DAY 203 - Can we See America From Portugal?

Oct 8 - "Romeo, Romeo" - I, Juliette, Finally Performs!

Our last couch surf hosts, Kirsten and Jens were great!  Their flat was very nice and we were so comfortable there.  It was a shame that we were only there two nights.  They suggested that we go outside the city for a nice train ride and then on an excursion to Cabo da Roca and Sintra.  More about that later.

Their back patio was just lovely with lots of plants and trees.

I LOVED this tree - it was really different!

A cute kitchen here in Lisbon.

Getting ready to take off for the day!

This was our couch/bed for a couple of nights.

Gee...surprise!  surprise!  Working on my blog!

Tickets for the antique trolley cars...old old!

Along the Atlantic Ocean the train drives.

Cabo da Roca (Cape Roca) is a cape which forms the westernmost extent of mainland Portugal and continental Europe.  Cabo da Roca is the place "where the land ends and the sea begins."

 

There is a neat legend about the rocks here...I guess we should always obey the gods.

The lighthouse was built in 1772.

It's a long way down there.  We climbed over a wall to be here, so that's where we ate our sack lunch.

I looked hard across the horizon and I caught a glimpse of America!!  j/k

We got a bus and went to the village of Sintra.  Its spectacular setting, 28km from Lisbon, houses a Royal Palace, used by generations of Portuguese royalty prior to the 1910 revolution. The surrounding hills are surmounted by the remains of the Moorish Castle and by the nineteenth-century Pena Palace.

It was crazy driving in and through the city - so close to the buildings.

Such a beautiful mural!

I FINALLY get to portray Juliet from this window!   So excited!

On our last full tourist day, I just HAD to find a way to go up into the Juliette window and be filmed "Romeo, Romeo...."  So - I went inside the shoppe below and in my broken Spanish, which the Portughese lady kind of understood, I asked her if she knew who lived upstairs.  She said she did and excused herself, leaving me alone in the shoppe.  she was so very trusting.  She came back a few minutes later and told me to go up the stairs and meet a wonderful lady who owned the building.

This lady was so kind to let me into her apartment. 

As I made the first video, some men from across the street started yelling out and really playing to me, so then I did a second video, which I enjoyed playing back at the men.  I will post these videos on the next blog.

We didn't make it to Verona, Italy, so this was the next best thing.  AND - we didn't have long lines to go up onto the terrace.  Yeah!  I was so very happy!  I just wish I had rehearsed what to sing and/or say.  Oh well!  The reason for the 2nd take was after I discovered they were watching, I had to play to them even more.  I know....I'm crazy and YES children - you're glad you weren't there because you would be so embarrassed.  HA!  This video will be posted right after this one.

"Romeo, Romeo...wherefore art thou Romeo?"

We walked around and took in as much as we could with this small town of Sintra...lots of history.

The legend of the Rooster of Barcelos tells the story of a dead rooster's miraculous intervention in proving the innocence of a man who had been falsely accused and sentenced to death.  According to the legend, silver had been stolen from a landowner in Barcelos, and the inhabitants of that city were looking for the criminal who had committed the crime. One day, a man from neighboring Galicia turned up and became suspect, despite his pleas of innocence. The Galician swore that he was merely passing through Barcelos on a Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to complete a promise..

Read here to know the rest of the Rooster Legend.  There are Roosters EVERYWHERE!!

The Moorish Castle was beautiful from afar - history galore!

Some fun animals that were in a park.  There were about a dozen of them and I had fun posing by each one.  Unfortunately, I had bought a cute tablecloth with the Legend of the Cock on it, set the bag down, and forgot it.  Hopefully someone found it that really enjoyed it!  :(

HELP!  This giraffe is eating my hat!

Roasting chestnuts...we had some in Turkey earlier in March - YUM!

Thanks to our hosts from Lisbon - such great hospitality!

 What a great 7 months we had in Europe!  Tomorrow we leave to fly make to America!   Don't miss a couple more posts of "People of Europe" - "Cats and More" - "European Bathrooms".   Can you imagine all the different bathrooms from 35 countries??  I also have some more videos to post.