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Portugal & Spain 2019
  • Soifer Family

Portugal & Spain 2019

Soifer family vacation to Southern Portugal and Spain - April 2019 Baca selengkapnya
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  • Awal trip
    15 April 2019
    Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    10:00pm post frenchfry haze...
    unhappy travellermore wine please....piggie and gerald to the rescue!

    Brooklyn, NY

    15 April 2019, Amerika Serikat ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    The girls have been SO excited for this trip it was really hard to get them through a normal day of school and gymnastics! I had us all packed up and ready to go when we found out that our flight got pushed from 10:00pm to 11:00pm.....Not a good sign. I got them home from gymnastics, showered, fed and in their pajamas when all of a sudden we get an alert that our flight is now pushed to 1:00am with the worry that it won't even go out at all. This would be bad for us as their are no direct flights to Lisbon on Delta the next day at all. Matt and I were scrambling to figure out what to do while the kids went bananas downstairs with pent up energy. We finally found another flight leaving at 11:00pm on TAP Portugal but we had to pay for it (we had booked our original flight with miles) and Matt as not too happy about that. Anyways, we got the kids together and grabbed a taxi to JFK where we were waiting and waiting (very nervously) for our tickets to be issued. Finally we got them (phew), got through security and headed to a restaurant to grab some french fries and a needed glass of wine. We got to our gate and - delay. Ugh. Luckily we had the stroller with us and the kids fell asleep at the gate. We finally boarded the plane around 11:30 and got everyone settled and back asleep but we were FORTIETH in line to take off because of all the delays at JFK and I *think* we waited another 90 minutes on the tarmac to take off. I was mostly asleep but felt us finally take off and we were on our way to Portugal!!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    post vomit taxi ride to our hotel
    our first stop in lisbon!first gelato of our trippark outside time out marketplaying ball in the squre at the top of the hillview from the top!

    Lisbon

    16 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    After a very bumpy flight - but one where the kids at least slept the night through - we finally landed in Lisbon! Evie started complaining about her stomach as soon as we got off the plane and the, right as we exited the plane, vomited all over the jet way!! Of course. Luckily it seemed to be a one time thing...or so we hope! We finally got off the jet way (after leaving the puke) and made our way to the looooooongest line ever at passport control. Seriously. Thankfully a nice man found us and brought us over to the priority line where we got right through - the one bright spot on the trip so far - ha! We easily got our bags and grabbed a taxi (it was cash only and Matt had to pay a huge ATM fee at the airport - not pleased again) to our hotel - Martinhal Lisbon Chiado Family Suites. The kids quickly found the playroom while we checked in before going up to our room which turned out to be a super nice apartment with twins for the kids and a separate room for us. It is huge! We quickly changed our clothes and braved a walk with the stroller on the narrow, hilly, cobblestone streets. We walked over to the Time Out Market near the water which turned out to be amazing. There were so many good things to try. The kids got gelato and Matt and I got some meat and cheese and a much needed glass of wine. We hung out there for a bit and the kids got a kick out of the pigeons flying in and out of the market before heading across the street to the park. It was quite nice out, but the kids thought the park was too baby-ish so we walked on and up a HUGE hill to check out some views and play ball in the square for a bit. The hills here are no joke, but Hannah did really well with the walking. Afterwards, we put the kids in the stroller and continued to walk around the Chiado neighborhood. We stopped in a really old candle shop (the oldest in the Lisbon) to get some gifts and then finally made it back to the hotel where we got some wine and the kids had dinner at the cute cafe in the hotel (bonus points for the Mini Cooper in the cafe that they climbed in and out of with glee). We were all pretty beat so we came back upstairs to get the kids bathed and into bed which they didn't want to do (of course). We made ourselves stay up until 9:00pm and then....SLEEP!!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    weird dude at the aquarium
    always runninggroup leader at castel sao jorgebest viewsthe very popular bear fountain during lunchcommerce square by the river

