July 18, 2024 and July 19, 2024

                                                                    Lamego.  Porto and Gaia

Today we rode the bus to the city center of Lamego.  We went first to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies.  Many people make pilgrimages to the church.  The church is high above the city and is quite a climb up 686 steps.  Lucky for us, we rode the bus and climbed the last little bit. The church is baroque in style, very ornate.  It is small inside, but very beautiful and peaceful.  The view of the city below from the church is amazing.  We walked down several sets of stairs to the Main Street in Lamego where there were many stalls that people were selling just about anything you could imagine.  Clothes, shoes, underwear, food, annoying dog toys that made a squeaking sound and more.  (Don’t worry kids.  We didn’t buy your kids any of the annoying dogs that squeaked.  We love you too much.) It was a pleasant saunter down the the square.  We stopped to see the Unknown Soldier Statue from World War I.  (Portugal didn’t participate in World War II.  They were neutral.) There were dates carved in the statue and one date had been a 6 and then a 7 was carved over it.  That was odd.  

We did a little shopping, very little.  Which is good.  We were sitting on a step in the shade waiting for the bus to come back when a couple from North Wales asked to borrow some of the shade.  We got to talking and they were most interested in what the heck is going on the US!  We told them we didn’t know as we’ve been traveling but it will work out.  At least we hope so.  It’s interesting what they told us about what they hear about America.  It’s very one sided and when we mentioned other things that are going on, they were surprised.  I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.  

We went to a lovely winery and had a sparkling wine tasting and a small appetizer.  (Which we called lunch.). It was a nice respite and then we boarded the bus for the ride back to the boat.

Here’s an interesting fact we learned from our guide.  Do you know why port wine is called port wine?  What does port have to do with a sweet wine?  It’s because the sweet wines were originally made in the city of Porto.  Throughout Portugal people would travel to Porto to buy the sweet wines.  So friends and family would say “if you are going to Porto bring back the sweet wines for me.”   And eventually the sweet part was dropped and the wines were known as Port Wine.  

We each had a massage in the afternoon.  I went first so Bob could attend the ice cream social and I went to the disembarkation lecture while he was getting his massage.  They did give us wine so it was a win win for both of us.  The massage was wonderful.  Especially for my sprained ankle that has been giving me some trouble with all the walking on cobblestone.  We had a lovely dinner with new friends and ate too much as usual.  

July 19th.  I won’t be able to write tomorrow as we will disembark at 6:15am to begin our journey home.  We are a bit concerned as there is a computer failure throughout the airline system and we are not able to check in for our flights.  At the very least, we will go to the airport and hope the computer geeks have fixed everything.  We will be flying 3 hours to Paris and then a lot of hours to Seattle.  We will stay over in Seattle just to have a rest and then home to Pasco.  See?  It’s simple…she said optimistically.  

In any case, we had another full and interesting day.  We rode the bus around Porto and Gaia.  They are close by on this bustling port.  Porto has 6 bridges.  One was designed by Mr. Eiffel of the Eiffel Tower fame.  Porto is where Portugal began.  In 1143 the Romans came to this area and decided to start a city so they went to the highest point along the sea and built a monastery.  We walked to the train station to view the beautiful tiles of historical pictures.   We walked all over the area seeing the medieval walls that are still there, as well as the monastery.  It was a nice walk about.

This is an example of the tiles in the railroad station.  

Here is a lady painting tiles along the walkway of the river.  

We rode the bus to the winery “Calem”.  They have been making port for over 100 years.  We learned all about the process of making port, as well as the types of port and what to eat with them and then we got to taste a white, ruby and tawny port.  Calem is a big business and only releases aged port when the “market requires it”.  We walked along the river dodging the many items we could buy.  Porto and Gaia are very busy places.  

Here’s a few impressions and thoughts I’ve collected.  Portugal is a lovely country.  They’ve been around for centuries and were once one of the major European countries that colonized India , Africa and other areas.  Now it is a country where the people are nice, they love their work, family and they enjoy port and wine.

“Abrigada” means thank you in Portuguese.  You say Abrigada to thank a woman and Abrigado to thank  a man.  Thank you to all of you who “traveled” with us.  

Wish us luck in our travels home.  We’ve had a marvelous vacation and are glad you joined us.

Love BC and GC                                            

                                                                                

                                                                July 17, 2024 

                                                      Barca d’Alva and Pinhao

                                                     Happy Birthday Sydney!!!! 

