Saturday

This morning we headed up the mountain to the town of Sintra! What a lovely little place, tucked away in the hillside, plenty of estates and castles to admire. We headed straight for Palácio de Pena, the Queen’s summer home, at the top of the mountain. It was a narrow, sharply-winding brick road the whole way, and we finally found a spot to park, then it was another tram ride to the top. But just look at this place! Its spectacular, and the view is too. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside (under penalty of death) so hope everyone likes the tremendous amount of outside shots. There were tons of little towers and corners and rooms and passage ways. Lots of fun to see. We didn’t have time to see the gardens, it would have taken us three more days I think.

Then we headed back to our room to pack up, and after lunch we said goodbye to Al and Simone and headed to the airport to pick up Nicole! GPS took us the long way, along the coastline, which was nice, but not when you’re late picking up your traveling friend. We finally got to the pick-up area, and were trying to find her, when the policeman informed us we were in the wrong lane, and only taxis could be in this section. Well, we were completely parked in by taxis, …oops. Just then we saw Nicole and we pointed to her and explained we would be quick, we were just picking her up...well that changed everything! “THAT’s your friend? I hope she’s my friend too!” he exclaimed in Portuguese, making the five other policeman crack up and start smiling and waving at her standing helplessly on the other sidewalk. We quickly shoved her and her suitcase in the car and bid them good day!

Then we were off to Albufeira, a town in the Algarve (a name for the area in the South of Portugal), near Faro. It only took us about two hours, on a highway through the country side, with hardly any other traffic. We weren’t sure what the speed limit was, but it mustn’t have matter, since people were FLYING past us.
We met Doug and Dot, originally from the UK, who showed us to our apartment for the week: its Amazing!
The couple who own it live in New York City half the year, and they generously let us stay while they are away. This area is nearly completely tourist-ic. There are plenty of apartment building, one after another, the whole way over to the coast. But hardly anyone is here! This is such a seasonal area. The restaurants were offering us 10% off our bill, or a free glass of wine to entice us in, but most of the places cater to tourists and don’t seem to serve the best quality or authentic food. Finally we found a little place set in a wine seller that offered us some free wine, and served lamb and pork chops and salmon and goulash. Which is exactly what we ordered! And it was delicious!

Now let’s hear from the girls, their favorite quotes from the day:
(Nicole) “What does this say, hake?”
(Lauren) When all else fails, wear the cardigan with big buttons.
Corey - is unavailable for comment, she’s in Luxembourg