    Lisbon

    17 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Our first full day in Portugal! And boy did it start early...the kids were up for a solid hour beginning at 4am. Evie was coughing a bunch and then she saw a ghost!! I finally got them all back to bed and we slept until 9am when the doorbell rang and our breakfast arrived! We were all still pretty tired. Evie and I decided to go exploring and climbed up a big hill to grab some snacks at the Chiado Cafe. We had delicious croissants with the strangest payment system ever (they gave us a card which told you how much money to put in a slot machine to pay). Evie had a blast running down the slippery, cobblestone hill back to the hotel. The weather wasn't great - lots of rain, so we decided to scrap our plan for the park and took at taxi (an Uber actually which are super inexpensive here) to the Lisbon Aquarium. Apparently all of Lisbon had the same idea and it was PACKED. Luckily I had bought tickets the night before so we were able to skip the outside line, but we still had to wait in a massive queue to get inside the actual museum. The kids probably ran up and down the ramp 100 times before we could enter but at least we were out of the rain. Once we actually did get in, it was pretty cool and a great place to spend a rainy morning. Evie got tired half way through so I carried her, but Hannah was running all over and super excited to see the fish. After we saw everything we took an Uber back to Castelo Sao Jorge and thank goodness we did because the hill was ENORMOUS! We bought tickets and walked through in the drizzly rain. The views from the top were bonkers - you could see all over the city and to the bridge and the guy with his arms out on the hill. Hannah had a blast "leading" us all over the castle and up and down the stairs to see all of the cannons. We were all getting hungry so we walked down some cute cobblestone streets to lunch at Lisboa Tu e Eu. The restaurant was teeny, but delicious. We had 2 euro glasses of wine, cheese, cod fritters and the girls ate nothing at all. They are being not so adventurous with food this trip and all they wanted to do was play in the fountain outside the restaurant. It was a bear shaped fountain so I get it. It had been so rainy and drizzly all day but it really warmed up during lunch thankfully so the kids could play outside where we could see them. After lunch we walked down to the water and the big square before slowly making our way back to the hotel. Hannah did such a good job with walking the entire time. The kids wanted ice cream but we were too tired to get it so went upstairs to our room and watched Doc McStuffins in Portuguese for awhile instead. Later in the evening we took the kids down to the Kids Club for dinner and play and then had a sitter bring them up to bed while Matt and I went to dinner at Cantinho do Avillez nearby. It was delicious (and so nice to be on a date!) but the real standout was the wine which was wonderful and so cheap! After dinner we stopped for a quick drink at the wine bar next to our hotel for another delicious/cheap glass of wine before heading back to bed!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    train ride to sintra
    pena palace!walking to the pena palace rampartsviews from the top of pena palaceat the top of the moorish castlesuperheros at the moorish castle!

