Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 5

Over the course of the night, it was hard to get comfortable in a different bed, with Ben snoring beside me. I was happy I brought my ear plugs with me. I had to get up three time to pee in the middle of the night. It was annoying. Early that morning, I heard Ray get up and leave to get gas for our trip to Spain. I eventually got up around 8:30, took a quick shower in their tiny shower, got dressed and then packed up the stuff I thought I would need for the short trip. Ben soon followed suit.

Brenda started making breakfast and I helped her with the toast. She made scrambled eggs with bacon bits and cheese. I finished the toast, peeled an orange and got out one of my yogurts I had purchased the night before to eat with breakfast. I have gotten so used to eating yogurt with my breakfast after changing my diet four years ago.

We dished up and ate at the dining room table. We chatted about the upcoming trip while eating some delicious food. Food is better in Europe. We helped Brenda clean up and put stuff away. We all made sure we had our stuff ready to take down to the car. We loaded it up the best we could for four people in a compact car, got in and headed to the highway east towards Spain. I never thought my first time to Spain was going to be in our friend's car.

Along the way we chatted about a plethora of topics. It was fun to chat about the things that have gone on in our lives since the last time we hung out with them, which was over a year ago. We watched the landscape change as we got closer to the border of Portugal and Spain. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the border where we drove over a bridge across the Rio Guadiana. The border between Portugal and Spain was not guarded by border control or border crossing nor did we have to stop and show anyone our passport. I was not used to this. We also went an hour ahead when we crossed over into Spain. We were now 9 hours ahead of home.

When we got into Seville, we got turned around on the freeways because of the roundabouts and Ray's GPS was not liking them and would direct us to the wrong lane. After some discussions and figuring out where to go, we finally were on the correct route to Hotel Ilunion. We parked, went inside and checked in. We had a heck of a time trying to find our rooms. It was confusing because they used blocks instead of floors to organize the hotel layout. 

We got settled in and noticed our hotel in Spain had a bidet. I wrote in my journal for a little bit while Ray figured out an Uber to get us down to the Plaza.

We got our Uber appointment and went down to the lobby to wait for them. I noticed that Mexican Spanish, Spain Spanish and Portuguese are similar but definitely not the same. I was able to read some of the signs. Ray got a notification that our driver changed and that they were almost to the hotel to pick us up. We went outside so we would be seen by the driver. A gal in a black car rolled up and we verified our info with her, and she took us down to the Plaza. It took about 15-20 minutes through a little bit of traffic. She dropped us off at the cul-de-sac in front of the gates to the Plaza.  We thanked her for the ride and went inside.

We oriented ourselves and noticed a park, named Maria Luisa, next to the Plaza. I checked my geocaching app and saw there was a geocache less than 100 feet from where we were standing. Of course, we went to grab it. Ben ended up finding Lejos y entre los Arboles (GCA6AUA). We got our names on it and put it back without causing attention to ourselves.

We spent the next hour or so exploring the Plaza. 

Plaza de Espana is a grand, semi-circular plaza built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, showcasing a mix of Spanish Renaissance, Baroque Revival and Moorish Revival architecture with intricate tilework, canals and bridges.

Designed by Anibal Gonzalez, it features 48 tiles alcoves representing Spain's provinces, a central fountain and a canal where visitors can rent rowboats, all located within Maria Luisa Park. The plaza is a major landmark, used for events, filming and is known for its studding visuals and cultural significance. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Star Wars: Episode II (2002) were filmed at the plaza.

We found a virtual cache, Plaza de Espana (GC890WG), two earthcaches, Marmol en la Plaza de Espana (GCAEH94) and Fosiles en la Plaza de Espana (GCAERQB). Then we spent some time working on the five waypoint Adventure Lab throughout the adjacent park. We had to translate the information from Portuguese into English so we could answer them on our phones. 

It was about that time - when we started getting hungry. We left the Plaza to go search for some food. There weren't any places close enough or had gluten free food. Most of the restaurants in the immediate area were expensive. We did find a place behind the university but ultimately decided it wasn't a good choice for Ben. It was typical bar food - too bready. We really didn't want to make him sick.

