Family Vacation in Portugal

In my last blog, I told you about my visit to the Leipzig Book Fair. The fair was great for learning and having fun. I talked with other young authors and Cosplayers. We also promoted my book, “Joey trifft die Zahnfee.” If you missed this adventure, click here to read it. Today, I will tell you about our family vacations in Portugal.  

Let me start by sharing some interesting facts about Portugal. Geography: It is a small coastal country in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Small but with 850 km (1115 miles) of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, there are plenty of beaches to enjoy with the family!!!! Yuppy. Portugal has two archipelagos: the Azores and Madeira. Do you know what an archipelago is? An archipelago is a group of islands close together in a sea or ocean. Sometimes the islands are near each other, and other times they are farther apart. Similar to Hawaii or the Bahamas. Archipelagos: The Azores have 9 islands. They are located between Europe and North America. The Madeira Archipelago has only 4 islands and is located 500 km (311 miles) from the coast of Africa. That is far away from Portugal. Weather: hot summers and rainy, windy winters. Language: Portuguese. But many people speak English, French, German, and Spanish. Public Transportation: Trains, trams, buses, taxis, and funiculars. Portugal is known for its “azulejos.” Azulejos are painted ceramic tiles. You find azulejos everywhere!  

Now I will tell you about our family vacation. Dad rented a car, and we visited several cities. I wrote about many adventures in my Traveling Journal. Sooooo because there were so many, today I will tell you about one of my favorite cities: Lisbon. It is the largest city and the capital. We first visited the famous St. George Castle (“Castelo De São Jorge”), built on the tallest hill of Lisbon. The castle has eleven towers. Wow! It was amazing to walk along the castle walls, take pictures of the city and the sea. After walking on the walls, we kept exploring around. There were peacocks everywhere! We followed them to a garden. There we saw a group of peacocks standing on the tree branches. Others were walking around. Dad said, “Let us sit on this bench to eat our snacks.” “Joey, when you are done eating, you can take pictures, too,” said Mom. Hurray, hurray! I ate my lunch fast, took some pics, and wrote some notes. Mom said authors always write notes when traveling. Those notes helped me to keep focused when writing my blogs.

Uff all that walking around in the castle made us hungry. “Let us walk to town and grab something to eat,“ said Dad. Mom found a cafeteria near the castle. The food was delicious. For dessert, we ate the famous Portuguese pastry, “Pastel de Nata.” It is a flaky crust filled with custard. You eat them warm and dusted with cinnamon, powdered sugar, or both. Yummy, yummy for my tummy.

It was time to keep exploring Lisbon. You find artists everywhere. My favorite one was a man dressed in a suit painting pictures using coffee!

“Be sure to go to the Promenade to watch the sunset.” “Obrigado,” That is “Thank You” in Portuguese.  

As it was getting dark, we walked to the Promenade to see the sunset. It was enchanting! I hope the Tooth Fairy can see it. Suddenly, I saw flames inside a building. I took my Explorer Binoculars out of my Explorer’s Backpack and looked at the “burning building.” Uff, I was happy to see it was just the reflection of the sunset on its windows!

After the sunset, we went to the “Praça do Comércio”(Pedestrians Zone) and ate dinner.  Then Dad said, “Joey, I have a surprise for you.” Mom smiled. We visited the Rua de Augusta Arch and walked its 74 steps to the observation deck. From there you can see the Praça do Comércio and the Tagus River! Yep, I use my Explorer’s Camera and took many pictures.  

Gotta go now! It's time to help grill Master Dad to get things ready for dinner! It's grilling night! 

In my next blog, I will tell you about ... oh, oh my belly is growling. Bye! 

Remember to brush your teeth and keep them clean for the Tooth Fairy.  

Joey Paco