Nice, France

Our last full day in France started off with a drive back to Nice. Dale and I were both sad to leave the French countryside and decided to take advantage wine country with a quick stop at a winery. We ended up buying some rosé to drink that night at Chateau Saint-Pierre. After that we finally got our rental car dropped off and we took a bus to our Airbnb. This was the first real look we had at the Côte d'Azur and the blue water really is just as spectacular as its said to be! After dropping off our bags we headed straight to the beach and rented an umbrella at the Neptune Plage. 

After a couple hours at the beach reading and enjoying the bright blue water we ate lunch and then changed before walking around old Nice and the town square Place Rossetti. I treated myself to a chocolate crepe with cinnamon ice cream at Fenocchio and then we continued exploring. That night we called my grandma to wish her a happy 80th birthday and then watched a movie before bed. It was the perfect relaxing day in Nice! 

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Southern France Part Two

Our second full day in Southern France began with kayaking through part of the Gorges du Verdon! When Dale and I started planning our Europe trip visiting the gorge was at the top of our list and I have to say it exceeded our expectations! That morning was a little rainy and the part of the gorge we were kayaking on was pretty quiet (near Montpezat) and really beautiful. The trip to the dam and back took around two hours and then we went back to our Airbnb to change before heading on to the town of La Palud-sur-Verdon! 

Seeing the bright blue part of the gorge was possibly my favorite moment of our entire trip. It's stunning! We took lots of photos before heading to the Route des Crêtes. I don't know why we hadn't realized it before our trip, but the part of the gorge seen most often in pictures is really the end point of a river flowing through a huge canyon, not too different from the Grand Canyon! Our drive through the mountains gave us the best views, even if the road was a little terrifying. The river in the gorge empties into Lake Sainte-Croix, which I was surprised to learn is a man-made lake. I'm really grateful to our Airbnb host for sharing the directions for our drive, it's a must-see part of the area. After exploring the gorge we headed back to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie because we didn't have too much time to explore when we ate dinner there the first night. 

I went a bit crazy on our walk through Moustiers-Sainte-Marie taking pictures of all the roses! I couldn't help it. Dale and I also hiked up to the church in the mountain above the town, the view was amazing. Our last stop of the day was Ste. Croix du Verdon, a small village right on the lake. The town was oddly quiet, and there were lots of cats, but it was also one of the prettiest villages we had visited. We had one last dinner in Riez, Italian this time, and then headed back to the Airbnb to pack for our drive back to Nice the next day! 

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Southern France Part One

We arrived in France on Monday, May 28th and immediately  picked up our rental car in Nice and headed to our Provence Airbnb. We decided to drive through Monaco on the way, which was very crowded but I'm glad we at least got a glimpse! For lunch we stopped for pizza and made our way through the mountains to Puimoisson. This was by far one of my favorite places we stayed, each morning we were served a delicious breakfast and the mountain view from our room was amazing. Our first night we ventured out to the neighboring town of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie for dinner at La Cascade and had amazing pasta with view of the cliffs. 

On our first full day in Provence we headed to Aix-en-Provence after our delicious breakfast. We didn't love Aix-en-Provence because it was so much larger and crowded than we were expecting. After looking around a bit we decided to move on to L'Isle-Sur-la-Sorgue. This was more our speed and we loved wandering around through the shops and walking along the stream in the middle of town. We got to-go quiche for lunch and then headed on to the next town, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. First up Dale and I stopped for gelato, I tried the lavender which was amazing! We followed the river up the mountain to see where it starts at the base of the mountain and did some more exploring in the town before heading to Gordes! 

If you are in the area Gordes is a must see! There are so many towns in the area its difficult to decide which ones to visit, but don't miss Gordes. We took a ton of photos before walking into the town in search of a place to get a glass of wine. Dale humored me on our way home and let me take a bunch of photos in a poppy field before we stopped in Riez for dinner. I'm so happy we decided to rent a car and drive through this part of France, it was the perfect country escape having spent so much time in cities at the beginning of our trip! Be on the lookout for a recap of our last full day in Provence next before heading back to Nice. 

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Lisbon Part Three

On Wednesday, May 23 we took a day trip to Sintra! It was a short train ride from Lisbon and we arrived pretty early that morning. Our first stop was visiting the National Palace of Sintra. I loved all the beautiful tiles and the decorated ceilings and chandeliers. After walking through we took the 434 bus to the Castelo dos Mouros (the Moorish Castle). The lush nature on the walk to the castle was one of our favorite parts, and walking along the walls gave us some amazing views! You could see Pena Palace from the castle walls which was our last stop in Sintra. After waiting in a long line to enter we walked through the palace and then headed back to Lisbon. If you are visiting Libon Sintra is definetley worth the short trip!