    Sintra

    18 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Hannah woke up at 3:00am because of a runny nose. Ugh. Luckily I got her back down and then Matt woke me up at 9:00 (for some reason) and the kids were still asleep too! I guess we all needed the rest. We had a quick breakfast in our room and then grabbed an Uber to Rossio train station for our day trip to Sintra! The drivers here are not keen at all to take children, but luckily ours did (begrudgingly). He had to go the most round about way ever to get to the station because of the hills and I think we would have been better off walking. We finally got to the train station and found there was a massive line to buy train tickets (we should have arrived about an hour earlier - whoops). We finally got our tickets which was a very confusing thing to do - we had to buy them one at a time for some reason and the attendant had to help us purchase the girls' tickets - but we just made the next train to Sintra. We walked all the way to the back of the train and finally found seats in the very last car - phew! The kids colored for the 40 minute ride and we got off into the madness of the Sintra train station. I'd planned to take a tuk tuk up the mountain but the kids were too young so we grabbed a taxi instead. Our driver was super nice and incredibly knowledgeable about the area even though we could probably only understand 20% of what he was actually saying. There was some traffic going up, but we managed to make it to the top and enter Pena Palace grounds. We stopped at the toilet and grabbed a snack (only ice cream for the girls of course) and then started hiking up the hill to the top. Hannah was a trooper but Evie was in the carrier - punk. We finally got up to the main gate after hiking through a gorgeous forest and finally saw the castle - it was unreal. Yellow, red and pink tile everywhere with the most intricate detailing. It was like a Portuguese Disneyland. The kids had a blast exploring the grounds (we didn't get tickets for the inside and the line was massive but the grounds were more than enough for us). You can walk all along the wall (scary) and all through the ramparts on the castle with views all the way to the ocean and back to Lisbon! After exploring we walked back down the hill and found the entrance to the Moorish castle (from the 1100s!!) which we were super excited to explore. It was a 400m walk to get to the castle from the entrance through a pretty forest. The kids were pretty tired so I pulled out the superhero capes I had brought and it was like they had a second life! They turned into superhero explorers and wanted to climb all the way up to the top of the castle and literally ran all the way back down. So fun. We made it back to the entrance (even Evie walked) but weren't sure how to get back down the mountain. There were police at all the park entrances and we knew how strict they were with kids in Ubers. I spotted a bus line so we shoved our way on and took it the two looooooong stops back to the train station. A train was pulling in so we rushed and hopped on - only to find out it was the wrong one! Luckily we were able to communicate via hand gestures with a very nice Portuguese lady and transferred at the next stop to the proper train. We finally made it back to Rossio station pretty tired and grumpy and had a taxi/uber/walk moment before settling on a crazy taxi driver who zoomed us back to the hotel. We finally got back to the hotel and were starving so ordered some food and drinks while the girls played with some other kids in the cafe. It is so fun to watch them play regardless of the language the other kids are speaking. We came back to the room for a little rest before taking the kids down to Kids Club for the evening. We changed and went across the street for a drink with my sister and Kyle who had arrived that afternoon (after their own crazy flight delay adventure)! We hung out for a little there having the best wine and then walked up the street to a teeny tapas bar we had put our name in at earlier in the day. It was delicious and we had more insanely good/cheap wine. We didn't eat until 9:00pm so got back pretty late to our room. Such a fun day all around! And I wanted to mention also that we got the BEST weather in Sintra. It was so sunny and warm which was great as I had read it was usually overcast/cloudy!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    jeronimos monastary
    trying egg tarts (and not liking them!)monument to the discoverersalong the water in belem!rainy lx factory

    Lisbon

    19 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We heard from the sitter this morning that Hannah refused to go to bed and then she woke up at 3:00am again complaining about her nose. Ugh. We were all tired again today. Despite being tired, we all (except Kyle who wasn't feeling well) headed out via taxi to Belem after breakfast in the room. We started at Jeronimos Monastery which was amazing (and huge!). We walked into the church and then just wandered around the outside for a bit. The weather was hit and miss - some sun, some rain so it made it a bit hard to plan. Matt ran to get egg tarts for us at Pasteis de Belem while Rin and I took the girls to a nearby playground. They had a blast playing, but did not like the tarts for some strange reason. The grownups did though! After our snack we walked over to the big monument to the discoverers and then along the water to the Tower of Belem. The kids were getting tired and it was starting to rain so we didn't make it to climb the tower and instead caught a taxi to LX Factory for lunch. Even though it took forever to get seated, we ended up having a great lunch (despite the fact that Hannah didn't want to eat her burger and threw a total fit....grrrrr). We tried to explore a little but it started to pour so we got an Uber back to our hotel. The driver gave us a really hard time about the kids again! We went back to the room to rest for awhile and when the sun came out we decided to go on a walk to get ice cream and a drink back at the Time Out Market. This was a mistake as it was really crowded and the girls were NOT well behaved at all. Matt took them outside to the park and they had a much better time playing on the seesaw and chasing pigeons in the sun. We walked back to the hotel, got them ready and dropped them off at Kids Club for the evening. Matt and I met up with Rin and Kyle and we walked over to Petisqueria Conquistador near the castle. It was nice out so we decided to walk. It was so hilly that thee was an actual elevator built into the street to get us up!! Dinner was amazing - lots of small tapas. Our server was a bit of a mess - spilling, dropping and breaking things - but at least the food was excellent. (Note - do not get cocktails in Portugal - they don't know how to make them). We decided to walk back downhill but the elevator was closed so we got a bit lost. Overall a really nice last night out in Lisbon and we are off to start our road trip adventure tomorrow!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    evora!
    roman ruins in evora"yeah for old stuff"pretty flowers in evorarin and hannah in evoraold church in evora

