WolfeStreetTravel finds interest in all things cartographic, vexillologic, and heraldric. Particularly the compelling cartographic oddities we encounter on our travels. But yesterday, multiple news outlets (and several travel Instagram accounts we follow) reported a development directly relevant to the last item in the list.
As reported in the UK’s Guardian, “The Danish king has shocked some historians by changing the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland and the Faroe Islands – in what has also been seen as a rebuke to Donald Trump.”
The previous Danish coat of arms was formalized in 1972, but elements of the current heraldric symbols can be traced back to the rule of King Canute VI around1194. The old coat of arms did acknowledge Greenland, but subordinated its polar bear to a position in quarters within quarters upon the field (shield shape). The Greenland polar bear shared a quartered space in the lower left quadrant of the field with the Faroe Islands ram, below three crowns, “symbolizing “the symbol of the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which was led by Denmark between 1397 and 1523.”
Denmark’s new coat of arms more prominently devotes an entire quarter of the field – the same lower left quadrant – to the polar bear symbol of Greenland. Although not as relevant to the story, the Faroe Islands’ ram gets its own quarter a the top right quadrant of the field, and the crowns are now gone. (They made cosmetic updates to the dudes with the clubs, too, but no one is commenting on the rationale for this change.)
All of this, of course, in response to Trump’s declaration that owning Greenland is in America’s strategic interest. Trump wrote yesterday on Truth Social, ““Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World.”
The Washington Post reported that “For the Danish government, this situation is “a huge headache,” according to Mikkel Runge Olesen, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. “It cannot be seen to be pressuring Greenland or jeopardize relations with Washington, which it depends on for security guarantees through NATO.”
Headache or not, WolfeStreetTravel finds it fascinating that the Danes are asserting their sovereignty over Greenland through updates to their ancient heraldric symbols while this whole thing plays out in the lead up to the new presidential administration.
After mulling over an extended trip to Japan over Christmas during our New England and Canada road trip this past summer, we quickly concluded that the time and focus needed to plan the logistics of that trip would be misspent while actively engaged in another. And so we defaulted to an easier-to-plan, one-stop trip to a location closer by that’s been on our list for a few years: San Miguel de Allende in the center of Mexico.
The town had been on our radar for a few reasons:
Most notably, the town hosted the finale of Top Chef one season, and the gastronomic reputation of San Miguel appeals to us
The Boston Connells spent more than a month in San Miguel back in the day as part of the boys’ Spanish immersion education (which certainly paid off, considering that one of them ended up taking two semesters of college engineering courses in Spain – in Spanish – and the other spent a month in Ecuador last year)
There’s a Rosewood there
The choice turned out to be a wise one – really beautiful place, both from a distance during cocktail hour:
And up close and personal in town:
We took a walking tour our first morning there, and our guide stated that San Miguel now consists of 14% gringos, and that, although Americans began visiting the town in meaningful numbers after WW II due to a Spanish language school that was covered by the GI Bill, the big surge came much later. Due, according to our guide, to a proclamation a dozen years ago by Conde Nast Travel that San Miguel was the most beautiful town in the world.
Moneyed Americans (and Canadians) soon followed – first as visitors, then as residents.
UNESCO also designated the center of town as a World Heritage Site, which is a pretty meaningful statement about the place. As a result of these moneyed new residents and the UNESCO designation, San Miguel has been beautifully preserved. Or gentrified. It’s a fine line.
And in all of the town declared by Conde Nast to be the most beautiful in the world, the magazine declared this street to be the most beautiful in town (and in the world). While the specific rank is questionable to us, considering some of the places that we’ve visited, it was undeniably beautiful, and made more so by the Christmas decorations here and all around the center of town:
And cool street views weren’t limited to just that most famous lane:
Cool dia de los muertos mural by a local artist in a San Miguel bar:
And the dia de los muertos accessories didn’t stop there.
The rather picturesque Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Salud/Temple of Our Lady of Health:
First lunch in town at a fish taco place – pretty good!
San Miguel’s bull ring, which still hosts bull fighting events (none of which were held during our visit, though):
Great view from the rooftop bar at our place, with San Miguel’s landmark Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel (Parish Church of St. Michael, Archangel) as a centerpiece of the vista:
Although the town is actually named after a 16th-century friar, Juan de San Miguel (and Ignacio Allende, who we’ll get to), the San Miguel reference we most commonly encountered during our visit was the town’s patron saint and parish church personality – St. Michael the Archangel.
Pretty good view of the parish church from our room’s terrace, too!
Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel was, in fact, omnipresent during our visit. One simply could not escape its intrusion. Which was a good thing, from a town aesthetics point of view. . .
Both up close:
And from afar:
And during the day:
And at night:
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Christmas Eve:
Christmas Eve dinner at Aperi:
And the tradition of the traveling Christmas stockings continues!
Christmas day in the Rosewood’s courtyard (not sure this functions in email version of post):
Christmas Day lunch at Bovine, featuring outstanding suckling pork.
Christmas dinner at Rosewood’s gastronomic restaurant 1826 absolutely sucked balls, and so does not merit any photographic documentation.
Instead, let’s turn to a field trip we took to the birthplace of the Mexican revolution: Guanajuato, about a 1.5-hour drive from San Miguel.
Unlike San Miguel, which permits residents to paint house in whatever color they wish – as long as it’s some shade of ocher or red – Guanajuato really does allow any color paint. As evidenced in the kaleidoscope of house colors seen from the belle view over town:
So, here’s Guanajuato’s role in the overthrow of Mexico of Spanish rule. During the Spanish colonial period, the region around and including Guanajuato was home to incredibly productive silver mines, yielding great wealth. But only to some – namely, the Spanish-born aristocracy. A stark wealth gap developed between these aristocrats and the indigenous and mestizo inhabitants working the mines and haciendas, and the areas slaves. Moreover, the native-born Spanish also were denied wealth and agency, and so, in the late 18th century, multiple rebellions broke out. All of them brutally suppressed and unsuccessful.
In 1809, however, a group led by Ignacio Allende, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Juan Aldama, Miguel Domínguez planned an armed revolt against the colonial government. (The last part of San Miguel de Allende takes its moniker from the first guy, bringing closure to our San Miguel discussion earlier in the post).
