Our 2004 Portuguese Vacation

Here's a diary of our vacation to Portugal this summer. I've posted a daily recap of each day; you'll need to go to the archives (on the right side of the page) and read each week in order (starting with August 4/5 through August 23, 2004). You'll also have to read each week in the archives from the bottom up to see each day in order. But first, here's the cast of characters so that you'll know who's who:

Me (Bill)
Maria
John
Kevin
Joe (Maria's brother)
Vanessa (Maria's friend and Joe's girlfriend)
Isabel (Maria's sister)
Bob (Isabel's husband)
Nathan (Isabel and Bob's son)
Mom
Dad

Sunday, August 22, 2004

We're going home!

In many ways, the trip home was even worse than the trip over, and that's no easy feat! It started off easy enough as we got up at 6:30am with a goal of leaving by 7:00am. We actually hit the road closer to 7:30am.

We made it to Lisbon in good time, a little after 10:00am. We had no problems in returning the rental cars and getting checked in at the terminal. Our flight to Madrid at 1:05pm left right on time, and we had no problems at all changing planes in Madrid. They everything went straight to hell.

An eight hour flight from Madrid to New York, and Kevin was a nightmare for a good part of it. He refused to stay in his seat, and I spent most of the first four or five hours just trying to contain him and keep him from bothering the other passengers. Both John and Kevin finally fell asleep for a couple of hours at the tail end of the flight. My happiest moment was looking out the window and seeing Cape Cod, and then a little while the Connecticut shoreline. I saw the Connecticut River from it's mouth in Old Saybrook snaking it's way through the entire state. There was nothing that I wanted more at that time than to be on the ground. The plane finally landed right on time at 7:15pm EST at JFK. That's when the day took a turn for the worse.

We had a little trouble getting through immigration as the agent told us that Joe's green card was expired , and that he would need to fill out some paperwork. That was problem number one. While he and Vanessa took care of that, Maria, the boys, and I went down to baggage claim to get our luggage. Of the four pieces of luggage that we checked in Lisbon, only three made it to New York. That was problem number two. In the meantime, Joe and Vanessa got his paperwork taken care of, got their two pieces of checked luggage, and rather than wait for us they decided to go get their car.

After Maria and I finally decided that our missing luggage was not going to show up, we decided that we would just report it to Iberia Airlines baggage services office and head out. But when we tried to get through customs, we realized that we no longer had our customs form, which we had filled out on the plane, on us. Problem number three. Maria realized that Joe had had it with his stuff when he had to fill out his paperwork. As we later found out, the immigration agent had made him fill out a new customs form (we had tried to list him on ours), but wouldn't let him leave with the old form (i.e. our form). Apparently, he didn't think it was necessary to tell us that little fact before he and Vanessa bolted for their car with THEIR luggage. So now, we had to go back upstairs and fill out a new customs form and go through immigration again. Fortunately, we found an agent who was very helpful and got us out of there pretty quickly.

So now we're out of the terminal and I have to go to long term parking to get the car, about a 45 minute round trip. I leave Maria and John and the luggage right outside the terminal, and take Kevin with me. When I finally got to the car, and was waiting in line to pay at the parking exit, who should show up behind me but Joe and Vanessa! Joe asks me "what took you so long, we've been waiting over an hour". I was really annoyed and not happy at all to see either one of them at this point. Joe said something about following me back to the terminal while I get Maria and John, and I told them that there was no reason for them to wait for us, that they should just go home. Maria and I had already assumed that they were long gone by this time anyway. I gave them directions to I-95 and we parted ways.

When I got back to the terminal with the car, I realized that I couldn't get to where Maria and John were. Problem number four. So I leave the car at the arriving passengers pick up area with Kevin in the car, the doors locked, and the flashers on, and run over to get Maria and John. When we got back to the car, about three minutes later, there was an airport cop starting to write a ticket. This was the last thing I needed at this time as it was about 10:00pm and I was tired and pissed. I explained the situation to him, and he told me that he had already called for a tow truck, don't do this again, etc., then he let us go. Finally, we were on our way home and in control of our own destiny.

A couple of stops for food and bathroom breaks, and we finally made it home to Simsbury at around 12:40am. All in all, about a 22 hour trip door to door.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Our last day in Sao Salvador.

We basically just laid low all day as we started getting ready to leave. I took the boys to Ammaia, the old Roman city that's being excavated in Sao Salvador, to visit the museum and see the ruins while Maria stayed home to start packing. Then the boys and I took a drive to take a few final pictures.

Wandering around Ammaia with the boys.

For lunch, Maria's parents took us to lunch at a small restaurant in Castelo de Vide. It was a good and filling meal.

After lunch, Maria wanted to visit a friend in Portage, so the four of us went there for about an hour or so. Came home and finished packing. Gave both kids a bath so that they'd be nice and clean for the long trip home on Sunday.

The road from Sao Salvador to Castelo de Vide, which runs parallel to the golf course.

A couple of pictures of the golf course. That's Marvao in the background of the lower picture.

Alentejo is the name of the region of Portugal in which Maria's parents live.