    Evora

    20 April 2019, Portugal

    We woke up this morning at 8:30 for the first full night sleep since we arrived! No one woke up in the middle of the night! We feel amazing. We had breakfast in our room and then Matt took the kids down to the Kids Club to play while we packed up the room. Then we were off! We took a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car (we had a manual transmission so didn't feel like making Matt come all the way back into the hilly city). They somehow messed up the carseats so the kids are in boosters - not ideal but we are making it work. We got a little lost coming out of the airport but finally found the road and were on our way to Evora! After about an hour and a half we arrived at the old town of Evora which is stunning. Beautiful white washed houses, cobblestone everywhere withe huge aqueduct running around the entire city. We were hungry but all the restaurants were packed and the kids were acting up a bit. We finally found a place that had a tour group cancellation and could seat us. We got a litre of much needed wine and the kids were (reasonably) well behaved for once. We waited for ages for food but once it came it was unbelievable. We got chicken stroganoff and I think it was the best we have ever had - so good! We got some more wine and hung out for a bit before putting the kids in the stroller and heading to walk through Evora. I wish we had more time to explore as the town was truly lovely. We saw old Roman ruins and walked over to the Osso Chapel (chapel of the bones) but didn't have time to go in. The kids literally ran through the town on the way back to the car. Then it was off to our next destination in Alentejo!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    sao laurenco do barroncal
    running to the pool!freezing pool in monsarazbest play area outside the restaurantviews from dinnerwildflowers everywhere

    Monsaraz

    20 April 2019, Portugal

    We arrived at our next destination in Monsaraz in the Alentejo region of Portugal in the afternoon. We arrived down a long gravel path and came up to our next hotel - Sao Laurenco do Barroncal. It is stunning! The resort sits on a working winery with a cobblestone path running down the middle and white washed buildings on either side. We are staying in a huge, three bedroom cottage and it is SO nice. Each room has a bathroom and there is a large living area downstairs. The property is massive with bikes, two pools and even a kids play area. Of course the girls wanted to go in the pool straight away so we changed and walked over. It was super freezing so they didn't stay long but I'm glad they got to get in the water at least. After the swim we changed into clothes for dinner (pajamas for the kids - of course) where the weather was nice enough that we could eat outside. The set up was perfect because the table was right next to an enormous lawn with all of these rocks formations to climb on so the kids were able to run around while we had some drinks and hung out. The girls made a cute little Dutch friend who they played with for the next couple of days. We ordered a cocktail which took ages to come and were sort of strange (of course). The food was delicious so it made up for that. We had grilled pork which was insanely good (even the kids loved it) and the kids had a massive appetite from all that running around. At 9:30ish (they are staying up so late here!) I took the kids back to the room and put them to bed while everyone else finished dinner. They came back with a bottle of wine for a night cap and we spent the rest of the evening hiding Easter candy!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    easter egg hunt in portugal!
    swimmingpool time with my babieswild horses on our bike ride!dinner with auntie rinniesister love

