Warmer Weather

​What, pray you, does one do in Germany in the middle of winter?
Leave.
 
Last month, we took a trip to explore southern Spain and Portugal. We weren’t expecting to love it as much as we did (not having anything in the area we desperately wanted to see) but it was a fabulous trip. I recommend Andalucia to all.

We flew into Granada, rented a car, and shortly realized several things:

1. We were in for some late nights. Restaurants don’t open until about 8:30pm. This was bound to prove interesting as our girls are accustomed to a 7:30pm bedtime.
2. If one is interested in seeing the Alhambra, one should not wait until showing up in the city to arrange for tickets. Or one might find oneself, and family, not admitted.

So we laughed, and rolled with it.

The following day we stopped off in Ronda, which offered exquisite views. The city was fairly unremarkable, but yes, the scenery was astounding.

​Next stop was Sevilla. While it wasn’t yet the season for bull-fighting, we still filled our days.
​Flamenco dancing, walks through streets littered with fallen oranges, delicious Spanish wine, parks, churches, and many pharmacies in the hopes of combating my daughter's nasty stomach bug.

​The cathedral in Sevilla was astounding. It is the largest in the world. And shocking in its size.

We then left Spain and made our way to Portugal, me asleep for the drive as usual.
​Lagos was beautiful. We marched down to the coast—the nearly empty coast—and dipped our feet in the water. The water was easily 50 degrees. Very cold. We were the only fools with suits on.
 
Edward: I think I’m going to go in.
Me: Ha. Have fun.
Edward: I think we should go in.
Me: We? You want me to go in too?
Edward: We did come all this way.
Me: I must really love you.

It was shockingly cold, but strangely invigorating.
​I really do love that man.

​I wished we could have stayed longer, but our next stop did not disappoint.
Lisbon proved to be a fabulous city, and one of our new favorites. The food, the culture, the environment, the people. We visited the birth site of St. Anthony of Padua (who knew he wasn't Italian?), I pulled out Clare's very wiggly tooth at lunch, we enjoyed views of the waterfront, & even managed to squeeze in a soccer game one evening.

​To close off the trip, we made a little pilgrimage up to Fatima. It felt different from the bustle of my initial visit ten years ago, but it was peaceful. We saw the church and stood before the tombs of the three children, Jacinta, Francisco, and Lucia (although she lived to adulthood). I didn’t walk away with any profound impressions, but was thankful for the opportunity to return, and to pray for friends and family.

Our last night in Lisbon we found an incredible Mexican restaurant: Pistola y Corazon. This is actually notable because Germans don’t appear to do the Mexican food thing. So when we find one with good reviews while traveling, you better believe we are going.

All this to say... The food was incredible, the service was awesome. The servers even made Dia De Los Muertos masks and gave our kids tattoo pages.
Therese, my 4 year old, sported a giant cleaver tattoo for the following two weeks. When asked, she smiled and replied calmly, “That’s my sharp knife.”