Collectively, we decided to hail an Uber back to the hotel. A guy picked us up in front of the museum and took us back to our hotel on the hill. It didn't take long to get back. Once we got back inside of the hotel, we asked when dinner was going to be served at the restaurant. She said 8:00 p.m., but never said we needed to have reservations. We waited in the lobby like fools. Once the clock reached 8, we walked over to the restaurant, and we were told we needed reservations. Why didn't the front desk clerk tell us that?

So, we had to order something from Uber eats - the closest, open restaurant was a Mexican restaurant not too far from the hotel. Most Mexican food is generally gluten free, so we were safe. I got a burrito, Ben got nachos, Ray got a quesadilla and Brenda also got nachos. While we waited for our food, which seemed like forever because we were hungry, we found out the bar served food. Why didn't the front desk clerk suggest that when we asked about food? We will never know.

We went back to our rooms and waiting for our food to be delivered. About a half hour later, it was delivered and it was subpar. At least it was food because we were starving. 

We watched 5 on 5 soccer on the TV while we ate. We checked in with Trish for a little bit and let her know how we were doing in Spain. Ben took an hour-long bath and then I got cleaned up. I worked on my post and finished up my journal entry for the day. We chatted with Brenda and Ray about the next day's activities and when we were leaving in the morning.

We went to bed just before midnight. I still couldn't believe we were in Spain!

Next Adventure: Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 6

Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 4

We got up around 7:15 and this new time zone was getting a little bit easier to get used to. We got ready and started pack up our stuff so we could check out and eat breakfast. I got tired of waiting for Ben, so I went downstairs to meet up with Brenda and Ray. I grabbed a plate and loaded it up with a croissant with jam, bacon, eggs, 2 Pastel de Nata's, oranges and mango juice. Ben finally graced us with his presence and came downstairs for breakfast. 

During breakfast, we found out our tour guide, João, and his van were broken down, and he had to drive to Centro to get the other van they use for their tours. Ray was disappointed because now, it was going to alter our day. He told us that he was going to get there sometime between 10:15 and 11:00 with the alternate van. We had no control of the situation, so we sat in the lobby and hung out until he let us know he was on his way.

He let us know he was on his way and ended up arriving just after 10:15. We loaded up and drove out to Jerónimo's Monastery in Belém. Along the way, he shared with us on some of the history of this historic building we were about to see. We found a place to park, grabbed our stuff and made our way to the monastery. João told us that this city was known for panhandlers and reminded us to keep alert of our surroundings and to just ignore their requests. 

We made our way across the street and over to the side of the monastery. João shared more information about the history.  

Here is a quick snippet: 

"The Jerónimo's Monastery is one of the most prominent examples of the late Portuguese Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was erected in the early 1500's near the launch point of Vasco da Gama's first journey, and its construction funded by a tax on the profits of the yearly Portuguese India Armadas.

In 1880, da Gama's remains and those of the poet Luís de Camões (who celebrated da Gama's first voyage in his 1572 epic poem The Lusiad), were moved to new carved tombs in the nave of the monastery's church, only a few meters away from the tombs of the kings Manuel I and John III, whom da Gama had served.

In 1983, the Jerónimo's Monastery was classified as a UNSECO World Heritage Site, along with the nearby Tower of Belém."

After he was done sharing the history, we worked on the two caches, Mosterio dos Jerónimo's (GC892CE) and Mosterios dos Jerónimo's EC (GC63BXY). We had to explain to João what geocaching is and what exactly we were doing. He thought it was fascinating.

We walked across the street, through the park, to the Monument of the Discoveries.

Here are some fun facts:

"The monument was reconstructed in 1960 to mark 500 years since the death of Henry the Navigator. This time it was made of concrete and rose-tinted Leiria stone masonry, with the sculptures made of Sintra limestone masonry.

