This year during our school's October holiday, we went to Portugal with our good friends Marcus, Alicia and baby Ian. We rented an apartment together for the week, which turned out to be just perfect. The boys really enjoyed each other.
And the location was fantastic...right in the heart of the Baixa district.
There were 5 restaurants within a few steps of our front door. Or in parent speak, all within range of the monitors. All four of us ate out almost every night!
On our first morning, Cisco, Jackson and I went out for a morning walk-about. We walked through Rossio Square. Among other things, Lisbon is known for it's beautiful tiled streets...
...and hundreds of buildings with tile facades...
...and its custard tarts,
pastel de nata. We stopped that morning for our first of many.
Later in the afternoon we took a ride on the must-do tram #28.
The hills in Lisbon are some of the steepest in the world that trams go up and down. This tram meanders through the town close to the waters sailed by Vasco de Gama.
And just a short walk away from one end was the Castelo de São Jorge.
The views were spectacular...especially with the setting sun.
We explored the castle grounds...
..and walked the perimeter walls.
Later on in the trip, we visited the outstanding Lisbon Oceanarium, a product of the World's Fair Expo of 1998.
This meant a ride on the Metro. Cisco and Jackson are having a nice moment here as we wait for the train to arrive.
The Metro stations were really nice and kept with the tile theme.
This is Vasco, the mascot of the Oceanarium, and the other mascots.
This place was incredible! They had a huge centrally located tank with giant rays...
And they had this prehistoric behemoth called a sun fish. It looked like a giant swimming rock.
And plenty of sharks!
Wow, that's a big screen!
This is the Jackson Bay shark from Australia.
And the sea dragon...incredible!
Here's Jackson posing with Vasco. Really he was sticking his head through a hole, but a little creative Photoshop coloring and: voila!
The next day we headed just a few miles out of the center to the Belem district. Our first stop was at the original custard tart shop.
The boys waited patiently as Alicia and I ordered some warm yummy tarts!
Then we all walked to the park across the street to sit and enjoy them. Warm is
definitely best!
We shared some of the flaky crust with the pigeons. Jackson and Ian
loved discovering pigeons.
We played in the grass for a bit.
And the boys enjoyed some...bonding time?
What a face!
That's the moneymaker.
Across the street was the Monastery of Jeronimos...home of Vasco da Gama's tomb.
We tried to get in, but it was closed.
So we just explored the area awhile.
There was plenty for Cisco to show Jackson. (
Note: Don't try this at home :-)
"Hey, this one's empty!"
Just down the street were the Belem tower...
...and the Monument to the Discoveries.
Jackson and Ian enjoyed a little more cuddling & then we headed back home for the night.
The next morning Marcus and Hannah got up early with the kids and headed out for an early walk. We went to the local market - fruits, vegetables, and fish.
Jackson and Ian were a BIG hit. They were Grandma magnets! :)
Then later that morning we all headed out for another walk-about. Nice shades.
Okay - now they're ready to go.
We stopped at the Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa or Sé de Lisboa. It's the oldest church in Lisbon and dates from 1147.
Inside, it was beyond ornate...
..and it had one of the creepiest reliquaries we've ever seen. It actually had two reliquaries (like the one below) on each side of the altar. One was filled with the remains of male saints and one with female remains. I'll say it again, that is one aspect of Catholicism that I just don't get.
We continued our walk through the lovely Alfama district mulling this over.
Check out this cool tree that was a central piece to the park we stumbled on.
The last day we took a train out of town to visit some castles in the Sintra area. To get there, we had to go to the Rossio train station - cool building!
In the Sintra area there are loads of castles, but with the babies and impending rain, we knew we'd have to limit ourselves, so we chose the two biggies. Both were a bus ride up into the hills which meant we still managed to bag a couple castles on our way.
This was our first stop -- the ruins of an old Moorish castle, the
Castelo dos Mouros.
Apparently, the forest was winning this seige.
That's the perimeter wall in the distance, from the perimeter wall on this side.
We attempted to walk it all...but the rain was coming down pretty hard and the steps were slick. Even though Jackson didn't seem to mind, we turned back. Well,
Only Cisco made it all the way up.
Next, on to a totally different type of castle. This one was taken right out of Candy Land.
When we arrived at Sintra Castelo, it was completely surrounded by mist.
And we could hardly tell the castle was painted in bright colors.
The mist still lent a fairy-tale feel to the experience, though.
We toured the inside of the palace, but weren't allowed to take photos. When we came out the mist had cleared.
So we got to see not only the castle, but the surrounding landscape as well.
We walked the castle wall, of course. It's just good practice to secure the perimeter.
And then it was time to head back to Lisbon.
We all had a great time and both the boys did really well throughout the week. Come to think of it, all four boys did.
As you can see, Jackson's been trying to make friends with the cats. Woody has been a bit more receptive than Clementine...though neither is a big fan of Jax yet.
He's also a big fan of the computer.
He's pretty sure he knows how it works. I've never tried using my tongue on the mouse pad...but maybe that's something new these days.
Also, we put up a safety gate in front of the radiator in Jackson's play area (trying to avoid him touching it). He was just fine with this move and found a great way to use the gate.
Up...
Up! He's barely 8 months old...is he supposed to be able to climb like this?
A couple days before Thanksgiving, Jackson and Momma headed to the US to spend the holidays with family. He had his first professional photos taken. Awww!
And we had so much fun with all the family. Here's a real short clip of Jackson laughing with Grandma Gena -- and there will be more on all our time with the family in the next blog post. 
As you can see, Jackson's been trying to make friends with the cats. Woody has been a bit more receptive than Clementine...though neither is a big fan of Jax yet.
He's also a big fan of the computer.
He's pretty sure he knows how it works. I've never tried using my tongue on the mouse pad...but maybe that's something new these days.
Also, we put up a safety gate in front of the radiator in Jackson's play area (trying to avoid him touching it). He was just fine with this move and found a great way to use the gate.
Up...
Up! He's barely 8 months old...is he supposed to be able to climb like this?
A couple days before Thanksgiving, Jackson and Momma headed to the US to spend the holidays with family. He had his first professional photos taken. Awww!
And we had so much fun with all the family. Here's a real short clip of Jackson laughing with Grandma Gena -- and there will be more on all our time with the family in the next blog post. 
