Here’s the last installment of the Portugal series. After spending time in Lisbon and the Algarves, we spent our last day visiting Sintra and the Pena palace. Gorgeous place, and the perfect way to spend our the last moments in Portugal. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

We got up early in the morning and after some confusion, found the train station and got on the train to Sintra, which is about a 30 minute trip from Lisbon. After some major kerfuffles getting off the train (our tickets for the train are supposed to scan and let us leave the train – ours didn’t work and we had to pry open the turnstile door), we got on a bus that brings you waaaaay up the mountain to Pena palace. We took 10,000,000 photos of this fairytale castle:

We had a quick lunch at the palace after spending hours exploring and taking photos of the castle and the views it offered. I had a sausage roll, cod pie and coffee – perfect!

After leaving the castle, we went on a short hike out to a lookout that’s supposed to offer amazing views of Pena from afar. The hike itself had lots of pretty things along the way.

And the lookout was indeed an amazing view!

We took the bus back down, and bought a lot of queijadas, which is a Sintra-specific dessert. Awesome pastries, I brought a whole bunch home.

The rest of the time we spent exploring the village.

And had our last dinner in Portugal there, our last bites of the black pig pork that we had fallen in love with.

And thus concludes a trip to Portugal! Beautiful country with so so so much good food.

Here’s the other posts:

Portugal, Part 1 (Algarve)

Portugal, Part 2 (Algarve)

Portugal, Part 3 (Lisbon)

It’s been well over a year since our trip to Hawaii, and while cleaning up the site a little, I realized I had never finished my recap of the trip! I still remember it like it was yesterday, so let’s finish this up!

We set out early one morning to hike the Kalalau trail along the Napali Coast. The entire hike is 11 miles, and it rated a 9 by the Sierra Club – it can be quite strenuous and treacherous due to steep coast, crumbling rocks, muddy paths, etc. (not to mention, it is apparently difficult to get a permit to hike this and we did not have camping gear). Needless to say, we were not up for the whole thing, so we decided to do the 2-mile option, from Ke’e beach to Hanakapi’ai, which is already quite difficult.

The hike there was indeed a hard one, with lots of grappling down waterfalls and across slippery paths. A lot of it was a steep incline, and I needed lots of breaks and lots of water.

The views along the way were absolutely stunning though and worth every drop of sweat!

The climb down to the beach at the end of the two miles was across giant rocks, but we had already made it that far – no turning back here!

The beach at the end of the 2-mile leg has a lot of warnings, as rip currents can be quite strong and drownings occur regularly. The waves were big, but we were unable to resist swimming in the ocean. In fact, we spent so much time and so much energy in there that we got nervous about being able to make the hike back!

We did, however, make it back, and packed up our stuff in the apartment. We had spent the previous night trying to find a place on Kauai to stay for the next seven days, as we had decided in Hilo that there was no way we were leaving after just a week (our original plan when we left was to spend the last week driving the California coast). In Kauai, we called the airline, switched our flight for one a week later, and used Hotwire to find a “resort” on Kauai to stay at. We had no idea what we were getting, and the first room we got was awful. After a lot of complaining on our part, we got placed in a better room with a much better view (of the pool and of the ocean). We are on the eastern side of Kauai, right in the middle of the north and south shore, which was a great place to be, as it took no time to travel anywhere we wanted.

We spent a few days exploring the island, checking out beaches and just relaxing. Polihale beach was amazing – it took a long drive and a long empty road to get to this deserted beach.

We were lucky to see a monk seal sunning himself on Poipu beach.

And then there were palm trees, waterfalls, lighthouses and mountains. We had BBQs in the wind and the dark.

We also ate wonderful, wonderful food! This included shave ice, ramen and the best burgers in the world, the ono burger from Duane’s, packed with fresh pineapple and avocado.

The last two days on Kauai were spent doing those big-ticket things that one should do while on Kauai. The most exciting thing, and the most beautiful thing, was the helicopter ride over Waimea Canyon and the Napali coast. Just flying in a helicopter was exciting enough, especially a helicopter with no doors. Add the magical and awesome views, and it became the highlight of our trip!

We also flew into Mount Waialeale, which is the wettest place on earth, and it was damp, scary, dark and cold.