    Monsaraz

    21 April 2019, Portugal

    Omg what an awful night. Hannah had been fighting a cold all week and woke up coughing at 4:00am - croup. Coughed alllllll morning. It was so painful to hear and none of us slept. Definitely not the way we wanted to spend Easter morning. We went straight to breakfast so that I could give her her steroid medicine - I remember being on the phone with our pediatrician in NY (at 3am no less) sobbing on the phone. Sigh. On the plus side the breakfast was wonderful! After breakfast we came back to the hotel for the egg hunt. Hannah was feeling a bit better as the steroid helped her breathing so they searched for eggs and opened their baskets. They were so excited. We let them watch a little tv while the adults power napped and then put them in the stroller and went for a walk on the backside of the property. I had hoped that Hannah would fall asleep since she was so tired but of course she didn't. The plus side was that the walk was gorgeous and the day was beautiful - the wildflowers were out and fields were filled with yellows, purples and white flowers. The path was a little rough for our beat up stroller but we made it work :) After our walk the kids REALLY wanted to swim so we put on their suits and headed to the pool. The water was super cold but they had fun jumping in and out and it was sunny enough for the adults to lay out in their suits! Matt got a cheese board for lunch/snack and it was nice to eat by the pool in the sun despite poor Hannah's constant coughing. We stayed at the pool pretty much all day. After pool time we decided to take the kids on a bike ride as they had some bikes with kid seats on them. We started the ride which was super gravelly and almost slipped and fell over a hundred times - nerve wracking! Finally we made it through to the trail and it was gorgeous - wildflowers and birds everywhere. We rode past a lake and saw a pack of wild horses!! The girls were ecstatic. We got a little lost on the way back but eventually made it to the hotel bar for happy hour and snacks and played cards for awhile before heading back to the room to get ready dinner. The kids were understandably cranky and tired so we fed them and they played for awhile before Matt put them to bed. We watched them on the camera so the adults had their own dinner! It started to get a bit chilly so we moved inside for dessert but it was nice to have some adult time. Hoping we get a good nights sleep!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    taking the donkey for a ride
    donkey cart experts :)tired parents

    Monsaraz

    22 April 2019, Portugal

    It was NOT a good night sleep after all :( Hannah woke up at 1:30am with a coughing fit and woke Evie up. Evie came in to sleep with me and Matt stayed with Hannah who finally stopped coughing around 4:00am and we were all able to sleep a bit. Double ugh. We woke up and dressed for a final bleary breakfast at the hotel (delicious) and then the kids wanted to do a treasure hunt. The hunt turned out to be super fun - they had to follow clues all over the resort before they could get their prize! Afterwards, they got to take a donkey cart ride all over the property and even got to the hold the reins! They were very excited about that (even though poor Hannah was coughing the whole time). After the donkeys we packed up the room and then headed out to make our way over to Spain !!Baca selengkapnya

  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    welcome to spain!
    our cottage at molino rio alajarsnacks on the patiospanish puppet showplaying with the four dogs on the propertytaking in the views

    Aracena

    22 April 2019, Amerika Serikat ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    The road we took to into Spain (following our GPS advice) had to be the twistiest, curviest almost all dirt road that I've ever seen. Woah! We thought we would have to pass through border patrol but there was nothing when we crossed and then we were in Spain! We finally arrived in the small town of Aracena in the Andalusia region of Spain but completely forgot about the one hour time change and arrived much later than anticipated. We had planned to go to the caves, but it was too late so we found a nice cafe by a playground and had lunch (pork of course) and beer while the kids played. It was really nice. The town was cute and it even had a bull ring! The people are incredibly friendly (even though there is not much English spoken here) and it is just gorgeous. After lunch we headed over to hotel - Molino Rio Alajar - in the teeny town of Alajar, Spain. It was more twisty roads and one SUPER narrow driveway before we got to our "rural casa". The hotel is a series of cottages surrounded by the gorgeous Andalusian mountains. We are staying in El Conejo which is two stories with a huge fireplace and kitchen and lovely patio. Monica - the owner - shopped for us and made us a massive dinner (Alentejo chicken, gazpacho, salad - just a ton of food) which was perfect as the shops are quite far away. We sat outside with some snacks they had bought for us and drinks from the honor bar and watched the kids play on the lawn with some German kids next door. They ended up playing for hours - tag and hide and seek - and it was so fun to watch. It started to cool down in the evening so we decided to move inside for dinner. The kids ate and I put them to bed before the adults sat down to eat at our table. Dinner was wonderful, but still lots of coughing from Hannah. Here is hoping to a good nights sleep (finally).Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    rainbow after the torrential rain
    black iberian pigs on our walkgetting ready to enter the caves in aracenastatues in aracenarainy day card gamesdinner!

