Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon was a great last town to visit - click here for the pics...

PS - the eagle has landed... for now!

Algarve, Portugal

Portimao is on the southern coast of Portugal. The beaches are the most beautiful we have seen so far. The rock formations that have been worn away over the last 30 million years are gorgeous. There are many caves, private beaches and wide open sand to explore. The ocean looks tropical - green and blue. We have been able to hear the roar of the ocean from our room and from every beach restaurant. This is an amazing destination to relax and chill out since the month of March has been so tough for us. :)

We have walked along the beach each night to dinner no need for any other form of transport. Last night we did venture out into the little town of Alvor for dinner. The town had many beach side restaurant and what looked like a fun bar scene. We would highly recommend this as a great destination to hang out and take in some fresh fish! Portugal also has been one of the most economical of our destinations, always a nice bonus... :)

It should be mentioned the caves and private beaches do have their down falls. We were
unfortunate enough to see a lot of skin and it was unpleasant. D was taking a video of cave exploration and it came to a very aburpt ending - see video.Thankfully this wasn't as bad as it could have been - which we had the bad luck of experiencing in other countries (Greece, France)...

For Portugal coastal pictures click here...

Sevilla, Spain

We arrived in Seville hoping to find more Spanish culture; without a doubt this city is alive and ready for a party. Between the tapas bars on every corner, huge bull ring in the center of old town and flamenco dresses hanging out of almost every store the culture can not be missed. This is the perfect time to hit Seville. The Easter week celebration is huge here as well as the April bull fights so our timing was perfect. The city has lots of tourists but they don't over power the strong local felling of the city.

We hit the highlights the Real Alcazar and the Cathedral y Giralda. After Rome we did not

think a Cathedral could wow us but we were wrong. The sculptures and shear size of the Cathedral is sight that should not be missed. The palace and gardens at Real Alcazar were extraordinary and made for a cool escape within the city.

This is a place you could easily spend a week just checking out different parts of the city.

For more pictures from Sevilla, click here...

Grenada, Spain

Heading north to Grenada definitely changed our impression of Spain.  After seeing the coast (which was beautiful), it was time to get a little Spanish culture.  Grenada was a great starting place for that.  

From Grenada you can see the Sierra Nevada mountains and you can definitely tell that the weather there is affected by proximity to these mountains.  We hit the highlights here - the Alhambra and the main cathedral in the heart of town.  Again, the Cathedral just blew us away, with its unique style and architecture.  The Alhambra had a line t

hat ensured we won't be taking children to Disney World anytime soon - this is not a walk up and "wing it" destination.  We learned that the hard way...  

The Alhambra's strategic military location offered stellar views of Grenada below and the mountains to the East.  This city had a great cafe/bar culture with lots of folks hanging out in squares enjoying the best Grenada to offer.  This is a destination to bring your Patience and expect to find things out on your own - ie they lack signs for basic things around the exhibits.  We came across several Norwegian and English families who expressed their disappointment with the organization of these exhibits.  

This was a trip highlight and certainly a worthwhile audible.  For a link to more Grenada pictures click here....  

Costa del Sol, Spain

After our snowy adventures in France we caught an Easy Jet flight down to the southern coast of Spain. To start with, there was nothing really easy about it. We flew out of Geneva on Easter Sunday thinking that no one would be at the airport – think again. By the time we returned the rental car we quickly realized that we were right in the middle of spring break for every family in the US, UK, France, Switzerland and Spain. The Geneva airport just wasn’t ready for it – people people people were sprawled out all over the floor throughout the terminal.

After a good test of patience waiting for the plane to arrive, we finally departed for Spain. EasyJet is a European version of Southwest, so the 50 families with kids boarded before us and we were about the last 10 people to board for open seating. No seats together but somehow we both got aisles. K picked the wrong seat, as a couple seating next to her took the next 2 hours to practice their affection towards each other. Unreal! This is the second time this has happened to K during our travels if this occurs again I am afraid she will be unable to keep silent.

The coast of Spain brought us sunshine, great views, sandy beaches, but other then that we were somewhat disappointed with how commercial the area is. There were many English speaking establishments and at times it almost seemed as if Espanol was the second language. We were warned by many this part of Spain did not provide the true Spain experience but the sun and sea drew us here anyway. We would not recommend this region if you are looking for a true Spain adventure.

All of that said our hotel was a lovely escape from the surrounding area. It sits directly on the beach with a lovely pool and great places to have breakfast and lounge about. It is a small boutique beach house with only ten rooms, if in the area we would highly recommend "The Beach House".

After a couple days we took a voyage down to Gibraltar. It made for some cool views of Africa and unbelievable wind, but we were really surprised by the amount of building on this small territory. The area is flooded with dozens of 10 story mid-rises which eliminate any chance of a waterfront view for much of the residents.

For a few more pictures of southern Spain take a look here...

Saint Amour, France

If you have any plans to visit central France this year, please reach out to us - we found an ultimate getaway. Tucked away near the Jura mountains and south of Burgundy wine country, we spent our Easter weekend at a 12th Century French Chateau. It was incredible. We'll let pictures do most of the talking, but we should note that we had 60 degree weather when we arrived and 6 inches of snow the following morning. We couldn't believe it, as we saw people on the French coast in bikinis almost 36 hours before...
This place is an absolute fairytale and we could not have loved staying here more!

For some more views of the chateau, click here.

Lyon, France

As we headed north for the French countryside we had heard great things about Lyon and decided to make a night of it. The drive from the Cote d'Azur to Lyon was beautiful and it really surprised us how desert-like the southern part of France seemed (think SW USA). About half of our drive was chasing a massive sunset, we saw the sunset behind about 10 different hills/ mountains. The second half of the drive was in darkness and we were not looking forward to it. Turns out the drive at night was beautiful, as many of the chateaus and churches in small towns were all lit up. If our conversation topics were running dry these sites kept us both entertained.

We hit Lyon too late at night to capitalize on the restaurants we'd heard so much about, but the next day we definitely got a taste of Lyon. Every day near the rivers (Rhone & Saone) locals flood the farmers markets, where we saw some of the freshest food thus far in Europe. The only part that might have outdone these farmers were their baking counterparts in old town. It seems that the boulangeries and patisseries take every other storefront in Lyon.

Just when we thought we could be "churched out" from touring so many religious houses, Lyon presented a true gem - Notre Dame de Fourviere. The level of detail inside this church may have out done most of the churches we've seen. About 15 college students were there to sketch different parts of the inside decor, which was a cool way to see others admiring the architecture. Note: This church should be on everyones to do list in Lyon, it is worth all the stair climbing we promise.

For more shots from the day in Lyon, click here...