In September 1810, the rebel forces arrived in Guanajuato and besieged Spanish loyalist forces holed up in the city’s heavily fortified grain exchange, below:
The rebels besieged the grain exchange, but there were only four doors and rifles on the roof. So this dude, Juan José Martínez – a silver miner – strapped a slap of stone on his back and charged one of the doors, setting it alight and gaining entry. All of the loyalists were killed.
But the Spanish forces caught up with the leaders. “The four main participants – Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, and José Mariano Jiménez – were shot by Spanish firing squads, and their bodies decapitated. The four heads were hung from the corners of the Grain Exchange, to discourage other independence movements. The heads remained hanging for ten years, until Mexico achieved its independence. They were then taken to Mexico City and eventually put to rest under el Ángel de la Independencia in 1910.” (From here.)
On to more contemporary activities; namely, our second funicular of the year!
Pretty cool town.
Guanajuato Basilica, now that we’re down in the city:
The town’s opera house, Teatro Juárez:
And the Jesuit University of Guanajuato, which looks way more like a church, frankly.
Albeit with visually appealing green limestone facade elements – this limestone is unique to Guanajuato.
The tourist-trap Alley of the Kiss; with two balconies close enough to do so, the location spawned a local Romeo and Juliette-style legend.
Pretty cool main cultural area, with topiary-style park trees, a la San Miguel.
Juan José Martínez from down below:
And one more stop before our return – a bunch of mummies. There’s a story regarding the high cost of burial, a poor population, abandoned corpses, and naturally dry climate that accounts for all of this, but that’s for a later post. For now, just be a little grossed out. (As much, or perhaps more so, than by their counterparts in Sicily last year.)
Another great night in San Miguel (which we did prefer greatly over Guanajuato, for what it’s worth).
A normal creche in the city’s main park during the day:
And a rather more contemporary version encountered in town that night:
Pretty happening square!
The most prominent Spanish aristocratic families in San Miguel, btw, supported the rebellion against the Spanish crown in 1810. As a result, they retained their haciendas and their palaces in town. To this day, some of the most valuable properties in town are still owned by less than a dozen noble Spanish families. This includes several, huge private churches around town that are open to the public only on specific feast days. And even then only for, like, a 7:30 AM mass, then they’re back outta there and doors are closed.
Dinner with a view that night at Quince:
And some unexpected entertainment (not sure this functions in email version of post):
And then a ringside table to the main event, of which we were completely unaware prior to sitting down here:
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A walk one morning straight up hill to the Mirador neighborhood occupying the heights over San Miguel.
Great views all along the way of downtown San Miguel:
Pretty good combo: a sign with the archangel and the dude’s church right below:
Some downtime at Rosewood:
Final dinner of the trip:
Adios, San Miguel.
And adios to our 2024 travels!
Pretty good year:
February: Colombia
April: Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru
May: Texas
June: Georgia
July – September: Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, New York, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Rhode Island
After many years of unsuccessful attempts to visit St. Barts over Christmas, we finally hit the island in November, before the holiday season rush and associated ridiculous spikes in rates. Definitely worth it – tiny but very cool – and very European – Caribbean island.
We were able to fly direct from IAD to St. Martin, but then puddle jumped on a 12-minute flight to St. Barts and its tiny air strip.
St. Martin turns out to be the hub of Winair, with obvious connections to Anguilla (long, eel-like island at top) and St. Barts (tiny little arm-shaped island on the bottom), but also to pretty much all of the Leeward Islands and many of the Windward Islands farther to the southwest.
The tiny, tiny airstrip of St. Barts:
Our slice of the island for the next 5 days:
Definitely a better beach than Barbados (and some fine alliteration):
You’re in the Caribbean, but you always know that it’s a very French type of Caribbean:
Crepes each morning (exact same thing one of us always gets from takeaways in Paris – Nutella, banana, and coconut, but a slightly different presentation of the ingredients than when you grab one to walk around the 6th arrondissement).
A little field trip one day to the island’s capital, Gustavia:
St. Barts originally was settled by the French West India Company, but King Louis XVI became disenchanted with its output, so he traded it to Sweden for trading privileges in the Swedish trading hub of Gothenburg. Sweden sold the island back to France in the late 1800s, but not before the island’s capital had been named after the Swedish king Gustav III.
The British captured the island and held it for 20 years, as well, and there’s an old Anglican church in town, as a result:
Gustavia Lighthouse towering over town:
The dreaded Moke, a form of transportation we were warned against. So we got a regular car rental while on the island.
Another couple of field trips / lunch outings. This one at Gyp Sea’s beach club in St. Jean:
The beach at St. Jean with the iconic (and underwhelming) Eden Rock jutting out in the center (you can also see it from the return flight video at the end):
And, all the way on the other side of the tiny island, Cheval Blanc resort. We were torn over staying here versus Rosewood, where we ended up. Very cool place, but super compact. We think we made the right choice.
Our choice:
The Anse de Grand Cul de Sac lagoon outside our door was home to dozens of sea turtles due to the sea grass there.
And the turtles weren’t the only denizens of the property. To wit: the reptiles of Rosewood:
We expect to see even more tortoises when we return. . .
They’d wander by our place at totally random times:
Pretty good digs:
And Nespresso quantities in line with our consumption for a change:
Deviating from the international flavor of the three long-duration trips we’ve embarked on since retirement (in Europe, the South Pacific, and South America), WolfeStreetTravel this summer chose a region closer to home for a 2.5-month-long road trip to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of Alexandria: New England and eastern Canada. We spent all of July and August and the first part of September on the road north of here and out of the heat (mostly).
In all, we visited 8 states and 4 Canadian provinces, staying in 28 locations, including 18 hotels, 6 AirB&Bs, and a few relatives’ places. Here’s a Google map of the entire road trip (with stops in order, if you can follow the letters):
Previously, during our 2-week-long road trip through England and Wales, we ate so many fish and chips lunches, for cod sake, that our consumption became a trip theme. In the truest form of homage to this tradition, we ate our way on this trip through more than 20 dozen oysters – almost daily during the second half of the trip when we were traveling exclusively in coastal areas – resulting in an undeniable oyster theme to the trip. Not since biking along the coast of Normandy with Thomas and Lisa had the world more been our oyster.
But the trip themes didn’t end with the bewitching bivalve – additional food- and non-food-related recurrences worked themselves unintentionally but inexorably into our travels. We checked out two dozen lighthouse, took eight ferries (from full-blown car ferries to little bike- and people-only ferries), drove over a half dozen covered bridges, and consumed almost a dozen lobster rolls. All distinctive features and foods that became the ongoing themes of our trip (and subjects of our real-time Instagram posts @WolfeStreetTravel).
