Lisbon

Mia writes: We made our way to Portugal and discovered a beautiful town called Sintra. We really enjoyed what we saw of this magical town on our way to Almaa hostel. Dad and I went on a run in the morning to explore, the hostel had big beautiful gardens that reminded us of the ones at Holly Hock on Cortes. We visited a Moorish castle that snaked it way along the top of a mountain and had the best view of the town. The castle wall had an escape route that was a small door leading to the outside jungle-like hill. We went to a Monastery that had cork covering the walls which made good insulation as the Monastery was built right into the rocks. The monks who had lived there were committed to having as little impact on the environment as possible. The doors were so small even I had to duck to go into rooms! The rooms were so small most of them were just 1 by 1 and half meters. I found the kitchen quite interesting there was small stone sinks and a bread oven. There were many cubby holes and a window to pass food through into the dining area. The dining area itself was just a slab of stone for a low table and also was very small, perhaps 2 by 4 meters at most. The place magical and we had it entirely to ourselves except for a pond that was full of fish, frog and tad poles hiding under the leaves. The frogs jumped off the rocks as we came near and otherwise were still and camouflaged so that you barely noticed them. We made our way Lisbon where one of the first stops to get ourselves a Pasteis de Belem at the famous bakery which has been selling these warm little flakey custard tarts since 1837. Supposedly the recipe is under lock and key. The pastries come with little sachets of sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top. They were extraordinarily delicious. We went to listen to some Fado music in a small smoky bar in an old part of town. The singers were old Portuguese men who sang late into the night. We were very lucky to get a seat in the packed bar that was overflowing with people even onto the street outside. Fado music are sad songs song about Portuguese sailors leaving home and heading out to sea. We took an ancient trolly cart down steep winding lanes that took us to a giant flea market. The trolly cars are over a hundred years old n a beautiful shade of yellow. We visited the Monastery of Jeronimos. King Manuel had this giant church and it’s cloisters built using pepper money. Sailors would spend there last night in prayer before heading out on their voyages. These cloisters were very different from the modest monastery we had just seen in Sintra. After spending 4 days relaxing on beaches in Portugal we came to the small town of Los Villalones outside of Ronda to house sit and care for four cats named Sophie, Tabitha, Grizelda (which means grey battle) and Mariah. Visiting Ronda we saw it’s famous bull ring and the “new” bridge that was built in 1793. Ronda hangs perched on the top of a big cliff and gorge that drops down more then a 170 meters. Ruben writes: this past week has been pure bliss, First of all: Portugal. Portugal is beautiful especially Sintra. Sintra looks very much like a big tropical rain forest with old ruin and winding roads. We stayed in what is probably my favorite hostel so far! The Almaa Sintra hostel, it reminded me a lot of Cortes it smelt like one of my favorite places on there and it had that “new age” look about it, all Zen like. One of the best parts of the hostel was that it backed right on to a medieval reservoir fed by a spring that had once been visited by royalty. It would have been AWESOME to swim in this pool of water in the summer. We looked around and walked the beautiful streets. While we were there we saw a really cool Moorish castle on top of a mountain that had an eagle-eye-panoramic view of Sintra. There was also an amazing cork Monastery that looked like a wee dwarf hut because of how low the doorways were and small and cramped the rooms were. We all stooped low as we stepped in each room or cell. The Franciscan friars carved the chapel, also insulated with cork, out of solid rock. As we drove back across the border between Spain and Portugal we saw an many amount Olive and Almond and cork tree orchards by the motor-way. As we came to our house sit in the very very small village of Los Villalones I could tell that I would be happy there as soon as I saw the pool. We introduced ourselves to the lovely couple and in exchange they introduced us to their four cats. Sophie: 17 years of age, nice Tabitha (nick name Tibbles): tabby, a little scared of us Grezelda (name means “gray battle”: grey (obviously) Marihah: Likes to run around outside. We settled into our “new home” and watched the film Johnny English. Mia and I decided to set up a romantic night for mom and dad, we cooked dinner for them, we set up romantic candles and served them, we cleaned up the kitchen for them we even made their bed for them, and you know what they repaid us with? A bunch of math the next day. Well that’s it for this week. Your awesomely-pro student, Ruben

Learning about poetry in Portugal.

Funky streets at night.

The ever so hip Lisbon Calling Hostel.

Florbell Espanca. Poet 1894-1930

I dream I am the chosen Poet,
Who knows all there is to know on Earth,
The one whose inspiration’s pure and perfect,
And captures infinity in a verse!

I dream a verse of mine has all the brightness
To light the whole world! And it will please
Even those who long and die of sadness!
And even wise, unhappy souls it will appease.

Lots of history!

Huge flea market

Mia is sick of smiling for the camera!

It is believed that pastéis de nata were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery of Belém, in Lisbon. The Casa Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon was the first place outside the convent selling the original creamy dessert, after the monastery was closed in 1820s, and there they are called pastéis de Belém, after the name of the area and its famous bakery. Since 1837, locals have gone there to get them warm out of the oven and sprinkled with the cinnamon and powdered sugar. These are very popular, with take-away clients sometimes waiting in lines that extend outside.

free and fantastic Fado music in a smokey bar in Lisbon (the kids are troopers!)

These are the very same treats from one of our favorite picture books (below)!
I have been looking for them for ages. They are served for tea in the book Sally's Secret and when I was little we had them very occasionally and we felt so special to eat the exact ones pictured on the pages.