Text by Stacy (parenthetical comments by David - Pictures by David, Bob and Elizabeth)

We left Tucson early Wednesday morning and flew TUS —> PHX —> PHL —> LIS with only some minor delays and a very empty plane from Philly to Lisbon (Lisboa). Therefore, Stacy and David each had a row to themselves, and we got a decent amount of sleep on the plane. We arrived about 1 hour late on Thursday morning. We met Donald in the airport at Lisbon and amazingly his plane from New York was delayed exactly the same as ours.

We took a taxi to our hotel and met up with the rest of David's family (at our hotel in the center of town). Then, immediately started climbing the steps of one of the steep hills that Lisbon is known for. Stacy forgot her sneakers back home, so had to do this in sandals. At the top, was Castelo de São Jorge and some great views. Then, we (had lunch and) walked to Largos das portas do Sol, Miradouro de Santa Luzia and the Museu de Artes Decorativas which is housed in the former palace of the Counts of Azurara (17th C). Both had some interesting azulejos these blue and white tiles that we saw all over Portugal. Next, we walked to the Cathedral (called the Sé) and through the Alfama quarter. Lisbon was preparing for the June Festivities. These festivities are dedicated to three saints known as Santos Populares (Popular saints) which are Saint Anthony, Saint John and Saint Peter. Then, we decided that Stacy would need sneakers for this trip and so today was a good day to go shopping (If you know Stacy you know how little she thought this was fun :-)) and find some. We did and with the Euro to dollar exchange rate, Stacy was very sad to have left her sneakers at home. During the hunt for sneakers, we walked by several interesting squares (praças): Praça do Comércio, Praça Dom Pedro IV with its fountain and drug pushers, and Praça da Figueira. The day ended with dinner and early to bed.

On Friday, we took the tram to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and visited the church of Santa Maria and the Cloisters of the monastery. There was an interesting museum timeline in the Cloisters that gave many facts about Lisbon and the monastery. Next, we visited the maritime museum (Museu da Marinha) and walked by the Monument of Discoveries to the Torre de Belém where we climbed yet more stairs. We took the tram back (to the center of town, had snack and then) took a walk in the neighborhoods north of our hotel. There were some steep hills and some very nice houses. We went out for dinner and Stacy opted out on the night pictures, so David and Donald went. There was a very loud party at Castelo de São Jorge which did not aid in the acquisition of night pictures (in fact, I took none).

On Saturday, we picked up the rental car (more like a minivan) from the airport and drove north towards Porto. We stopped in the town of Óbidos and walked the perimeter walls. They had no railing and seemed to stop about halfway around so we came down the "staircase" and had lunch in the town. We continued to drive to the house we rented in the Douro Valley. We got off the correct exit from the highway and it became immediately apparent we were given incomplete (or just plain wrong) directions. We knew where the house was on our GPS, but it took an hour of driving in what felt like circles to find the house. When we arrived it was much warmer than anticipated. Stacy even tried out the pool -- refreshing. Stacy also set up traps to catch Drosophila. The people renting out the house also ran a catering business on the side. They prepared our dinner and it was delicious.

On Sunday, we visited the city of Porto, mostly staying in Old Oporto (old section of the city) near the river. We visited the Cathedral there and then walked through steep, winding streets to reach the waterfront. We took a boat trip on the Douro River and saw its many bridges and also the port cellars and other sites along the river. Then we went to the (no longer active) Monastery of St. Francisco (and then the Church of St. Clara, which was closed). Driving out of Porto was much easier than driving into Porto and then we went to Amarante to have dinner. Unfortunately, this weekend is the festival of São Gonçalo (the patron saint of Amarante) and it was a mob scene. Plan B was to make dinner in the rental house. Don and Lee did an excellent job.

Sometime in the middle of the night loud music started blaring into the peaceful valley. Based on the volume and quality of the music, we suspect someone was holding a rave (it was the end of classes for the local students).

Monday was the day we travelled along the Douro River looking for places to try port tasting. In hindsight, the place to go port tasting would have been the port cellars in Porto because they expect this and are set up for it, and they are within walking distance of one another. Instead we drove up some very sketchy hillside roads to get to the Casas or Quintas (the names given to the port making establishments). We discovered a very nice beverage called White Port. Successful wine or port tastings occurred at Casa de Mateus (http://www.casademateus.com/home.htm), Quinta de Santa Eufemia (http://www.qtastaeufemia.com/ingles/Vinhos/Porto/vporto.html), and Quinta Do Panascal (makers of Fonseca — http://www.fonseca.pt/). Casa de Mateus also had some famous gardens and a house tour.

We knew that Tuesday was the national holiday of Portugal, so we decided it would be a good day to go to Santiago de Compostela which is in Spain and therefore would not have the problem of closures we might expect at some places in Portugal. The drive there was all on major roads but seemed quite long. The town of Santiago de Compostela is in an area of Spain called Galicia. There is still some Celtic heritage remaining here with people playing bagpipes and speaking a slightly different language than either Portuguese or Spanish - lots of X's in the names of things. It is a university town and also a well-known pilgrimage site (the third most important pilgrimage site after Jerusalem and Rome). Several pilgrims were seen throughout the day. We stopped in Braga on the drive home and had dinner. Braga (once a Roman town) was a nice city, and David's family went back there after we left.

Wednesday we had planned to go to the Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa. It is almost in Spain and quite far east. Thus, we planned for an early start and a lot of driving. Stacy packaged up all the collected Drosophila and we found a Post Office in Murça. They were shipped off and arrived in Tucson fine and happy the next week. In Murça, there is also a Stone Age pig in the town square. We then stopped in Mirandela to look at a famous Romanesque bridge. We then drove to Castelo Melhor to go on our tour of the rock drawings. The guide drove us in a jeep-type vehicle to the Penascosa site and explained the Paleolithic rock art to us.

(After the drive in the jeep on the narrow steep mountain dirt roads, we decided to climb another mountain to see the Church of St. Gabriels.  From up there we got some great views of the approaching storm.)

We drove back home and stopped in Amarante for dinner. Without the hordes of people, this was a quaint town with a nice church. The waterfront was obviously developed for tourists because all the restaurants had patios over the river with great views of the church.

We left Thursday and flew from Porto to Lisbon. Then, because of a truckers' strike, our plane flew from Lisbon to Porto to refuel. This took FOREVER and we missed our connection from Philly to Phoenix. Kudos to USAirways who (unlike British Airways – See the story of our Safari the previous year) already had rebooked us and everyone else who missed their connection and handed out new boarding passes as we got off the plane and headed towards customs. We got home about 3 hours later than expected, but at least we made it home the same day (and with all of our luggage). We were also pleased with the new car parking place we decided to try at the Tucson airport and now have a free day of parking with them. Friday Stacy went to work and took care of all her neglected Drosophila.

There are some QuickTime movies in with the pictures.  If you can not read the QuickTime files, then Get a Mac or go to the Apple QuickTime page.

When the QuickTime VR windows open, click in the window and while holding down the button, move the cursor around (have fun).