Portugal

Rusty here: Portugal was awesome. I loved the people, the scenery and the food. The city was clean and huge and intersting. The country was breathtaking and exciting. My top 3 highlights that I say “made the trip” no matter what

1. In Sintra seeing Tara’s girlish excitement and sense of awe and wonder as we explored Castle Pena
2. The arch that you could swim out to, behind a cave where Tara was up on a rock and we had it all to ourselves for pictures
3. The secluded beach surrounded by rocks complete with an arch and a cave to explore.

Tara was tons of fun, always up for adventure. We had some hard talks but good talks. I think I underestimated how hard the working days would be, and how drained I would be at the end of the day.

Because this was a work trip (with a few days of vacation tacked on the end) I was able to fly first class and then business class on the way over. It was so nice. First class from Denver to DC was lovely. The first class seat would recline to nearly flat and it was the first time I took a nap basically horizontal on a plane. It felt very luxurious. We had time to kill in DC so we took advantage of the United Lounges. First the basic lounge where we had a bite and watched the US Open women’s final (Sabalenka in 2), and then the “Polaris” lounge which is only for business class people on their way to an international destination. This was super impressive and fancy complete with nap rooms and shower rooms and a nice buffet and drinks. They feed you well on the plane so that’s a lot of eating over that amount of time! My favorite was the small dish of warm nuts they would give you. So good. The flight to Portugal in business class was awesome. I had my own little cubby with a side table that turns into a bed. The best part was probably the bedding. I laid on this cushy, almost comforter and then they gave me two pillows (I put one at my feet). I watched a movie while they served dinner but then the problem is that by the time they clean up dinner to the time that they wake things up for breakfast, I only have like 4 hours to sleep. If that. But I definitely felt more rested than I usually do.

We had to wait for Tara’s bag which got gate checked. And then we were off to the rental car to rent us a little car to drive to Sintra. The drive to Sintra was stressful, as usual, driving in a foreign country without a ton of sleep. It was about 30 minutes to Sintra which is this super cute old mountain town built on the side of a cliff. We parked right in the commotion which so busy and we changed into some clothes we could hike in (well Tara changed at the airport which was the smarter way to do it, I thought we’d have a secluded parking lot to change into which is definitely not the case at Sintra). After pastries and walking around downtown a little bit (and visiting an entire store dedicated to sardines) it was time to hike up to Pena Palace. Google said it was only a 40 minute hike but gained like 400M of elevation.Needless to say I’m glad we listened to Tara and rented a tuk tuk to take us up the steep windy road.

Pena palace was beautiful, the architecture and the detail was amazing. It was so fun seeing Tara in school-girl like wonder. It made me super happy.

We made a quick stop at the Moorish Castle–This thing felt so medieval. Because it was. We loved climbing around on all the walls and taking in the view.

The hike down was less amazing. It was just steep and further than I thought. Next up was the Quinta da Regaleira which had amazing landscaping and the Initiation Well which was an introverted tower you could spiral down and then exit from a cave beneath a waterfall. The well is full of mystical and pagen symbols and is also said to be tied to the Knights Templar. Super cool. This guy had a tennis court. His own chapel. It was just a cool place.

We walked back to town and from there we found some amazing gelatto. We made our way to the coast for sunset and got our first glimpses of the beuatiful, steep Portugal cliffs. We ate dinner nearby at a little family owned restaurant that served food from both their Lebonese heritage and Portugese.

Then off back to Lisbon. We had to drop the car off at the airport and Uber to the hotel. We checked into our hotel which was more of an “apartment style” (Meaning they don’t come and clean everyday. Grrrr) and passed out we were so tired and I had to get up and go to work the next day.

That was until the room got hotter, not colder. See it’s already hot in Lisbon but this was ridiculous. It was roasting. I tried to sleep but eventually gave up and went to the front desk. After looking around for a little bit we found another room on the floor below and I went and got Tara and we slept better in the cooler room.

First day in lisbon, Monday was fun, the Google office is cute and small. It’s basically two rooms of desks with a slightly bigger mini kitchen in the middle. They bring in the food from the outside for breakfast and lunch. But the food was great, especially the Pastel De Nata which is the traditional food of Portugal which is a delicious egg custard mini pie. So good. The team showed up and we started an entire day of working together. We started with Life paths in the morning and then moved onto our goals and the schedule and then lunch and then work time. It was all good, I had put a lot of time into making the schedule and planning things out, especially our goals and so on.

