Lagos (Thanks Keith!)

We have arrived, with no small amount of adventure no less, in Lagos. I can say at this point that the coastal drive down from Lisbon to Lagos should be featured in every tour guide (Even those not about Portugal). The drive is one of unending beauty, calm lush greens and shocking ocean blues - We have pictures, if you are nice... we will share them.

Yesterday I promised to talk more about what we did in Lisbon, so here is the rundown of a whirlwind 3 day tour.

Yummy Food:
When a pastry shop has been open since 1873, and you are in the neighbourhood... you go to that pastry shop. The recipe for the 'Belem' style tarts is a well guarded secret, and only the four owners of the shop know it. To be clear, I am saying that we ate a pastry that has been a secret recipe since 1873. How cool is that?!

Old Stones:
Naturally we visited a few of the old cathedrals, castles and monastaries sprinkled around Lisbon. In addition to that, and quite possibly the standout is a location we scouted out during a daytrip to the small town of Sintra a 20 minute train ride from Lisbon. I could write a novel of it's glory or you can wait to see the pictures... again, if you're nice.

Street Parties:
The Lisbonites must scoff at the Mardi Gra, that shit happens every night here! We generally spend the day being tourists then nap from around 7pm-10pm so that we are well rested enough to drink ourselves silly while eating glorious food. However, once night stands out in particular and that is the wonderfull evening we spent at the Bairro Alto. This is a subsect of 10 some odd blocks, that consist of bars, bars, bars, jazz clubs, fado clubs, bars, t-shirt shops (I bought one!), bars, book stores and more bars. Here's the catch, the bars don't actually have any room indoors so the entire 10 blocks is outside. Drinking, eating, dancing and laughing. If you are ever in Lisbon and in search of the proverbial 'good time', this area has you covered. Convieniently, it never actually closes however the hopping good time is from 11:00pm to 6:00am or so.
(Michael's Tip: If you are travelling with Emily, make her drink water before sleeping or she will wake up with crankypants hangovers.)

Emily will have more to say I'm sure, she's currently in the bar enjoying a beer while I slave away at the computer. Thanks very much to Keith for booking our stay in Lagos for us... and paying for it! He's such a sweetheart. There is a good chance that the floral arrangement in the suite we have will be remembered by Emily and I for a good while.... largely because it was a bed of rose petals shaped like a heart. Sadly the lovely setup didn't survive our honeymooning :o

-Michael

P.S. Hi Mom! Pretend you didn't read that last bit!

Whirlwind tour

Hello All, I have to be quick because we're being booted out of this netcafe soon. However I want to let you all know that we are leaving Lisbon tomorrow for a nice long drive down the coast to the town of Lagos in the Algarve.

Once we arrive and get sorted, I will update with details on what we have been doing in the past few days which will include:

Pastries in Belem.
The tomb of Vasco de Gama (He found the trade route to india that kept Portugal wealthy for nearly a century).
Amazing monastaries and castles.
Museums!
The gardens in Sintra.
Mad street parties in Bairro Alto.
The best Tapas restaurant in all of Lisbon (Run by brazillians)
Renting cars and 'driving' in portugal, an instructional essay.
Coastal amazement on our drive to Lagos.

See you tomorrow! (ish, don't hold us too it - we may be too busy honeymooning)

Fado and Portugal,

My darling wife and I, having had a bit of a nap and the delight of awakening to the Lisbon evening went on a search for traditional Fado music. Lisbon is the birthplace of Fado, and to come here and not experience it is a mistake that will leave you poorer for it. Refreshed and mildly cranky, we trucked out to find a Taxi in the cobblestone square once used to welcome traders from all over the world. Determined, we made the tourist mistake of saying we did not want a tourist experience and wished to enjoy a traditional Fado performance. Naturally, our driver took us immediatly to the place that all the tourists who say that go. We sat down at first, amidst what we thought were locals with a sly smile on our faces delighted in our ability to be better than the average tourist.
The arched red brick roof distracted us, as did the food and for me, the beauty of my darling Emily kept me from noticing that we were directly beside a very large table of loud and unsurprisingly obnoxious tour-bus group.
Suitably amused with ourselves we resolved to ignore them while eyeing their wine for any possibility of heisting it from their table.

The lights dim, and we settle back to be lifted away by the beauty of what is described as bluesy folk music. It is terrible. Have you ever listened to music, and wondered why the people around you enjoy it while you do not? This was not like that, even the hosts cowered and grimaced as the man on stage wailed through the lyrics to an old tune. Emily, slightly shocked I'm sure, leaned over at one point and asked 'What do you think Simon Cowell of American Idol would say?'. I laughed and shushed her, in case the drunk and very french tour-bus crowd to our right heard us speaking and started heckling us instead of the singer.

Ahh yes, passable food. Horrible music and a very large crowd of noisy french folk. Steller! More wine please.

