We Made It!

 August 5, 2021

Lisbon to Carvoreino, Portugal

We landed at 7:45 am and ready to get started, but first we must find customs.  The craziest signage ever in this airport. Following the signs and they have you and the rest of the plane's passengers walking in a circle.  Finally made it and did our usual where someone goes to the atm and the other to the car rental. We hit the road! 

Straight to Belem Tower where we parked and went on a 15 minute walk to find some breakfast.

 Best way to get on local time for us is to land, breakfast, fill up the day with activities, dinner and a good bed time. Found the famous O Pasteis de Belem where we got lots of yummy treats. With over 53,000 Trip Advisor reviews so not necessarily off the beaten path. 

I wasn't sure that I was going to like the famous custard type pastry, but they were so good and can see why people wait over an hour in line to get them.  Some people do it every day they are hear from my understanding.  Went to the park and devoured all our treats on a nice bench in the shade.  It is 9:00 in the morning and already starting to get hot. 

Went to a beautiful cathedral and then back to  tower.  It was closed for touring, but enjoyed it from the outside. 

Time to head south...that is if we can figure out how to get on the bridge to go that direction.  It is a big bridge that is similar to the Golden Gate Bridge. A few dose does with other cars and buses and we finally figured it out. Almost three hours of driving down to the Algarve. Crazy variable speeds of driving. Some doing 50 mph and others over 120 mph easy.  Hard drive when you are exhausted.  No way the kids could stay asleep and they mumbled some crazy words once in awhile and back to sleep they would go. We saw fields of olive trees and the most beautiful fields of sunflowers.  There were some power lines and the part that holds them had GIANT prehistoric size nests. Time for a quick google and it turns out they are made by the white stork, wing span of 7 feet! 

Found our cute Airbnb. Nice little condo with a beautiful water view. Unfortunately we broke our rule and feel asleep. With only 90 minutes of sleep in 24 hours and only 4 before that it was much needed. Up and out to dinner.  Had a great table at an outside table at Al Rede restaurant. Lots of good local eats. Kids had piri piri chicken, I had a Portuguese steak (porscuitto and cheese on top) and Andy with prawns. Very interesting that the bread toppings consisted on mayo, butter or sardine pate. Dinner was a slow pace that caused us to settle in to a vacation mode, but so ready for bed. Crashed at 11:00, as soon as we got back.