    Aracena

    23 April 2019, Spanyol

    By some miracle Hannah slept all night with no coughing until 10:00am!! We feel like new people. Rin and Kyle came over and we all made breakfast together at our place which was nice. Poor Rin is coming down with Hannah's cold though which is not fun :( We wanted to go on a walk this morning as that is what this region of Spain is known for, but it started pouring rain and then hailing (!!!) on our walk. We got into Alajar and basically turned right back around to walk home. Sort of bummer although we did see some goats in the middle of the road and some of the black Iberian pigs this region is known for which was fun. We came back to the house and had leftover gazpacho and cheese for lunch and then headed to the car to go see the Gruta de Marvailles caves back in Aracena on another crazy twisty road. Barf. We bought our tickets and hung out for a bit before going into the caves. The grownups were a little claustrophobic but Hannah LOVED it. Evie of course refused to walk and I had to put her in the carrier :/ It's hard to believe that we were under the castle in the town! After the caves, Rin and Kyle headed to grocery shop for dinner and we headed back to the cottage. The sun came out and even though it was a bit chilly, the kids played tag and chase with our neighbors next door and Hannah had a gymnastics competition with the older girl - ha! We all met back at the house and Kyle made a pasta for us all. The girls gobbled it up and then went to bed upstairs while we ate downstairs - cough free!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    lobby at villa monte farmhouse
    pizza lunch at a terra restaurantrainy day moana on the big screen

    Moncarapacho

    24 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    We woke up late again to absolutely pissing rain :( We packed up and all made breakfast together before heading out in the pouring rain for the 2.5 hour drive back into Portugal and the "sunny" Algarve. Lots of twisty roads getting out of the Spanish mountains before finally getting on a normal highway! We got to our hotel - Villa Monte Farmhouse - which is an amazing sort of boho chic farmhouse in Moncarapacho in the eastern Algarve. If it weren't raining like crazy it would have been PERFECT - tons of places for the kids to run and play, lots of outdoor seating and a wonderful children's pool. Ugh - bad luck. We checked into our rooms which are wonderful. We have two connecting rooms and they even had child sized slippers and robes which was a nice touch. After dropping our stuff we walked over to A Terra - the outstanding restaurant at the hotel for pizza lunch (so good) and cocktails. The kids were even well behaved! After lunch the kids went to a cookie making workshop which was nice as it continued to pour rain while Matt caught up on some work and Rin and I went to the gym. Matt took the girls to the lobby afterwards to watch Moana on their big screen while Rin and I got cleaned up to meet the boys in the lobby for happy hour! After the movie there was enough of a break in the rain where the kids could go outside and play chase with some of the other kids at the resort. We also got some bread to feed the fish and turtles in the pond. It's such a shame the weather sucks as the property and outdoor areas are truly amazing. It started to rain again so we all met back inside for dinner at A Terra again. We all got steaks (Evie ate half of mine) then the kids watched a show while the adults finished and had more wine. It was such a nice (albeit rainy) dinner. I put the girls to bed at almost 10:00!! and we all passed out soon after. Good day today.Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    wishing it were warmer in the algarve
    view from our room at villa montecow slide!bj's oceansidesearching for shells during lunchroad trip success!

