Sunday – Easter – March 27, 2016: Lisbon, Happy Easter 2016!

The sun was shining – what a welcome sight after yesterday’s rain.  Due to losing an hour, we did sleep-in this morning.  But then we hit the town!  We took a hop-on-hop off bus downtown to the Palace Square and the Triumphal Arch. 

Palace Square and The Triumphal Arch

After taking photos and walking around the square we took a tuk-tuk ride up the hilly streets of the Alfama area of the city to Castle de Sao Jorge.  Walking along the ramparts you see the beautiful city of Lisbon down below.  From there we walked to several lovely cathedrals we could see from the Castle towers, however none of them were open-don’t know if they are ever open.

Tuk Tuk ride to the Castle

Castle de Jorge

Surrounding Cathedrals from the Castle

Peacock at the Castle

The Alfama area is known for its narrow, narrow streets and alleyways – some are picture perfect, with laundry hanging outside their windows. We even saw two ladies on second floor chatting with each other out of their windows.  We simply meandered the narrow streets from one Cathedral to the next and finally found three open Cathedrals – two were having mass, and the other one an organ concert.

Street Scenes in the Alfama Area

Ladies having a Neighborly Conversation

Having a relaxing Drink at a local Restaurant

Along the way we stopped several times for coffee, sweets, lunch and Ginja-a cherry liquor made only in Portugal. 

Ginja - Cherry Liqueur

We enjoyed the tile facades on many building, and the scenes painted on tiles.  Tiles are an important addition to both exterior and interior architecture in Portugal. I find the designs very interesting – kind of like quilt blocks.  Seeing each block/tile close-up you have a different feel than if you see then from a distance.

Tile on the wall surrounding a door

Painter along the street

Tile design on the side of a building

Street Car

Hanging Wash

St Patriarcal Cathedral

St Antonio Cathedral

We returned to the hotel exhausted.  A rest was needed before we went around the corner for a delicious supper.

Fountain and Monument on downtown square

Tomorrow we are renting a car and heading out of town to the Atlantic coast. 

Saturday, March 26 – Lisbon, Portugal

We decided to buy 2-day tickets for the Hop-On-Hop-Off tourist buses in Lisbon.  Stop #1 for all 4 tourist bus lines is very close to our hotel – extremely handy.  We decided to first go to the Belem area of Lisbon to visit St Jerome Monastery as it is not open on Sunday.  We hope to see a lot of Lisbon is two days as we have plans to rent a car on Monday to go to nearby areas – outside of Lisbon.  We are not “big city” people!  Yes, you need to spend time in the cities, especially the Capital City of a country, but often the more authentic life in the smaller villages. 

Easter Pastry

Avenue da Liberdade

Cobblestone design in sidewalk

It was a cloudy day and after we finished seeing the Monastery we walked to the Monument to Discovery.  Portugal has built a monument to all the explorers who defied the idea that the “world was flat”.  The Portuguese were the first real naval explorer.  We took an elevator to the top of the monument to view the whole area, after which we found a shop for lunch.  Hind sight would suggest we should have gone to the Tower of Belem before we had lunch, but we were tired and needed a moment to rest and re-fuel!  However, when we left the restaurant it began to rain and there was a strong wind.

Monastery of St Jerome

Lady with her carriage - Anyone for a ride?

St Jerome Cloister

Tile design

St Jerome Chapel

Cloister and Tower

Entrance to St Jerome

There was an extremely long line at the Tower of Belem – waiting in the rain!  After a long wait and getting soaked from our waist down from the rain as well as the waves crashing into the tower under the bridge that leads into the tower we had enough, thank goodness we each had an umbrella. The view of the area would have been much nicer had it not been for the pouring rain.

Monument of the Discoveries

Tower of Belem

By the time we reached the hotel, we were soaked from our waist down, and very chilled.  A hot shower was definitely at the top of the order!

This evening we ate at a restaurant where performers sang “Fado” style music.  The show was very nice.  Returning to the hotel, after 12:00am, we are off to bed.

Portuguese Fedo Show

Tomorrow, Easter Sunday, Day Light Savings time begins in Portugal so we lose an hour of sleep tonight.

March 24-25, 2016: Mt. Pleasant to Lisbon, Portugal

After the last minute touches around the house and breakfast at Hy-Vee Deli we were on our way to Cedar Rapids Airport.  We parked our vehicle at friends who live near the airport.  Our flight left Cedar Rapids at 12:00 noon for Minneapolis, MN.  In Minneapolis we had a layover of what we thought was to be 3 hours, but instead it was 5 ½ hours.  However, on our Trans-Atlantic flight to Amsterdam they made up some of the time so that we were only 30 minutes late arriving in  Amsterdam.  

When booking our flight tickets, it was cheaper to go with round-trip tickets to Amsterdam than one continuous ticket.  So after arriving in AMS we claimed our luggage and re-checked-in for the flight to Lisbon, Portugal.

After re-checking we meet our Dutch friend at the appointed located.  He took us to his parent’s home where we had tea/coffee and a real ‘Dutch’ breakfast of wonderful bread, meat & cheese.  There is something about the flavors of these 3 items together that we just do not seem to be able to reproduce in America.  It has to be #1, the breads and #2, the cheese.

These Dutch friends go way back to the fall 1972. Our children are very close in age, and we have been to see them numerous times and the father has been to see us several times.  The friendship with the second generation has continued.  Their son has ridden bike on RAGBRAI 3 different years and the father one year. 

However, in January 2015 we received a shocking call that the father had a fatal heart attack.  He was Cal’s age.  What shocking news!  With this trip we are finally getting to see his family and grieve with them. 

After breakfast, tea/coffee and fast conversation we went back to the airport to continue our journey on to Lisbon at 12:40pm.  This is Easter weekend as well as spring break for many schools.  Things were busy at the airports, and security was high, especially in AMS.

In Lisbon we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Diplomatico, where a shower was needed after the overnight flight followed by a nap.  Flying overnight takes a toll on the body!  Neither one of us slept much. 

Approximately 4 hours later, our daughter Cherie, joined us at the hotel. After finding a restaurant for our dinner, everyone was ready for bed. 

Photos below are of the Edward VII park and Marques de Pombel monument near the hotel

Edward VII Park

Marques de Pombel Monument

Portugal and Holland March 24 - April 24 - Wednesday, March 23, 2016 – Final touches

We are about to begin another Litwiller adventure!  This one is not totally new.  It all began at least a year ago when Cal wanted to return to Holland to see the bulb fields in bloom. He has not been back to Holland in the spring, since we left in June 1975, after he taught in Holland for 3 years.   I, Rachel, returned to Holland in 2004, over spring break at the school where our daughter Cherie was teaching in Amsterdam.  But you can never get too much of the beautiful colors in the fields of tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, and the other spring blooming bulbs. I drove among the bulb fields several times that year.   

The bulbs begin blooming mid-March and continue to mid-May, each variety having its own season.  

After contacting our Dutch friends in Holland regarding the dates for flower parades and other activities, the dates were set.  However then our daughter came up with the idea that we should leave home early to join her in Portugal over her spring break.  She will be facilitating a workshop in Lisbon, Portugal in the middle of her spring break, thus the reason for spending spring break in Portugal. 

In April of 2004, Cherie and I spent another one of her spring breaks in Portugal and southern Spain.  Since that vacation I have wanted Cal to visit Portugal.  As of yet, this has not happened, but this may be the year! 

So here we are, tomorrow is Thursday, March 24, the day we have been working toward over the past 2-3 weeks.