Finally, on our last full day, we took a boat ride around the Napali coast, so we ended up seeing the coast on foot, by air, and by sea. On the way in, I had a great time. The boat stopped near the Forbidden Island so that we could go snorkeling and eat lunch. On the way back, the boat went through a whole lot of waves, and I ended up massively seasick. I spent the whole trip back holding back vomit, with my eyes closed, and even passed out a few times. Not quite sure the view was worth it, but it was mostly fun.

Our flight to San Francisco was in the afternoon, so on our last day, we packed up the jeep and spent the morning at Ke’e beach, saying goodbye to our favourite spot and to our time in Hawaii.

Read the other Hawaii posts:
Big Island, Day 1 (Puako)
Big Island, Day 2 (Puako to Captain Cook)
Big Island, Days 3 & 4 (Kona to Hilo)
Big Island, Days 5 & 6 (Volcano and Mauna Kea)
Kauai and Waimea Canyon
Kauai and Getting to Hanalei
Kauai – The Last Week
And here’s our two days in San Francisco!

Along with the Algarve (Parts 1 and 2), we spent several days in Lisbon (including a daytrip to Sintra). I preferred Lisbon to the Algarve area – even though the beaches along the shore were amazing, there’s just something appealing about a bustling, pretty European city. The views from our hotel room was pretty nice!

When we first landed, we had the entire afternoon and evening to explore the area around the hotel, which was pretty much as central as one could get in Lisbon. Right outside of the hotel was a small pedestrian cobblestone street that led right into Rossio Square, which was surrounded by churches, bakeries and little restaurants with as much cod as one person could eat in all the windows.

Along with sampling some of the cheeses and the fish, we tried the ginjinha, a cherry liquour that was definitely quite potent. I thoroughly enjoyed the cod balls!

Between all the snacking, we wandered around and checked out the touristy sites/sights that were close by.

São Domingos Church:

The amazing Carmo convent, a gothic church in ruins:

Our first dinner in Portugal was at the renowned Bon Jardim, apparently one of the best places to go for piri piri chicken. It took us a while to find the restaurant, and we had to traverse a gauntlet of unrelenting restaurant greeters trying to pull us into their restaurants, but we made it there and enjoyed some fine piri piri chicken and red wine. The wine was cheap and so good. The piri piri sauce comes in a separate klittle jar that you briush on your chicken yourself – and it was SPICY! Very delicouys though!

We sleepily walked back to the hotel as the sun set and explored the rooftop bar for a bit before falling straight to sleep.

I don’t know how anyone can hate camping. One of my favourite things is to escape into the woods, put up a tent, start a fire, swim in a lake, drink wine, enjoy just being away and eat lots and lots of camping-appropriate food. Fortunately, Mont Tremblant and its 1500km of lakes, woods and rivers is only about one hour away from Montreal, so it provides perfect and ample opportunities for camping.

A photo recap of our camping trip and meals on Lac Provost in Mont-Tremblant:

Arriving – setting up the tent and starting the fire.

A quick hike down to the lake to check in out in the sunset.

Then dinner time…an appetizer of grilled corn, followed by grilled chicken sandwiches, ending with a roaring campfire.

The next morning, up early with an omelet made with onions, basil brought from our home garden, cherry tomatoes from our home tomato plants, grilled corn and local cheese curds. Paired with some fantastic white wine, it’s the ideal way to wake up on a hot summer morning in the forest.

A leisurely walk along the shores of the lake, including picnic table stops with Frisbee, swimming and vodka.

Lunch/dinner was beef and veal burgers, topped with more cheese curds, onions and tomatoes, and a sauce that was made by reducing the marinade that the chicken had been sitting in.

The rest of the evening was filled with more swimming, playing the ukulele, checking out other parts of the lake, more frisbee and roasting a whole lot of marshmallows.

The next day, exploring/climbing waterfalls on a rainy afternoon and sleepily making our way back home.

While checking out some of the towns in the Algarve, Portugal, we made sure to make the town of Albufeira one of our stops. We spent the entire morning and a lot of the afternoon here, admiring its picturesque quality, its beach with millions of shells, and its shopping.

Of course, snacks are needed when exploring, so I stopped by a bakery for a pastel de nata (custard tart) and an almond tart. The custard tart, was, as usual, delicious. The almond one was a little lackluster for me, but I enjoyed eating it in little pieces throughout the entire course of the day.