I said bye just after 5 and met Tara back at the hotel room where she was wearing a cute striped dress and was like ready to go? I dropped my bag and we picked up an Uber outside the hotel. It was a 30 minute drive to Belem. It’s the area by the Tagus river and the Ponte 25 de Abril (The Golden Gate Bridge of Lisbon) where they have lots of monuments and cool things to see. Tara surprised me with sunset sailing along the river which was beautiful and romantic and lovely. The colors were so great on the bridge and the monuments and the skyline, it was just perfect. We were dropped off along the river so we grabbed some Lime scooters and made our way down the big bike path along the river, down to under the bridge where we saw the sport Padel and some of the best restaurants. The food is so good. Lots of fresh juices and in this case steak and sushi

Tuesday morning was up and this time went off to the Vendor’s offices for an initial meeting with them. We spent the morning shadowing them and the afternoon getting feedback on some of our AI insights from them. We thought it went well. I really enjoyed Liam and getting to know him. Afterwards we went for drinks and it was beautiful, drinks on the plaza. I walked home and joined Tara who was pretty drained from the whole thing and wasn’t feeling that well. I said I would lead and I took us exploring. Down to the Barrio Alto which is the tiny steep streets. We walked around looking at the street art and then went to Game Over escape rooms. I love escape rooms. I also love seeing the different take different cultures have on the escape rooms.

We were top secret agents. We had to get the top secret file out of the bunker in an hour. We started in a gated room with two chests. We found a code from the clocki, and then a bolt. We wasted 15 minutes trying to get the next code from the bolt, only to realize the head of the bolt screws off and there is a code inside. Sigh. From there you get the key with a stick, and then you are in the main room with all sorts of stuff. My favorite was when we had to boil water and pour it in the color changing mug to get the next code. That opened the safe and then it was really cool. It was one of those games that tests your steadiness to run a circle along a windy wire track. And from there it activated a laser maze and if you touched the laser you had to start the circle again. We tripped the maze once and then tara had the great idea to just wait on the other side while I did the circle thing again and then she grabbed the plans and we made it out with exactly 5 seconds to spare (we had some help there at the end). I had a blast. We ubered home, forgetting to try the food in barrio alto.

Wednesday was a google day. I hit the gym this morning. Feeling pretty good. Tara was tired. I left and she said she didn’t wake up for quite a while longer. Breakfast and lunch were great and we worked hard getting ready for the big test coming the next day. I thought we did a good job. I met Tara in the square and we did a tram ride in the Aalfama district which was fun and super steep, it’s the district with beautiful views of the sunset and cute colored homes built on the cliffside. We had a great time taking pictures from Miradouro de Santa Luiza. And then we had dinner at Lisboa Tu & Eu which is a TINY little charming restaurant tucked away in a cobblestone alley that serves delicious traditional food. Which means grilled sardines (not for us) and cod fritters (delicious) It was cute and romantic and we signed our name on the wall and ate “The Best Chocolate Mousse in the World” (correct).

I had arranged this user test I was really proud of. I was super excited that this was going to make the difference in our project.

But now work was over and the fun was beginning! I tried to be cool and grab the rental car and pick up Tara at the hotel but of course it was rush hour and took like 30 minutes to get tara who was like 3 blocks from the rent a car. And then we were off to the Algarve region in Southern Portugal. We talked the entire time which was fun.

After almost 3 hours on the road, We pulled into the Cascade Wellness Resort in Lagos. We had a massive apartment compared to our little hotel in Lisbon. We ordered room service and tried to get in the jacuzzi, but of course, it was broken, so we just got in the tub and then went to sleep.

The next day was awesome. We had to get up to stop at the supermarket and pick up some breakfast for our adventure. Then it was paddle boarding to the Benagil Cave. The caves were spectacular. The paddle boarding was a little touristy. I wished we’d just rented our own paddle board. The main cave was overrun with tourists and groups and one couple in our group was super pushy about getting in a picture by themselves and pushing us out of the way. Sigh. Anyway we did have a few moments that were picturesque and nice and we really enjoyed them. And exploring the smaller caves was really fun.

I had planned this part of the trip so time to execute my plan. We walked over to the Carvelo beach where we walked through a man made cave of stairs to get to the beach. We laid on the beach with our heads in the shadow of a giant rock and just relaxed. We ate pizza on the cliffs (yum, this foccacia flatbread with olive oil and salt was one of the best things we ate the entire trip). Then headed down the coast for our beach hopping adventure. The first beach was one with a little cave that led to another side of the beach and from there we could swim to a beauiful sea arch. This was amazing and breathtaking. I’m so glad we did this. It was one of my top highlights of the trip. I loved swimming under the arch. The water was SO cold but Tara eventually joined me. After you get numb it was no problem either way. We had a great time in the water and then we just so happened to have the cave to ourselves and so I took a million pictures of tara sitting on the rocks looking so cute and me standing in the cave. It was just so cool I couldn’t believe it. I then called these pictures the deathstar plans meaning I was so worried that I would lose them that I wanted to upload them as soon as possible!

