Christmas Vacation Part 2

The Holiday Inn Express that we were staying in provided free WiFi in the rooms as you can see on the sign on the left, however during our stay it was not working so we spent much of our hotel time in the lobby as did many of the other guests.

Cascais


On this morning we headed out to a small fishing coastal village named Cascais.  After some street markets and churros we walked along the pier to the "Boca do Inferno".

 

Evidently, it was still Christmastime with the poinsettias on the left and Santa's reindeer on the right.

We came upon this 16th century fortress which had been built to protect the Bay of Cascais, and along with a whole line of fortresses along the Tagus to also protect Lisbon.  In 1807 it was occupied by the French after the French invasion of Portugal by the Napoleonic troops.

There wasn't much to see inside the fort even with the help of these teensy binoculars unless you count the 8 blonds on top.

We eventually arrived on this roof, I mean at the Boca do Inferno.

And here is the "Mouth of Hell".

 

The pool in the foreground, had several large starfish simply just hanging out and the kids followed suit. 

Do you see that whale,

of a wave?

What was that?

The kids never allowed themselves to get bored.

We didn't stay too long in Cascais because it was New Year's eve and we still had an hour drive north to our next lodging.

Lourinha

This was the view by the time we arrived.

Areia Branca Beach Hostel

This is the house we rented for the next 3 days.

This was the view from the porch.  The week before we arrived, the water had apparently covered this entire beach and washed out the bridge. 

New Year's Eve

As we prepared for New Year's we realized this house was extremely cold.  The beds only had thin blankets which would not provide nearly enough warmth for us, thus Brent began to dig through the attic (after we had searched the house) for extra bedding. Thankfully he found enough for everyone and in time for our New Year's celebration.  

Besides Disney Channel entertainment we had a few party poppers, etc. We then headed to bed, but lucky for us it was too cold to sleep and too loud.  We were entertained most of the night/morning with HUUUGE fireworks set-off all around us including LOUD MUSIC A-L-L NIGHT LONG.

There was plenty of daylight coming under the door and under every window which we tried to block with the hand towel sized bath towels provided for each guest.  The bathroom window would not close, but we jimmy rigged it somewhat closed.  Thanks to the pioneers(and the other family), we learned we could use heated rocks.  After all that and getting the "pass the one space heater from room to room" routine down we slept fine by the third night.  Getting out of bed into the frigid air was then the difficult part.  

New Year's Day

The Atlantic was too cold to play in so the kids had to find something else to do.

And this is what they did.....

....for most of the morning, over and over again!

  Óbidos

That evening, after checking to see if there were any castles in the vicinity we found one in Óbidos.  The name "Óbidos" stems from the Latin term oppidum, meaning "citadel", or "fortified city". 

In the background is the Amoreira Aqueduct of Óbidos, built at the command of Queen Catarina of Austria in 1575.

The water was carried 3 km across extensive vineyards and orchards and came to provide water in the town's main fountains.

This is the entrance to the city.  We very rarely see Christmas stockings in Spain and we were surprised to see them here. 

We were even more surprised to see flying dresses just inside the entrance. 

Óbidos is one of Portugal's most classic walled settlements and holds centuries of history within it's walls. 

We wasted no time climbing and anxiously walking the ramparts. Notice we are hugging the wall in avoidance of the sheer tree top height rail-less cliff side.

We had a fantastic view of the aqueduct, the cemetery and our car from the ramparts.

As if we weren't nervous enough, we ascended even higher for an even more fantastic view. 

Most of the view was fantastic.  Just don't look down!

Óbidos was captured from the Moors by the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, in 1148.  In 1210, King Afonso II gave the title of this village as a gift to his wife Queen Santa Isabel de Aragon. 

From then until 1883, the town of Óbidos was offered by princes to their brides and was the property of the queens of Portugal. 

These walls take approximately 2 hours to walk.  