Our trip route took the general form of an arc that slanted and slumped towards the northeast:
We first headed north to the apex of the arc on the west side of the map, through New York and Vermont, into the province of Quebec
We reached our northeast apex during a week-long stay in Prince Edward Island
And then headed southwest to complete the arc, down the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Since we went back and forth, east and west, a few times in the beginning of the trip to see friends and relatives when they were available, the arc concept doesn’t really apply to the first few weeks (but it’s still a great travel construct!).
We began on July 1 not in New England, but in Pennsylvania to spend a few days in what one of us thought was a very appealing lake house.
Appealing though it was, indeed, this was a mistake.
The lake was more of a pond, and, although we hiked and ran in the area, there wasn’t a lot around. The only really appealing aspect of this stop was the little cabin itself. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy a 3-day stay – which one of the WolfeStreetTravelers totally predicted and warned against, but the other ignored. Not an auspicious start.
The area did offer the first covered bridge, though – a theme unique to the first half of the trip. Other, more prevalent themes would emerge later in the journey.
From the little pond house, we headed east to visit our first targeted relative, but not directly. Since it was July 4, and since we had never been there before, we toured West Point:
And then spent a couple of days in the pretty cool town of Beacon, NY, on the Hudson, where even the churches prize efficiency:
And then on to Stamford, CT, and our first relative of the trip: KJQ, skipper of the Quick Getaway:
Plus, the Sprucks!
Then, back west, again, to the Adirondacks region of NY, to occupy a lake house (for real this time – not a pond house) for 5 days:
Pretty good digs.
Plus, a little pontoon boat action:
And some decent hikes:
And then back east – again!
First for a couple of days in “The Berkshires” in North Adams, which really did not feel like the Berkshires to us. Our stay straddled the Appalachian Trail, so, some decent hiking / running, but the place really was for shite, in our view.
The only redeeming quality presented itself in the form of an art museum: the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), which was pretty outstanding, actually. Plus, Laurie Anderson (an Avant Garde favorite of one of us since her release of “O Superman” in the early 80s.
Thence on to Boston, and the Boston Connells! Who treated us to a Red Socks game:
And amazing, authentic lobster rolls, which were to become another theme of the trip, as you’ll see; and it all started here:
A day exploring Boston with Dan, including the North Church:
And the very compelling JFK Museum with both of the Boston Connells:
Then, north(ish), first for a quick stop for lunch in Portsmouth, NH,
Then to Portland/Yarmouth/Freeport, Maine, and Bill! Our first stop was our must-visit oyster bar in Portland, EvenTide:
Portland Head Light, w Bill (and the first sighting of another trip theme):
The truly Rockwell-esque Clam Festival in Bill’s adopted hometown of Yarmouth, ME, featuring the LL Bean Bootmobile:
And, of course, Shucky the Clam!
And our second lobster rolls of the trip at Five Islands with Bill, Aine, and Kieran:
An obligatory stop the morning we headed out:
After the long-overdue visits to friends and family in Massachusetts and Maine, we headed west again. But, on the way: a stop for lunch in Kennebunkport. Home to the Bush family compound and, nearby, some Kellys, now in California.
Then, on to Vermont, and the true western arc northward on the trip, beginning with 2 nights based in the tiny hamlet of Grafton.
Which was home to two more covered bridges:
Good digs, in a 19th-century Air B&B:
A little day trip to Weston, home to the famous (and pretty interesting, actually) Vermont Country Store:
We engaged on a bunch of additional day trips to other allegedly charming towns that also were just tiny hamlets and a little underwhelming, so we’ll move on in this summary to our next destination: Woodstock, VT, home to yet another covered bridge and the only such bridge with a dedicated pedestrian section (visited at the end of a rainy run the morning we left):
And then, on to Middlebury for 2 nights. We held high hopes for this location, based on family recommendations. Not so. Not so at all.
But here’s an interesting (the only interesting?) item from this college town: a Union civil war memorial. One of many (many!) that we’d encounter up north, and distinctively different in appearance from the Confederate monuments that we both grew up around. Not just down the street from us in Alexandria, but all over Virginia and the South. We’ll discuss this in a future post, but the distinctive Union versus Confederate soldier image was striking to us.
Middlebury. Meh.
But a day trip away from Middlebury to a 18th-century fort? On a freaking cable ferry?! Hell yeah (and we love a cable ferry):
Fort Ticonderoga, site of French and Indian and Revolutionary War actions – pretty cool!
And across the lake, Mount Defiance:
And departing middling Middlebury via it’s unique two-lane covered bridge – crappy town, but great addition to the covered bridge theme!
En route to Burlington, we stopped over for a hike and lunch at Shelburne farms, at Caren’s suggestion. Cool experimental, sustainable farm initially owned by the Varnderbilts:
And then on to 3 days in Burlington, VT – good running each morning along Lake Champlain, great food and culture, but tons of homeless, pot-smoking douchebags shambling about the public spaces. But, you gotta take your good with your bad, right! Overall, a great location to visit.
The highlight of our stay was, without question, the totally impromptu, 26-mile round-trip, bike ride up Burlington’s bike causeway to Grande Isle for a maple creemee (Vermont parlance for a maple-flavored, soft serve ice cream cone):
And the causeway came with a dedicated bike ferry to bridge a cut for boats right before you reached Grand Isle – our second ferry!
Totally worth the ride.
Burlington was cool, but after 3 days, we were ready to move on.
Via yet ANOTHER ferry! This one once again across Lake Champlain to New York, but in a larger format than our first cable ferry.
We spent the next 3 days on Lake Placid in a classic Adirondack lodge.
The aesthetics were everything we had hoped – super cool.
Including our cabin:
Adirondack chairs in the Adirondacks:
And classic wood boats to watch, plying the lake:
We spent some time at the Olympic center, home to the Miracle on Ice – this was the US Hockey Team’s locker room during the 1980 Olympics:
And the Olympics ski jump – who knew you didn’t need snow?
