Portugal

A few months ago Lana and I decided to plan a week-long trip to Portugal to enjoy another European country before she was too far along in her pregnancy to fly (she's just into her 7th month already!) and I start travel with the Air Force this summer.  It was a great trip...one that's highly recommended for those who have the opportunity!  Lana had been to Portugal previously, but it's been on my travel list since we were station at Aviano AB, Italy.  We also invited some friends of ours who have two kids about the same ages as ours.

 

Lana did all the specific planning of the flight, train, and hotels so thanks to her for a job well done!  It was an easy and relatively cheap flight from Luxembourg to Lisbon on EasyJet.  The first two days were spent in Lisbon before we took a 2.5 hr train ride to the south coast near Albufeira.  The skies were sunny the entire week with temps around 70° F during the day, which made for two straight weeks of sun after one in Germany the week prior...the first this spring.  In Lisbon we stayed at the Lisbon Rooftops Guesthouse, a great location in the center of the old town with great views over the city and close walking distance to the sites.

 

 

Some of the sites we visited were the Santa Justa Lift, Castelo de S. Jorge, and the Rio Tejo.  We were able to see most of these sites walking by foot, but took the historic yellow tram once...a hit with the kids!  Breakfast consisted of Portuguese custard tarts fairly often as well.

In the south of Portugal we stayed at Alfagar II, located a short walk from the beach.  The location and hotel were great even though the pools and ocean were still too cold to swim.  Our time there consisted of sleeping in (as much as we could with the kids) and relaxing on the beach or near the pool.  We were blessed to enjoy such a nice place and have the ability to do so!

More Pictures:
Portugal