We descended from the ramparts about 2/3 of the way around as it was nearly dark.  The castle in the background is now only used as a hotel.

This is the white washed "Igreja de Santa Maria", Church of Santa Maria and it is the main church of Obidos . The location of this church was of great significance during early Portuguese history as it was the location of the wedding of King Afonso V aged 10 to his cousin Isabel aged 8 in 1444.

This church's history dates from the 12th century after the Christian conquest, when King Afonso Henriques built the church on the site of a Moorish mosque.  Little of the original church remains as it was severely damaged by an earthquake.  In 1535 the reconstruction was personally funded by Queen Catarina. 

Right in front of the Plaza of the church were "chestnuts roasting on an open fire". - Nice shirt, right?

Unpredictably, across from the Church was a Lego exhibit.

It was a nice contrast to all the history for the kids.

 

Peniche 

The next morning we headed  a few minutes north to Peniche, a peninsula known for its long windy beaches, and it's supertubo waves. 

It's waves are considered by many as being the best in Europe. Some call the supertubo the "European Pipeline".

The water felt cold to everyone except for Kaiya.

It was very chilly after playing in the water and we only had a couple of small towels among us.  Everyone was happy to get into our sun warmed vehicles after we were done. 

 
Once in our warm vehicles we drove along and explored the peninsula's coastline.

On the left is one of Peniche's old forts.

This place was a child's dream or at least mine when I was a child.

Perhaps this doesn't look so scary now but wait until you've seen the next picture.

 Morgan was right there on the edge of this cliff.   Nau dos Corvos is the name of the rock formation on the left.   

 

We all took our turn on the edge.  Look how brave I am!

 Kaiya took her time!

Kamree took some mild prodding.

                                             
      
 But look at her now!

Look at that Girl Power!

  As you can see we really enjoyed ourselves here.

 Rachelle was the bravest of us all!

We inevitably had to head back to the cold hostel and the heated rocks for our last night in Portugal.

We headed out early the next morning for what would have been a 6-7 hour drive home  had we not stopped along the way.

Caceres, Spain

This was our third time in Caceres, so we only briefly meandered through the old town.

This old stone town seems to be made out of only rocks.

The town is in much need of some color! -Thanks Rachelle.

Here are more rocks.

and more rocks.

This is the (flooded basement) cistern of the Caceres Museum.
This spectacular Moorish cistern was "restructured" in the 15th century.  It still stores rainwater which is collected in the Renaissance patio that covers it.

It was the end of the trip and surprisingly some still smiled for the camera. 

We then parted ways and headed home. 

As always, we saw several unknown castles/ fortresses along the way.  

 

After a couple more brief stops, we made it home before 10 p.m. with just enough time to grab some Turkish Kebabs and put the kids to bed. 

Madrid

The day before Rachelle was to depart we took her for a quick tour of Madrid.

The Royal Palace is one of the top tourist attractions in Madrid. It is the official residence for the Royal family, but currently they only use it for state ceremonies.

The palace is on the site of a 9th-century fortress, which was replaced in the 16th century by a medieval Alcázar.  It burned to the ground in  1734 and the King ordered a new palace built on the same site. Construction spanned from 1738 to 1764.

The palace has 1,450,000 sq ft of floorspace and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest palace in Europe by floor area.

This is what is left of a 9th century Muralla Islamica also known as the Muralla Árabe or Muslim Wall that was built to protect the Muslim citadel — on the site currently occupied by the Royal Palace.

Behind us stands the Santa María la Real de La Almudena cathedral. It was possibly constructed on the site of a medieval mosque which was destroyed in 1083 when Alfonso VI reconquered Madrid.  This church was built between the old Muslim wall and the Royal Palace.  

The construction for the current church started in 1883 and was not completed until quite recently in 1993.  On May 22, 2004, Spain's current King Felipe VI  and Queen Letizia were married in this cathedral.

  THE END of a great week!