And then north, across the frontier to Canada and Montreal, where we celebrated one of our birthdays:
Although we’d been to Quebec City before, that trip was 25 years ago, for our first anniversary, and we vaguely recall that the province was noticeably bilingual. Things have changed: Montreal is thoroughly and very intentionally Francophone, and we encountered plenty of residents who spoke only French. The English may have conquered New France in the 18th century, but the French culture is clearly victorious in Montreal in the 21st.
We’ll post details in a future post on how and why this happened over the past 40 years, but let these statues on Montreal’s main square provide some insight for now. On one side, an English man holding an English bulldog, turning up his nose at the French; on the other, a French woman holding a French poodle returning the gesture. There is no love lost between the two cultures in Montreal.
Because this was a domestic road trip unbroken by planes to and from home, we were able to pack a little more, including running gear (and a Nespresso machine). We successfully ran about two thirds of the mornings of our trip, including each of our three mornings here, along Montreal’s harbor, dominated on one end by the Molson beer building (there’s also a Molson bank in town).
More oysters! Although the best were yet to come (and in significant quantities), we experienced more consecutive outstanding dining experiences in Montreal than anywhere else (PEI was a close second, though).
We hadn’t planned on visiting giant Olmec heads on our trip, but there they were in Montreal’s Museum of Archeology. Only 23 have ever been discovered. And they are, indeed, giant.
Across the harbor from Montreal proper lies the wildly cubist Habitat ’67 residences. Initially created in advance of Montreal’s winter Olympics, they’re now high-priced condos very much in demand due to their city skyline view (and uniqueness).
From Montreal, we drove east, more specifically to North Hatley, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Nice place along Lac Massawippi to hang for a few days.
The town’s lobster shack:
More lobster rolls (and fried clams) in North Hatley – definitely a contender!
And also our first (and only) helping of Canada’s signature poutine – artery-clogging goodness!
And back across the border again, to Maine’s North Woods:
One of the two most spectacular sunsets of the trip (both conveniently during cocktail hour):
We awoke at 4:30 one morning to go on a moose safari deep in paper company forests. We only saw one moose, though, and a female without a rack, at that.
Great setting along Moosehead Lake, though!
Another ferry – this time pedestrian only – across Moosehead lake to climb the island of Mount Kineo:
Pretty great views!
Perhaps the most Maine Adirondack chair ever:
Another hike up Burnt Jacket Mountain. No charred outerwear at the top, but there was a surprise swing.
Vermont has creemees; Maine has dairy bars. Both offered delicious soft-serve – perfect for a post-ride or post-hike treat.
Last evening on Moosehead Lake before heading east and north, to Prince Edward Island.
By way of New Brunswick’s capital of Frederickton, which was dreary the evening and morning of our stopover.
Which did nothing but enhance the weather on PEI – spectacular! We would spend a full week on this Canadian island province at the apex of our trip’s arc.
And more oysters!
And PEI’s renowned mussels – the first of several orders during our week on the island.
More biking! This time a 26-mile trip, but on e-bikes, which we initially eschewed, even though we had a fun time riding them in San Antonio as part of Emma’s graduation celebration. We’re now totally converts for when we’re just traveling – e-bikes just make touring around tons more fun.
The first of PEI’s characteristic lighthouses along the bike ride – adding to one of our trip’s themes.
And the objective of the ride? We were on a roll with lobster rolls!
Another quintessential PEI lighthouse on our morning run along the harbor, which was so enjoyable that we ran all seven mornings of our stay.
The remarkably picturesque town of Victoria-by-the-Sea, which offered us a trifecta of trip themes during our midday field trip.
More oysters. . . .
More lobster rolls. . .
And the best PEI lighthouse yet!
More PEI mussels at the renowned Blue Mussel on the north coast, in the little fishing hamlet of North Rustico:
And more oysters, natch! With blueberry ale, a frequent offering that we’d been sampling (along with copious hazys) ever since our lunch in Portsmouth, NH.
Another PEI lighthouse encountered on a lunch excursion to Souris on the east side of the island.
Our home base of Charlottetown – very reminiscent of Old Town. Right on the water and tons of restaurants. It even sports a King Street, Queen Street, and Prince Street. Perfect home for WolfeStreetTravel for a week!
The town’s vibrant Victoria Row a few blocks from the water.
Good setting for some more oysters!
And our last PEI mussels on PEI. . .
Sunset on Victoria Row.
Our last lobster roll on PEI (and easily the greatest underperformer of the trip – look how thin that loser is!):
And our last oysters (these, on the other hand, were great) on the island during our final dinner before arcing southeast to begin our return leg.
We headed over the internal Canadian border to our fourth province: Nova Scotia, where we spent 2 days in Halifax, right on the water. Which was super cloudy our first morning in town:
But with oysters, hazys, and Aperols, no one’s complaining.
Halifax’s harbor and boardwalk, which was really scenic.
During both day and night.
Heading up to Halifax’s British fortress on the hill above town:
And a pretty awesome dinner our last night at Sea Smoke on the boardwalk,
where you could have fireside sushi while people watching. Perfect.
An addition to the lighthouse theme in Halifax harbor.
And then, across an actual border for the last time to drive down the coast of Maine, stopping first in Bar Harbor.
Including on our hike up Cadillac Ridge in Acadia,
where we encountered zero visibility at the top, identical to our experience on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
But, the fog also led to a bumper crop of mushrooms on the trail, much to the delight of the WolfeStreetTraveler who took a full year of graduate-level mycology as an undergrad.
And, on our final morning, a whale watching cruise! Great, right?!
Nope! Also zero visibility, and with huge swells, leading to a third of the boat becoming seasick:
The cruise was cut short and refunds were issued to all due to both factors (we did see two whales off in the fog, though).
From Bar Harbor, we continued down the coast to the charming port town of Camden.
Home to a classic harbor inn.
And the iconic views from Mount Megunticook:
And, notwithstanding the three consecutive outstanding dinners in Montreal and tons of great dining on PEI, we actually experienced our best dining experience of the trip on our final night in Camden at Camden Harbor Inn’s Natalie’s.
Based on recommendations from a couple we met around a fire at Lake Placid, we stopped for lunch at Cliff House in Ogunquit on the way to Kara’s in New Hampshire. More oysters, natch.
And then to Bedford, NH, for Jen’s 60th birthday party and the Olympic Jentathalon, pitting two teams of family members against each other in contests of skill, determination, and an eclectic mix of life skills.
