Flying Home – Reflections

When we woke in the morning I immediately checked my phone for any updates on our flight. So far so good! I ate leftover pizza and more jamón with bread for breakfast. We packed up and headed out. Thankfully, the hostel staff gave a good recommendation to take the train. We caught the R2 train to … Continue reading →

Barcelona Day 5 – Bonus Day!

I woke up to get ready to go to the airport and saw on my phone that our flight was canceled due to aircraft maintenance. Wow! Not even delayed, just canceled. I popped out of bed to call United and see what options we had. Not good, no other flights until tomorrow. At least the … Continue reading →

Barcelona Day 4 – Park Güell and La Sagrada Familia

Up early and we ate our pastries from the night before plus some bread and jamón for breakfast. We were out the door around 9 and walked a few blocks to catch the bus up to Park Güell. Thank goodness we took the bus! Google estimated 55 minutes of waking but my eyes confirmed it … Continue reading →

Barcelona Day 3 – Montjuïc and Barcelona Pavilion

We are just not early morning people after these long days of walking. After showers and breakfast of baguette with jamón and our final pastéis de nata, we headed out. It was a glorious sunny day and we were on our way to the top of the mountain of Montjuïc. Janet wisely suggested we ride … Continue reading →

Barcelona Day 2 – Casa Batllo and Cathedral

We woke up to heavy rain outside. I altered our plans so that Janet and I went to visit Gaudi’s Casa Batllo, only a few blocks away, while Janet’s mom stayed dry in the room. I tried to buy discounted tickets online before going, but the website wasn’t working. In person they were supposed to … Continue reading →

Barcelona Day 1 – Walking Tour plus Beach

Photos coming later, I’ve hit my storage quota! After our late arrival into Barcelona, it seemed wise to sleep in a bit and not rush our morning. We headed out around 10 am and got some pastries at a shop near the hostel. Ham and cheese croissants are a favorite! I planned to take us … Continue reading →

Port Day 4 – Cathedral and Fly to Barcelona

We spent most of the morning in our Airbnb because it was raining hard outside, not ideal for sightseeing. The internet was still not working, but we packed up and enjoyed another simple meal at home of leftovers, bread and cheese, fried rice with zucchini and Portuguese ham. When we checked out, we headed to … Continue reading →

Porto Day 3 – Bolhão Market, Churches, and Garden of the Crystal Palace

After such a long day in the Douro Valley yesterday, we had a slow start and left around 10am for our last full day in Portugal. First stop, pastéis de nata from Manteigaria. They are just so good, warm and fresh. I am going to miss these when we leave! We went back to Bolhão … Continue reading →

Porto Day 2 – Douro Valley, Home of Port!

We woke up early to leave by 6:45am for our train to the Douro Valley. We were running a little behind and almost cut it too close. We made our first train, which is sort of a shuttle between São Bento Station and Campana Station l. The problem was, at Campanhã we didn’t know where … Continue reading →

Porto Day 1 – Sunshine on the Ribeira

We’ve been constantly checking the weather during our trip and saw that today would likely be our last warm day with plentiful sunshine for a while. We set off around 10am for breakfast. We stumbled on the Bolhão Market along the way and took a stroll through the stalls. Lots of tasty looking stuff! I … Continue reading →