Portugal — June 2023

We woke up this morning with no plans. After the requisite bathing and other basic morning activities we walked outside. We had talked a little about taking a high speed train to Pisa or Florence or Naples for the day … but the cost and tight schedule for a day trip didn’t sit well with us. So we decided to grab a taxi, go to the main train station and just see where the local trains were going.  Talking with a taxi/Uber driver is always hit or miss. Today the travel gods were with us; we had a very nice taxi driver named Marcelo who took us to the train station. We asked him where we might go that is just outside of Rome and accessible by train. He had several recommendations … but Tivoli sounded the most interesting to us. So we were off! Tivoli or bust! Tivoli is in the hills east of Rome. It’s not far, about twenty miles, but by train it was about 45 minutes; it had to wind its way up the hills. €11 round trip for both of us — Jim likes good deals — 😁.  From the town park...

We got out of our little apartment by noon today. We took a short little walk over to the smallest country in the world … Vatican City. The last time we were here in 2006 we took a tour of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican museums, etc.… So we decided just to look around in St. Peter’s Square today. Jim with a foot in each country — Vatican City & Italy.   Fun fact: Did you know that Vatican City is Europe’s only absolute monarchy?  And, one of only a handful in the world.  There’s really only one reason to be in Italy, MANGIARE! With that said it was time to have lunch. We consulted Rick Steves website forum to see if anybody had any good suggestions for a restaurant near the Vatican. Of course they did… We had an amazing lunch at Luma Bistro… if you’re going to be in Rome please don’t miss it.  It’s just a short walk until the tourists subside, but it was only about 10 or 15 minutes, if that.  After a fantastic pasta lunch we met the owner and chef, Max....

So this trip was piece-mealed together after we got the great idea to take a cruise from Lisbon to Rome. Why that particular cruise??? Well, we were able to book flights from Fresno to Lisbon and home from Rome to Fresno … all with our accumulated air miles. The only trouble was, after we started looking at the cruise more closely, we didn’t like it. So, we just built this trip within those travel parameters.  So today was a travel day, the day to get to Rome. We went  Pico - Terceira - Lisbon - Rome.  Since we had to come to Rome to get home anyway, we decided to stay two full days in Rome. Today was kind of a wasted day, but beggars can’t be choosers.  Since we didn’t book flights all together, and our island hops were on a different airline than the flights to and from Lisbon, we had a close call on Terceira. After landing we had to get our bags and re-check-in for the next flight.  Scary sight … they had finished and closed the check-in desk for TAP (our fli...

We certainly didn’t catch any worms this morning. 😁 We did get up in time to enjoy brunch.  At about 1pm we decided to drive around the east end of the island. We stopped at every little vista point and made our way through some of the little towns. We ended up at Lajes again, made pit stop, and then headed up and over the island to get home. It’s only about 10 miles from Lajes when taking this direct route.  After some coffee and a snack we took a nap … Today is our 27th anniversary. We went to dinner about 7 o’clock. There are about three good restaurants in town. The one where we had the hamburger the first night, kind of a fancy one that we were told had small portions, and the one where we had a nice bottle of wine the other day for lunch — we opted for the latter. It was absolutely fantastic. We had an octopus salad appetizer and a linguiça in berry jam appetizer. They were both out of this world. We then each had a steak with different sauces. It was all delectable — w...

The Weather Channel was spot on … it was windy today … but not crazy windy; it was quite pleasant. The wind blew in some haze. Visibility was at least several miles, but less than 15 miles — we couldn’t see São Jorge.  We enjoyed most of the morning doing very little. We didn’t look exactly like the cats, but pretty close …  We did take a short walk into town to pick up a car we will use today, tomorrow, and to get back to the airport on Friday. It was a much better deal than they were offering at the airport when we arrived.  After lunch at home we headed to Gruta das Torres, the longest known lava tube caves in Portugal. Exploration of these caves are only by guided tour. After a 10 minute video about the geologic formation of the Azores and the caves, the tour was about an hour. Our guide was very knowledgeable, she explained a lot about the geological and biological aspects of the caves. Probably the most interesting fact we learned is that, sound does not echo in the...