    Moncarapacho

    25 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    For the first time this trip the girls woke up early - 7:20 (ugh). We got dressed and walked over to the breakfast building for one of our best breakfasts to date - so yummy! It was a bit chilly but not raining at least and the kids REALLY wanted to go swimming so we changed into their suits and went to the family pool. The space is amazing and I can only imagine how perfect it is when the weather is nice. Regardless, the girls had a super fun time swimming and played for almost an hour before they finally got too cold. Ana - the super nice kids club lady was there so they colored and ate cookies for awhile as they dried off. We stayed until about 11:30 then went back to the room to pack up while the kids played on this giant cow slide near our room. It was their favorite thing for sure! We hopped back in the car and started driving west along the coast to our lunch destination - BJ's Oceanside. The restaurant was RIGHT on the beach and the kids had fun playing in the sand and searching for shells but it was SUPER windy and chilly out. Again with the bad weather! The restaurant was a British joint which was kind of random/funny but the location was superb and the kids were able to play while we ate which was a bonus. We had grilled fish and froze our butts off :) We were happy to warm up back in the car and drove another hour and a half to the western Algarve and our next spot for two days - Monte da Vilharina.Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    casa do forno at the top of the hill
    path down to the playgroundplayground!best rope swing :)

    Carrapateria

    25 April 2019, Portugal

    On the way to the resort we passed through the cute village of Carrapateria - it was sort of like a little hippie/surf town and so very different from the massive, touristy resorts on the eastern side of the coast. We headed down a small dirt road (of course) with chickens and donkeys to our next spot - Monte da Villarhina - which was truly stunning - nestled in a valley and super rustic but modern at the same time - fantastic. We had Casa do Forno which was three connecting rooms with a huge living space and terrace - it was perfect for all of us. We set off to explore the property as it was (finally) sunny and found an amazing children's playground with a slide, swings and (best of all) a rope swing. The kids were in love and played for a good while before going to check out the lovely pool. There were frogs which the kids thought was really cool. Of course they wanted to go in the pool even though it was chilly and they didn't have their suits. They went in their undies and played until they got too cold and started screaming :) We went back to our rooms for drinks and new clothes and drove to a pizza place in a nearby "town". There were sheep and it was the cutest little place with DELICIOUS pizza. Hannah was complaining a bit about her stomach so we took the kids home to bed where (luckily) they seemed to fall asleep ok. The grownups had another drink at the house before heading to bed!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    lagoon we waded accross to get to the beach
    wading the lagoon at bordeira beachplaying on the dunesthey absolutely did not care that it was so windywestern algarvebordeira beach

