Agueda and the Umbrella Sky Project

July 12, 2023August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Before we moved to Portugal I was looking for some pictures for my blog and I found the picture of all the umbrellas. I finally figured out that the picture was taken in Agueda. It has been on my list of places to visit but we decided to wait until July when they have the art festival AguitAgueda and the Umbrella Sky Project. I’m not sure if the umbrellas are up all the time, but they are definitely up every July.

It’s a cute town and somewhere that I would have explored anyway, but it’s even more charming with all of the umbrellas and colorful things around. We have been lucky because the weather has been on the cooler side this year, so we’re able to enjoy more of the summer festivals and activities this year.

We don’t have a ton of plans for the rest of the year. I have just been working to fund our move to northern Portugal next year. I know I have always talked about Braga and it has always been the place for us, but things have been changing a bit since we got a car. When we moved to Portugal I didn’t want a car, so I wanted a walkable city with lots of things to do and a train station so that we could leave easily. I wanted to be really close to a city center. Braga has all of that.

With a car it’s okay if we’re a little further from city center. I want to be somewhere walkable, ideally within walking distance of a market, a playground, a restaurant, and the kid’s school. In some ways a smaller town might work because things will be closer and ideally easier to walk to. I definitely still love Braga, but I want to look at a few more places. I can’t remember where I first heard of Viana do Castelo, but it looks really cute there and I could see us living there. We also like Ponte de Lima and want to check it out. If we’re in a smaller city we might be able to get a little house with a yard. Living in an apartment has been fine, but a house has its draws too.

All of this to say that we just booked a trip up to Northern Portugal in the fall. We will be staying in a house in Barcelos for just under 2 weeks. We’re definitely going to Viana do Castelo and Ponte de Lima. I want to go back to Guimaraes and I’m sure we’ll add a few more places to look at. Braga is still very much on our list, but with the car we would probably choose somewhere a little further from city center since apartments in the city center are getting more expensive.

Tomar and Festa dos Tabuleiros

July 2, 2023August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Festa dos Tabuleiros is a festival in Tomar that takes place every 4 years. I first read about it a few months ago and when I saw that it’s happening this year I knew we had to go. We have been looking for a reason to go back to Tomar and this seemed like the perfect one. The festival takes place over 10 days in July. Since Leiria Kids is next weekend, we decided that today was the perfect day for Tomar.

We really love Tomar and were wondering why we didn’t move there. Then we started looking at temperatures and figured it out pretty quickly. About an hour ago we were walking in Tomar and my watch said it was 90 degrees, or 32 celcius. We just got back to Leiria and it’s 75 or 23 here, so quite a big difference. And it must be even hotter in Tomar now. Tomar is a beautiful city, but it’s hot and there isn’t a ton of shade outside of the park there.

Anyway, we made it to Tomar in time for the parade at 10 this morning. Today was the kids parade and they were all so adorable. I’m glad we were able to see the parade. When I look at pictures on Google I see lots of pictures of beautifully decorated streets, but we didn’t see any of those today. Then again, we didn’t walk around town all that much either. We walked to the parade and then we went across the street to the park. They had some bouncy houses for the kids and they had tons of fun and got some energy out. We were going to get lunch, but everywhere was so crowded so we came home instead.

Sometimes I plan all kinds of things and want to see and do so much, but then the reality when we get there is that it’s just too hot or we’re just too tired. I’m really glad we got to see the parade, and one of these days we will see one the amazing decorated streets. Right now is AguitAgueda up by Aveiro. That’s where they have the street full of umbrellas. We are definitely going to see that before it ends!

If you’re thinking about checking out the Festa dos Tabuleiros I would definitely say to go. We only got to see a tiny part of it. Maybe in 4 years we can come back and see more! Tomar is a beautiful city and always worth a visit.