Thence, on to Cape Cod. First, to Chatham, a lovely town that was not part of our original itinerary. We left 2 days after Jen’s party unplanned, in case there were follow on activities. Seeing none, we followed the advice of the Spruck’s at KJQ’s back in July, and booked 2 nights in Chatham, located at the elbow of the flexed arm that is Cape Cod.
More oysters!
An evening at Chatham Bars Inn – we declined to stay there, but still took advantage of the setting for drinks and dinner our first night.
Atmospheric final morning during our run in Chatham. . .
We then headed up Cape Cod’s arm to Provincetown, stopping for lunch in Wellfleet, as famous for their oysters as PEI is for their mussels:
A well-deserved reputation!
While we were there, bottle-nosed dolphins got stranded in their harbor and a team of marine mammal specialists were trying to shoo them out.
And then – Provincetown. Super entertaining! Super fun! Super gay!
Definitely a cool place to visit for 3 days.
And, with super oysters (natch).
We grabbed our inn’s bikes one day and biked to Race Point Beach, on the other side of the peninsula.
Which was full of great white sharks.
Pilgrim Monument looming over town.
Drag queens at brunch.
And then, our next ferry, from Woods Hole, Cape Cod, to Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, our first of two towns on the island.
The big Victorians on Oak Bluffs:
And the tiny revival Victorian cottages:
And, of course, oysters, during lunch in Vineyard Haven down the road.
Dropping by Gay Head Light on the west end of the island during our migration from Oak Bluffs (not our favorite, frankly) to Edgartown (very, very good).
And ANOTHER bike ferry, this one across a cut to the fishing village of Chilmark for lunch:
Adding to one of the five themes of the trip, we present the Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse:
(And more oysters.)
Yet another ferry from Edgartown to the island of Chappaquiddick to circumnavigate the island by bike.
Pretty good digs while in Edgartown.
And, after our final ferry from Martha’s Vineyard back to Woods Hole, our final lobster roll of the trip in Newport.
As an appropriate accompaniment to lobster, we visited three Gilded Age mansions in Newport, starting with The Breakers.
Followed by Marble House.
And ending with Rose Cliff.
Also pretty good digs at Castle Hill Inn’s beach house.
The final lighthouse of the trip: Castle Hill Lighthouse on Narragansett Bay, in Rhode Island.
Our last stop in Newport, RI, also was the location of the best sunset cocktail hour scene of the entire trip: Castle Hill Inn’s lawn of Adirondack chairs.
Accompanied one evening by a completely unexpected air show by, everyone assumed, the naval station up the bay. We still don’t know, but it was awesome:
And at Castle Hill Inn to end the trip: A. Final. Order. of. Oysters.
Pretty good trip. We’ll publish more detailed posts after we address our backlog. Likely in 2028 or something.
Really interesting article in today’s New York Times about North Macedonia’s claim that Alexander is their native son, much to the infuriation of Greece. Historians agree that Alexander (and his father Philip) both originate from the Macedonia region of Greece, south of the country of North Macedonia. But historical realities don’t discourage the nationalistic fervor of the North Macedonians in creating a national identity for themselves.
We encountered all of this during our bike trip through Macedonia and Albania a few years ago, including the presence of oversize statues of Alexander, his father Philip, and a 10th-century Bulgarian king (who also isn’t native to Macedonia).
Greece’s Alexander the Great, prominently displayed during our trip in Skopje, North Macedonia’s capital:
And across the bridge, his father, Philip of Macedon (also not North Macedonian):
One one side of Skopje’s main square squats Samuil, the Tsar of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 1014 (also not North Macedonian, enraging the Bulgarians, as noted in today’s NYT article):
And on the other side, a couple of more recent heros of the Balkan region – maybe Macedonian, maybe Bulgarian. All of this is a little disputed.
So, we planned the following month-long trip to five countries:
Fly into Buenos Aires and spend the day and night
Take a ferry over to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, rent a car, and drive up the coast
Take a ferry back to Buenos Aires (this time from Montevideo) and spend an afternoon and night
Fly to Argentina’s Mendoza wine country and spend several days there, including celebrating one of our birthdays
Fly to Santiago, Chile, and spend a couple of days exploring the city
Fly to Iguazu Falls, Brazil, and spend a couple of days marveling a this natural wonder
Fly to Sao Paolo, Brazil, and spend a couple of days there – exploring the city and exploring the Rosewood Sao Paolo even more
Fly to Cusco, Peru, and get a car immediately down to the Sacred Valley region. Cusco lies at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet – more than double that of Denver – so we headed out of this elevation to acclimate in Urubamba, at 9,000 feet (not down to Denver’s level, but every drop helps).
Spend almost a week in the Sacred Valley hiking and checking out lost Inca cities, culminating in back-to-back visits to Machu Picchu over 2 days
Head BACK to Cusco after acclimating, and spend a couple of days there checking out its unique combination of Spanish colonial architecture built atop Inca palace foundations
Fly to Lima and spend a day and night there, then fly home
A map of the trip locations is here (as well as updated on the Map / home page of WolfeStreetTravel:
The trip easily exceeded our expectations (which, for one of us, were kinda low). Highlights included:
The super cool-vibe beach town of Jose Ignacio on the Uruguay coast
Mendoza wine country and horseback riding through wineries for tastings and lunch to celebrate the birthday
Peru’s sacred valley and the hikes and Inca ruins we experienced there
(Lowlights included Santiago, Sao Paolo (other than the Rosewood), and Lima. We have decided that we are definitely not big city travelers. We’ll continue to visit major cities that we haven’t experienced before, but our sweet spot is definitely medium to small towns [the epitome in our experience continues to be Ronda, in Spain’s Andalucía region]).
Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay – the country’s oldest city:
Onward and up the coast to Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital:
And finally, Uruguay’s cool-vibe beach town of Jose Ignacio:
And just inland, one of the four best hotels of our trip: Fasano Punta del Este.
And its resident kleptomaniac Uruguayan crab-eating foxes, one of which stole a right Birkenstock, size 45, which was never recovered (although was finally replaced in Santiago).
And then over to Argentina’s Mendoza wine country, home to the country’s signature red (and the favorite red of one of the WolfeStreetTravelers: Malbec.
Accommodations at Cavas Wine Lodge in the heart of Mendoza wine country – outstanding.
Pretty cool ride through multiple vineyards to multiple wineries for tastings and lunch on Lisa’s birthday:
Villa roof deck on another one of the four best hotels on the trip:
An hour hop across the Andes to . . .