    Carrapateria

    26 April 2019, Portugal

    Kids were up before 8:00am again - what is up with this?? We dragged ourselves out of bed and headed down the hill for breakfast. It was surprisingly good for such a small place! The hotel has a really nice kids' playroom near the breakfast room so the children played there for a bit while we finished eating in peace. It was sunny out so we walked back up to the playground for a bit. Hannah had fun jumping as far as she could off the swing! After that we packed up a snack and our bathing suits and headed in the car for beach day at Bordeira Beach, about 15 minutes away. We got to the parking lot and walked through to find a huge natural lagoon like thing that we needed to cross to get over to the beach. The kids were nervous to cross it so Rin and Kyle put them on their shoulders and we all waded across. It was super windy out, but the location completely made up for it. The sand was perfect and we huddled behind a dune and the kids played in the calm river/lagoon thing. Of course they didn't mind at all that it was so windy. The actual ocean was about a 400 meter walk away and was quite rough so we were glad for the lagoon/river! The beach, though, was phenomenal and massive! Just a huge expanse of gorgeous, uncrowded beach surrounded by cliffs, reminding me a bit of the Northern California coastline. The kids played for a good long while - running up and down the dunes and building sandcastles. When we lay down behind the dunes it was "almost" warm enough to sunbathe :) After a few hours we waded back to the car (the kids did it themselves this time!) and drove back along the cliffs to view the unreal coastline. This part of the Algarve is on a national park so there is no building on it and most of the beaches you have to hike down to. One day we need to come back and explore it all. On the way back up to the hotel we stopped in Carrapateria to pick up groceries for the night. It was 3:00 in the afternoon but the store still wasn't open - ha! We stopped by a cafe with a ton of bicyclists in spandex for an ice cream before Rin and I walked over to the shop to scrounge up what we could for dinner - which wasn't much to be honest. The kids took a five minute dip in the pool before declaring it "too cold" and went back up to the room for a little rest time. I took a mountain bike out and went on a short ride of the property. I wish I could have gone longer! I came back and started dinner - Marcela Hazan tomato sauce and roasted zucchini and Kyle made chicken. We fed the kids even though the played the whole "we are starving" and then ate nothing game. We had a hard time putting them to bed and they ended up coming back out to play a game of cards before finally going to bed. The grownups ate a very civilized dinner and then played some cards (hearts - Kyle won and Rin was not pleased) before going to bed!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    comporta cafe!
    sunhats at comporta cafejumping with auntie rinnieliving her best lifepool at sublime comportadeck outside sublime comporta

    Comporta

    27 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Kids were up early-ish again but it was ok as we wanted to head out for our lunch in Comporta - a 2.5 hour drive away. Last stop of the trip! We packed and headed down for breakfast and the playroom (for the kids) before hitting the road. We powered through the drive (and had to do a looooooot of car passing on the two lane highway) before hitting Comporta and driving up a dirt road (again!) but....it was so worth it as we literally found paradise at the Comporta Cafe! The restaurant was right on the beach, the day was absolutely gorgeous and we sat outside on the terrace for almost four hours (literally - they actually asked us very politely if we could move to seats on the beach after three hours so they could use the table). We had the nicest server who gave the kids sunhats and bandaids and we had grilled fish and three (!!) bottles of delicious white wine from Comporta. It was the best. The kids played in the sand while we hung out and then we took turns taking them down to the ocean to jump in the waves. The water as freezing, but it was calm enough for them to jump in and out of and they had so much fun. Then it was the hard part of saying goodbye to Rin and Kyle who were heading back to Lisbon for an early flight out tomorrow. We headed out soon after with a pledge to return one day for the 20 minute drive to our last stop - Sublime Comporta. The hotel was gorgeous - probably too fancy for our dirty crew - set in the woods with the nicest staff ever. We played in the kids' pool (cold) and playroom for a bit before heading to our room. I showered with the girls and we snuggled in the big bed and hung out and napped/watched Portuguese TV for a bit. It was very nice. Later on we got dressed and had a drink outside on the patio - it was so nice out! We went into the gorgeous restaurant for dinner and it was super fancy. Of course the kids were awful but luckily they could run out to the garden and play outside a bit. The food was lovely but we thought just ok for the price which was very expensive for Portugal. We went back to the hotel to put the kids to bed and then Matt and I sat on our deck and had a final glass of wine!Baca selengkapnya

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  • Soifer FamilyPortugal & Spain 2019Pelancong
    headed home!

    Lisbon

    28 April 2019, Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We had about an hour drive to the Lisbon airport this morning so we set an alarm for 7:15 and packed out. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant and it was phenomenal - the best of the trip. Massive buffet with all these yummy juices and treats from the kitchen. Super special last meal. We had a pretty easy drive to the airport and then we returned our car and checked in! We snuck through the priority line in passport control even though the kids needed to be under two (whoops). We had to take an annoying bus to our plane but we are homeward bound. Until next time Portugal!Baca selengkapnya

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    Akhir trip
    28 April 2019
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