We ate lunch at a restaurant here right by the beach. As tempted as I was to enjoy some more black pig ribs, I was convinced not to due to the fact that this restaurant offered cataplana, a fish and seafood stew, for one. It’s actually named after the dish it’s cooked in. Most restaurants offered it as a dish for two, and so I hadn’t been able to get it yet. And even though this was for one person, it was still way more than I could eat. It had mussels, massive shrimp, chunks of cod, crab and vegetables, served with a pile of juniper-scented rice. It was lovely!

After a late lunch, we headed to Faro for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We stumbled upon a tiny chapel, and saw a little paper sign inside advertising a bone chapel, which I think cost us 1 Euro to go visit. Through some doors, a little walk outside, and into this small, skull-packed chapel, lined with skulls and bones. Strange place, for sure.

The rest of the time was spent walking down towards the water, stopping here and there to look at churches. And taking ten million photos of the storks and their giant nests on all the buildings and chimneys.

Before heading back to our weird little town where our hotel was located, we made a stop for dinner at a small bar along a highway, Casa dos Bifanas, for pork sandwiches. They were definitely a little skimpy, and we ended up having to order two rounds of them, and I also devoured a plate of fried sardines and salty, fatty pork. The sandwiches were tasty though, especially with a healthy pouring of piri piri sauce and yellow mustard.

Next, the days spent in Lisbon…once the photos are finished!

At the end of May, we returned from a trip to Portugal. We spent half the time in Lisbon, which included one day in Sintra, and the rest of the time on the Algarve coast, visiting many of the towns that dot the shoreline. It’s taking me forever to get through all the photographs, but I have at least finished the Algarve set, so here’s a small photo recap of the time spent in the Algarve, Portugal, with the focus being on, of course, the food! I tried to eat a different dish or food every single day or meal time, and I think I did a pretty fine job…

Our hotel in the Algarve was in a bizarre town, Armação de Pêra. It was almost entirely empty of people, and filled with pastel-coloured complexes and buildings, almost all of which looked to be abandoned. The beach right outside of our rooms in our hotel was beautiful though, and made up for the strangeness of the town.

The small “boardwalk” lining the street in front of the beach was also mostly abandoned, but still quaint, with small, quiet details that made the place end up being charming.

However empty and desolate the town was, there was some good food to be had! In fact, my favourite meal of the entire trip was had at a little restaurant packed with locals late one hot night. Where these locals worked and lived is beyond me, but there they were.

But first, our first meal there! I started with some fish soup, which is pretty much a staple in any restaurant that one may visit there. It was a tomato-based soup with chunks of cod. Flavourful, but I can’t say it’s very exciting. I’d rather skip the soup and fill up on other dishes.

My main that night was grilled fresh squid and prawns. Simply done, and I squeezed some lemon and drizzled a bit of piri piri sauce over it. It was a nice meal, great for a summer night near the ocean. It came with some lackluster boiled potatoes and a side of vegetables, but some olive oil and more piri piri sauce made it a bit more exciting.

The meal ended with a dessert of pudim flan, which is basically a crème caramel. Again, light and simple, it’s a pretty good dessert to end any meal. However, I think we needed a bit more dessert, so we headed down to a gelato place on the boardwalk and I enjoyed a dulce de leche scoop alongside a chocolate brownie scoop.

The next morning, we drove to Lagos and Dona Ana beach. The water, while chilly, was clear and vibrant, filled with greens and blues. The beach is lined with stone formations and sea caves and grottoes, making it quite spectacular.

We spent some time on the beach and took a small motorboat tour along the coast and into the grottoes, which lasted about one hour. It was a fantastic way to see the coastline and more of the hundreds of beaches that dot the coast. The man who took us on this tour also pointed out several formations (like the massive skull below) along the way, which proved to be quite humorous.

After a few hours on the beach, we did some hiking around up on the cliffs, looking down into the gorgegeous blue ocean.

This was all before lunch! Granted, we were eating lunch pretty late the whole time (sometimes, 3pm-4pm). We drove away from the beach and into the old village of Lagos, which was also just as deserted as the town where our hotel was. I was on the hunt for a good lunch spot, but there were some other sights that distracted me momentarily.

We finally stumbled upon a tiny resto with a terrasse outside, and I enjoyed a lunch of beer and grilled sardines. The sardines were plump, juicy, salty – just perfect!