We bussed to Castelo Rodrigo and had a walking tour of an historical village.  They grow a lot of almonds and olives.  This village is very small and the buildings/homes are small and made of stone.  There is a Jewish part of the village as well as an Arab and Christian area.  Everyone lives peacefully and practices their preferred religion.  This was not always the case.  The first King of Portugal wanted to marry a Spanish Princess but she would only marry him if all people in Portugal that weren’t already Catholic would agree to become “new Christians” and give up their other faith.  So the villagers practiced their own religions in secret and professed to be a “new Christian.”  Oh! If someone did something that deserved death the punishment would be to be tied up and the pushed down the cobblestone road to finally roll off the cliff.  Yikes.  It seems that the drop at the end wouldn’t matter as by the time they rolled down the road they were already dead.  

                                            Can you imagine rolling down this hill to your death?

We shopped at several small shops.  We tasted almonds and various liqueurs.  There were at least 20 different types of almonds to try and all sorts of olive oils.  They make real cork items (not the fake stuff) and I was pleased to buy 2 placemats of cork that I will use in a future quilt.  We purchased a few other things that shall remain nameless in order to protect the surprise for the gifted.  

We had a quiet and restful afternoon on the boat.  I finished the book I was reading.  We sat on our minuscule balcony and watched as we went through the latest lock.  It was eerie to sink down and see the walls closing in on us.  We could touch the walls without reaching far at all.  It gets darker and darker and then a little wet.  We finally decided to leave the balcony and sit in the cabin as we were getting wet!  It was a fun experience.  

We had dinner off the boat at Quinta da Avessada.  This is a family owned winery and event center in Favaios.  This winery is in it’s 6th generation of family.  The views from the winery and as you drive up the roads is breathtaking.  We had a lovely dinner of Portuguese food and three different wines from the winery.  Lots of fun!  The cake was very good as was were the wines.  

Portugal is beautiful.  Lots of up, down and winding roads, green, the people are so nice, the food is good, the little towns are quaint and the rows of vineyards curl all about on mountain sides in rows that are cut into the mountains.  It’s a beautiful place to be.  

Love, BC and GC

We shopped at several small shops.  We tasted almonds and various liqueurs.  There were at least 20 different types of almonds to try and all sorts of olive oils.  They make real cork items (not the fake stuff) and I was pleased to buy 2 placemats of cork that I will use in a future quilt.  We purchased a few other things that shall remain nameless in order to protect the surprise for the gifted.  

We had a quiet and restful afternoon on the boat.  I finished the book I was reading.  We sat on our minuscule balcony and watched as we went through the latest lock.  It was eerie to sink down and see the walls closing in on us.  We could touch the walls without reaching far at all.  It gets darker and darker and then a little wet.  We finally decided to leave the balcony and sit in the cabin as we were getting wet!  It was a fun experience.  

We had dinner off the boat at Quinta da Avessada.  This is a family owned winery and event in Favaios.  This winery is in it’s 6th generation of family.  The views from the winery and as you drive up the roads is breathtaking.  We had a lovely dinner of Portuguese food and three different wines from the winery.  Lots of fun!  

Portugal is beautiful.  Lots of up, down and winding roads, green, the people are so nice, the food is good, the little towns are quaint and the rows of vineyards curl all about on mountain sides in rows that are cut into the mountains.  It’s a beautiful place to be.  

Love, BC and GC

                                                                              July 16, 2024

                                                              Quinta da Roeda Port Tasting

We’ve had a busy two days so there wasn’t time to update the blog.  Here’s what we were doing.

July 15th we went to Pinhao where we docked.  We traveled to Quinta da Roeda where Croft has been making  Port since 1588.  It has been passed down for generations.  We took a walking tour through the vineyard and our guide explained all about how they care for the vines, then took us into the room where they stomp the grapes for hours and hours while drinking wine.  It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it.  We then went to the large gift shop and had two glasses of Port.  A Ruby and a Tawny.  The Ruby would be good over ice with tonic water.  The Tawny was fine, but not as good as the two we tried in Sintra at the Port shop.  

We were so tired from jet lag, eating and drinking and the time change that we napped for about 3 hours.  So we missed a talk on Cooper Winery, but the nap made us feel better.  