We headed back to the car and then drove to Lidls for some snacks and then walked up and down the big beach nearby. We stopped at the sweet things snack bar which was actually delicious dinner of chicken burger and chicken toast with fresh smoothies and then it was time for our walk along the seven valleys at sunset. We got about 30 minutes in before the sunset, and it was spectacular with all sorts of purples and pinks. Best sunset of the trip, hands down. Back to the hotel where we tried to hit the pool because we had it all to ourselves (there seemed to be no one at the resort) but it was too cold to be romantic so it was back inside for us with warm showers and then snuggling in bed.

We had to get up early AGAIN on Saturday to go scuba diving. We ate our breakfast on the way. We were worried about the cold and were happy when the dive shop gave us two wet suits and a hood, booties and gloves to help keep warm. There is a LOT going on with all that stuff. I was having a hard time seeing straight. But we take the boat out and did a Giant Stride into the water. The guide looks down and was like ugh bad visibility. So we start going down the anchor line and I start freaking out because I can’t see a thing. We get to the bottom and he has to do the breathe in breathe out thing with me while I look at him because I was not okay, this is freaking me out. But I did calm down and I thought, “well this will be an experience.” And that was what it was. We didn’t see a dang thing. Not a fish. A rock would come out of nowhere and about smack us in the head. There was 0 visibility. I could see the guide’s fins and then he would disappear at the ankle. It was no good. Tara just grabbed onto the guide’s hand and hung on for dear life the whole time. We surface and I was like, “well I’m not doing the second dive if it’s like this.” Turns out I’m not the only one, we got to the top and no one wanted to do that again. It was useless some people would say. I would agree. Useless. So anyway, we went back to shore and that was it. They refunded us our dive but I liked my goggles so I asked that mine be given back in goggles and then a tip to our guide. We walked the Market along the river in downtown Lagos. It was cute. To lunch at this Cafe Family place which was so fun. The food was good and especially after you’ve been scuba diving everything tastes better. Tara had this dark chocolate hot chocolate which was like drinking a melted dark chocolate bar. It looked so good.

We went back to the room and then got ready for our next adventure, going west to Sagres. We went to the pool for a bit and and just vegged out. Diving takes it out of you. We were tired. Anyway we went to Sagres and hit the two beaches there. First on the east side where we played sand tennis (so fun) and then another beach on the West side.

Before we hit the west side we got gelato at the cutest little place. And it was the best. I had mint that had fresh mint ground up in it. Probably the best thing I’ve ever tasted. The west side was the more stunning below a huge cliff side. And it was this huge shallow beach with surfers and glassy surface so we had a blast running in the glassy surf and taking pictures and being silly. This was also one of my top things. Maybe number 4 for the list above.

We went to the cliffs above for the sunset. It was nice, but not as good as yesterday. Then to dinner at some 3 little birds that was really really good. Tara had a goat cheese salad and I had a chicken burger. The jalapeno cheese fries were a hit. Snickers cake to go. We came back and looked at pictures and ate our cake.

We noticed that we had not seen very many older people as we’d been touring around. And here’s why: Portugal is full of steep streets and about a million stairs. So, visit Portugal while you still have good knees.

Sunday was our first day we didn’t have to get up and we took advantage of it. Finally rolling out of bed like 830 we had to go quick to get to the lighthouse and make it back in time for the breakfast buffet. The lighthouse was amazing, well not really the lighthouse but the cliffs below it. This was just a 20 minute walk from our hotel. And the cliffs are so cool. There are some stairs you can take down to some and it’s just awesome. We had so many cool pictures, the one of me standing at the end is definitely one of my favorite. I wish we had more time here but it was then off to breakfast. Europe hotels just do breakfast right. Our spread was amazing. And the honeycomb. So, so good.

First stop (and really only stop) is Oxcideire which is this unique beach where the river meets the ocean. We paid 10 euro for two chairs and an umbrella. Lovely. We read our books and then I went exploring. I saw that the river was super clear and clean and it met the ocean and I thought it would make a great swimming pool. So I went and got my goggles and I started doing laps but then the current got stronger and I realized it was funner to just swim down the middle with the current so that’s what I did. Tons of fun. Some beach tennis after that, and then we packed up and hiked back up the cliff.

We had a few more things planned but we drove through our other stops, deciding instead to get to Lisbon to see if we could still buy a pastel de nata to take home for the boys. We’d make a little game out of it. We listened to podcasts and a short novel and then made it just in time to drop tara off while I checked into our fancy MYRIAD hotel which was right on the river. It was super cool and modern and we did room service and stuff but the AC wasn’t working AGAIN so we just roasted until I called someone and they finally came and got it working better. Room service was delicious, the creme brulee was excellent. 5 stars. The shower, 5 stars. View 5 stars. AC 0 stars. Didn’t sleep great and couldn’t snuggle because of heat.

Monday morning was just time for a quick breakfast and the airport. And here we are.

It was an adventure. It was maybe a little more ups and downs than I had expected but it was all worth it and so glad to do it. I really enjoyed my time with Tara. I’m glad she decided to come. I know that’s a long time to leave the boys. I really loved Portugal. Most everything about it was just great. 10/10.