Valencia

June 13, 2023August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

After years and years of researching Valencia we finally made it here and get to see if I was right. When I was looking at Spain I knew right away that Valencia would be our spot. I didn’t even really look into anywhere else because I knew we would love Valencia. I was right! This city is amazing. It’s beautiful and lively but not as overwhelming as Barcelona and other big cities feel. It seems really bike friendly- I love all of the bike lanes around the city.

We are on an almost 2 week trip. It started with a night in Porto, then a night in Barcelona, and then 7 nights on the cruise. We were supposed to spend 4 nights in Valencia, but our original fight got cancelled so instead we will spend 3 nights here and then 1 in Lisbon.

We took a few cruises before kids so we wanted to see what it would be like now. We didn’t love it, but the kids had fun. We both agree that 7 nights is too long and we will skip MSC next time. I want to try 3-5 nights on Disney or Celebrity. We did go to a few ports we love like La Spezia, Italy and Palma de Mallorca, Spain. I’m really hoping to make it back to Palma one of these days.

On Saturday we docked in Barcelona and took the 3 hour train ride to Valencia. We already know we want to come back to Valencia for at least a week. But maybe when it’s a bit cooler. It’s already getting warm here and it feels much more humid than central Portugal.

It’s interesting to see the city that could have been- the life that could have been. We had decided on Valencia for years before choosing Portugal instead. I love Valencia, but Portugal feels like home. I could see living in Spain one day, or maybe Italy. Who knows? But I do want to raise my kids in Portugal. We just need to find a spot there that we love and see ourselves staying in for years to come.

There is so much in Valencia that we didn’t do this trip. We’re all pretty exhausted. We did go to the Science Museum. We only made it to one exhibit, which was the one for young kids. The kids loved it. We didn’t even see any of the other exhibits because they wanted to spend all their time there. We didn’t go to the Aquarium or zoo, so hopefully we can see those next time. We did make it to Gulliver Parc, which is really unique. Sofia loved it but Leo was a little nervous.

This is one of the first times I’m really excited to go home. A week before our trip our vet called and said she had rescued a few cats and wanted to know if we wanted one of them. We got a girl kitten who is about 2 months old. We named her Lua. Her mom was feral, so Lua hasn’t been around people a lot. I had been working hard to gain her trust and she was really starting to come out of her shell right when we left. We had just introduced her to Rufino. I have never had two cats at the same time! Lua is at home with a pet sitter and probably loves not having toddlers around right now.

We miss all of the pets a lot this trip. This trip has been fun, but we’re all ready to get back. No more big trips this year. I need to work and save some money. We will be taking some trips around Portugal though. Somehow we are all traveled out for the moment. I’m sure after spending a month or two at home I’ll start thinking about another trip 😉

Road-trip to Nazare in our car!!

April 5, 2023August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Our car is here! We were approved for the loan and one night the dealer let us know the car was ready for pick up. They had given us an insurance quote and we decided to go with the company they used since it would be easier. They gave us 3 quotes. I don’t remember the exact amounts but the most expensive was 750+ per year and the cheapest was around 300. We decided to go with the expensive one for our first year because it’s similar to full coverage insurance.

Buying a car in Portugal wasn’t any better or worse than in the US- both places require hours of waiting and lots of paperwork. I am really grateful that the dealership did a lot of the hard stuff for us. They got us the loan, registered the car, and got us insurance. We also have warranties and roadside assistance that works anywhere in the EU.

Unfortunately I had to work a ton the first few days we had the car and I didn’t get to use it much. Finally I have a day off today and we decided to head to Nazare. We went there once last year and have been meaning to go back. We let Sofia ditch a day of preschool so that she could come with us. It feels nice driving again! It was nerve wracking at first, but I’m adjusting. The roads here are great.

For now we’re having to avoid the toll roads since we don’t have our transponder yet. There is a company called Via Verde and they have an awesome app. You can create an account there and use it to pay for all kinds of car related things including parking and tolls. Once we get the transponder it will make driving easier since we can use the toll roads. We can probably use the roads anyway and pay either a person or get a bill in the mail, but I’m not entirely sure.