The next day July 16th we went to Fox do Sabor to visit the Palacio dos Condes da Acadia.  It was built in the 18th Century and the family still owns it and stays there occasionally.  It is very ornate and fussy.  But then again, in a couple of hundred years styles change.  The family decided to open it up for tours.  It was interesting to see just how much things change.  The entrance and staircase was huge and the rooms were small.  The art, the painted ceilings, the Knick knacks were very interesting.  

This is the entry way stairs.  Check out the tile work on the walls.  There are scenes all over the Palace. 

Would you want this guy watching you from your tile walls?

Next we took a bus ride to Viseu.  We had a walking tour with a lovely woman who did a great job explaining where we were and why, all the while keeping us from being run over by fast cars on skinny, bumpy and tiny roads between the buildings.  We walked for about an hour all around ending up at Pousada de Viseu.  A Pousada is close to what we would call a bed and breakfast.  This building was a hospital before it was turned into a Pousada.  We had another huge lunch buffet of Portuguese food.  Burp!  Afterwards we walked the city some more until we got tired and found a little shop that had tables and chairs in the shade.  We enjoyed a “lemon ade”.  It was very refreshing and so nice to just sit and watch the people go by.  

We had a 2+ hour drive back to meet the boat.  This provided the perfect opportunity to take a short nap.  We got back to the boat and realized that the “Sip and Sail” time had already begun.  (In our vernacular sip and sail is called “Happy Hour”).  The gin and tonic was a perfect way to relax.  Bob had scotch.  Dinner then ensued and we ate way too much.  We went back to our room and sat on our minuscule balcony and drank a glass of the port we bought in Lisbon.  Graham’s 20 year Tawny Port.  We slept good last night.  I didn’t wake up until 6am which is so much nicer than my  usual of 2:30 am.  

We are having fun, seeing great sights and enjoying ourselves.  Hope you are all well.  

Love, BC and GC.

                                                          July 15 2024 

                                                  A trip to Casa de Quinta

Yesterday we boarded the bus for a drive to Casa du Quinta.  It was a 45 minute trip through lots of small towns, it was up and down and a twisting drive. It was beautiful.  

Around noon we arrived at a large estate that was owned by Contessa Maria and her husband.  Maria was a Contessa as a child and became a Contessa when she married her husband.  This estate was owned by the husband family for generations and was sold.  Maria was able to design scarves to make money to buy the estate back.  It is now a huge estate with many bedrooms, meeting rooms and is wedding venue.  Maria treated us exuberantly with open arms, saying “You are beautiful!  You are amazing! I am so glad you came to see Maria!”  Over and over.  “Please follow Maria, she will show you the beautiful gardens and the beautiful home!”  She told us to have some green wine that was made at the estate.  (Green wine is wine that was recently made.)  “Have green wine.  It is low in alcohol so you can drink and drink and drink!”  The wine was very refreshing and we also had these little pastries that are like a pizza folded over.  I finally figured out that the lady leading us around and shouting “It’s beautiful!” Was Maria.  She spoke about herself in the third person.  “Maria wanted to buy her husband’s estate back so I decided to earn money designing and selling scarves.”  Long story short Maria has turned the estate into a bed and breakfast, event venue, classes, anything to get people there so Maria could make money.  The gardens were beautiful, the dining room was two rooms and each room held a table for 50+ people.  I kept chuckling at Maria and her  sales pitch.  

We were shown to a barn like structure that was set for the 100 or so of us at tables of 7.  We had the most delicious lunch.  Salad with a nice dressing, then came mushroom Risotto, Pork wrapped in bacon, sweet potatoes, rice, fruit, and greens.  Servers just kept coming with huge bakeware spooning delicious food onto our plates.  The seasoning and sauces were very good.  Unusual flavors that made us eat more than we should have.  The Pork was a round small piece that was so tender.  Lucky for us a guide was sitting at our table and told us a lot about the seasoning and cooking.  The pork is soaked in Lemon and orange juice for two days and then seasoned and cooked with the bacon around it.  Oh!  I mustn’t forget the crème brûlée for dessert.  Another large spoonful of excellent food.  We boarded the bus for the ride back and nearly fell asleep.  Here I am with my close personal friend Contessa Maria.  

                                     

We’ve been through 3 different locks now.  The one this morning was a big one.  Bob got some great pictures of the locks.  We had a little bit of our port we bought in Sintra on our minuscule balcony and watched the walls “move” as we went through the lock.                                                                                                             

                                                                   

                 

                                                                       

This is how close the boat is to the sides of the locks. 

