As a final hurrah for our time together in Lithuania, Andrew's parents decided it would be nice to take us to a warm climate for a family vacation...and after the looong winter we'd had, we didn't complain!
The tiny coastal town of Santa Cruz, Portugal became our destination since Vicki has good
friends there that she's known since the 70's. Jose, Madelena & their son Pedro were excellent hosts & found us a modest little white stucco house to stay in only a 5 minute walk from the town center & another 3 minutes further to the beach. We had a week full of clear blue skies and temperatures in the high 70's/low 80's during the days. It was perfect!!
We did a lot of relaxing together in the walled-in patio behind our
house, but also took lots of walks around the town & to the beach. The beach at Santa Cruz is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen - surrounded by high rock walls with winding steps carved out of them, rock formations jutting out from the beach into the water with steps and small plateaus for sunning carved out, and festive red & white painted awnings over benches lining the beach for shade. The water was still a bit chilly for us to do too much swimming, although the locals didn't seem to mind!
Ieva spent one afternoon with Grandma, Grandpa & Aunt Ingrid while Andrew & I drove north to the tiny walled village of Obidos. Despite being hundreds of years old, the cobblestone streets
and castle walls have been maintained, making it a popular tourist destination. From the top of the walls, we could look out over miles of beautiful rolling farm land...helping us understand how these walls once did a perfect job of defending the castle from potential attack. On the way to Obidos, we got to drive through the Portuguese countryside - winding through lots of tiny white-washed villages, rolling green pastures speckled with old fashioned windmills and rocky hillsides. At one point we pulled the car over & hiked up and around an area spotted with caves carved out of the hills.
On another day the family went into Lisbon and did as much as we could in a day while pushing a baby. We saw the city gate with the 'Terreiro do Paco' statue, walked up & around the castle overlooking the city, and took a bus to the region of Belem where we saw the majestic statue to the famous Discoverers and ate traditional Portuguese pastries in the oldest bakery/cafe in the city which has been in operation since 1837.
The week was wonderfully relaxing & filled with fun time together as a family with lots of good memories!
...to Oregon! After a mere 48 hours in our home after returning from Portugal, we boarded a plane once again to head back to the States. We didn't even try to get Ieva adjusted to Lithuanian time again, as the biggest adjustment was ahead. Our favorite place to fly from is the tiny airport in Palanga - just a 25 minute drive from our home. It definitley beats the 3.5-hour drive to Vilnius! One of the primary destinations from Palanga is Copenhagen...who's
airport has become our new favorite since our discovery
