CASTLES IN THE AIR

On our last day in Lisbon, before moving on to Porto, we took a little side trip to the town of Sintra -- "a fairytale romantic city of castles, monuments, and palatial estates." Our first stop was the ruins of a mountaintop fortress built by the Moors in the 9th century.

The gardens were every bit as amazing as the ruins.

Mounds of Bleeding Heart

It was starting to rain by the time we got to this level, and the stone paths had become quite slippery, so I stopped and got a cup of hot tea instead of climbing to the tippy top. But not my crazy hubby! I think he regretted it later, but at least there were no injuries.

From there a bus took us to Pena Palace, a Romanticist summer retreat for the royal family, which King Ferdinand had built on the site of a monastery that was destroyed in the great earthquake. Well, the bus took us as close as it could get to the palace. Which wasn't actually all that close. Then there was quite a long hike, uphill all the way, in the pouring rain.

Although I was loathe to admit it at the time, it was probably worth having to spend the rest of the day in soggy clothes. Especially when we stumbled upon a delightful place near the train station, where we could have lunch before departing. Half of our group went into the more formal restaurant side, and the rest of us went next door to their wine bar.

All ended up pleased as punch with their choices!

NEW BITES TO TRY

The first thing on our to-do list last week was a trip to the hearing aid place in San Marcos, since poor Hubby handed one of his hearing aids over to a certain someone for safe keeping whilst in Portugal, and that certain someone managed to lose it! We normally go to Blacks Barbecue whenever we are over there, but since we had gorged on barbecue the day before at Calvin's birthday party, and still had leftovers, I tasked John with finding something new for us to try. He came up with this quaint little Mediterranean cafe called Nostimo.

Pretty tasty, I must say.

The following Friday, when we went back to pick up his two new hearing aids (of course they had discontinued his original models, so we couldn't just replace the one) we were planning to try the latest creation from the dynamic duo who brought San Marcos two kolache shops, Pie Society, and Zeligs.

Unfortunately, they were still in the middle of training their new staff, and wouldn't be open until the following week. We were so sad, since we had been salivating over that curry ever since reading about it in a magazine at the doctors office!

Then, just yesterday, we finally got around to trying Verde's Tacos -- the latest inhabitant of the little creekside joint that sits behind Cypress Falls Event Center here in Wimberley, where our daughter Lex got married.

When it comes to tacos, I guess I'm kind of old school traditional, and feel like I get a lot more for my money at my old stand-by, Mima's. However, if you're looking for atmosphere and a great summer hang out? Well, this place would be hard to beat!