A view of Marvao from the other side.

The view from outside Maria's parents house.

Kevin and John's last night in Portugal. At least for this trip.

Friday, August 20, 2004

Today we went to Evora to visit Maria's aunt, uncle, and cousins for the day. It was just the four of us. We had a very nice day in Evora. In the morning, we did some sightseeing, visiting the Chapel of Bones and the Temple of Diana, the ruins of an old Roman temple. After that, we went back to aunt and uncles house for lunch. After lunch, we went next door to her cousins house for the rest of the day. John and Duarte spent a "Yu-Gi-Oh" afternoon together, watching Yu-Gi-Oh videos (in Portuguese, of course) and dueling all afternoon (Duarte won every duel). Duarte gave John a bunch of cards, many of which were Portuguese, so John had an especially good day. In the afternoon, Maria and her cousin went shopping while me and the boys stayed behind.

Got back to Sao Salvador in the early evening, and just chilled for the rest of the day.

I have no idea what this sign means, but I really liked it. A lot.

Maria and John with St. Dolores, in Evora.

The Chapel of Bones. There's a story behind this place. Ask Maria sometime.

Hanging around at the Chapel of Bones.

The inscription above the door loosely translates to something along the lines of "Our bones lie here awaiting your bones."

The "Temple of Diana", an old Roman temple in Evora.

Maria's family in Evora. Back row: prima (cousin) Zezinha, tia (aunt) Emilia, Maria and tio (uncle) Carlos. Front row: Kevin, John, Duarte and Ana (Zezinha's children).

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Got up early to get in 18 holes in the morning. Got to the course at around 8:35am only to discover that the course didn't open until 9:00am (go figure!). It was a beautiful morning for golf, a little on the cool side with a slight breeze. I decided to rent a buggy becasue I didn't want to deal with the hills on the back nine, and because Maria planned to be on the road by about 12:30pm. After a shaky start, I played very well, shooting a 49/46 for a 95 for the day. I think I successfully put my 59 from Sunday behind me.

I got back home at around 12:15pm and helped get the kids dressed so that we could take Maria's mother to Campo Maior, which is her hometown. She (mother) wanted to go to the cemetery to make arrangements to get a new marker for her parents grave. Once we got to Campo Maior, we picked up her cousin so that she could come to the cemetery with us. Once we got there, at around 2:30pm, we found that it was closed for siesta and that we would have to wait until it reopened at 3:00pm. A lot of waiting for things to open on this day. We were there until 4:30pm or so. Stopped at a couple of places in Campo Maior after we left the cemetery so that mother could say hi to some cousins.

Once we got back to Sao Salvador, at around 7:00pm, just laid low and took the boys for a walk before getting them, and us, to bed.

The boys in the morning.

Campo Maior, and waiting for the cemetery to open.

The town line.

A view of Marvao from Sao Salvador.

In the evening we took a walk down to Ammaia, the old Roman city that's been rediscovered and is being excavated in Sao Salvador.

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

John and I went to Portalegre first thing in the morning to go to the internet cafe so that I can catch up on what was going on in the real world. We got there at around 9:40am only to discover that it didn't open until 10:30am. We went to a little cafe across the square to pass the time. When it finally opened, we spent about an hour so on the internet but didn't get much accomplished because their connection as about as slow as the library's. No such thing as high-speed internet in this part of the world, I guess.

Once we got back, had a quick lunch then Maria, Vanessa, the boys, and I went for a ride to Comenda to visit Maria's godparents. On the way back, we stopped in Nisa so that Maria and Vanessa could shop for some pottery. Took a minor detour into Spain to fill up the car with gas (.89 euros per liter as opposed to 1.07 euros per liter in Portugal).

A quiet evening.

Kevin relaxes in the morning.

Maria's mom.

All the boys get a drink at the fountain.

We all went for a walk around Sao Salvador before bed.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

We were supposed to go to Portalegre in the morning, but it was a little rainy so we pushed Portalegre off until the afternoon. John and I took a trip to the library in Castelo de Vide for some internet time, but their internet connection was so slow that it took me 20 minutes just to check my email. I gave up pretty quickly on using the library for internet access.

In the afternoon, we did make it to Portalegre. I dropped everybody off at the grocery store while I went to the gas station and vacuumed the car out. It really needed it after nearly two weeks of the kids trashing it. Maria wanted to go to the jewelry store in the city, so I dropped her off while I went to park the car. Seven trips around the park and 30 minutes later, I finally found a parking space. Of course, Maria was just walking back from the jewelry store by then, so we just jumped right back into the car and headed home.

When we got there, Vanessa and Joe joined us on a trip to Spain for more shopping. Kevin had a meltdown there, so I headed back to the car with him to sit it out while the others continued shopping and whatever.

After dinner and getting the kids to bed, I decided that I was ready to come home now. The countdown had officially started.