 

We took a long nap that afternoon because of the green wine and some leftover jet lag.  Dinner was excellent as usual.  We have met some very nice people.  Everyone is somehow connected to Cooper Winery so we have something to talk about as a conversation starter.  We are having such fun!

PS.  You can look up the Casado Quinta on the web.  It’s amazing!

Love to all, BC and GC

                                                              July 14, 2024

                                                     Cruising the Douro River

Yesterday was a long day of driving from Lisbon to Porto to board our boat “Amadouro”.  It’s a small boat that has 50 rooms.  So there is about 100 of us, plus staff.  

On the way here we stopped in Tomar to see the Convent of Christ, a 12th Century religious complex built by the Knights Templar.  It was built over several centuries each ruler adding their own touch.  Some of the architecture is rather incongruent with earlier versions of the building.  It is always humbling to walk the corridors, see the rooms that people several centuries ago lived, worshiped and died.  

                                                            

                                                              

                                                             

                                                                                                                       

We had a good lunch in the town of Tomar with some new friends from this trip.  Bob had a pulled pork sandwich and I had soup.  The sandwich wasn’t at all like the type we are used to.  It was delicious and not smothered in BBQ sauce.  My soup was great.  It had some type of bean, with a light broth.  We drove the rest of the way to meet our ship in Porto.  I have to say, the bus drivers are masters at maneuvering the large vehicles through tiny streets and turning around!  

Our room on the ship is the last one down the hall on the 2nd floor.  It’s perfect because it’s quiet.  We unpacked, finding unusual places to put our clothes and other stuff.  This morning I couldn’t remember where I had put my underwear but then remembered that it was in the nightstand drawer.  

We had a meeting in the lounge to go over the safety rules.  It was the best time ever!  Usually it’s a horrible thing that you have to wear your large orange life jacket to the muster station and wait for the bells.  This was all of us sitting in the lounge, drinking wine/champagne listening to the head guy entertain us while showing us how  and where to go with our life jackets on if need be.  This cruise is put on by Neil Cooper who is one of our favorite winery owners in Red Mountain.  So it’s different in that everyone is kind of “related” through Neil.  It’s been fun to meet and eat/drink with new friends.  

Dinner was so good.  More wine! I had the fish in a most unusual cream sauce.  Bob had beef tenderloin, very good.  We sat with our new friends and had a great time.  We met another fun couple in the hallway as we were going to our room.  I decided to take one of our “special” sleeping pills as I have not slept more than 3-4 hours each night since we left.  I woke up this morning at 6am and felt so much better for having slept longer.  Yay!  

We went through our first lock after breakfast and it was so cool to stand on the top deck and watch it all.

                                                                         

We are enjoying ourselves and wish you were here!  

Love, BC and GC 

                                                                                       

 
                 

        

   July 12 2024 

Lisbon, Portugal

Today we took a drive to Sinta to see the Pena Palace.  It was in a smaller 

bus as the roads are very narrow.  And I mean very narrow!  The traffic getting 

out of Lisbon was like every other big city during commute time.   Sinta is 1700 

feet tall and was covered with mist and clouds as it is near the ocean.  The road 

up is extremely windy and very small.  The growth of trees and bushes is very thick 

and it makes for a dark misty ride. 

The Pena Palace is remarkable as it was built in the 1500’s and of course they didn’t have the equipment like trucks,  cranes, and earthmovers.  Everything was done by human power.  Sinta is a small town that the very wealthy people would have summer homes at because it is much cooler in the summer.  

We had to take a smaller crowded bus up the steep hill.  We were standing and holding onto a bar while crammed together with others.  The driver went so fast that I was holding on with both hands, leaning against the pole and I was still bounced up and down off the floor.   It was something else.  Then we had to walk up a very steep curving hill to reach the entrance of the Palace.  

The Palace is very well preserved with even furniture and wall coverings.  There are a lot of stairs that curve all over the place.  We walked through the entire Palace and was amazed.  King Ferdinand had this place built for his wife and 11 children to enjoy.  

                                          

                                                             

                                                                     

Here is a picture of a welcoming gargoyle.  There were a lot of symbols that were built into the structure of the Palace.

                                                   

We did a lot of walking on uneven surfaces again today.  All of Lisbon walkways are made with white 3” or so squares of limestone.  They are rough to walk on and also slippery.  It’s even more fun when the walkways are wet and on hills.  

