Day 2 - Christchurch to Punakaiki The morning of Day 2, we grabbed our MadCampers van and off we went! We looked at the weather (Met Service is a great weather service in NZ) and noticed that we were going to miss our window of our first major tramp in Franz Josef on the west coast …
Author: rachelogdie
New Zealand Here We Go!
I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about what amazing times we had between Thanksgiving and New Zealand. But, because I’m so woefully behind in blogging (read: we’ve had way too much fun), I am going to start with New Zealand and then intersperse posts from late November (Morocco) through the first week of …
More Portugal touring & Turkey Day 2023
View from Convent Of Our Lady Of Arrábida This convent has a rich history dating back to the 1530s-40s, depending upon which history you read/hear and believe. It is set on this incredible hillside that abuts Parque Natural da Arrábida, a protected park. As the story goes, the first Duke of Aveiro funded the creation …
Porto
C and I had been to Porto before and loved it. Of course, this time we did different things. Only a few of us wanted to go to the famous bookstore Livraria Lello where supposedly J.K. Rowling found inspiration when creating some of the Hogwarts scenery. The picture is of the magical staircase leading to …
Back home for Thanksgiving week and tours!
We returned from Porto on Sunday, November 19. On Monday we sent Al, Maren, Busaba and Cathy off on a tour with Diogo (friend and partner in the tour business to Gui who Alexis used when she was in Portugal - thanks Alexis!). They set off out for Sintra and saw 3 palaces in one …
Douro Valley Day 1 with Busaba and Cathy
Shortly after Busaba and Cathy arrived, we headed to the Douro. The Douro is "the world’s largest area of mountain vineyard and a Unesco World Heritage site" according to Bomfim 1896 (more on Bomfin later). And, it is breathtaking. The steeply terraced hillsides are a marvel. All around, it's a magical place to sit and …
More fun guests!
After Seville, we traveled north back toward home. We stopped in another cute Portugal town called Évora where Al and Maren tried a Francesinha, which is a meat, white bread, and fried egg sandwich smothered in a slightly spicy gravy with fries thrown in for an extra shot at a heart attack. It's really a …
So incredibly fortunate we are
My dad and his wife arrived today with a suitcase full of goodies for us, some of which we requested (like Halloween candy and spices we cannot find), and a surprise box from our good friend Sugi! Thank you thank you, Sugi, for the super thoughtful gifts that remind us how incredibly lucky we are …
More Delicious Local Food
I'm starting this post in the a.m. and I will finish when we return from our friends' house tonight. So, it may be a bit disjointed. But, I'm starting with one thing I love and I typically do not eat much of in the states: bread. Daniel introduced us to what we think is the …
Portuguese Olive Oil
This post is in honor of KM who has a keen interest in olive oil. Some of us have been having discussions about how to assure we get the freshest extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) from around the world without any preservatives or additives. Over the past few years in CA, we've been getting deliveries …
Salty Apron 