We were only in Nazare for a few hours. Finding parking was a bit harder than we thought given that it’s Wednesday and not summer. There were still plenty of people out and tons of cars looking for parking spots. We finally found a spot and headed to the beach. Last time was super foggy and we couldn’t see anything. The skies were clear today.

Nazare was fine for playing in the sand, but definitely not a beach to let the kids wade in the water or swim. The waves were pretty big and the tide looked strong. Luckily the kids were happy just playing in the sand.

We didn’t walk around town much today. It was more of a let the kids play kind of a day. Next time I want to go while the kids are in school so that we can look at some of the shops and go to the lighthouse. Given how tough it was to find parking I don’t think we will go again until late this year. I have been really wanting to see the big waves, so hopefully we can make it in November or December to see them.

Tomorrow the kids are back in school and Kyle and I are going to Tomar! I’m excited. I have been wanting to see Tomar for a long time.

Disneyland Paris and Leo’s birthday, part 2

February 12, 2023June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

On Monday we headed to the main Disneyland park. We rented strollers, which I knew would be expensive but I definitely still had some sticker shock at €25 per stroller per day. In total we spent €100 on stroller rentals. I’m trying not to think about that 😂

We started in Fantasy Land, where a lot of the little kid rides are. Leo threw an epic fit right away and kept telling us to hold him. We figured out pretty quickly that he just really hates the cold. He is much whinier in below freezing temps and just wants to be held all the time. I think Leo wants some warm vacations. We were hoping to go on a few kid friendly dark rides to build them up to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, but they did great on Peter Pan so we thought they were probably ready. Peter Pan was a cute ride. Leo fell asleep when we put him in the stroller, so then we walked around a bit.

Disneyland has 5 different lands/areas. We didn’t have a plan the first day and it all felt a little scattered. We went to each area of the park, but didn’t really get to see a ton of it. I definitely couldn’t tell you where anything is. We did go on the main rides I really wanted to do like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Toy Story one. The kids thought Pirates was a bit scary but they did good. They loved the Toy Story ride.

We had lunch at Agrabah Cafe because I had heard that it’s pretty good. To get a birthday cake you have to reserve one at a buffet or sit down restaurant. I knew Disney would be expensive, but the prices for the buffet were pretty crazy. €40 per adult, €23 per kid, and €35 for the cake. The food was fine, the service was awful, and the decorations were great. Seeing them sing Happy Birthday to Leo was awesome.

Our original plan was to go to Disneyland on Monday, stay at the hotel on Tuesday, and go back to the same park on Wednesday. We changed our minds and decided to try the second park on Wednesday. I’m glad we did because we had more fun that day and really got to know the park.

The other park is Walt Disney Studios Park. There were a ton of rides there that we could all do together. One of our favorite areas was the Ratatouille section. The ride was cute and well done and the area around it was nice. They have food stands down the main area. The food there was also amazing and seemed better priced than anywhere else in the parks. And everyone ate there. With two picky toddlers it’s hard to find a place everyone will eat.

We also saw the Stitch show, which was really cute. Sofia especially loved it and keeps talking about it. I think it was a lot easier because the park was smaller. We spent the same amount of time there as we had in the main park. Both parks had a lot of dead ends. I knew to expect it at the Studios Park since it’s likely not finished yet, but I was surprised by all of the dead ends at the main park. Also, there was a decent amount closed or being refurbished. The biggest disappointment was It’s a Small World. It was my favorite ride as a kid and I know Sofia would love it. It was closed the entire time we were there.

