what is the second?  Exodus

What is the main ingredient in guacamole?  Avocado

In the Mr Men series of books, what color is Mr. Strong?  Red

Who was the first lady of song?  Ella Fitzgerald

What is the English word taken from the Turkish meaning Fate?  Kismet

In the periodic table, what is the lightest metal?  Lithium

What US star will join the Indian version of Big Brother?  Kim Kardashian

Who was married to Bobby Brown?  Whitney Houston

What month was Martin Luther King's birthday?  January

Chris went old school for the pot of money this week.  Throw a nut in your mouth, win the £30 pot.

Three shots and this unlucky bloke came up empty.  What indignity will we do next week for £40? 

Sharing quiz battle stories after the match.  Weak Sauce tied for 5th out of 10.  Orchestra had a better showing at 4th and even Buffet lost this week.  The big winner was Shirley Basset - a team that comes with it's own basset hound mascot.  

Jerry and Andy ended the night with a sloppy debate on Scottish independence.

I think they still may be there.