The red eye only let's the experienced traveler sleep well.
Arriving in Lisbon as their football team had just won the Euro gave to us a city full of excitement and, unfortunately, an airport with an extremely long line for the taxi. So many fans still wearing their jerseys and some even with their faces painted or perhaps never washed from the night before. It seemed as if every other taxi was bleeting their horn at each jersey wearing fan as if to declare to them how they too were a fellow patriot. It is worth noting that this is the first time portugal has won any such title and this would become very obvious on the smiles from each citizen throughout the stay in the city.
Thankfully the taxi we received was not one that was over eager to celebrate the victory. The concern being that it was too much energy for one to handle after surviving the past 10 hours stuffed into a seat not meant for average American sized bodies. The regret is that perhaps that energy would have awoken something and negated any tiredness from us. It is also worth mentioning that the Portuguese sports fan is polite and very dissimilar to the American fan who may have a desire to burn couches or overturn cars as Americans do when celebrating their victory. It really is a sense of national pride from these fans that can often be spotted wearing their flag as a cape.
Checking into our hotel introduced us to a soft spoken desk clerk who quickly apologized for his hoarse voice in a thick portuguese accent, "I apologize, but our team has just won a great victory, perhaps the best ever or the only one I may see in my life. I was up late celebrating this victory. "
The room for us was not quite ready yet so we were shown to the rooftop terrace with a wonderful view where we sipped champagne and port wine. Both of those were given to us as by the celebrating desk clerk. One of us with sun glasses and the other squinting, we waited and basked in what seemed to be the best sunshine we'd ever felt. After several photos were taken of the wide mouthed Tagus river we decided to walk the city to keep ourselves awake. That view from the terrace, the sunshine, the fresh air, it was all too relaxing for those that had not slept in over 24 hours.
As we attempted to slip out the front door of the hotel, we discovered our room was ready and were shown the details. One such detail was a cord beside the shower that we were informed is not used to turn on the shower head, but is instead used to call the front desk. If we pull it once they will call and if we do not answer they will come to our rescue. If we continue to pull it mistakenly, well, we are not certain since a thick Portuguese accent made a joke at which we all laughed because he was laughing and smiling. Regardless of the joke, each time I glanced at it during each shower I smiled.
At this point it seems most simple, but sleep and hunger were ringing loudly to us both. It may seem as if hunger won since we made the decision to find a quick café for lunch, but it was more that we did not want hunger to later interrupt our much needed rest.
Choosing a random direction and walking towards anywhere yielded so much to see, including four bakeries, but none of them offered that quick bite that was sought. After passing several places "too nice for now," we entered one that was fine because it was in front of us. It was a bakery with sandwiches and a line of people standing at the display cases sipping espresso as they waited to take our orders.
Quickly choosing a table and figuring out the order of operations two grilled sandwiches were made and devoured as we sat envying how everyone around us ordered food more appealing including two French women with a ham and cheese croissant and some kind of sought after pastry. In the back corner was the object of everyone's attention, a TV showing a live feed of their team returning on a plane. To see this TV required me to twist uncomfortably in my chair, but watching the faces of each person staring I'd turn often enough to see why they smiled. It was the longest and most uneventful series of pictures spinning through nothing but a plane landing and yet everyone was watching as if it were the Apollo moon landing. This excitement hid that we were too exhausted to speak to each other while we ate and stared with a city in awe.
Upon finishing our quick bite, the decision to sleep was quickly unanimous. Hurrying through streets we returned to our room.
We were sleeping off our jet lag in our room when I remember repeatedly hearing my name spoken. Eventually responding to my brand new wife's direction I stumbled to answer the knock at the door. She was holding a tray of fresh fruit and champagne from the wonderful staff with a handwritten note letting us know they are there if we need anything at all. After letting her into the room she was placing the chilled bottle upon the table when I finally became coherent enough to realize I was standing there in my underwear. She hurriedly finished, apologizing as she left the room. It was such a nice and welcomed gesture that we would enjoy after a few more hours of sleep.
Waking in a foreign city, not having read the guide books that would detail every aspect of how to travel and what to see, smiling at being so very far from the responsibility of life and wondering what local cuisine would be available. It is such a fantastic feeling to know so little and have an unopened map set before you.
To be honest, a quick scan of the guidebook would explain the city layout to at least give a direction. There is no sense in being completely blind and without direction. Nearby was a monastery that was the first brewery in the city dating several hundred years. As good a place to start as any.
Quickly one learns that before most meals dried codfish bites are placed on a table in Portugal. You can choose not to eat these, but it was new food that needed to be experienced. I'd learn after a couple days that not all codfish are created equal and these first bites were almost awful enough to give up on any others. Dried and salty so that the mixed in fish was hard to chew and the seasoning worse than store bought pre-mixed spices for the novice cook. Clearly they had lost the recipe in this monastery turned restaurant so many years ago and none of those that make them bother to taste them any longer.
