Well, it has been awhile--we have been away! Jason's friend Alberto got married in Bilbao, Spain on July 31. Months ago we bought tickets, hoping the border would be open and that we could go. The border did open, but the COVID delta variant also did spike. We nearly cancelled the trip. But in the end, we got on the plane. And we are so glad we did. Of course, hindsight is 20/20--none of us got sick and we felt quite safe while traveling--but before we left, we were feeling pretty nervous about going.
We also were challenged because our entire itinerary changed within a week of our departure date. We had tickets in and out of Lisbon, Portugal, and planned to fly to Bilbao for the wedding and then fly to southern Portugal afterwards for some beach time. However, both of our European flights cancelled just beforehand--so we decided to rent a car and redesign our itinerary. Slightly stressful.
We started off in Lisbon. It is a beautiful city, with many similarities to San Francisco. We enjoyed walking around the old city and touring St. George's castle. The food was great with a lot of seafood for Jason and Ethan, and great pastries for Alaina and I! We especially liked the pastel de nata--a custard tart that was so delicious! We also took a day trip to Sintra--a retreat city for Portuguese royalty. It was beautiful--and amazingly uncrowded. One of the workers said that normally over 2000 tourists a day visit, but they were currently seeing about 300!
We spent only 3 days in Lisbon but could have easily spent more, there were many cool neighborhoods to explore. But we had a wedding to get to, so we picked up a car and headed across the Iberian peninsula.
As the drive from Lisbon to Bilbao is 8 hours, we decided to break it up and stay overnight in Salamanca, Spain. Salamanca is a University town with beautiful architecture. We enjoyed touring the city.
We then spent 4 days in Bilbao. It was also a really nice city--much cooler and greener than the rest of Spain. We spent one day before the wedding on the coast--it was warm enough for the kids and Jason to swim in the ocean.
Another day Alberto took us on a beautiful hike up a mountain with an incredible view over the city. Alberto's other American friend Dave, who studied in Edinburgh after Jason left, and his family joined us for the hike. Dave has three girls, who were about the same ages as our kids, and our families got along really well. Alaina is already planning a trip to Vermont to visit them!
The wedding was a 12-hour long affair at a beautiful mansion outside the city. It was the kind of venue that Americans try to copy for their weddings, but this place was the original. The ceremony was short but sweet, and Jason was asked to speak at it. He gave a great speech--in Spanish--that the crowd loved.
Then the food started! One highlight for me was the Jamon Iberico--Iberian Ham, hand sliced by a special butcher during the entire ceremony. It was absolutely delicious! They also had other incredible cheese and seafood appetizers. "Lunch", which began at 3 and lasted until about 6 was a 4 course affair, with 2 entrees--fish and then steak (no need to choose!). The food was some of the best we have ever had. Luckily, they planned a separate shorter lunch for all of the kids, with a babysitter to keep them entertained. Finally, around 7, the dancing started. We caught the 'early' bus back to Bilbao around 11pm. It was a really special event, and we felt so lucky to be there!
On Sunday, we (groggily) toured the Guggenheim with Dave and his family. I was really impressed with the museum--the architecture was gorgeous.
We left Bilbao on Monday and headed to the Doruo River Valley in Portugal, where we found a cool rural hotel with a beautiful view to stay at. Again there were very few guests, so we had the place mostly to ourselves! The area was very pretty--steeper than Napa or Sonoma, but tons of grapevines and olive trees. We visited a port winery and enjoyed some much needed R and R by the pool for two days.
At the end of our trip, we headed to a small beach town outside of Lisbon called Sesimbra. Though it was not too warm, and the ocean water was cold, we still enjoyed our time. We hiked to a beautiful beach called "Ribera do Cavalo", and on our last day hung out at the main beach in town, where the kids got to go to an "aquatic park" set up in the ocean.
Then back to Lisbon for some COVID tests (thankfully negative) and our return flight. We left feeling very refreshed and so glad that we decided to make the trip. It was such a treat to celebrate with Alberto and Isa!