In the late afternoon, we started driving back, but made a stop in Portimao to visit Praia da Rocha. Talk about pictuereqsue! And early evening is a stunning time to visit this beach.

We finished the day with my favourite meal – black pig ribs! These were so fatty, so tender, so perfect. They were especially wonderful with the almost full liter of red wine that came with them.

Next, the rest of the time in the Algarve, including Albufeira, a bone chapel and bifanas!

As some people have realized, I’ve moved the series of Hawaii posts. If you do want to read them, you can see them here:

Big Island, Day 1 (Puako)

Big Island, Day 2 (Puako to Captain Cook)

Big Island, Days 3 & 4 (Kona to Hilo)

Big Island, Days 5 & 6 (Volcano and Mauna Kea)

Kauai and Waimea Canyon

Kauai and Getting to Hanalei

Kauai – The Last Week

And here’s our two days in San Francisco!

After spending 3 nights on the southern part of Kauai, on Poipu, we headed up to the northern tip of the island for our next spot, 3 nights near Hanalei. Before setting out, Soli made a smoothie with fresh papaya, mango and coconut ice cream, and we stopped by an outdoor shopping area for some infamous puka dogs and freshly squeezed lemonade that we may or may not have spiked with vodka. Puka dogs are not necessarily the most delicious hot dog I’ve eaten, but they are interesting – a hot dog stuck into a pocket of a bun, and you choose what kind of “filling” you would like…I think I had a banana relish and Soli might have gone the coconut route.

The trip to Hanalei isn’t a long one (probably takes about 1 ½ hours, but we made lots of stops along the way. We made a quick stop to play in some pretty strong waves at Lydgate Park, but they were just a little too powerful for us to stay for long.

Back on the road, we quickly stopped again to check out the stores and markets in Kapaa. Lots of touristy stuff, but this is where Soli finally got his tikki. Since everything’s made in China and shipped over, he had yet to choose one, but he finally found one that had been carved there by a local with local wood. Oh, and there was also a quick stop for some (expensive) uni snacks!

On the way to Hanalei, we stopped by a fish market right across from some taro fields, and it quickly became one of our favourite fish stops, the Dolphin Fish Market. We were even invited in the back fridge to check out the enormous catches of the day! Our favourites there was a heavenly ono salad that we ate in avocado halves and of course, the poke. We also picked up some fish to grill, and some amazing sushi rolls.

While we were in there, a flash downpour began – unfortunately for us, we had left our Jeep roof down, and the thing FILLED with water. It was pretty damp and smelly for the next few days.

And then we were at Hanalei! This was our favourite area of the island, stunning! Massive green lush mountains rise up, with waterfalls trickling down the sides. It rains quite a bit up there, and it’s often cloudy, but there are sunny moments. We explored the beach a bit while we waited for the owners of the condo we had rented to arrive.

Our home in Hanalei for the next 3 days was the best yet! A whole floor, with a big balcony overlooking the beach and gorgeous sunsets, a full kitchen and a bedroom window with a view of a waterfall pouring down the side of the mountains…We wished we could spend the rest of our time there! Our first evening there, a big rainbow arched across the sky, right as we sat on the balcony.

We settled in, and took a fast drive up the the northernest tip, Ke’e beach. This quickly became Soli’s favourite beach, nestled in between big-rooted trees, mountains, and a reef filled with coral and brightly coloured fish. Hardly any waves, but a strong current…we spent many hours lounging and swimming here! It was also the starting point for our hike the next morning…

I spent way too much time and posted way too many photos of our 6 days on Big Island in Hawaii. Even though we followed those 6 days with 14 days on Kauai, I will try to keep that recap briefer. I mean, we’ve been back for 6 months now! Besides, as beautiful Kauai was, it wasn’t as adventurous as Big Island, and definitely more relaxing, so who knows? Maybe I’ll actually have less to say!

We arrived at the Lihue airport in the early evening, after a very quick plane ride. The airport was so small – we had to get out on the runway and walk across the tarmac. As we were walking across, a light rain started, and a bright rainbow appeared, like a warm welcome for us. This was to be the first of many, many rainbows. Unfortunately, the rain increased, and it was pouring by the time we got our rental Jeep. While there were a few rainy moments while we were there, it was definitely sunny most of the time.

