LISBON - OMG!! Who knew this was such a GREAT city??? I had no idea. It is San Francisco meets Cannes. It is GORGEOUS!!

When we last left you we were in the Algarve Coast. We took off early yesterday (Monday) and headed to Evora (see Evora pictures). We hit lots of rain and it became much cooler than any of the previous weather we had. But the drive was beautiful through the lush, green Portuguese countryside. We arrived in Evora, a World Heritage walled city that has preserved much of it's Roman ruins (2nd century BC) and through the time of the Moors. Only problem when we got there was all the major sights were closed on Monday.
We got to see the sights (churches, ruins) from the outside, but nothing inside. We stopped for lunch there and Rosemary had a full carafe of Sangria!! Mary Kay couldn't drink because she was driving. We met a nice American family while we were dining from San Luis Obispo.

Once we left Evora, we had another few hours on their freeway (which costs toll $$$) and by-passed Lisbon heading straight to the town of Sintra.

SINTRA is MAGICAL (see photos under Sintra). It is a tiny town on the outskirts of Lisbon that has a number of palaces and sits high atop a mountain in a forest. Since we didn't arrive until 5pm and it was a dark and gloomy day, we really only had time to shop. It became very clear to us that we had to come back and see more of Sintra, but with such limited time, we weren't sure how.

We got to our beautiful hotel in downtown Lisbon (thanks to the Merry (mary kay) Driver, I'm Nancy the Navigator, and there's Rosemary the Reader (she reads about all the places we're heading to).

Our Hotel (Eurostar das Letras) is a beautiful 5 star hotel (very reasonable) with parking. We have been so use to lugging our own bags, parking far away, and staying in tiny rooms (ala caves) that we were SHOCKED when we checked in and were asked if we wanted them to park the car for us and bring out bags to our room!! We acted like hillbillies and were dressed like farmers feeling somewhat out of place in this fabulous hotel. However, we quickly acclimatized. Nancy learned something very important about herself - she loves 5 star hotels and hopes to never see another cave or 3 star hotel again.

It was a cool night, as we headed down Liberty Avenue to Russo sq where we had steaks done portuguese style - very good.

We told Karim at our hotel of our dilema in wanting to see all of Lisbon, go back to Sintra - but we didn't have enough time. He suggested we hire a private driver for the day which we did.

So today, our driver/guide, Pedro picked us up in a mercedes van at 9am and we didn't return til 7pm for an all day private tour. I really recommend doing this as it was fantastic with our limited time. The cost was about $125 each and here's what we did.

First Pedro took us back to Sintra. It was cool and cloudy (typical, apparently) and we climbed high up into the mountaintop where we visited Pena Palace (see Sintra photos). My God - the guy that designed this place must have been on something, it was wild, like a Disney storybook. It's from the 18th century. We went back into Sintra town and around the outskirts visiting some of the palaces and other old town areas (Hans Christian Anderson house). From here we drove to Caiscas along the coast and had a full sea bass (split between the 3 of us) that was the best I've ever eaten. The coast was beautiful and the town of Caiscas is like a mini french riviera town.

From here we went to the town of Belem on the outskirts of Lisbon. We saw Torre Belem, a tower built on the ocean (beautiful) and the Monument to the Portuguese Navigators. As well as the Jeronimo Cathedral and stopped at the famous Belem pastry shop for some incredible pastries.

From here Pedro drove us back into Lisbon stopping in the old town and St Maria Cathedral. Eventually we made our way back to our hotel where we are now sitting in the bar drinking wine and reliving a truly fabulous day.

I know I missed many things that Pedro pointed out that we would never have seen on our own, there was just too many things to remember.

We cannot believe Lisbon and Portugal are not more popular to visit then they are. First off, the weather here is like San Diego (when we use to have nice weather) - not too hot, not too cold. They have cable cars and a bridge that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge, everyone is very friendly and the prices are so low (compared to Spain and other parts of Europe).

Tomorrow we are up early and off to other parts of Portugal as we make our 250 mile drive to Salamanca, back to Spain. MORE LATER.