Day 20 and off o Lisbon

A misty morning saw Peg off to the Tomar to Lisbon train this morning. She is off to Italian adventures as she explores her Italian roots and heritage. 

The tractors were not just toys for big boys and there was time for a little tractor play for Hrri while everyone had breakfast. 

We left for  Lisbon later in the day and then we will be off to Italy for our last stage of this trip.

Goods were gathered, Beds were stripped. Clothes were washed and dried. Bins were emptied. That familiar hollowness that accompanies all endings, however temporary, returned. This might just be the worst time to leave Portugal Tomorrow will be the Revolutions Day celebrations, and we had already seen the preparations for public events and associated street closures. Even in far flung Chaos there is a plethora of public events and celebrations taking place.

 

 Britt, Zak and Chux went to the post office to sort out Peg's parcel woes and stopped at a two  thousand year old olive tree for Charlie to do his ritual dance around it. I think he believes it bestows good luck and ensures a happy return in years to come. A coffee in the Chaos coffee shop followed.

We had a last family explore of Tomar and what a difference some blazing sunshine made. The shops were open,. Sidewalk cafes were filling. Tourists were out in force and the numbers on the street were boosted by young adults out of school early and lingering in cafes.

It was an opportunity for Britty to lead Ginny through some of the cool shops in the laneways. We ended up in a great cafe and we lunched outside. Charlie ate the full plate of Turkish eggs on yoghurt and a few of us had pastrami sandwiches with sweet potato chips and salad, It was a lovely way to end this trip in Tomar and say goodbye to family. 

Britt wins Aunt of the century by coming up with an endless stream of ideas to keep her nephew purposefully engaged. Britt and Co headed home and we drove to Lisbon airport to drop off the hire car and take an uber to our Lisbon hotel.

Last night of the trip at the adega involved the massive pack and tidy, but there was also time for young  Chux  to model his new pants from Aunty britty, which he loved as they had "pockets"

The last sunset on the deck was a rip roaring beauty. Now that is a memory to hold dear.

Meanwhile... there we go. off to our Lisbon adventures. The drive to Lisbon was silky smooth and the car drop off was amazing. A huge number of companies operated out of a big underground car park and it all worked like clockwork. 

This time, rather than staying in the trourisy part of the city, which we loved last time, we opted for the city proper rather than the historic part of town, and i think it was a good choice. 

We dropped our bags off and set out on foot to explore the surrounding area. An open air bar a short distance away took our fancy and we headed over hoping for a cool drink. It was a great place, full of people who looked like that they had finished work and were meeting up with friends over a drink. it looked like a great cross section of Lisbon society.

 Getting into the cosmopolitan swing of the place, we ordered cocktails, leaned back in our chairs and listened to the saxophonist who played some pretty cool jazz. An hour and a half later we were still there. This part of the city was full of little restaurants and we decided on a Japanese place after a lot of internet research. An odd choice? Maybe, but it looked great when we walked past and we knew that over the next week we would be having mainly Italian food, so why not.

The temperature had really climbed during the day so we took a short rest back in the hotel, changed and set off for our evening meal. WOW we found a great place Samurai had great food an it was presented in  super stylish  venue. We ate too much but enjoyed every morsel. 

It was straight back o the hotel afterwards as we will have to be up with the larks at 5.30 m tomorrow morning for our journey to Lisbon airport. Hopefully we can get breakfast there,. Ginny, Britt and the tribe should be at the airport at roughly the same time, Paris bound, so you never know, we could meet up on the concourse.