A stylized caravel seems to be setting out to sea, with Henry the Navigator in its prow. On the two lateral ramps ascending to the symbolic figure of the Price are some of the significant characters of the Portuguese overseas expansion and cultural names of the age of the Discoveries, 32 in total, all portrayed with symbols that allude to their identity: navigators, cartographers, warriors, colonizers, missionaries, chroniclers and artists. 

Composed of a vertical element consisting of a stylized mast-oriented North-South, with two Portuguese coat of arms on each side with its five small shields, surrounded by a band with 12 castles and stylized fleur-de-lis in the center.

On each side there are three triangular structures, each with one curved side, giving the illusion of sails blown out by the wind.

The north side is formed by two giant stones with near the inscriptions in metallic letters. On the left side, the inscription above the anchor reads "To the infante Dom Henrique and the Portuguese who discovered the sea routes". On the south side, the inscription above the laurel wreath reads, "On the V Centenary of the Infante Dom Henrique 1460-1960".

The middle of the monument, a flight of nine steps gives access to a platform with a view over the entire surrounding area. The second flight of five stairs and a portal with a round arch formed by vaulted stones lead through to the interior of the monument. The monument is flanked by two metal armillary spheres on two parallelepiped platforms. 

The map mural next to the monument showed the routes the navigators explored and how it looked back in the Age of Discovery."

We took a bunch of pictures, read all the inscriptions and of course, did the virtual and earthcache. Gente da Minha Terra (GC891JG) and Calcanos do Monumento aos Desobrimentos (GCAEGXN). We had to make sure we took good notes on the questions that were being asked since I wasn't going to be logging them until at least a month after we got back home.

From there, we walked back across the park, and I noticed a traditional cache along the way. We thought it would be fun to show João what a traditional cache looked like, since those were physical containers. Mosterio de Stͣ Maria de Belém/Jerónimo's Monastery (GC3E4CW) was magnetic hide a key underneath the park bench. He thought that was pretty cool and even considered starting. This was my first traditional geocache in Europe.

We walked back across the street to have the real version of the Pastel de Nata at the world famous Pastéis de Belém. We walked inside the restaurant, and it was buzzing with people. The building was deceptively huge and had many rooms with people eating all kinds of pastries and drinking coffee. We were shown to our table, and we briefly looked at the menu because we already knew what we were going to have.

We made some small talk and our pastéis arrived. Everyone had coffee with theirs except for me. These custard treats were amazing!  I could see why this place is recognized worldwide. 

While we ate, we talked to João about what it's like living in the US. He was shocked to hear about how much everything cost to live. He told us that he lives comfortably in Portugal with the tourism job he had. We finished up, paid and browsed the artwork on the walls. 

A little bit about the Pastéis de Belém:

"In 1837, the baking of the Pastéis de Belém began in the buildings attached to the refinery, following the ancient "secret recipe" from the monastery. Passed on and known exclusively to the master confectioners who hand-crafted the pastries in the "secret room", this recipe remained unchanged to the present day.

In fact, the only true Pastéis de Belém, contrive, by means of a scrupulous selection of ingredients, to offer even today the flavor of the time-honored Portuguese sweet making."

João drove us around the streets of downtown Lisbon while on our way to Castelo de Sao Jorge. He dropped us off at the base of the castle and we were scheduled for a self-tour of the castle grounds. He said he would be available when we were done. We entered in at the gates, showing them our tickets, and was in awe on how large the inside of the castle was. We wandered around, looking at the various look out points of the city of Lisbon, the statues, the ruins of inside the castle and the historical markers. We even got to see a cluster of peacocks hanging out inside the castle walls. Of course, we did two geocaches, an earthcache - Os Terramotos E Suas Consecquências - EC61PM (GC7506D) and a virtual - A Great View of Lisbon (GC513F), an oldie from April 2002.

Some info on Castelo de São Jorge:

"It is a historic castle in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, located in the frequesia of Santa Maria Maior. Human occupation of the castle hill dates to at least the 8th century BC while the oldest fortifications on the site date from the 2nd century BC.

