mattersofthemoment

Pingo Doce (pengo dohsay) is a grocery store in downtown Lisbon near Rossio train station. We had the hardest time finding it on the first day. It’s a crowded little affair that sells great wine for 2 Euro or about $2.90 a bottle. We have been back 3 times, ha!

We have completed 3 days in Lisbon and it has been a wonderful time. We walked: the Alto stroll, the Baixa stroll and the Alfama stroll (thanks Rick Steeves). We visited many beautiful old churches like Sao Domingos with an all stone alter and chapels inside. We saw St Anthony’s crypt and Se Cathedral. But the highligh was attending a sacred concert at the Sao Roque Church, a Jesuit church daring from the 16th century.

Went to a fado concert at Cafe Luso which included dinner. In addition to 4 different fado singers they had wonderful folklore dancing,entertainment and salt cod called backalau here, dinner.

We loved our 1 bedroom apartment close to all the amenities. Shopping, sightseeing bus, catalana (fish and potato stew) and seafood paella helped pass the time.

Now tomorrow, we embarque on our trans-Atlantic cruise to Rio. We are having a great time celebrating our 30th anniversary. To be continued.

Love and blessings,

Portugal’s King John 1 on horse.  There were lots of burnings at the stake here during the Inquisition.

We made it safely to Lisbon. Nice flights and service by United via Newark. Only incident was while having lunch with the Clarkes at Moxies in Ottawa on the way to airport. Two waiters collided, dropped dishes and this white sauce sprayed 5 ft up in the air all over our coats and Glenn and I. No damage.

Feeling kind of bushed. Only slept about 2 hours. Going to rest in the basement lounge of our apartment for awhile before we head out. It’s warm and muggy here.

Taxi driver spoke a little English and told us of some spots we must see. Looks like a great city to explore. Update you later.

When we were on the Camino de Santiago Frances 3 years ago, we met a few pilgrims from the Basque region of Spain. They were very lively and said we had to visit their 'country' someday. Well today we did.

We took the train from Deba, a small basque village to Bilbao the capital of Paye Vasco/Paye Basque. Wow, hemmed in by the steep green hills on one side and the Atlantic on the other, we were treated to an Alice in Wonderland experience.

Town after town full of 10 story apartment buildings all joined together looking out at the steep hills. Bilbao is this magical place filled with a winding river, cobblestone streets, stairways to heaven and pintxos, those tiny little seafood tapas delicacies.

Well we fell in love with this magical place. Turns out Paye Vasco/Paye Basque is the wealthiest region of Spain with GDP/person 40 per cent higher than the rest of Spain due to iron ore and other resources. They are one of the 17 independently managed communities of Spain. And yes they have perhaps the best food in the world as we hope to confirm in Donastia/San Sebastian starting tomorrow. Ciau! A few more Bilbao pics to follow.