Once we got down to the city of Sinta we had free time.  Bob and I went to a quiet restaurant and had goat cheese and veal carpaccio.  It was so good! 

                                                  

   

                                                                 

Since we had more free time after our lunch we decided to find a Port store and have a tasting.  The “Bar do Binho” called the House of Port was very quaint and filled with bottles of port.  We sat in a little booth and the owner proceeded to pour us four different glasses of port.  We had white, ruby and tawny.  He was very generous in his pours!  He then educated us on everything about Port you could imagine.  It was quite an enjoyable experience.  

                                                                                          

                              

   

We got back to the hotel and promptly had a nap. That felt good!  I am still waking up around 2-3 am and not going back to sleep.  But it’s getting better.  

  

Tomorrow we have an all day trip to get to Porto where we will board our ship for the cruise.  This little side trip has been very interesting and fun.  We’re glad we did this.  Lisbon is a very nice site with lots of history, interesting sites and good food.  

Hope you are all well.  We are!  BC and GC

                                                          

Last evening we walked to the best restaurant!  Our guide Nicky went on and on about how wonderful Portuguese pizza is.  They call it “Pinze”. The crust was very thin, flaky and crisp.  We shared a Parma and cheese pinza with a lovely bottle of red wine.  Of course we had to try the desert. “Caramello Tart”.  It was delicious.  Warm caramel in the middle of the soft pastry with a scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting in a puddle of whip cream.  We needed the walk back to the hotel after that!

We had a fun day today.  We woke up very early after getting some well needed rest.  Breakfast at the hotel Intercontinental then into the bus for our morning in Lisbon.  It was an overcast day, which is nice because it can get hot here.  

We had three tour guides that spoke to us about the history of Lisbon as we drove through the city.  There are about 3 million people in metropolitan Lisbon, 10 million people in all of Portugal.  The name “Lisbon” comes from the Portuguese language meaning “Peaceful Bay”.  The first ruler of Portugal was Queen Mary the 1st.  (I guess you have to start at the beginning, huh?). She didn’t have any children to be heirs.  So, she promised God that she would build a large church to honor Him so that God would give her children to be future rulers of Portugal.  She then had six children.  Our guide stated “Be careful what you wish for.”  

Portugal makes lots of tile.  They love to have it all over the walls of the streets in beautiful designs.  Tile keeps the buildings cool/warm in the seasons as well as when it rains the walls get washed easily.  Clever and the tile walls are so much nicer to look at than pollution stained stucco.  

We ended up in the “Belem” area of Lisbon.  “Belem” is Portuguese for “Bethlehem”.  As is usual in Europe they build huge churches and we went to see one which also doubled for a time as the Presidential Palace.  

                                               

This is called a “Tuk Tuk” and they are all over the place.  You hire them to take you wherever you want to go in Lisbon or even in other places in Portugal. They are a glorified golf cart.  

We went to the ocean to see the landmarks there.  We didn’t get any photos of them, but they were very interesting.  One was a marble map of all the countries that Portugal had been occupying and had trade with in the mid 1500s.  Portugal had quite the empire stretching to India, China and Africa.  

The Tagus River meets the Atlantic Ocean here and lots of shipping goes on.  It was a lovely day to stand at the shore of the sea.  I love the sea!  

We came back to the hotel and took a really nice nap.  We are starting to catch up and get with the local time.  Now it’s off to find some dinner.  Bob wants to visit a local wine store and then have dinner here at the at the hotel.  Sounds good to me!  

Thanks for joining us.  Take care, love BC and GC.  

We are on the road again!   We are going to Portugal to take a Douro River Cruise with our favorite winery Cooper.  We’ll spend a few days in Lisbon seeing the sites then board the ship.  

Our flight from Pasco to Seattle was late getting off, but we started a day ahead, so it was no big deal.  We landed in Seattle walked to the Coast Gateway Hotel and checked in.  Rested a bit, then walked to our favorite restaurant 13 Coins.  On the way we had a scary experience.  Evidently, two people had an altercation with their cars and decided to drive very fast to the Radisson Hotel parking lot that we had just entered to scream at leach other.  The dark car started backing up without looking and luckily we were holding hands and I pulled Bob back.  As owner of the white car got out and kept screaming at the black car I kept pulling Bob away so we could be out of the range of projectiles or more driving.  At the time, Bob was memorizing the license plate of the black car. WA CDN3525.  Just in case you see it at the grocery store. 

