Nanna Sue and  I are now visiting Portugal.  There is a very special festival in Tomar, Festival of the Trays, that we will be seeing on Sunday, more on that for a later post.  We flew into Lisbon, a lovely city just in from the Western Side of Portugal.  We stayed at a small hotel in the city which Nanna Sue loved because we can drink port in the library for free 24 hours and play back gammon.  We played a lot of back gammon.

We also toured the city.  We first boarded the Yellow Bus, a hop on hop off bus that gives you the history of Lisbon (in English) as you drive around the city in an open topped bus.

After traveling around the city and hearing about the history and what the city has to offer, we then got off and had a wonderful lunch at an outdoor cafe in the city center.  From there we boarded a river boat to travel down the Teju river and then back.  We then saw the city from the water, an entirely different view.

On Thursday night we met up with Renato and Haley along with Renato’s sister and boyfriend.  Renato’s Mom and Dad (Isabel and Jose)  also joined us and we went to dinner then out to a Fado bar.  Fado is a Portugal style of music that is very moving and wonderful.

The next day we met up with Haley and Renato and took an inclined plane up to one of the 7 hills of Lisbon.  The car that took us up was originally built by General Electric, looks a good feature to model on my outdoor railroad.

From Lisbon we then drove to Tomar to see the festival.  One of several stops was to visit a special bakery that makes a special pastry, Pastel de Belem.