The Social Element / Trying New Things / Last few random experiences

I fully expected to meet some interesting people in our group, maybe even hang out with some of them occasionally.  What caught me by surprise was how quickly I would build deep and meaningful friendships with many people.  Before we knew it, any day not already booked with family activities got filled up with social plans, sometimes completely impromptu.  More than once, we would bump into other families at the gelato shop downstairs, and next thing we knew we were all staying up late at somebody's apartment.  Often the kids would hatch their own after school plans together too, and we would just be along for the ride.

Periodically the dads would all pick a night to go stay out late in Sintra or Lisbon, and the following week the moms would do the same (or go on winery/cork farm tours even)  

Dads lookin' dumb

Moms lookin' cute

We took another trip to the Algarve over Evie's birthday and wound up coordinating the trip with 2 other families.  During the day we would go off and do things like kayak as a family; and at night we would join up with the other families to eat, drink, and stay up late.  Oddly, the whole thing felt a little like summer camp, or freshman year of college.

Kayaking through sea caves

Beaching it up in our own private sea cave

Evie's Birthday sushi dinner

New things

One committment I made to myself prior to coming to Sintra was to be open to trying new things.  Not just seeing new sites in Portugal, eating new foods, etc.  but saying yes to things I typically would consider to be outside my comfort zone.  With 22 other families from various background and walks of life in the group, each brought their own interests and lifestyles to the group to share and grow from.

Padel

I had actually become aware of this sport just prior to heading out here as a result of sitting on the Mendota Heights Planning Commission.  A business owner had approached us wanting to open a racquet sports club in town, featuring some Padel courts...I had never heard of the sport.  It's like a 3-way cross between tennis, pickleball and racquetball; and is apparently pretty big in Europe.   A new friend here in our cohort was eager to get a group together for a regular outing on Friday mornings.

Erin and I immediately fell in love with the sport and have gone nearly every week.  It's been a fun way to connect with other folks, get some exercise and learn a new sport.  Erin even took a lesson or two. 

Group shot from our end-of-season Padel tournament

Yoga/Tabata

I've done a few yoga youtube videos with Erin here and there, but that's more or less the extent of it...and I've NEVER done any sort of group fitness activity.  These things kicked my butt but I really had fun doing them almost every week.

Sound Bath Meditation

This one might be the most "woo-woo" thing I've ever tried, but once again, saying yes.  The couple who live above us have hosted a handful of meditation sessions that they run, which includes an immersive sound bath.  They play instruments (gongs, chimes, etc) that are supposed to help deepen your meditative state.  Afterwards, we all shared our experiences with each other.  Several people were brought to tears, others discussed feeling transported to other worlds and things.  My one notable sensations was that, while laying still on my back, I felt like my hands were growing and becoming bigger than the room I was in.  Very strange.  I wouldn't say I had the same transformative experience others did, but it was a cool thing to try.

Mountain Biking

Not new to me, but the one thing I brought to the table was I coordinated a mountain biking session.  Seeing some youtube videos, it looked like there were some pretty cool single-tracks around Sintra, and I gathered 6 others to join me.  We hired a guide with a full fleet of bikes, and they took us up the mountain to ride.  It turned into a day I would never forget.  It was, without question, the hardest mountain biking experience I've ever had...and I wasn't alone.  All 7 of us got our asses completely kicked by this mountain.  The steep climbs that never ended, the treacherous terrain, the extremely aggressive and technical courses.  Everybody wiped out, some of us got bloodied up, we all at some point had to just hop off our bikes and walk the trails for a while.  On top of that, by the end of it the sky opened up and drenched all of us.  Eventually we made our way down the mountain and into downtown Sintra where the tourist traffic was a nightmare and we had to try to navigate through it all on exhausted legs in the pouring rain.  I could barely walk for at least 2 days.