We walked as fast as we could, still holding hands, to 13 Coins and sat down in the bar.  Our favorite waitress asked if we wanted a drink and we chorused “YES”.  Once again, holding hands when you go places it smart.  For various reasons.  

We had a bucket of clams and a glass of wine and this seemed to make things better!  We walked back to the hotel  and settled in for the night,  We were sleeping soundly until the fire alarm went off at 2:47AM.  Honey Miley!  We were on the 5th of 6 floors so we started to get dressed and get our papers together.  After 5 minutes or so, the alarm stopped,  Bob had checked the hallway and didn’t smell smoke. He went into the hallway, and said some guy went down to the lobby and it was a false alarm.  We had a perfect view from our room of the fire engines.  

This was our third hotel fire alarm experience.  Except this time there wasn’t any fire.  We fell back to sleep holding hands and slept pretty good until morning.  

You guys.... we haven’t even left the state of Washington yet!  Trouble supposedly comes in 3’s so we are all done now.  

Currently we are at Sea-Tac waiting to board our flight to Amsterdam and then to Lisbon.  We’ll be there tomorrow.  

As usual, please excuse format and spelling.  This set up we have is rather Gerry rigged and we have to relearn it every time we use it.  

Hugs to all, 

Love, BC and GC.

 

 March 18, 2023 

I wanted to finish up this series of the blog.  We are home now.  We got up at 5am in Rome on Tuesday, March 14th.  It was a long day.... Flying is always hit or miss. Or near miss.  Tuesday was no different.  We flew to Paris and deplaned hurrying to make our Paris to Seattle flight.  We had a 35 minute walk just to get to the "border" in the airport.  Wouldn't you know the border was "closed" due to the computers being down.  We had 45 minutes left before our flight left.  Luckily, the computers came up and we were admitted to France.  It's odd because we never left the airport.  When I tried to use my boarding  pass at the gate, it didn't work.  Bob's did.  The lady finally got me through.  All morning I had been convincing myself that I wasn't getting sick.  Maybe I convinced my mind, probably not, but I sure didn't convince my body.  Our 10 and half hour flight was not too bad.  The food was horrible, but that's not unusual.  I was having chills and stuffed up nose, etc.  By the time we landed in Seattle, all I wanted to do was take my clothes off and get into bed.  Our flight the next day to Pasco was brief and easy.  

We are recovering for the second time in two weeks from Covid.  Things are looking up, we are better each day.  Here's some random thoughts about our trip.  

We are so glad that we went to Egypt and Rome.  We have missed traveling and the fun and memories that are made.  We are so glad to be home also!   

We took carry-on luggage only and let me tell you, it saved the day many times.  We were on 11 flights in three weeks.  It made a huge difference in getting around. 

The whole Covid issue is very different in Egypt and Europe than it is in the US.  People outside the US have pretty much realized that Covid is here to stay, like many other contagious and non contagious  diseases.  (I'm looking at colds, flu, Montezuma's revenge or what have you.)  It's important to be prepared, have your medications with you, but go on with your life and enjoy your travels.  Being locked up in our homes is not healthy mentally, spiritually or physically.  We can get Covid (or the flu) at the local grocery store. 

Here's a photo I wanted to post but forgot. This is our guide Salah.  He was wonderful!  He's a native Egyptian, technically a Nubian, and has been studying Egypt and her history for over 30 years.  He's been leading tours for decades.  He tells us stories as we stand in the tombs and temples and makes us feel as if we are there 5,000 years ago.  Another reason I took this photo was because I wanted to show how unstable the floors and walkways that we traversed during our trip.  It was hard on our feet, legs, knees and bodies.  But again, it was so worth it.  

Travel is the best education.  You learn so much and not just about history and geography.  You learn how to cope with the unexpected.  You learn what is really important.  You learn that your life is no more important than anyone else's life.  You learn to take your turn and when to stand up for yourself.  And you learn one of my favorite sayings "How important is it?"   The important stuff comes to the surface when you least  expect it.  If more Americans traveled outside the US, we would all appreciate how lucky we are to be living in America.  

Take less stuff!  Except for your traveling buddy, no one will ever see you again, and who cares what others think?  Leave room for small trinkets and memories. 

