Madrid to Lisbon

Lisbon is kind of a magical place.  I think there is some kind of special feeling reserved for the first and last cities on a trip like this; Hanoi was incredibly enchanting, and will always remain one of our favorite cities of this trip whether is was because it is an amazing place (which it really was) or because it felt like the first day of school with our new backpacks, bright eyed, and ready.   If that was the first of school, Lisbon is definitely the last day of camp-- we're both feeling pretty nostalgic and reluctant to leave, because it feels like a very long time before we'll be doing this again, but we know it'll be nice to be home with friends and family and a familiar bed.

Packed up the Peugeot one last time and dropped it off at the airport 

We left Madrid on an afternoon flight, and landed in Lisbon about an hour later--we were sad to leave Monica and Dad, it was so great to travel with them.  We found our last hostel easily, and opted for the 8-bunk bed dorms having mixed feelings about potentially our last time in a hostel.  We had a great dinner of local food-- great grilled and braised meats, fresh lightly dressed salad, sliced of black cured pork, some delicious local cheese, and nice wine.

Our one full day in Lisbon was a perfect example of our favorite plan for when we only have one day in a big city-- we pick a couple of sites, completely ignore our map, and follow Elliot's compass around until we stumble upon the things we had set out to see, all the while getting kind of lost in the local neighborhoods and exploring side streets.

It seemed appropriate to have our typical Euro breakfast of cappuccinos and croissants on our last day

Lisbon

We ending our night fairly early as we had a flight scheduled to leave at 6:30am this morning.  After waking up at 3:30am and getting ready, we checked our flight status (Thank you, Francy!) to discover our plane was delayed by about 5 1/2 hours.  Since I was already dressed, I went downstairs to tell the cab driver who was waiting that we wouldn't need a ride, or rather, used my well practiced pantomime since my Portuguese consists of "Obrigado" (Thank you) and "Presunto" (Ham).  Not too helpful.

One last time packing

Figuring out our budget down to the final Euro

Ready to go home

We finally made our flight at noon and we're currently in the Ponta Delgada Airport in the Azores, on the largest island of São Miguel.  We're debating whether to leave the airport to explore the town, but don't want to risk missing our connection.  We're scheduled the now leave around 10pm Portugal time, and we'll get in around midnight Boston time.  USA, here we come.

Valencia to Cordoba to Madrid

A very busy one day and two nights each in Cordoba and Madrid.  It's been so wonderful to travel with Monica and Dad; we both feel really lucky to have had these times during the trip to share to new countries and adventures with friends and family--- it's really made it even more fulfilling.

  A 6 or so hour drive from Valencia brought us to Cordoba, with a short lunch stop in the tiny town of Manzanares.  The one thing we've learned in our short time driving in Spain is that exits, towns, parking, really signs of any kind seem to be sparse and far between.  Maybe it's that we're in totally unfamiliar territory, but it's a good day when we don't spend at least twenty minutes trying to get onto the highway that we can see but can't seem to reach.  Getting to Cordoba was fairly straightforward, but we entered the old city which is composed of an intricate maze of tiny and narrow one way medieval streets and that's when our real adventure began.  After a bit of searching we found some street parking and set out first without our bags to find the apartment we rented for two nights.  The decision to search without luggage was quickly determined when we exited the car to the blanket of heat that is the Cordoban afternoon.  Average temperatures while we were there were around 43 degrees Celsius (about 109 Fahrenheit) and it became  quickly apparent why everything just shuts down from 3-8ish.  After a long walk around searching the tiny roads for our address (and a couple of pounds of water loss later) we settled into the apartment and cooled off a bit.  After a great dinner and some time exploring the town that evening we made a plan for our one full day in Cordoba.

Cordoba

Dinner of some great tapas-- highlights were braised oxtail, manchego/honey/pinenut salad, fresh gazpacho, and baby broad beans with bacon

Dessert was a traditional friend bread with coffee ice cream and a traditional Cordoba cake-- above is the former

Mezquita Catedral

Center of old town

 Our full day began the next morning with a visit to the Mezquita Catedral.  It was a massive and beautiful cathedral with structural remains of an ancient mosque.  We then spent a lot of time just enjoying the winding streets and increasingly warm weather, picking up a few souvenirs and snacks, ending our morning with a visit to the Torre de la Calhorra, another medieval structure that has been turned into a museum about the diverse religious history of Cordoba.  After a break from the heat indoors, we headed back out to a fantastic little tapas restaurant for a a few snacks (our sampling of hams and cheese were pretty filling as usual) and ended the night at a flamenco performance. All in all a pretty incredible day in Spain (Cordoba might be my favorite!)

The inside

The view from the top of the Torre de la Calhorra

Highlights from dinner: Shrimp wrapped in potato strings, whipped eggs, yolk, crispy serrano

Deep fried eggplant with cane sugar and sesame

Chipirones (tiny squid) in their ink croquettes, pickled cabbage, herb aioli

Waiting for the show to begin

We were toasty just sitting in the audience so I'm not sure how they did this without passing out

Our next day was the 5 hour drive to Madrid, our final city in Spain.  We stopped for lunch in Toledo on Dad's suggestion, which is a pretty incredible historical town.  The architecture and tiny winding roads were fun to walk around (though not too fun to drive around) and we spent a good hour after some pretty good tapas poking around in local shops and checking out some of the older buildings.

Pulpo (octopus), simply prepared

A mixed plate of different vegetable preparations and veal

Toledo

The giant cathedral in the center of town

We arrived in Madrid in the late afternoon, and after checking in, went into the city for a generous portion of our favorite jamon iberico and manchego, great wine, and a light dinner.

Madrid, Plaza del Mayor

Our full day in Madrid and last day in Spain was filled with lots of sightseeing, walking, and pork-- the usual.

Palacio Real

Nerds

Templo de Debod, a gift from Egypt to Spain, a temple reconstructed in Madrid dating back over 2000 years

Thanks, Egypt!

One of my new favorite places-- a really nice market where we grabbed some delicious paella/tapas/usual suspects for lunch

Only in Spain

I will miss this sight 

Couple hours spent at the Museo de Prado-- lots of Velasquez, Goya, El Bosco, etc.

Last dinner at a lovely wine and tapas restaurant-- the floor was built over medieval walls 

A variety of croquettes

Duck confit with marmalade, potatoes, and prunes

We headed to the airport this morning to drop Monica and Dad off and the rental car, and to catch our own very short and cheap flight to Lisbon.  We ultimately fly back to the U.S. from Portugal on Saturday so it's just a quick stop on the journey.  Almost near the end and it feels very strange..