Overall we had a lot of fun and I definitely plan on repeating this trip in a few years. But probably not in February. I think we will try for Spring. The nice thing about February is that the crowds and wait times are low, but it’s also cold and it seems like too much is closed. Our last two amusement park trips have taught us that we want a smaller park with more toddler rides. There is one in the Netherlands that I think fits the bill if I can figure out how to make that trip work…

Disneyland Paris & Leo’s Birthday, Part 1

February 9, 2023June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

We kicked off our vacation on Saturday with a 1 night stay in Lisbon. We stayed at a hotel literally across the street from the airport. On Sunday our fight left around 8 something, so it was really nice to get up and just walk across the street to the airport. On Saturday afternoon we used the metro at the airport to head to the aquarium. We got to ride the cable car that had been closed last year. I’m terrified of heights, but I have really loved the cable cars rides we have gone on since moving to Portugal. The views are always stunning. As always, it was fun getting to be in Lisbon.

On Sunday we flew into Paris. It’s the first time in a long time that our fight left on time. Normally we take a bus or train to where we need to go, but there’s no direct train. We would have to take 3 trains and make 2 transfers. We had extra bags because we couldn’t do laundry this trip. Since it was already an expensive trip we decided to splurge and we hired a chauffeur. It was amazing. The driver met us at baggage claim, took all our bags and loaded them all into the car. And then we got a direct ride to our hotel.

We stayed at Explorer’s Hotel, which is about 10 minutes from Disney and 45 minutes from Orly airport. I picked this hotel because of the awesome indoor activities for kids. They have a great pool and a 3 story indoor play area. There’s also an outdoor playground which we did end up using for about 10 minutes one day. It was between 28 and 38 degrees during our stay. It wasn’t too bad in the sun, but the playground was in the shade so it gets cold pretty quickly.

On Sunday we got to the hotel early afternoon, so the kids got to play a lot and we went swimming. They warmed to the pool pretty quickly. We really wanted to go back, but we were just too exhausted. The hotel has a pizza place and snack bar type place. All of the food there was super overpriced and terrible. Luckily we figured that out the first day and we were able to order food through Uber Eats. It was still super expensive, but at least it tasted great.

The hotel also has a shuttle to Disneyland Paris. Both parks and Disney Village are all connected, as is the train station. It was pretty easy to get to and from the hotel and Disney. Kyle even took the shuttle to Disney Village to pick up dinner a few times.

Well, that’s part 1 of our trip. We just got home a few minutes ago. It was a super long day of a 1.5 hour car ride to the airport, 2 hour flight, 20 minute car ride, 2 hour bus ride, and 10 minute car ride. But everything left on time! So even though it was a super long day it went pretty smoothly. I have a ton of work tomorrow and Saturday, so I will post part 2 in a few days to talk about the parks.

We will definitely do this trip again in a few years. We will stay at the same hotel in Lisbon and if it’s winter or spring we will stay in the Explorer’s hotel again. If it’s warm or hot out we would try a Disney Hotel to see what it’s like, but it would be hard for a hotel to beat Explorer’s if you have small kids.

Brussels

December 18, 2022August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Whatever Kyle and Sofia had definitely caught up with me. Leo got sick before me, but luckily he got over it in less than 12 hours. I’m not as sick as I was in Bruges, but I’m still pretty sore and exhausted. Even so, we still got to see some of the Brussels Christmas Market. It’s huge!

The market has at least 1 Ferris wheel and two carousels that we saw. I think there is one more Ferris wheel somewhere. The carousels are really unique and awesome. We saw some of the light show at Grand Place. The first night we ventured a little too far from the hotel and the kids got upset because they were so cold. They’re definitely not a fan of the cold weather. Neither am I.

Today is our last day of vacation. Normally I feel sad at the thought of returning home. I love living in Portugal though, and I’m excited to get back. This is our first time leaving our cat, so I’m ready to get back and see him and our dog. It also doesn’t hurt that we have a trip planned to Disneyland Paris is less than 2 months. I think that will be easier. Trying to do this trip without a stroller for Leo was too ambitious. And I’m definitely ready for above freezing temperatures.