That afternoon we visited the National Tile Museum. The museum has a beautiful collection, but it was pretty out of the way and we had a long walk back to the Alfama district. Once we made it back to a familiar part of the city we stopped for a snack and listened to some live music. To get back to where we were staying we took a tuk tuk ride back to the Baxio Chiado metro stop near our Airbnb and then did some more shopping. After relaxing back at our place for a bit we headed to Estrela Da Bica for an amazing dinner. We had several shared plates: the hummus, shrimp dim sum, a beans and rice dish and falafel. To conclude our day we headed to Pink Street for drinks and then we were off to bed before our last day in Lisbon! Thursday we had booked an Airbnb experience and our guide João picked us up for a day of touring that morning.

Our day with João and our new friend Sa'adwas one of our favorite parts of our entire trip! We started with a drive across the bridge in Lisbon that looks exactly like the Golden Gate Bridge and then headed to our first wine tasting at José Maria da Fonseca (to try the Moscatel Roxo de Setúbal) before our tour at the Bacalhoa Vineyard. The tour included visiting the winery's art collection and then we learned about the process of making the wine. Our guide then took us to a tile factory before the best meal of the trip. We ate lunch at Tasca Do Isaías which was by far the best seafood I have ever had. It was fun to eat some more adventurous food than we would have ordered on our own! The last stop on our tour was visiting the Nature Park of Arrabida which gave us these fantastic views of the coast. João was nice enough to drop us off at the Belem Tower on our way back into the city and we were really sad to say goodbye! Dale and I were both exhausted from our day so we picked up some dinner at a grocery store on the way back to our Airbnb and then headed to bed early so we could catch our flight to Barcelona the next morning!

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Lisbon Part Two

Our second day in Lisbon got off to a late start after we slept in to make up for our full day (and jet lag) the day before. We headed to the Time Out Market for an early lunch (we tried croquettes with rice) and then headed to the Alfama District. The first viewpoint we headed for was the Miradouro de Santa Luzia. Along the way we stopped at the Teatro Romano and the Castelo de S. Jorge. At the castle we walked all through the grounds and up onto the castle walls and towers. We took a quick sangria break at a restaurant near the castle after exploring and then walked on to our second viewpoint of the day, the Miradouro da Graca. 

We were pretty exhausted after reaching the second viewpoint and decided to take the metro back to our Airbnb to relax before dinner. Following the route of the famous No. 28 tram was the perfect way to explore the city, we definitely recommend it! That night we ate at the Palácio Chiado, one of my favorite meals of the trip. The stunning setting in an old palace, compete with a winged lion hanging from the ceiling, made the food that much better. After dinner we headed to Park for drinks. The bar is hidden on top of a parking garage and we were glad our friends and recommended it, otherwise I'm sure we would have missed it. Our second day was full of hills, beautiful views and good food. Later this week I'll share a recap from our last two days in Portugal! 

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Lisbon Part One

We had the best time in Lisbon, and I'm really excited to begin sharing photos from each stop of our trip! We headed to Europe this summer to celebrate Dale's graduation from medical school and we have been planning our itinerary and booking our Airbnb's over the past year. Visiting Lisbon was at the top of my list so we decided to make it our first, and longest stop of the trip!

After arriving (via Dublin), we took the metro to our Airbnb and got ready to start exploring. To beat the jet lag we decided against a nap and stayed awake. We were also starving so our first stop was putting our name in at Taberna Da Rua Das Flores, a restaurant recommended by our host! He had told us it was a popular spot, and we even had to wait arriving later in the afternoon. During our wait  we did some shopping, one of our favorite spots being A Vida Portugesa, When we finally ate Dale had a duck salad and I tried the swordfish, both were amazing and worth the wait! After lunch we headed to the Carmo Convent — we especially enjoyed the museum inside. We were meeting some family friends, Laura and João, for dinner so on our walk back to our Airbnb we stopped by the Santa Justa Lift (the line was too long to go up), and stopped in a few more stores. After meeting our friends we headed to dinner and had a traditional Portuguese meal! I tried the Bacalhau and Dale tried the Secretos de Porco. Laura and João were kind enough to show us around Lisbon after our meal, it was the perfect start to our trip. By this point we were getting tired and headed off to bed! 

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