Hours pass, and a heavy rotation of singers take place, some passable, most as horrible as the first. Then, magic. The tourbus leave, we are alone. It is dark, and only by squinting through the miasma of smoke can we see a small table of locals eating a very late dinner. The lights dim further, and the same singers we had seen all night play again. There is no audience here anymore, Emily and I have been accepted or forgotten, either way, the music comes alive. They sing in words we cannot hope to understand, but the soul of it is all there before us. There is no noise from the few people listening, we have all set aside our knives an forks and listen with rapt attention as through the swirl of intricate melody and song we hear it. With glistening eyes we see it. With beating hearts we feel it.

Fado is not about the music, not the performance. Fado is about expressing pain in the only way you can. Fado is about working tirelessly for that brief moment when you are allowed to eat with your friends and family as you always have. Fado is about a city long past it's prime, but not so long past that it has forgotten it. Fado is about pride, pain and the bittersweet feel of both. Emily and I sit, amazed. The cab driver did not bring us to the wrong location, he simply didn't warn us that we would have to learn how to understand what we heard. The french tourbus group will never hear Fado, no matter how many stops they make on their tour. The moment they walk in the door, the tradition turns to performance and all the beauty is lost.

When the singing subsides and just the musicians play for us, a lilting and soft tune that brings tears to our eyes.
The staff notices as we applaud, perhaps a little too loudly, and they are back to the performance. We leave, partially because it is late, and partially because we are intruding.

Portugal,
I would be remiss if I didn't say at least something about Lisboa (It's not called Lisbon here, oddly enough) itself. We are in the capital of Portugal here, and as I mentioned earlier it is a city past it's prime. The days of being the only trade route from India are long past, but still evident. Saying that this city has seen better days is not an insult, it wears that mantle with dignity. Preservation of the treasures of the past is important here, as is the tourism of people who are impressed by it. However Lisboa still has the soul of a city built on trade, only now it's knockoffs and soccer jerseys rather than exotic spices and silks. To be here now, admiring the city evokes a kind of melancholy. It is ancient and beautiful, but we are looking into the past here, wishing we could see it as it is meant to be. That is the best way I can describe it. I am touched by this city. I am touched to be here with Emily.

Off on our next adventure, I believe Emily will post next so it will be far less boring and introspective. Love ya all!

-Michael

We are in Europe!!!

Hello all. Happy to report that we are safe and having a wonderful time in Lisbon. We had tremendous luck with our travel. All of our flights departed on time, and we were totally pampered. We had been nervous about a connection in Heathrow where we only had an hour and 20 min, but when we got off the plane, there was a United Airlines Agent there to greet us and take us to our next gate...she passed us through secret halls, and whisked us into priority security screens lineups. It was amazing! I have no idea what we did to deserve the royal treatment.

We arrived to a sunny beautiful day in Lisbon. Our Penseon is right the HEART of the old quarter...our room, while small, is bright, clean and provides all we need. Best of all we look over a lovely Praca (square with statue) and there is a metro station out front. After a much needed shower, we headed out to explore the area. We are amazed at the tiled roads, mosaic tiled buildings, achitecture, and sculptures. This is an amazing city. We stopped for a lovely cappuncino at an outdoor cafe and tried one of their tradional Portuguese tarts.

We have continued exploring, and tonight we plan (after a siesta) to go for dinner at a Fado club to catch some local entertainment.

We discovered that Monday is Labour Day here...and there will be little to do besides watch the demonstration (signs everywhere). We may try to leave a day early for Lagos to enjoy Labour Day on the beach!!

We have some photos, but I am not sure how to upload them...I will try another day!!

Hugs to you. Hope all is well.

Much love,
Emily and Mike

Itinerary

Our itinerary
Depart Vancouver Thursday April 26th.

Lisbon Friday April 27th. Pensao Praca da Figueira. 4 Nights.

Lagos Tuesday May 1st. Solar de Mas. 2 nights.

Seville Friday May 4th. Casa Sol y Luna. 5 nights.

Cordoba Wednesday May 9th. Hostel Lineros 38. 2 nights.

Granada Friday May 11th. Hostel Suecia. 4 nights.

Barcelona Tuesday May 15th. Hostal Goya. 5 nights.

Arrive home to Vancouver Monday May 21st.

Welcome to our honeymoon blog!

Thanks for taking an interest in our honeymoon. We are finally off this Thursday for our long awaited (ok, only 8 months delay) honeymoon to Portugal and Spain. We will be gone for just over 3 weeks. No laptops, no cell phones. With Emily just having finished her PhD (woo hoo!) this will be a trip to really enjoy and celebrate! Neither of us has been to Portugal or Spain, but we both love good wine, tapas, and history. YAY.

So far I (Emily) have managed to get myself down to one carry on and one half-empty checked bag that weighs only 36lbs...a major accomplishment if you knew me. Mike, being his practical and smart self is only taking a carry on (I have a fantasy that it will leave Mike open to carrying my extra bag...a girl can dream...).

I confess that I have packed an extra bag in my suitcase. I will be on the hunt for good shoes and bags. Can someone explain to Mike that a woman can never have too many of either of these?

Well, lots of little details to wrap up here...I will post our itinerary, and we will go to internet cafes to update and upload photos as we go!

A special thanks to Penny, Danica and Lily for taking care of our dog Andy while we are away!