Today we’re planning on staying close to the hotel. Luckily that’s easy because our hotel is in the center of everything. We just went out for less than an hour and now we’re back at the room to rest and thaw out. I’m sure we’ll venture out at least one or two more times. We have been seeing horse drawn carriage rides that we would love to take if we can figure out where they are.

The go to language in Bruges seemed to be Dutch. The go to language in Brussels is definitely French. Everywhere I go people greet me with “Bonjour.” I should have looked up a few phrases in French before we came here! I wish I could learn French too, but I really need to become more proficient with Portuguese first.

We took the train from Brussels to Bruges, and then from Bruges back to Brussels. We’ll take the train again tomorrow when we head to the airport. The trains in Belgium are extremely easy to use. They’re comfortable, really easy to navigate, and seem to be on time. That’s good because we will have a long travel day tomorrow. I’m excited to come back to Belgium again. There is so much that we still want to see. But next time we will definitely try for Spring or Summer 😂

Bruges

December 16, 2022August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Our flight out of Lisbon ended up being delayed for 1.5 hours. So far any time we try to leave Portugal is not very good, lol. We missed our original train from Brussels to Bruges, but luckily they come every hour so we were able to make the next one. We were tired but wanted to see the city so we ran out for a few minutes.

It was 28 degrees and I haven’t been in below freezing temps in over a decade. The kids have never been in weather this cold. Turns out Bruges is not like Portugal. Things mostly close here once the sun goes down. Probably because it’s so cold. 🥶 We got a chocolate covered waffle on a stick for the kids and then headed back to our apartment.

The next morning Kyle was feeling pretty sick, and the kids didn’t want to go back out in the cold, so I went out for a bit by myself. Bruges is a very cute town. I see why people like it. The architecture is beautiful. I booked 4 nights here and that was way too much. We could have done a single night, or even just a day trip from Brussels. I guess it worked out though because our second night here Kyle got worse and Sofia got sick too. They were up all night throwing up. The next day they felt better but were exhausted. That brings us to today. The minute Leo woke up he threw up, and my stomach is feeling pretty bad too. Looks like today is our day. Hopefully it will pass by tonight because tomorrow we are back on the train to Brussels.

The only things I cared about doing in Bruges were The Christmas Market, having hot chocolate at The Old Chocolate House, trying waffles, and trying French fries. I’m not sure about the Christmas Market this year. It’s definitely not bad, but nothing like the videos and pictures I have seen of past years. It was nothing special. We didn’t get to try the hot chocolate or fries. Our first morning here we had some waffles at House of Waffles. I got a waffle BLT with egg and it was delicious. It was kind of pricey, but I’m glad we got to try it.

I’m still trying to figure out the language situation. Obviously the official language is Dutch, but I’ve had a couple of languages spoken to me. I opened the door open for someone and they said “merci.” Another time was “danka.” When someone had to reach in front of me they said “excuse me.” How does anyone know what language to speak to other people? I’m not sure what language to even use to ask if someone speaks English. When I go into stores about half the time they just start out speaking to me in English. The other half of the time they say “hallo” and I try to say it back but I must butcher it because they immediately switch to English.

Unfortunately Bruges has been kind of a wash. We were all pretty sick at some point. Kyle and I each got a few hours to explore on our own. It’s a very charming and beautiful town. A lot of the food here reminds me of comfort food in the US. I could definitely see coming back to Bruges, but I would rather stay in Brussels and take a day trips to some of the places around. When Kyle was sick but Sofia wasn’t I had planned on taking a day trip with her to Ghent, so maybe we will do that one day.

I think we will have to come back in a few years. We missed out on a lot from being sick and this is our first trip without strollers. It’s nice not to have to lug them around, but also makes us really limited in what we can do. The kids are not fans of waking around in the cold, which is understandable. Tomorrow we are on to Brussels. We only have two days there so we will have to make the most of them!