Surfing

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to fit surfing into our packed schedule, but at the last minute we made it work.  On the day of the final surf lesson that the kids took, a bunch of us parents headed to the same beach in the morning for our own lesson and surf session.  It was the first time I had surfed since i was 16, and it hit a bit different this time!  It wore me out, but was an absolute blast.  What I'm especially proud of is how well the kids took to it, they surfed every single week we were here and loved it.  They improved so much!

Last few things we did

There were other palaces, beaches, cliffside hikes...all incredible but for the sake of brevity I won't go into detail about.  Somehow the 3 months here started to feel far too short towards the end.  There were a few highlights during our last couple weeks...

Obidos is a walled mideval city about an hour outside of Lisbon...possibly the cutest town we visited in all of Portugal.  Through March they hold a huge chocolate festival each weekend...so we went!  It did not suck, as the sights and tastes did not disappoint.  There's something kind of magical about sampling a bunch of different gourmet treats from local chocolatiers while sitting in the courtyard of an old castle town.

Possibly the closest thing you could call the official national food of Portugal is the Pastel de Nata (translated: cream pastry).  They're these little 2.5" diameter custard pies that you could eat in a couple of bites.  Buddy made it a goal while we were here to eat a minimum of one a day.  I think he may have averaged it (Achievement Unlocked!).  So we figured we'd learn how to make them!

Coming away from this whole experience having seen a new part of the world was one thing; having all four of us develop such great new friendships took it to a whole new level.  On our last full day, the families gathered at the Education Center where the kids all performed various plays and songs, as well as showcased their individual projects.  Buddy took a deep dive into electrical circuitry and had some cool scoreboards he had created.  Evie wrote a song about her experience in Sintra and how she'll always want to remember all the little things about it.  There wasn't a dry eye in the school when she performed it.  We are going to miss our new friends!

Grandma Susan and Grandpa John come to visit (written by Buddy)

Grandma and Grandpa on Dad’s side came to visit a couple of weeks ago.  They stayed at the same place as when mom’s folks were up, which had a really fun pool with a boogie board and 2 pool noodles.  The hotel also had a ton of really cool peacocks.  One of them fanned its feathers out and shook them, and it was so cool.  The female peacock just walked away, unimpressed.

On the Saturday after they got to Sintra, we took them to Quinta da Regaleira and Monserrate Palace.  We’d already been to Quinta da Regaleira once before, so we got to show the grandparents all the cool grottos and all the calla lilies were blooming this time.  The walk up to Quinta da Regaleira was easier than in January because our legs had gotten stronger since the beginning of the trip.  It took a long time for us to get an uber to Monserrate, but we finally got one.   I had just had some caffeinated tea at the Quinta da Regaleira café so I was super energetic in the uber ride.



Monserrate had really cool grounds, but the Monserrate castle didn’t impress me though (note from parents: WE were impressed by it).  On the side of Monserrate we met a cat named Lady Byron, who laid down on Evie’s lap, it was really cute.

On Sunday we went to Baixa (downtown) Lisbon for breakfast.  We had our second eScooter ride when we went from the Discoveries Monument to Belem Tower.  We had to go really slow to get around the crowds, and we stopped and looked at a bunch of hats.  Mom bought one, I really wanted one.  Then Evie and I wrestled each other in the grass and had a lot of fun. 

We rode to Cascais where we all went on the Ferris Wheel there.  The only cool thing was that we were really high up and saw the views.  I’m not much of a fan of Ferris Wheels though.  One time I got lost in a store, and when I came out I was like “where’s my parents”.  They came running down the street yelling “Buddy!” and found me.  At dinner we ate at a fancy hotel and I got a burger that was so big I could only eat half of it.  I was not impressed with myself because lately I’ve been able to eat a ton.

On Monday I went to school, and at the end of the school day Grandma came in and did Endeavor Time.  Endeavor Time is when a grandparent or parent comes in and do/teach something for the kids to do.  Like one was about making yerba matte Tea.  This one was making newspaper collages; I made one about dogs.  For dinner that night we went to Taj Palace where I got tandoori chicken.  I ate a few pieces, and I got a coconut drink that I didn’t like.