Santiago, Chile:
Very cool Chilean Pre-Columbian Museum, including the Inca’s stone and bronze weapons used heroically but futilely against the Spanish conquistadors:
Back over the Andes and to the center of the country (and border of Argentina and Brazil) to Iguazu Falls.
Even more extensive than we had imagined:
And more powerful than Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe when we visited there in 2018:
Yes. Yes there is.
Another flight – this time domestic – to Sao Paolo, home not only to the largest urban population in South America but also tons of pretty cool street art:
And Rosewood Sao Paolo:
Then, across the Andes again for the last time – to Peru’s Sacred Valley:
The 15th-century royal estate and later Inca citadel of Ollantaytambo:
Our first Incan walls:
The next day, a three-waterfall hike up a mountain, culminating in a visit to an even older Incan village site.
Then, after a train ride to Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu!
After acclimating, we headed back up to Cusco to actually stay there for a couple of days.
One of the many 14th- and 15th-century Inca palace walls, atop which monasteries, churches, or manors were built by the Spanish. The walls in Cusco were even more impressive than those Machu Picchu or Ollantaytambo.
Cusco’s main square and cathedral . . .
Inside of which is a uniquely Peruvian painting of the last supper:
The native artist included guinea pig (cuy) as the main dish and portrayed Francisco Pizarro as Judas on the lower right:
Last night in Cusco at Belmond’s hotel-built-on-a-Spanish-monastery-built-on-an-Inca-temple; another one of the best places we stayed.
We’ll post a lot more on all of these locations after we finally get around to the backlog of some prior trips.
After a little less than 2 months of recovery from a prolonged foray to Italy, Malta, France, and Portugal, we embarked on another journey in September, this time to the other side of the globe: we headed to Bora Bora in French Polynesia to celebrate our 25th anniversary.
Since we already were going to be traveling to the middle of the Pacific for just 7 days, we decided to travel a little further after to visit another remote country that had been on our list for 2 decades: New Zealand. We’d spend another 2.5 weeks road tripping there – first on the North Island, then, after a ferry ride across the Cook Strait, on the South Island.
Our travel locations / itinerary for this trip can be found in the interactive travel map below:
Upon arrival in French Polynesia, we spent the night and the next morning in Tahiti (home to the international airport), then made our way to our actual destination in the French Overseas Territory. Bora Bora’s great appeal and unique geographical / oceanographic situation: its turquoise-blue lagoon. The island consists of an extinct volcano in the middle, a coral atoll that encircles it, and a serene lagoon in between:
The lagoon is protected by the atoll from ocean waves, resulting in an ideal setting for overwater bungalows that otherwise would not survive in more challenging ocean environments. THIS is why we targeted Bora Bora for our milestone.
Turned out to be a pretty good setting for a 25th anniversary celebration. . .
Nice housing / diving platform:
The snorkeling in the lagoon turned out to be as memorable as the bungalow – we’ve never seen healthier, more vibrant coral ecosystems outside of Carricou, one of the Grenadian islands, exactly 25 years earlier.
And spinner dolphins – a whole pod of them at the break in the coral that’s the main point of ingress and egress to the lagoon from the sea (located at the 3:00 position on the island pic above).
Bora Bora also is home to manta rays, and we tried diligently to find them, circumnavigating the entire lagoon in our quest and diving where we were hoping they’d be:
But came up empty. All we found was a lousy eagle ray:
After 5 days, it was time to move on:
After another overnight in Tahiti, we proceeded on to New Zealand for the start of our north-to-south Kiwi road trip. We landed in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, in the north of the North Island. The place is home to a significant harbor complex and ample evidence of the country’s sailing prowess, as the first nation to take the America’s Cup away from us.
Across the harbor from Auckland in Devonport:
We then drove south, stopping on our first leg to hike the Waimangu volcanic valley, the youngest volcanically active site on earth:
While residing in our our base town of Taupo, in the center of the North Island, we headed northwest for a day to go blackwater rafting through the Waitomo cave complex, the highlight of which is an impressive density of glow worms on the cavern ceiling that you experience floating through, in the pitch black (after launching backward into the darkness over a small waterfall). To experience the thrill of blackwater rafting, however, one must accept the indignities of the mandatory getups.
Located directly above Taupo, we hiked Mount Tauhara, home to an inexplicable trench system in lieu of trails. Compression? Erosion? WWI reenactors? We still don’t know.
At the top, with a view of Lake Taupo:
And hiked west from town to the Huka Falls, fed by Lake Taupo:
Then drove south, to Wellington, stopping for a day hike on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing:
Wellington is home to Zealandia, a wildlife refuge for New Zealand’s native fauna and flora, including, and in particular, the Tuatara, the last remaining member of an otherwise long extinct order of reptiles. (Since one of us originally went to school to be a herpetologist, this may have been a close second to Bora Bora as the highlight of the trip.)
From Wellington, we crossed the Cook Strait to the South Island and New Zealand’s wine region: Marlborough. Despite the optimistic suggestion of the next morning’s rainbow, we biked the entire next day in the rain for a six-winery bike tour. The wine helped, but only a little.
And then on to the South Island coastal town of Kaikora, located near an undersea chasm that’s home to giant squid – and hence, sperm whales. But the rain had other plans, and the whale watching was cancelled for the entire day. We seal watched, since there was a colony in the area, but it really wasn’t the same thing.
From Kaikoura, we headed further south to Christchurch, stopping to hike along the Lewis Pass in New Zealand’s Southern Alps.
And then Christchurch, our final destination.
New Zealand’s towns, we’re sorry to say, are devoid of charm and pretty utilitarian. The only one that struck us as appealing was Christchurch, where the architecture was a mix of English charm and ultramodern, due to a massive rebuilding effort after a devastating series of earthquakes in 2011. One example is the Transitional Christchurch Cathedral – also called the Cardboard Cathedral, due to its cardboard tube construction (for virtually every element), befitting its temporary status simply until the real cathedral is rebuilt.
The River Avon, which winds through Christchurch like an eel, constituted one of the elements of town we found appealing:
After 3 nights in Christchurch, we headed home, through Auckland, and then Tahiti again (of course). But this time, we would alter the space / time continuum, and arrive in Tahiti the day before we left Auckland:
After limiting our travel each year for the past several decades to 1- and 2-week trips abroad due to work responsibilities, retirement by the second of the two travelers in 2023 eliminated this constraint. So, we kicked off WolfeStreetTravel’s 2023 journeys with one-way tickets to Italy with no plans to return.
