Melissa and Klas's Journey: May 2007

Celebrity Sighting in Puerto Banus

Marbella

Smart Car (see comment in text below)

Valley of the Fallen, El Escorial - a war memorial

Toledo

Outside Palacio Real, Madrid

Palacio Real, Madrid

Plaza De Toros, Sevilla

We´re currently staying in Marbella at Cristina´s place (Lotta´s mother/Lars´mother-in-law). We arrived two days ago and have been relaxing on the beach, taking a ´vacation´from our travels...and resting our legs.

As we strolled through close-by Puerto Banus, we saw Simon Cowell, the judge on American Idol. Unfortunately we didn´t take a photo to prove it so you´ll just have to take our word.

Since our last entry, we had one more day of sightseeing in Madrid where we did a walking tour and went to some art museums, including the Prado Museum. Unfortunately it rained on and off for the four days that we were in Madrid and taking day trips to El Escorial and Toledo but we still managed to see what we wanted to see.

We then spent 2.5 days and 2 nights in Sevilla. We loved this town for several reasons: the weather was great, we surprised ourselves with the accommodation we had booked (it ended up being a lot more luxurious then we had been staying at so far), the sites were pretty, and it was just the right size town for us. We visited:

The Alcazar - a palace that has been used for the last 10 centuries and currently the official residence of the royal family when they visit Sevilla
Catedral Giralda - another cathedral
Plaza De Toros - the oldest bullfighting arena in Spain
Beautiful parks - lots of them!

We caught the train to Malaga and rented a car, Fiat Punto, which is nice and small so we can fit into the tight spaces when we go to the beach in Marbella. It´s not quite as small as a Smart Car, i.e. we can´t park perpendicular to all other cars (see photo above).

Also, thanks to everyone for posting their comments on the blog. It´s fun for us to check to see if anyone has commented - the comments confirm that someone is actually reading the blog :-).

Day trips to El Escorial and Toledo

We came to Madrid on May 23. We´re staying in an apartment, which is good because then we can cook instead of eating at restaurants all of the time. We went to see the Royal Palace in the afternoon since it was raining.

During the last two days, we have taken day trips to El Escorial (visited the monastery where a lot of Spain´s monarchy is buried) and Toledo (saw the Cathedral and a lot of paintings by El Greco). Both are very different cities.

Tomorrow we will sightsee more in Madrid.

Siesta in Salamanca

Plaza Mayor - our hotel is just around the corner

One of many small parks in Salamanca

We arrived last night by train in Salamanca, Spain. We really enjoyed our sightseeing today. Salamanca is very clean (i.e. no business left by stray dogs) and is not too big with a population of around 200,000. A lot of buildings are from the 1400s and 1500s with a lot of Roman and Gothic architecture.

Our hotel is in a great location, right off the main square Plaza Mayor. So it is also very convenient for siesta time. A lot of places closed during part of the afternoon so we had a late lunch and then went back to our hotel for siesta before heading back out to sightsee again. This is the life!

Tomorrow we`re taking the train to Madrid.

Leaving Portugal

Klas in Coimbra with the Rick Steves´ Portugal guide book that we got from Dell and Chris

Sanctuary at Fatima

Porto

Drinking port in the Ferreira lodge while writing in travel journal

Pinhao in the Duoro Valley

Today is our last day in Portugal. We head to Salamanca, Spain, tonight by train. During this last week, we´ve spent:

2 days in Coimbra - a university town with a BIG hill that we had to walk up to reach the bed and breakfast we stayed at. On one of the nights, we listened to fado music sung by some male students in front of an old church - this is traditional Portugese music that men would sing to serenade women. It was a beautiful evening with torches burning around the church to provide a relaxing atmosphere.
Day trip to Fatima - the sanctuary where the three children saw Mary in 1917 was very peaceful.
2 days in Porto - another hilly town with port lodges across the river in Villa Nova de Gaia. We visited the lodges of Croft, Ferreira and Graham´s.
Day trip to Pinhao in the Duoro Valley - Duoro Valley is where all of the grapes are grown to make Port. We had a nice lunch and Melissa took a port and chocolate class.

Melissa is tired of walking up hills. And we´ve battled some serious foot odor problems with a lot of walking in the heat. And we gave in to fast food two nights and had McDonald´s for dinner because we didn´t feel like sitting down for an hour for a long meal.

Portugal was a pleasant surprise. The food was better than we expected, the landscapes are beautiful, transportation is on time, and our accommodation has been good. A lot of people speak English and are friendly and willing to help.

Lively in Lisbon, Lazy in Lagos

Castle St. George, Lisbon

Dinner with Dell and Chris, Sintra

Klas, Dell and Chris, Belem in Lisbon

Cathedral, Evora

Southwestern tip of Europe, Cabo San Vicente

Lunch in Sagres

Lagos

We´re currently in Lagos, Portugal. We arrived in Portugal last Tuesday and have been here for one week. Dell (former coworker) and her husband Chris joined us in Lisbon on Wednesday. We spent two sightseeing-filled days in Lisbon, one in Sintra, one in Evora (an old Roman walled town), and the last two days relaxing in Lagos.

So far we´ve managed despite some of the language barriers. The sightseeing has been great -- plenty of hiking/walking, castles and churches. The weather has been nice too.

Some interesting observations have been:

People aren´t in a hurry to eat - they know how to enjoy a meal with a glass of wine, finished by coffee and dessert
Beautiful tiled/paved streets
Lots of stray dogs, including their business on the streets
Corn on lots of food, such as sandwiches and pizza
Their 30-minute walk only takes us 10 minutes -- we need to slow down
Cream-coloured cows

We´re really enjoying ourselves and are glad that we decided to do this trip. Portugal has been a very positive experience so far. We still have another week here before we go to Spain.

Happy 30th Birthday Karin!

Photo: Happy Birthday Karin!

We've spent the last 8 days in Stockholm -- a lot of that time has been spent with our niece, Vendela, and Åsa. It was also Karin's 30th birthday on May 6 so she had a party on Saturday night.

We've also been getting ready for the next leg of our journey, starting with Portugal tomorrow. This will be the first country on our trip that we haven't been to so we're looking forward to new experiences.

Click here for photos from our time in Stockholm. Get ready, there are a lot of photos with Vendela.

Brunskog Household in Linköping, Sweden, April 21-29

We spent last week at the Brunskog house in Linköping where Klas grew up. The whole Brunskog family was together for the first time in several years with Vendela as the latest addition. Many of you hear us refer to Klas's youngest brothers and sister as 'the little kids' -- they're not so small anymore. We had a fun week with them -- playing sports and cards and watching them play tennis -- and catching up with some of Klas's friends. Here are a few photos from the week.