On Tuesday the grandparents visited Pena Palace and Moorish Castle up on the mountain while we were at school, and after school we got one more chance to go swimming with them.  It was the last time we got to see them before they had to fly home.  I was excited for these grandparents to come because now I knew the city really well and could show them around more.  I was sad to see them leave because I know I have nobody else new to show the city to.

Azores

Ever since I heard about the Azores I've wanted to go check them out. They call it Europe's Hawaii, and there are definitely some similarities since both are volcanic islands in the middle of oceans. The Azores are about a tenth of the size of Hawaii though, and were an important shipping route back in the exploration years. So while they are Portuguese, they also have British, Flemish and Spanish influence, as a lot of countries tried to set up shop here. Makes for interesting and beautiful architecture, and there are a lot of little ghost towns and abandoned summer homes straight out of a zombie apocalypse.

City gate of Ponta Delgada

Also, it smells. The first thing we all noticed when the plane landed was it smelled like cow manure. We figured we were just near a farm, but turns out the entire island is overrun with cows.

Cow outside our hotel window

But it was beautiful, and you can't smell pictures. We did what felt like a million different enchanted forest / waterfall hikes, and explored the volcanic bubbles of Parque da Grená. And there was a cat that Evie fell in love with that we nicknamed Lil Chonkers, and he was fed a little of our Cozido das Furnas (traditional Portuguese dish cooked in the earth by hot volcanic steam).

Two person at a time bridge...

The Azores are known for their naturally occurring hot springs. We went to three inland hot springs (only pics of two). I'm not going to lie, they were very cool (or warm), but a bit crowded at times and not quite as pretty or with the design and infrastructure of Tabacon, in Costa Rica (still the best place ever in my book to experience hot springs).

Velha de Caldeira

Terra Nostra. The iron gives it that color. 

At the next hot springs, Dona Beija (not pictured), we made ourselves iron facial masks and it took Evie 48 hours to fully wash it off.

The one hot spring stand out was Ponte da Ferraria, which I understand is the only place in the world where volcanic steam / rock heats up ocean water at low tide, and you can experience an "Oceanic Hot Tidal Pool." Low tide was early in the morning while we were there and it was the other side of the island, so we got up early, got our Egg McMuffins (yep, first Mickey D's stop in Portugal and the kids were so hyped), and got to the edge of the world. We had missed the low tide marker by about an hour, and a couple people were leaving, so we had the whole cove to ourselves for a little bit. It is an incredible place. There is a ladder cemented to volcanic rock and some ropes in the water so you have something to hang onto and don't slam into rocks or each other when these huge, turquoise waves rush in with cool water, and then the water that runs back into the ocean is hot tub warm. It felt so good, and magical. Eventually a Polish family joined us, and 10 minutes later a few others started coming down, but the water was already starting to get cooler and more violent with the rising tide, so we moved on. It was our trip highlight for sure.

Bird's eye view

The other awesome thing to do in Sao Miguel is look at lakes. The island just has crazy topography, all of these lakes so close to the ocean, separated by ridges of volcanic, fertile (mostly grazing land now) soil. We hiked a few, and we drove to a couple, but here are a few of our favorites:

Lagoa de Fogo "Lagoon of Fire" (was not hot)

Lago das Furnas

Lagoa de Santiago

Blue and Green Lake in Sete Cidades at Vista Rei

The coastline in Ribeira Grande wasn't too shabby either:

Our last night there we even got to have an excellent Azorean dinner with a couple familiar faces :)

All in all the Azores are incredibly unique and gorgeous, and we enjoyed exploring São Miguel. On the flight back we were a little travel fatigued, and a little sad that we are nearly 2/3rds done with our Portuguese adventure. These last few weeks especially have flown by, but we are grateful for all the memorable experiences.