The original vision for this prolonged foray to Europe assumed that we’d have an itinerary and lodging planned for the first week or two, then we’d wing it from there. However, this approach proved to be completely unbearable for the travel-planning arm of the consortium. As a result, our entire itinerary, including all destinations, transportation, and accommodations (and about a half a dozen dinners) were planned for the first 7 weeks of the trip.
We still had no return plans, maintaining fidelity to the spirit of the trip, but we definitely weren’t winging it, either.
The trip, which began on May 5, can be logically sequenced into the following legs:
Italian peninsula road trip (17 days)
Sardinian break (4 days, including overnight ferry to Palermo)
Sicily road trip (18 days)
Malta break (4 days)
Normandy bike trip (8 days, including a day before and after biking)
Portugal (8 days)
The color coding of each leg above aligns to the destinations depicted in the interactive map below:
In addition to the color coding, the map breaks down our travels using the following icons:
Bed = hotel stay
House = villa / Airbnb stay
Pin = day trip
Hiker = uh, a hike
Biker = a stage in our Normandy bike trip
We’ll file detailed posts on the trip later, but each of the legs is summarized in this post. We really have tried to keep this overview to a bare minimum, but it’ll still be the longest update we’ve ever posted – sorry!
Italian Peninsula Road Trip
The trip began in Tuscany, where we’d spend 5 days with the Brandts and KJQ in a beautiful area just northeast of Siena.
Overlooking the Val d’Orcia:
We hiked w KJQ one day to the Abbey of San Lorenzo a Coltibuono (and, about 5 miles later, to a harrowing shortcut escaped only through an opening KJQ dubbed The Gate to Salvation):
Tuscany wasn’t all sunshine and Brunello, though – it freaking poured in Montepulciano:
Gracie joined us for a portion of the stay, as well (and a team comprised of her and Madison cleaned up on two successive nights of Trivial Pursuit)
From Tuscany, we drove north, to Portofino on the Ligurian coast – a town that had been on Lisa’s wish list for several years. It did not disappoint.
We continued our hiking habit in Portofino, hiking one day to the Abbey of San Fruttuoso:
And the next along the coastline to Santa Margherita Ligure:
Portofino also was the jumping off point to scores and scores of Aperol spritzes consumed as aperitivos throughout the trip.
From the Ligurian coast, we drove south, back through Tuscany, and over the border to Umbria, and the medieval town of Orvietto for a stopover on our way to the Amalfi coast:
We continued south the next day, to Herculaneum. A smaller town than Pompeii, Herculaneum also was nonetheless lost due to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, but it was covered in ash and pumice, rather than being flattened by rocky debris, preserving it much better, including numerous, intact, Roman snack bars:
After a quick overnight in Naples (in which our only goal was to score some iconic Neapolitan pizza), we headed to Capri for a couple of days, leaving the car in Sorrento:
Our stay on Capri was one of the highlights of the trip – we will definitely be back. View over Capri Town from our place:
Hikes each day, including to the ruins of Emperor Tiberius’ villa:
And a hike from Capri to Anacapri, followed by a hike up Monte Solaro because fog reduced visibility to zero for a ride up the cool little cable chairs:
But the weather cleared for a chair ride back down:
We ferried from Capri back to Sorrento, retrieved our car, and began the most harrowing aspect of our peninsular road trip: driving on the Amalfi coast. Seriously – really treacherous.
Luckily, relief was at hand in Praiano, our home for the next 3 days:
We headed a few miles down the road to Positano the next morning, only to retreat back to Praiano after a half a day there. A lot of travelers characterize Positano as the “Jewel in the Crown of the Amalfi Coast.” It’s not. Its a cruise ship packed full of tourists and shitty shops that happens be be tumbling down a cliff in a picturesque way.
We enjoyed Positano much more from a distance, content at our place in Praiano:
The next morning we hiked the Path of the Gods from Praiano to Positano:
Once the path paralleled the coastline, the going was a little technical, but not a big problem. The challenge to the 5-mile-long Path of the Gods hike was the >2000 feet of incline and decline, almost all of which is straight up from Praiano and then straight down 1700 steps into Positano.
Praiano also hosted the first of three Michelin-starred gastronomic dinners of the trip. Plus, a ridiculous perch over the Tyrrhenian Sea on the Amalfi Coast:
From the Amalfi Coast, we drove southeast for a couple of days in Matera, Italy’s oldest city:
Similar to our experience in Capadocica in Turkey, Matera sported tons of centuries-old troglodite homes, churches, and tombs:
And cave restaurants, too:
Our last night on the Italian peninsula:
The next morning, we surrendered our ride for the past 3 weeks (a dr, a brand none of us – not even KJQ – had heard of before), and flew to the island of Sardinia:
Sardinian Break
Between the end of one 3-week road trip, and the start of the next, we built into the itinerary a little down time on the the Costa Rei on the southeastern coast of Sardinia.
Not a lot to report – a few miles of walking each morning along the beach:
And some killer seafood, including and in particular, Sardinian oysters. (We thought these were the best we had every tasted until we later encountered even better ones in Normandy.)
Then an overnight ferry to Palermo, when we’d start another road trip leg across Sicily.
