The UK!

We have arrived today in London, and caught the bus down to Southampton to stay with Ben, Saya's mate from uni, and his fiancee Fiona. They are now living on their yacht, preparing to set sail from here to the Mediterranean for a year or so of cruising around, then across the Atlantic to the Carribean. Wow!
We are sitting in their yacht about to have baked chicken and pasta...mmm smells great!
For details on this bit, you can see Ben and Fiona's blog - it's ace and you can see where they are http://blog.mailasail.com/silksheets Thanks for hacing us on tha yacht, it was a really unforgettable experience and great to catch up.



Catching up with Sarah in Olde London Towne!




View from our accomodation in London.


Squirrel! Exciting wildlife experience from our window!


Using Helen and Troy's excellent wedding gift of the video camera. Getting a bit silly now...


We also visited Daniella, who was happily pregnant and nesting in a really gorgeous home in London, was great to catch up and see their new place. Forgot to take photos here though - sorry!

Lisbon!

A brief three days in Lisbon to revive Paul's love affair with the old city and introduce Saya to the sights and sounds...

Here is an iconic view of the city, from when we first arrived (actually was between 2 flights from Spain and taking a high speed train up to Porto - had a few hours in between to check out Lisbon)


Our new home when we returned from Porto back to Lisbon. It was, um, red. All the walls, but luckily not the ceiling. It also had only a tiny window, half blocked by the top of the wardrobe, with bars and looking out to an internal courtyard, almost no light. Kept sleeping in with no natural light! Did have a kitchen though, so we had some good home cookin.
Note Paul's hat in the corner. This made it all the way from Croatia, on ferries, buses, and about 5 flights. Sadly, it decided to stay on the yacht with Ben and Fiona and continue it's journey that way. It was going to become a farm hat in Scotland, but alas, not to be.

All the footpaths and walkways in Lisbon are made from these beautiful white stones, and have incredibly intricate details to decorate.

Ooh - ticket to viewing platform!

View from the top - nice!

Saya didn't tell me I had pigtails. (She really likes this photo though).

Recent favourite photo.

Portuguese tiles - they really are amazing! Whole buildings covered in them - many of them hundreds of years old. Gives the city a great feel.

We took a day trip out to Sintra, a nearby town, full of awesome things to see. Was all surprises for me, as Paul didn't tell me what was coming up. I love surprises!
Palais de Pena, Sintra, as seen from the approach. (Previous Royal holiday house).

Well, it's a Triton doorway. Wouldn't be a personal choice, but, you know...


Paul inspects The Doorway of the Gourds


Sunlight over Moorish castle ruins




Palais de Pena seen from the Moorish castle ruins


On top of the world! (moorish castle).


Town of Sintra from moorish castle


We took a full day tour to visit some of the surrounding countryside and towns, and also of course to visit Fatima. Paul had done this tour on his previous visit to Lisbon, with Deepa. Hope this brings back happy memories Deepa! Was a great day.

This was the first stop, a really gorgeous town called Obidos. All whitewashed and brightly painted homes, and such pride and care taken - full of flowers and vines and, amazingly, 13 churches! Such a cool spot that we nearly missed the bus leaving...

Curious Obidos resident.


Symbol of Portugal (yep, not just of Nando's!)


Tomb of Ines de Castro, Alcobaca. This was the most incredible love story, will have to come back to this and fill in.


Monastery of Alcobaca. This church is a massive and impressive structure, but the monastery insisted that it remain austere, and so has none of the gothic intricate detail of many from that time. Beautiful in it's classic simplicity.


This is where the fish is dried, at Nazare. Amazing beach, slightly stinky...


Mmmm.... I'm not sure....


Yay! I was hanging out to stick my feet in the Atlantic, but thought the bus was only stopping for some fish-drying-viewing, so sprinted off across the (really, really) wide beach! Happy.


Cathedral at Batalha

Cathedral doorway. Also demonstrates national pasttime of old-person patting


Intricate stonework, cloisters of monastery at Batalha



Apparently, around the time of construction, explorers had begun to discover exotic worlds, and were bringing back incredible plants, animals and foods. This new enthusiasm and fascination was seen in the stonework inspirations. Here's a pineapple.


This was an amazing 'Unfinished Chapel'. Noone quite knows why they just stopped construction, mid way. There are the beginnings of a hugely and unbelievably detailed chapel, but the towers just stop.



The tour finished with the highlight of the day, visiting the site of Fatima, where three children saw the Virgin Mary appear to them while they were out working. People didn't really believe them, but she appeared repeatedly. The final time, there were around 70,000 people present, and it was declared a miracle. The site has a nearby original tree from where the apparition was, a simple and beautiful new church and the previous huge one where mass was held. Millions of people make a pilgramage here.
Before we arrived, we stopped for 'shopping' at this 'Fatima Mart{ - which made it difficult at best to feel the religious surrounds. We did pick up a few things to send people, but unfortunately left them in the hotel in Lisbon. Sorry! This is a photo of the other half of the shop, where, it seems, you can actually buy anything. We think this may be Streisand crossed with Dalmation.



Beautiful old tree, Fatima - one of Paul's favourite trees.


This is the new church at Fatima (holds up to 9000 people). Was very modern and really felt like a tranquil place of worship.

Porto!

Hello everyone!

We arrived in Porto just in time for the night of the Festival of St Joao (John the Baptist, June 23-4) Porto's local public holiday where there are fireworks and people run around the streets until dawn hitting each other on the head with plastic hammers and wild leeks.

We arrived at 10.30pm after getting up at 4am to catch flights from Barcelona to Madrid to Lisbon, before the train to Porto. I think we were a bit delirious, but it was one of the most enjoyable nights we've had in a very long time.

We head back on the train to Lisbon tomorrow.

Cheers!