On to better choices, this was the first brewery and the beer ranging from a pilsner to a dark was most delicious and highly ranked. This was a mystery quickly solved though as the monastery no longer brewed beer and this was a national beer. So left with cod bites most unwelcome and beer, while good, it was not native to the location and we wondered what could redeem this place and salvage our evening. That was the manteiga, Portuguese for butter. This was our first introduction the richness of the local butter. Spread across dry bread and even used to moisten and improve those nasty imposters of codfish, the butter in Lisbon is first rate.
We finished with a paella Marisco that offered me the task of removing heads and feet from completely whole shrimp for her to enjoy. The server had to wonder why I left the shells hidden behind the pot instead of on the dish for the discarded husks. It was well known between us that during dinner no eyes should be watching her eat except for mine. The paella was full of a few distinct flavors from cilantro to seafood to onion. It was well received and allowed us to accept the flawed codfish.
Exiting once dinner was concluded and paid, we were free to wander.
Breakfast was inspired. Fresh cheeses, pink sausages, jams, honey on fresco cheese. Orange juice fresh and delicious. A full cup of coffee and a pitcher just for me. There was so much from which to choose including fresh sliced fruit that can only be so fresh in a climate so warm.
Our sites ranged from the jeronimo monastery, the Belém Tower, São Jorges castle, and the loosely cobbled streets in between. The view from the castle showed off a panoramic view of all of Lisbon and was made even better drinking wine sold from a tiny cart labelled, "Wine with a View." The view inside of the monastery was as you'd expect, but the small craft beer cart selling off flavored beer was tiny and fun. The tower helped us envision the past and also yield some tourist badges to make it feel like a vacation.
Port Wine Institute.
Our last night in Lisbon we promised each other to dine at a place we'd missed out on the night before since they were booked full with reservations. The streets are full of common Portuguese fair and this one swore to be more
Plane to Madrid. Arrived at the airport too early, like four hours too early.
Landing in madrid we waited for the luggage, which appeared surprisingly fast. Quickly lifting the larger bag of her belongings resulted in a broken handle on borrowed luggage.
The taxi line was short and sweet, a welcomed relief after lisbon.
We knew madrid was meant to be a short stop. It had to be seen, but such a large city had more party than us.
The hotel was again wonderfully selected. The staff had a sense of humor. The room had wooden beams. They showed us each detail of the room including how to open and close the sun roof. A large spacious bed. No balcony, but a view of nearby rooftops. This room was very romantic and quite fantastic. Being that we were on the fifth floor we had no worries of sins keeping us up at night and smiled at each other.
For dinner we found an article on the 10 best tapas restaurants in Madrid. One of then had great pictures online and was a short walk from our hotel. We'd head there after a short nap.
Madrid was much warmer than Lisbon. Perhaps the lack of the sea breeze that constantly blew through the streets of Lisbon was the difference. Even though it was so much warmer it felt still cool enough to dress up for a nice dinner. It was a dry heat.
We entered the restaurant, which was decorated such and filled with diners to give the sense that we had made a good choice of venue. A trendy young girl in red glasses spoke to us in English asking if we had reservations. It would have been nice to be mistaken for natives, but perhaps our travels to this point had made us unable to setup the pretense. No worries though as she was wonderfully polite and when we said we lacked reservations she'd set us up at the bar.
After three nights and days there could be no better place to dine. We'd listen to the serving staff instead of each other for a change and feel the vibe of this place.
The menu given to us was in Spanish. We had either fooled the bartender or just became the other end of a joke. Either way, we used their wifi connection to translate the menu one dish at a time. Descriptions of food are seldom in the guide books. Obscure preparations and herbs combinations are not something you'd think to memorize. If you order the wrong meal you have an adventure; whereas, if you tell the taxi the wrong choice of words you end up sweating and miserable add you lug your bags around aimlessly.
Wonderful meal. Each dish was fantastic and proved you could have ordered blindly or at least without knowing the details of the menu and still receive a good meal.
After some fun with staff they asked what brought us to madrid. After stating that we were on our honeymoon the playful girl popped a half bottle of champagne, shouted congratulations and poured two glasses faster than we knew what was happening. They really were happy or at least fooled us and showed us a fantastic evening.
We returned to the hotel, looking forward to sleeping soundly in our room. The fact that the restaurants didn't open until 8:30 justified our nap. We learned soon how well sound travels five stories and listened to street revelers enjoy the night. It was the very early morning before that noise died down and a baby in another room wailed nonstop to the point and length that we began wondering if the parents had abandoned the child. After four hours of the screaming child we decided to head of to breakfast and mention it to the staff. While we prepared to leave the noise went silent, though we were already dressed so off we went.