Sicily Road Trip
The surprisingly vibrant and enjoyable city of Palermo – very different from the gritty and sketchy image that we had prior to our time there:
And the first of many cool encounters with Arabo-Norman architecture in Sicily at the city’s 12-century Church of San Cataldo:
And our introduction to the ubiquity of pistachios on everything in Sicily:
And the most horrific of the catacombs of our entire journey below Palermo’s Capuchin Monastery:
And a cool, 3-hour street food tour, featuring a spleen sandwich (4/10: would not try again):
Our last evening in Palermo:
We drove from Palermo to the south-center of the island, to Agrigento, home to the most intact Doric Greek temples in the world, dating to 400 BC:
And spent a little time on the coast while we were there:
And continued the recommended daily doses of Aperol:
Final evening in Agrigento, with a view to the Temple of Juno and the sea:
From Agrigento, we headed due east to a cluster of Baroque towns, so called because they were all destroyed by an earthquake in 1796 and were all rebuilt in the Baroque style du jour. We based ourselves in the town of Modica for 6 days:
Which sported a pretty cool AirB&B that was built into a cliff:
The Baroque Church of San Giorgo in the nearby town of Ragusa Ibla:
The main piazza (such as it is) of the Baroque town of Scicli:
And the spectacularly picturesque Baroque town of Noto:
Modica also was just 20 minutes from the beach, so we started two of our mornings during our stay with some pretty great beach hikes along the Sicilian coast:
Second gastronomic experience on the trip at the tiny Michelin-starred hole in the wall of Accursio, featuring, among other things, Sicily’s orange wine (the color, not the fruit):
Modica’s Baroque Church of San Giorgio (same name as in Ragusa, same style, just different town) on our last night:
The ancient town / island of Syracuse served as our final stop in the south of Sicily – also another city we liked so much that we may return:
Sicily’s most captivating characteristic, at least to WolfeStreetTravel, must be the convergence and layers upon layers of different cultures that have dominated the island. We witnessed this with the mélange of Arab and Norman architectural styles in churches in Palermo and Monreal, for example. But nowhere was it more evident than Siracusa’s cathedral, which began as a Greek temple to Athena in 480 BC. In our travels, we’ve seen tons of churches build on top of pagan temples, replacing them. That was how they operated. Good site, but obliterate the offending structure. Not so in Siracusa. In the 6th century AD, the Byzantines just filled in the spaces between the Doric columns and incorporated the temple into their new church. Then the Normans added to it in the 11th century w crenellations reflective of their military-style churches. AND IT’S ALL STILL STANDING. You can see the ~2500-year-old Doric columns and capitals inside and outside the church (which was hosting a wedding while we were there, reinforcing how Sicilians simply live through their amazing history).
Another case in point, the Syracuse’s abandoned, 1st-century Roman amphitheater. . .
But just up a path lies the city’s even older, 5th-century BC Greek amphitheater, which is still in use today:
And, of course, we checked out the local catacombs:
Imbibing our daily recommeneded allowance of Aperol spritzes at one of the cooler little roadside cafes on Syracuse’s ancient Ortigia island old town:
And then north! To hike Sicily’s still-active Mount Etna. Twice.
The first day’s hike, from the caldera’s southern approach was okay, but not particularly thrilling. The next day, we hiked up from the eastern approach. Holy shit – absolutely stunning. First, a legit old lava tube:
And then, at the top, along the rim of the old caldera, a view of the still active peak, plus smoky evidence in the old caldera of still active volcanic evolution:
And finally, to the northeast(ish) of Sicily, and the now hyperpopular town of Taormina, setting for White Lotus Season 2 (although we didn’t know this when we planned the trip).
We challenge anyone to locate a more stunning, atmospheric setting for a classical theater than the one in Taormina. It began as a 3rd-century-BC Greek theater, then 1st-century-BC Roman theater, then 2nd-century-AD Roman theater, then 18th- 19th- and 20th-century restorations. Pretty freaking cool. And, like Syracuse’s Greek theater, still in use today.
Our digs for 5 days, perched above IsolaBella. Wins the prize for best AirB&B pool on the trip.
Last night in Taormina:
The next day, we flew from Sicily to Malta, dropping off our trusty Citroen C3 – the second time we’ve had one of these for a European road trip. It looks like a sneaker with the unnecessary side effects, but this car grows on you!
Malta Break
And then, Malta! Country no. 71 for WolfeStreetTravel.
Downtown Valletta, the tiny country’s capital, with its unique wooden balcony boxes (gallarija):
And on the heels of the best AirB&B pool in Taormina, the best hotel pool at our digs in Sanglea built into an old fortress and overlooking Malta’s Grand Harbour:
A side trip to Mdina, Malta’s golden limestone old capital:
Last night in Malta along the harbor:
To avoid potential flight issues to reach our next destination in Normandy, where we had a hard start, we flew to France a day early, and stopped over in Chantilly, home to Chateau de Chantilly. No delay, but good call – cool place.
Normandy Biking
The next leg of the our extended foray to Europe entailed our latest biking trip – this time with Thomas and Lisa, in celebration of their wedding (albeit delayed for 2 years).
The five stages of the bike trip spanned two invasions. The first in 1066, by William the Conqueror conquering England from Normandy, as depicted in the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry, as seen in Bayeux, our starting town:
The next almost a thousand years later, this time and invasion of Normandy in 1944. On our first day we visited three bunkers in a German battery on Gold Beach:
And on the same ride, the first of our dozens and dozens of dozen oysters ordered in Normandy:
Invasion overview at the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach:
And a night in a 13th- and 14th-century chateau, which may have been the most surreal night of our entire travelling lives. There’s an entire story about this insane evening, but we’ll deal with that in a separate post.
The conclusion of our biking journey at Mont Saint Michel. Originating in 708, the site has attracted pilgrims who still trek across the sandy estuary at low tide for more than 1300 years, staved off an entire English army during the 100 Years War with a garrison of just 100 Norman knights, and is claimed to this day by both Normandy and Brittany.
Then, a day in Paris:
Of all of the legs of the trip, only Portugal was unplanned. We knew while in Malta that we didn’t want to go home after biking, and considered either grabbing a car after Thomas and Lisa departed Paris and then driving south to the Dordogne region for a week or two or flying to Portugal at the same time as their return flight. We’re going to save Dordogne for another bike trip, and so we decided to head to Portugal. Still without having a set itinerary there or a return flight home, though!
Portugal
We decided to first spend 4 days in Porto, in northern Portugal. This turned out to be the absolute best location of the entire trip. We’ll be back to spend a month or two here in the future.
Porto’s medieval Ribeira District and south Porto astride the Duoro River:
Everything in Porto is clad in tile:
And, after 7 weeks of Aperol spritzes:
Local port and tonics suddenly dominated the scene:
And an afternoon of port tastings:
Then, a train south, to Lisbon, the first European destination we had ever visited, back in 2002:
With some monumental areas:
And some more sketchy areas:
And a day trip to Sintra, home to the Pena Palace:
And a final gastronomic meal:
Final night in Lisbon before finally flying home, accompanied by July’s Blood Moon:
All told, we traveled for 2 months, experienced 4 countries, 41 towns, stayed in 19 hotels, 5 AirB&Bs/villas, and traveled by trains, planes, and automobiles (and ferries, trams, tuk tuks, and bikes). Amazing trip!
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