In early July we left for Portugal and Ireland for about six weeks. It was great to go back and revisit some sights that we saw the first time in Portugal and then also to visit Dublin for the first time. In Portugal, we re-hiked a couple of pretty hikes, we ate at lots of the same restaurants, and we stayed in three of the same cities as we did when we were there two years ago. We stayed in Lisbon for nearly two weeks before meeting Dad in Porto. He had had to go on a work trip, so we flew to Portugal a little early to have some extra time. Our Lisbon days looked like this: William and I would run early in the morning to escape the heat and the people, then I would do math for a few hours while my brothers read or played cards, we would go for a walk before or after lunch, then we would go to dinner after the walk. After our time in Lisbon, we took a train to Porto and met Dad there. A couple days after that, our good friend Mr. Cox arrived to join the fun. Our days in Porto were similar, but we did a hike on one of the days, and we did a lot of walking around the city. After nearly three weeks in Porto, we went to Lagos, which is a town on the southern coast in the Algarve. Unlike Porto and Lisbon, Lagos is very flat, which made the runs much easier! We went on another big hike in Lagos, called the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail. A highlight from Lagos was going to Slide & Splash. Slide & Splash is a waterpark with all sorts of fun slides, ranging from “ooh, that was pleasant,” to “I’m not sure I want to do that again that was so fast”. After we flew out of Portugal, we went to Dublin for a few days. William, Dad, and I stayed for three days so William and I could get back for our first Cross Country practice, but Tate, Keegan, and Mom got to stay for about a week. I think we would all say that the highlight in Dublin was meeting up with our Grandad and his wife, Zorka, for dinner. It was a great trip!
Below: Sleepy boys during our layover in the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport
Below (top left): in front of Comoba (favorite coffee shop in Lisbon); (top middle): Mangeigaria (for Pasteis de Nada, Portuguese egg tarts); (bottom right): amazing gelato at Gelato Davvero
Below: dinner at Time Out Market, where Tate accidentally ordered a hotdog-sort of thing (he thought it was a a sausage), which he referred to as “not a dream come true”
Below: visting Lx Factory (Lx is commonly used as an abbreviation for Lisbon or, in Portuguese, Lisboa, which used to be spelled Lixboa)… Lx Factory, formerly a textile factory, is an industrial complex with lots of cafes, restaurants, shops, etc.
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