Nothing goes as planned.  When you least expect it there will be a fly in the ointment.  Be flexible.  If necessary, wear a rubber band around your wrist to remind you to be flexible.  Embrace the oops and be proud of how you adapt.

Everyone everywhere is just trying to live their life the best they can, just like you are.  

Try new foods and drinks.  

Be prepared to catch a good picture and write some notes.  It's important.  

Memories are what make our souls wealthy.  Not things.  

Bob and I have been blessed to have been able to spend the last 40 plus years together.  Navigating a life that has been impressive, fun, scary, more bountiful than we could ever have imagined, loving, and just plain amazing.  

We hope you have enjoyed following along on our journey.  It makes it more fun for us to know that others are hanging out with us.  Thank you.  

"Where ever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna go through it together!"  

Love, Bc and Gc  

 Cairo to Rome, Friday, March 10, 2023 to Monday, March 13, 2023

We stayed  at the Cairo Intercontinental Hotel.  This is a huge hotel right in downtown Cairo near the airport.  Lots of marble and noise.  We were assigned room 1609.  There are two different elevator banks.  One for rooms between floors 1 and 39 and the other for floors 40-60.  We’ve been in a lot of elevators, but none like this one!  We went to our appointed elevator bank where there are three elevators.  You punch in 16, which is the floor, then a letter comes up A, B, or C and you are to take that elevator.  We were given elevator A.  In we go, where there are no number buttons in the elevator, just an emergency button and a close the door button.  We waited until the elevator door opened and out we went.  Right there, next to the Shogun restaurant.  Hmmm.  I asked a nice man what floor we were on and he said “negative 2.”  Sure.  So we went back to the elevators and tried our “16” again, got in elevator A and met some other people from our group who were “riding the elevators” also.  After much up and down, we finally got to floor 16 and found our room.  

After our Cairo outing to the Coptic Church and resting a bit, we decided to go have a cocktail.  It was so noisy in the hotel lobby, so we found a quiet bar.  They had outdoor seating and it was heaven!  We were looking over the huge pool area, with fancy lights, perfect weather, nice servers and scotch and wine.  Dinner later was a buffet and you know large buffets.  Too many people and lots of food that wasn’t all that good.  Dear me, we may waste away to a ton.... ha!  Fat chance.  Hey, see what I did there?!

The next morning we had an easy time of getting to and through check in and customs in Cairo.  Mostly due to the fact that Viking provided us with a gentleman who knew where to go, what to do and when call bull on an errant X-ray guy.  Nice.  While we were waiting in line at Egypt Air there was this lady in the line next to us.  She spent a lot of time convincing the airline people of something.  I’m not sure that she could even fit in on entire row! 

We found our gate, sat and waited, then got on the plane.  We were up very close in row 24.  This will be important later.  There were about 3 or 4 rows of first class which were mostly empty, then the next rows started with number 23 and we were 24.  Doesn’t make much sense, but I guess rows 5-22 were given to some other plane.  In any case, they wait til the last minute to board then yell at us to hurry up.  We are all in and ready to go when the guy comes on the speaker and says “We need you to disembark the plane immediately.  Please take all your belongings.” Ok.  Bob stepped out into the walkway to gather our bags and nearly was trampled.  We got off the plane and heard rumors that we were going to get a different plane.  There are no loudspeakers to listen for.  Someone kind of yells something and hopefully enough people hear it will share the news with others.  Works well for us since we are so fluent in Arabic Egyptian.  We are told to go to gate B-22 which is downstairs.  We sit around wondering what is going on as there is no plane nearby and this section of  the airport is completely empty of other people.  Eventually we hear rumors that there will be a bus.  Sure enough, we get on the standing room only bus, hanging on for dear life as the bus goes all over the airport and finally stops at another plane where we get out and climb the stairs, with our luggage to our new seats in row 24.  Believe it or not they came on and yelled at us to hurry again!  We took off and a lady in row 24 on the other side of us had a hissy fit because the security officer is required to sit next to her.  She had a melt down and they moved her up to first class which is what she wanted in the first place.  You can’t make this stuff up.     

We got to Rome and the customs guy literally threw my passport at me with a disgusted look!   Too funny.  The taxi service Bob arranged for us flaked out.  So we went to the taxi station and found a nice man who took us to our hotel.  QC Termeroma Spa and Hotel was so nice!  After all that toting and lifting of luggage up and downstairs we needed a light meal and a drink.  Our waiter was so nice.  He found the perfect scotch for Bob and a lovely red wine for me.  We shared a large meat and cheese platter with yummy bread.  We were so tired! 