The hill on which Castelo de São Jorge stands has played an important part in the history of Lisbon, having served as the location of fortifications occupied successively by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Moors, before its conquest by Portugues in the 1147 Siege of Lisbon. Since the 12th century, the castle has variously served as a royal palace, a military barracks, home of the Torre do Tombo National Archive, and now as a national monument and museum."

We wandered around the museum on our way out. I enjoy learning the history of what I just visited. I learned that Portugal was one of the oldest countries in Europe and following its formation, it became a leading maritime power during the Age of Exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries, establishing a vast global empire.

We were reaching our time limit, so we made our way back to the entrance to meet up with João. We stopped at one of the vendors on the outside of the castle and Brenda and Ray bought themselves a necklace from him. He made unique necklaces out of coins.

João had pulled the van over in a roundabout and we hopped right in. Our next stop on the tour was the Sanctuary of Christ the King or Cristo Rei. We drove over the Abril 25 Bridge, which was built by the same person who built the Golden Gate Bridge. It did look like a miniature sized Golden Gate Bridge. Once we got to the other side and in the parking lot, João parked and we got out. Ray had been having some issues with heights so he and João stayed behind on the ground while Brenda, Ben and I went up.

We got in line and bought our tickets. Then we had to wait in a line because there was one elevator and only 12 people could go up at a time. When it was our turn, we went up and enjoyed a 360-degree view of the surrounding area of the Tagus River and the city of Lisbon. We were up there for about 20 minutes or so. We did two geocaches, Is This an Artificial Earthcache? (GC6YYXT) and a virtual cache, Varanda para Lisboa (GC7B9VC). Both were pretty easy, but we knew we wouldn't be logging them for a while, so I took notes.

We quickly went into the gift shop and then got in line to go down the elevator. We met up with Ray and João down below in the park area. We walked over to the edge of the park where we could see the Tagus River, the bridge and Lisbon. We saw some pretty amazing views from this side of the bridge. We hopped back in the van and João took us back over to Lisbon. I was scrolling through my phone and saw a post about Lisbon, Portugal having an earthquake! What? I checked the time. It was when we were at the Castelo de São Jorge. None of us felt anything while we were there, not even the 4.6 earthquake.

We went back to Belém because João wanted to take us to the Belém Tower. It wasn't on our itinerary, but he took us there to make up for the broken-down van earlier that day. We found a quick place to pull over, and he let us out to wander around for about 20 minutes. We took pictures, read the informational signs and did the virtual cache, Lisboa Tower, Torre de Belém (GC7B7EK) and the earthcache, Torre de Belém (GC6W2GX). It was built between 1514 and 1520 under King Manuel I. It evolved from a defensive fortress to a customs house, a prison and a lighthouse. It was a nice way to end the tour.

João took us back to the hotel. We paid him, thanked him for a fun tour over the past two days, grabbed our stuff and he drove off. We grabbed our luggage, used the restroom and checked out of the hotel. We left Lisbon and headed south towards Pêra in the Algarve region. We had to help Ray navigate because the roads were crazy and all the signs were in Portuguese. We drove over the longest bridge in Continental Europe, the Vasco da Gama Bridge. It is 10.7 miles tolled bridge. Construction began in February of 1995 and officially opened in March 1998.

About an hour into our drive, we stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs and hopefully get some food since it was getting late. It was too early but too late and none of the food places were open while we were there, so we pressed our luck inside the convenience store. They really didn't have a lot of choices or gluten free options, so we all grabbed some chips, a candy bar and a couple of drinks to tie us over. They eat dinner late in Portugal and we were in the hour in-between. We didn't want to wait another hour for places to open.

We chatted and ate our snacks the last hour on the highway. Once we got closer to their town, we stopped at the Continental grocery store for a couple things for breakfast the next day and a few more snacky items. Portugal sells hotdogs in jars!

We went to their apartment, unloaded the car and got settled in. They gave us a quick tour of where everything was and the view from the balcony. Brenda made us tuna fish sandwiches, and we ate the rest of our chips with it. It hit the spot after not eating for half a day. We hung out and talked the rest of the evening. We all got ready for bed and went to bed around 2 a.m.

Next Adventure: Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 5