Month: October 2019

After that long drive, we got to Óbidos (or really Arelho, a small town outside Óbidos), our host being very friendly, gave us a tour of the house. 3 Bedrooms, 2 with doubles, and one with 2 singles. Nate and I shared the singles room. The next day, I think, we went to Nazaré, because the waves were looking better that day than any other. The waves were 5-ish meters. It was really cool watching big waves crash into the headland and spraying way up. That was a great day out. We also went to Peniche and ran around the dunes for a while.

Unfortunately we are only here for 2 weeks and 5 of those 14 days dad had to go to Washington DC for work. While he was away Mom, Ben, Nate, and I went to the lagoon of Óbidos. It was crazy. There was a maybe 20ish meter gap between sandbars that all the tide water had to get through, because that was the only gap and it is a lagoon at low tide and and inlet at high tide. Anyway we got there and the tide was going out and the waves were coming in. The whole channel was about 1.5 meters deep, but it got that deep in about the same distance.(How I know how deep it was I will tell in a minute) The channel was going fast too. As fast as I can run. How I know how deep it was is because someone waded across it. There were a lot of fishermen out on the sandbar. I do not know why, but there were maybe 15 of them out there. Presumably good fishing.

Other days out include:

A day to Lourinhã dino museum

A day to Sintra, to a Castle of the Moors, and Monserrate palace and gardens

Our day out to Sintra was rather wet and foggy. We got a little lost on the one-way, one-lane, twisty narrow roads in the rain, and as we weren’t even really sure where we were going, it was an interesting day! We ended up visiting Monserrate and, after some breathtaking and angst-inducing roads, we also stopped to explore Castelo dos Mourinhos. The gardens at Monserrate were lush and exotic, the building richly ornamented, and at Castelo dos Mourinhos, the ruins were fascinating and the views were amazing. Despite the weather, it was a great day!

Just some views around our little village. Cork trees everywhere, walking a trail behind our house, the view of the beach we visited yesterday from the church on the hill (whose bells play a tune every 15 minutes all day long), narrow streets and tight corners. Studying at sunset on the patio.

Dinosaur Parque Lourinhã — silly selfie points and no smoking signs, big dinosaur models and occasional references to Jurassic Park. We enjoyed ourselves but it wasn’t quite as interesting as we had hoped, given that this is a serious fossil-finding location. There was a lab where paleontologists were examining fossils behind a screen so we could watch for a bit, and some good info about fossils in the area, but the park itself was perhaps geared for a younger audience. Fun day out though, even if two of them did get eaten by a shark. Or was it a megalodon?

Today the boys and I went to the beach. This is the south side of the Lagoa de Óbidos. The sand is beautiful, the water is clear, and the currents are amazing to watch. The shape of the water and the sand just keeps changing. We didn’t swim, Nate and Tim just played in the sand and paddled a bit, while Ben mostly just sat and read. Out on the Atlantic side people were fishing.

We went to Peniche on Monday, a peninsula where there’s an old fort and some fascinating rock formations.

Then on Tuesday we enjoyed a leisurely walk around Óbidos, the medieval walled city, including a short section on the wall which is a bit nerve wracking with no safety rails!

And of course, we’re also hanging out at home and doing schoolwork.

We dropped Eric off at the airport yesterday for a short work trip to Washington DC, he’ll be back on Sunday.

So what was my last update? Oh yes the Paris Trip! But this one is going to be about Portugal! So when we left Chevanceaux I was kinda sad. But I cheered up when I thought about a new country! Yay. Whooo.

But for the first drive I think we had to drive 5 hours? We stayed in a hotel for the night and then the next day there was a buffet breakfast and then we left. We drove for 13 hours!!!! Taking breaks of course! When we finally got there we had a very nice host named ‘Graça’ who gave us a nice tour of the house. The next day we went to Nazaré.

The beach at Nazaré has some huge waves! Today’s weren’t the biggest but it was still impressive, and there were surfers out there to watch. Pics don’t really show the size of the waves but it was an absolutely beautiful day.

We drove home along the coast road and noticed a lot of these round towers (perhaps former windmills? the boys thought they looked like gun towers!). Whateer their original use, many appear to have been converted to homes. We stopped for ice cream in São Martinho do Porto, a really cute little port town.

From Chevanceaux to Óbidos. A stop over in Donostia-San Sebastian.

On Wednesday we said goodbye to Mairead, and James, Finley, Isaac, and Ruby. Mairead came over to help finish the lemon tart I made two days previous, which everyone ,but Ben, enjoyed. (He thought it tasted metallic).

We got on the road at 5:20, and went to about 7:30, then we stopped for an hour, ate a pasta salad we had prepared for dinner, and then continued on till about 10:00 when we stopped at a B&B Hotel in Donostia-San Sebastian for the night. That was about 350 km covered that night. We woke up at 7:00 and got a buffet breakfast (have I mentioned I love buffet breakfasts? [So much chocolate stuff!])!

We hit the road at 8:10, and drove for a couple hours, when, for a toll, we slowed down and the trailer started squeaking. Mom and Dad fiddled with the brake and it fixed it for the time being. Another couple hours later, we checked on it again and it was squeaking, but they fiddled with the brake and it was fixed again. This happened several times more and every time it was fixed with a quick fiddle of the brakes. At round 1:00, we stopped at a motorway services station and grabbed a few long thin breads that do not deserve the name ‘Baguettes’. Continuing along we got to Portugal. Portugal is hillier than most of the part of Spain that we had driven through, and greener. We stopped for dinner (just sandwiches) eventually. After 12 hours of driving that day, and 891kms, we had finally reached Óbidos. Our house. I’ll explain why that says 11h 20 min and I said that just the second day took 12 hours — we take 50% longer than Google’s estimate, because of the trailer.

Yesterday we made it a little past the French/Spanish border. Parts of that drive were really quite dramatic! We stayed in a hotel in Donostia San Sebastian, got up early and availed of the buffet breakfast (the kids love these breakfasts and eat *so* much!), then started driving south west. From mountainous to plains, and back to mountains, it was an interesting drive. We saw a herd of wild boar in one place.

After an epic 12.5 hour travel day (with only short toilet/fuel/food stops), we made it to our house in Óbidos, Portugal. It got dark in the last half hour and started to rain, so other than the well-lit castle, we have no idea what’s around us. The inside of the house is lovely though, and the car and trailer are safely parked. Apart from a little bit of moaning of boredom, the kids were really great in the car. Kindles are brilliant! 

We have two weeks to explore this area!