Monday, August 16, 2004

We got up at 6:30am to drive Isabel, Bob, and Nathan back to the airport in Lisbon. We made pretty good time, ran into a little traffic as we approached the big bridge in Lisbon, and were able to drop them off at around 10:30am. Maria and I then went to the shopping mall just north of the airport to hit the Toys-R-Us (go figure!) to look for some Portuguese Yu-Gi-Oh cards for John and his cousins. The mall had a food court, complete with McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Baskin-Robbins. I felt like I had died and gone to a little piece of heaven. We were both starving, so we both had an early lunch. We then went to KFC to bring back a bucket of chicken back to Sao Salvador. I'm sure that this is the only time in my life that I'll drive 240km (150 miles) for take-out! We also found a magazine shop that sold English newspapers. Bought one American and one Brittish paper. That's when we found out that Julia Child died.

On the way back, we stopped in Portalegre so that Maria could pick up her permanent Portuguese passport, and that's when I found the internet cafe right across the street from the government building. It was just starting to rain, so we were able to get in there for a few minutes so that I could check email. Not much time to do anything else as Maria kept telling me to hurry up and get off the damn computer so that we could leave.

Otherwise, an uneventful rest of the day. Went to bed early that night because we were tired.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

A lazy and uneventful day. Isabel, Bob, and I took the kids to the public pool in Monte Carvalho in the morning for a couple of hours, then went back for lunch. Isabel spent the early part of the afternoon packing because they were going home the next day, so everybody just kind of hung around.

Today was also the big holy day, the Feast of the Assumption. This is the highlight of the yearly festival in Sao Salvador. At around 4:00pm there was a mass (which we skipped), followed by a procession through the streets of Sao Salvador (both of them!). During the procession, they take the statues of Mary and Jesus out of the church, decorate them with flowers, and parade them around for 45 minutes or so. We joined in the procession for a while, but I dropped out after a while because Kevin was insisting on being caried and he was too heavy and it was too hot for me to do that for too long.

Some photos from the parade.

In the evening, we went into Spain (only about 10km from Sao Salvador) into Valencia de Alcantara just for something to do. Got some drinks for the adults and some ice cream for the kids, not much else to do there on a Sunday evening.

The boys at the border of Portugal and Spain.

Yum, ice cream!

That night was the last night of the festival, so Maria, John, and I went after we got Kevin to bed. There was a group of old men in costumes singing some old, local traditional songs from the Marvao region. Now maybe if I understood the language I would have been to have some sort of appreciation for this, but the truth was that I found it quite dreadfully awful. We turned in early after that was done (around 11:15pm) to get some sleep seeing that we had to get up early on Monday to take Isabel and family to Lisbon for their flight home.

Maria's dad.

Saturday, August 14, 2004

In the morning, we went to Marvao so that Nathan could take his first trip to the castle. The highlight of our morning there was watching a brush fire that was burning on the other side of Marvao. Two helecopters were making round trips between the golf course and the fire, picking up water from the lake on the course and flying around the mountain to dump it on the fire. I took some video and some pretty good pictures of this, we had a bird's eye view from where we were at the top of Marvao. It was only about a hundred foot walk to go from seeing down one side of the mountain to see the golf course to the other side of the mountain to see the brush fire, even though the two places were miles apart.

After a light lunch at a small outside restaurant in Marvao, we went to the nursing home to visit Maria's aunt, who seemed just as depressing as ever.

Later in the afternoon, after we got back, I went to play a round of golf. I played the back nine because there was some tournament going on on the front. It was a really hot day, and after a shaky start I completely fell apart after going up the hill on the 12th and 13th holes. As the round went on, I progressively got worse and worse to the point where I essentially picked up on each of the last three holes, taking a max on each hole. I ended up shooting a 59, and lost track of how many balls I lost. I think I lost around seven over the round of nine holes. After that, I decided to take a couple of days off from golf to try to clear my head.

Isabel and Bob decided to stay in a hotel that night to try to get some sleep. Apparently, the noise from the festival the night before kept Bob awake most of the night, and he estimates that he only got an hour or so of sleep. We found a place that had a room for them just down the road in Portage. After I dropped them off, Maria, John and I went to the bullfights again. Didn't stay too long, maybe an hour or so, because John was tired and was falling asleep.

John in the square outside Maria's parent's house.

A closer view of the house (the one with the yellow trim).

John takes a drink from the fountain in the square.

Before going to Marvao, we went up to the little chapel on the hill which overlooks Castelo de Vide. Bob attempted a human sacrifice of Kevin on a stone altar outside the chapel while the rest of the men look on.

Bill and Kevin at the cross on top of the hill.

A couple of views of Castelo de Vide from the chapel on the hill.

Those two little peaks in the middle of this photo are right on the Portugal/Spain border, no more than 6 miles or so from Sao Salvador.

Nathan and Kevin in the fortress at Marvao. I wonder how many times that cannon was fired while fighting off the Spaniards?

John stands on top of the gate that is one of the entrances to the fortress at Marvao.

A view of the fire we saw from up in Marvao. If you look closely at the lake in the bottom photo, you can see a helicopter scooping up water that it will use in trying to put out the fire.

Some photos from the bullfights that night in Sao Salvador.