Today we leave the Algarve and head back to Lisbon. I'm ready to be home. I think I've hit the end of my social capabilities. I'm tired. I'm sick and I'm ready to be home in my own bed. Don't get me wrong though. I have enjoyed Portugal and this trip thoroughly. There just comes a time when I'm ready to be done with all the traveling.
On our way to Lisbon today we stopped at a tile facility. It's a small, family owned tile factory. The tour guide walked us through the process. It's interesting how much goes into a single tile. Each one made by hand, hand painted and fired. This little factory puts out a mere 25,000 tiles a year. That may sound like a lot, but when you think about an actual manufacturing facility not doing it by hand can put that amount out in a day or two.
This is the main workshop where the magic begins. The clay they get from the Duoro River. It comes in sacks and they pull enough out to make a single tile.
The roll the tile out to a certain width and then cut it to be the right size. The cut it a bit larger because it'll shrink in the heating process.
This is one of several kilns they have. The tiles go in for something like 19 hours. I think it goes in after it's painted.
I picked myself up a two tiles from this little shop. I loved this W tile and all the colors in it. The other tile I got is a wine bottle coaster.
On the way to Lisbon we stopped in Setubal for a lunch break. Hassan walked us to this market and said there were places to eat inside.
We walked through the market a little and found this little restaurant in the back. Janet and I split a hamburger and fries. It was an odd burger for me. It had ham, cheese, burger (of course) lettuce, tomato and an egg. I quickly handed Janet the egg from the burger. No thanks.
Arriving in Lisbon, we had a couple of hours before the Farewell dinner. I needed a nap in the worst way. I rested and just hung out while we waited for the dinner.
Our Farewell dinner was in a restaurant in the hotel on the top floor. It offered some amazing views of Lisbon.
The Farewell dinners are always a little bittersweet for me. On the one hand I'm ready to be home. On the other I've appreciated all the things we've seen and done. We've made some great friends on this trip and have enjoyed being around most of the people.
This gentleman was among our favorites. His name is Ken and he was on this trip with his sister and brother in law, who also turned out to be a ton of fun. Australians. Ken was hilarious. He had a witty come back for everything and was constantly asking Hassan questions about things as we traveled around Portugal. They were all great fun.
Julie was another friend we made on this trip. We hooked up with her almost immediately and spent the entire trip hanging with her. She too is Australian and was on a whirlwind trip from Ireland, England/Wales and then finally Portugal.
Dinner was delicious! The meal started with a salad. I had a couple of salads with dinner throughout the trip and all of them were just ok. The dressing on all of them was a liquidly and flavorless.
The wine in Portugal was delicious. This particular night it was exceptional. I needed to take a photo of the bottle just in case I can get it in the states.
Dinner was 'teenage' beef again. They call it veal, but Hassan swears that it's not the baby cows that we call veal in the states. I chose to believe him. This meat was tender and delicious.
Dessert, according to the menu, was to be a souffle. It came out and they lit it on fire. This isn't a souffle to me, but I'll go with it.
It wasn't great to be honest, but then again, I'm not a dessert person.
And so that's it. Portugal is done. We came. We saw. We ate. We learned. And we vowed to remember it forever. I'm still processing all that we did and saw. It goes so fast that I have to take some time to recount it all and really appreciate all that we saw.
With that, our flight is mid-day tomorrow and we'll be home around 9:30pm Seattle time. I took the next day off from work as I'm sure I'll be useless. I'm bringing home this wonderful bug and can only hope it goes away quickly.
Until next time Portugal, Chau!
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