A night in Lisbon

December 12, 2022August 2, 2023 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Tonight we are in Lisbon. Tomorrow we’re headed to the airport to fly to Belgium. We’re staying at a hotel in Rossio Square. We wanted to visit the Christmas Market and walk around a bit. Unfortunately it has been raining a lot the past few days. It’s raining all night tonight, but luckily it let up a little bit and we were able to run out for a few minutes.

We stopped at a few booths and the kids got a picture taken with Mickey Mouse. I just saw our Mickey picture from last year when I was cleaning something at home. The picture was taken in Setubal and it was just Sofia because Leo was scared of Mickey. Today he was so excited to see Mickey. He kept running back to wave at Mickey. He’s going to be thrilled when we go to DisneyLand in February.

I wish we had a chance to walk around more, but I’m happy we at least got the 20 minute break in the rain. It has been a while since we were in Lisbon and it’s nice to be back, even though the visit is way too short. Now we have some down time in the hotel, which is nice too.

I’m excited to get to Belgium tomorrow. We went to Spain a few months ago but didn’t really get to experience anything local. I’m excited to see what Belgian food is like, what the coffee is like, and what their bakeries are like. Tomorrow we have an almost 3 hour flight and then a 1.5ish hour train ride.

It will be a big trip for Leo. We have left the stroller behind, so he will have to walk a lot more than he is used to. But he has to get used to it because he will walking to and from school twice a week starting next month, so he needs to build up some stamina.

PortAventura Spain

September 19, 2022June 22, 2024 / bashleyf / Leave a comment

Today is Sofia’s 4th birthday and we finally made it to Spain! We flew into Barcelona a few days ago and have been staying in Salou to have easy access to PortAventura. Getting here was a bit of a pain. Our flight was delayed by over an hour and then our train was cancelled and we ended up stuck in the Barcelona train station for over 4 hours. Turns out there was a strike just on that particular line. The train station was really hot and pretty miserable, but we made it.

We went to PortAventura on Saturday and today, and yesterday we hung around Salou and went to the beach. I’m glad we came, but I wouldn’t repeat this trip. Salou is okay, but there is nothing special or unique about it. It feels super touristy and I hear more English than Spanish. It doesn’t feel European, it actually kind of reminds me of some of the touristy cruise ship ports that all look the same. It’s also really loud here and people stay up until 6 partying, talking, and laughing in the streets. I feel so old saying that it’s too loud, but it’s definitely too loud here, lol. At least for sleeping.

It has been really nice hearing Spanish again because I understand it. And when we ran into some issues in Barcelona I knew exactly how to say what I wanted to say. I have understood a lot more than I expected to. I can’t wait to get to that level with Portuguese. I have been taking Portuguese lessons two times a week and definitely want to keep it up.

We already knew Portugal was home, but this trip has really cemented it for us. I know comparing 11 months in Portugal to 6 days in Spain is pretty unfair though. We will have to go to Valencia to get a better idea. Valencia is where we planned to move when Spain was at the top of our list.

We were only in Barcelona to spend the night and then for a few hours in the morning. We went to the Lego store to get a few toys. I will definitely be back in Barcelona one day when the kids are older. For now it’s just a bit too much. I remember writing before that big cities tend to overwhelm me. I love them, but there is a lot going on. That’s definitely true of Barcelona, even more with toddlers. It’s just too stressful being in a huge city that I don’t know, not knowing if the kids are going to run off or step into a busy street.

Salou was a great city to visit right now, even if we didn’t love it. It’s flat and easy to navigate with wide sidewalks. Since the sidewalks aren’t cobblestone it’s a lot easier to push a stroller here. There is a pedestrian only area that leads right to the beach.

PortAventura was a lot of fun. They have Sesame Adventures and the kids spent most of their time at the huge playground there. We’re really going to miss that playground. Today wasn’t busy, so Kyle and I even got to go on some rides. Tomorrow we’re taking a train back to Barcelona for an early morning flight the day after. Fingers crossed it all goes well. Next up is Belgium in December to see the Christmas markets. Until then we are going to really enjoy being home in Portugal.