Lisbon

We left the northern part of Portugal, which was full of lemon and orange laden trees, beautiful scenes of homes on the very hilly terrain and warm sunshine. Our first stop was a small town way high up in the mountains. It was the town of Fatima, where a huge area of the town in the 70's was set aside to dedicate to "Our Lady of Fatima" a young girl who lived there and was said to have seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary monthly on the 13th of the month starting in May for 6 months. The whole thing was built on a shepherd's field. The area was built to the size of around 1 square km. I can't even put into words the feeling of being there. The quiet awe of people as you stand and view the area in its silence was overpowering. People would actually get down on their knees and crawl and pray down the marbled approach. G and I lit many candles and spent 2 hours walking and breathing in the positive nature of the place.
Before this area we had a session of port tasting in one of the town's port cellars. This reminded us of our taste testing of scotch that we attended once in Scotland.
We arrived in Lisbon, a beautiful city, by supper. G and I went directly to the grocery store for cereal and milk. We rested for the rest of the evening and today we had a bus tour of the city for the morning. This afternoon, after our siesta of course, we headed out and took the subway to the center of the city where we had a regional big meal for lunch. We had a lamb dish and salad which we both shared.
Tomorrow morning we head to Seville and to a traditional flamenco dance show for the evening along with an included supper. Every second night on our trip we have an included supper so it's a night of our not eating cereal.
We are now back in our hotel, way ahead of everyone usually, and having another rest before the evening. It's different for us because we are here for a longer period of time than everyone else and don't feel like we have to fit in hoards of things before we head home. The rest of the folks are scrambling to go to all the extra excursions in order to see all that they can see. The problem with that is that it turns out to cost an extra 500 euros and they end up not seeing the city we are living and staying in, but rather the stuff outside of the cities that are touristy.
I need a nap. Love to everyone.
J