The online reviews had raved about the hotel breakfast so we were eager and hungry. It was difficult not to prepare it to how wonderful the Lisbon breakfast had been, but we did as humans are wont to do. There was more choice, but less beauty in this meal. The cheeses were arranged according to text book layouts, the honey was contained in individual packets instead of a large jar with a honey stick. The cappuccino lacked the human touch. Breakfast was delicious and by any standards fantastic. It wasn't lisbon though, but we chose to not think of that and to just enjoy.
We headed to the Prado to wait in the ticket line. I could have planned better, but it was not foremost on my mind with all of the wedding plans. The line was not too long, but today was hotter than yesterday and had we known then it was much cooler than many of the following days we'd have not been bothered. As it was, we waited claiming shade in the line when we could.
Sculptures, paintings. The drowning dog, religious art, El bosco exhibit that we skipped since it required waiting in another line. Before starting our tour we ate lunch in the Prado café to avoid getting hangry while looking at the exhibits. Chicken, beans, gazpacho, and salad. The one exhibit was the living garden which was a large room of rotating art that played Floydish style music.
After a long day and feeling full of culture we felt the need to shower. After a shower, we obviously napped after a quick discussion that we needed to try Spanish pizza for scientific reasons.
After finding an appropriate pizza menu online and getting ready for a night out we sought out the adddress and Spanish pizza.
An in depth study of the menu lead us to choose the namesake pie, the Marissa y Linda. It had… we also ordered fresh ravioli shrimp pasta. This place absolutely nailed the crust.
After several glasses of wine we headed to bed in order to get up at 6 am for our first train ride.
Seville has tiny streets. Our taxi left us a couple blocks from the hotel. We understood since we didn't think those streets could accommodate cars. They did and sometimes they barely had room for people.
We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed to explore some and find some lunch. We came across an exhibit were the artist hid the tower of seville in mousy of his paintings. They had a game where you could find the tower in each painting. We ate lunch. A cold beer was delicious, a pilsner.
Our hotel was warm, seville was warm. The ac in the room rarely could get below 21. The door to the bathroom was hung incorrectly. The shower head a temperature setting, which might be nice unless you wanted to take a cold shower after walking all day since you couldn’t turn on just cold water. The wifi coverage only came to the bathroom and half the room. This would lead to standing by the door to read the news while she got ready.
The hotel had a pool.
The first night we saw a flamenco show. Met 3 British women with wonderful senses of humor. The room was hot.
We overslept and missed breakfast. Most likely solo recovering from waking up at 6 am the day before. We sought out a café with coffee and pastries. Salt and sugar. Then we walked around following a rick steves walking tour on what was the hottest day yet and saw alcazar. We bought the tickets online. While waiting we walked to see the bull ring since we would not get to see one since it was the off season. They are apparently only in Madrid on Sundays and seville in different seasons.
Before returning to the room we stopped at a cotton aire store and bought some shirts that would be more comfortable in the heat. Headed back to the room and then planned the next day before a nap and dinner.
Waking for breakfast, then the aire spa, nap, then wine and tapas tour at 8:30. Orange wine.
We awoke at 9, had breakfast and headed to the train station by taxi for our trip to granada by both train and bus. Half the track was under construction.
10 years later
I remember her asking, what are you doing, what are you writing? These words left off at granada where our room had a tub made competely of stone. It was larger than a coffin but in it I soaked living everything in knew which was really just you. The room and those thereafter lacked doors and privacy like a metaphor for life.
The quickest and easiest is Alhambra. The thing that stuck most was a thing called meat pie. You see, Granada had quite the past and the food is quite diverse in at least the range our difference we had.
Barcelona
Our room was at the swankiest of hotels. Everyone was beautiful and the beach was nearby. It had been almost two weeks and we were exhausted. We decided to sit upping the beach and relax which is really what we planned from the start.
There was the at museum that I've since seen in pictures. It was one of a kind and all full of disorder. We have a picture from it that still hangs by our door. It's yellow and tiny and a room quite appealing.
Today
I could retell those memories but that's not where I am. I'm in love so much with this girl I once met over 10 years ago. Now we have children and we need a nap now more than we ever did. Those moments we had are pictures on our wall, the live flower in a vase on a hill we climbed some late night so many years ago. The strangers we once were to the partners we now are.
I see her like no other as we hold hands and watch our children's lives grow. Each moment I remember and each second I love, mostly due to this girl's most wonderful smile. It has me and holds me and I'd have no other. She has my heart for now and forever.
I could fill in the blanks left from there to here but mostly you'd realize it's the same old story. I love my wife and our entire complete life. She's the better of me with all of her heart. That heart that is so big, the biggest of all. Ten years goes by so fast.