The next day, March 11, 2023 was our 40th wedding anniversary!  We are still marveling that we’ve been married for 40 years.  Talk about a blink of the eye.  

We went outside to look around the spa and were amazed at all the people walking around in white terry cloth robes and lavender jelly flip flops.  It was surreal!  They were drinking wine, eating a buffet of some sort of food that was filled with sauces and something else.  We felt very over dressed in our street clothes.  We tried to find a place to have lunch, but if you were not wearing the tribe costume there wasn’t much chance of sitting somewhere quiet.  We asked a guy who seemed to be in charge if we could buy a glass of white wine and and he said sure and handed us one each.  Ok... we went back to our room and ate the crackers with our wine they had given us in our breakfast basket that morning.  

  Our dinner that night was so lovely.  Excellent food, wine service.  We forgot to have the waiter take our picture.  Bob has snapped this one of me.  

The next day we caught a taxi to the seaside to have a slice of pizza.  It was Sunday around lunchtime and no place would seat us.  We found a take away place and sat along the shore front and ate pizza.  The $55 round trip was a good deal for the $6.00 pizza we ate.  When we got back to the Spa the White robed clan was milling about smoking and drinking wine.  

We had another lovely dinner and asked the waiter to take our picture.  Here we are married 40 years and one day.  

We are now at a Hilton attached to the airport.  We have an early flight tomorrow morning to Paris with a quick change over to a plane to Seattle.  Please say a prayer that we won’t have any more plane issues.  I think we’ve had more than our share so far.  

It’s been an unbelievable trip.  Three weeks of so many new sights, sounds, and history.  We’ve had so much fun.  It has been great to be able to travel again, see new things and share them with each other.  WE hope you have liked our blog.  It hasn’t been easy to post things, and I apologize for the misspellings, weird spacing and all.  It takes about 60-90 minutes to put a blog post together due to the software and internet.  But we did it!  

Take care everyone.  Happy travels to you when you go on your next adventure.  

Much love, Bc and Gc

March 7, 8 and 9, 2023. 

On Tuesday, March 7th we went to the Nubian Village and the Philae Temple.  We got on another boat with life jackets, and took the scenic way on the Nile to the Nubian Village.  The boat trip was so peaceful and beautiful.  The scenery is beautiful.  

The Nubians came from lower Africa and have been in Egypt for centuries.  The Nubian village is similar to all the other towns we have visited.  Dirt roads, people seeking things, mostly women.  In other cities only men sold objects.  In the this village the women are the sellers because the men have to leave the village in order to get jobs. We were invited into a home.  The home has a large courtyard, then there are rooms for various family members off the courtyard.  When a child grows up and has a family, they add a area for the new family.  In this particular home the matriarch had recently passed away.  They have this painting of her on the courtyard wall.  

Next we went back to Philea where we had been the night before.  This time we learned more about the specific temples and how they had to move this one several hundred years ago due to flooding of the Nile.  Talk about a moving nightmare. Imagine moving those temple walls and bricks up the Nile River to higher ground. 

On March 8th we went by horse and carriage to the Edfu Temple.  We’ve been on horse and carriage rides before but nothing like a horse race through Cairo dodging busses, motorcycles, people, cars and a bunch more carriages.  The carriages are not to sturdy and several times it felt as if the whole thing would fall apart.  In any case, it was something to laugh about.  

On March 9th we got up early and flew to Cairo.  We really hadn’t missed Cairo all that much. As I’ve mentioned before it’s noisy and dirty.  It isn’t a city that you can just take a walk outside your hotel.  It’s just not safe and it’s so dirty that it isn’t appealing.  Though the Mongolian dust fog was not as bad as where we left earlier.  

In the afternoon we took a bus ride to the Coptic Church.  This was interesting.  The Coptics are a Christian group that are similar to say the Orthodox Christian Churches.  The church was very old started about 22 AD.  We also were able to walk through the Coptic Museum. There were lots of icons and carvings.

Well, the internet has been making us crazy, so we haven’t been able to post as much as we’d like.  But we will keep trying.  We are glad you are still with us, even though the posts are spotty.  Keep checking back as we have a great story about flying from Cairo to Rome.  

Take care, Bc and Gc