The first place we were staying on Kauai was a condo rental near Poipu beach. We had no idea what to expect, but we were extremely pleased. The rain stopped on the drive down, and the condo was a two-minute walk from Poipu beachpark. We loved the condo itself – clean, big, gorgeous kitchen, and best of all, a patio and a hot tub right outside. Our first night, we walked down to the beach and watched massive waves roar in, in the dark. Scary, exciting, and we couldn’t wait for the next morning. One beer at the bar, and we headed home to sleep.

The next day, we were awoken with the loud rooster calls. There are chickens and roosters everywhere on this island, and we even had a little family of birds that hung out on our patio. They wander across the streets, peck at food in the sand on the beaches, strut their stuff in parking lots. And they make noise all the time – morning, afternoon, night. But especially the morning, and they were a great alarm clock the whole two weeks.

We started with a great omelet breakfast that Soli made in our kitchen, with a fantastic avocado salad to go with it (and this whole bowl of avocado comes from just ½ of a Hawaiian avocado!)

After breakfast, we decided to check out Poipu in the light of day; turns out it was one of our favourite beaches! The snorkeling was fun, the beach was gorgeous, it had this amazing sandbar that waves would come crashing in on either side, so lying around on it was like visiting a waterpark, and it was connected to quite the resort, complete with a bar, and a saltwater pool that we snuck into more than once.

Waimea Canyon, Kauai

We made the drive to Waimea Canyon, which is supposed to resemble the Grand Canyon, just smaller (10 miles long, 1 mile wide and very, very deep). It’s actually just one canyon of many, many, many canyons in Kauai; an earthquake had made half the island drop into the water, and the consequent carving of the land by water created these vast canyons all along one coast. This coast, the Na Pali, is inaccessible by anything other than boat and helicopter (both of which we did!). Waimea Canyon is a hikeable canyon, which is why we were off to visit it. I had read about it being a somewhat…difficult…hike, but I don’t think I was prepared for how difficult it was! It was entirely worth it though.

The drive into the canyon:

The hike into the canyon! We started with a fruit salad Soli had made with fresh mango, coconut and pineapple and headed out to do the next 3 miles on foot. The initial part this hike had some pretty exhausting moments, as it was so hot out, and most of it was all uphill:

It was soon worth it though, as we ended up on a point that narrowed into an overlook that terrifyingly gave us a view of an entire valley. It felt as though one strong gust of wind would blow us right off:

The hike continued down towards a small pond and waterfall, where we relaxed for a bit and replenished our lost energy with beer, and then we hit the trail again in search of the real waterfall. When we found it, we were able to clim right to its edge, and dangle our feet into the stream that was thousands of feet above the ground. Pretty scary for anyone afraid of heights, that’s for sure! We got wet, refreshed, and admired the view:

The hike back was not as difficult, and in about 3 hours time, we were back in our Jeep and driving on to the end of Kauai’s one road to get our first glimpse of the amazing Na Pali coast (of Jurassic Park fame!). You can only go so far and see just the very edge of this coast this way – the Na Pali coast actually takes up 1/3 of the island’s entire coastline. It’s an awesome, striking thing to see, like massive mountains all wrinkled together, covered in green.

On the drive back home, we stopped for what was pretty much one of our favourite meals at Shrimp Station. They coconut shrimp were the best I’ve ever had! Light – crispy – sweet – amazing! We also had some shrimp tacos that also filled our hungry selves up nicely after the long, long, long day.

Okay! The last post about Big Island – this one will be more photo, less talk. I think Volcano National Park and Mauna Kea speaks for itself.

Before driving to the park, we took a small detour to check out one of the beaches near where we were staying, and to hunt down one of the lava hot tubs that was hidden in the forest. The waves there were massive, and were being enjoyed by lots of surfers. After a brief foray into the woods, we found the sweltering hot tub and took a swim.

Then, off to Volcano! The day started out a bit grey and dreary, but by the end, it got hot and steamy.

Volcano steaming off in the distance

Steam Vents

Exploring the lava tubes

The hike down, across and back up took hours, but it wasn’t very difficult, and being in the crater was absolutely breath-taking. It was dry, hot, and windy down there. The volcanic rock crunched like crystals. It was like being surrounded by the end of the world.

After, we drove the Chain of Craters, right to the end, where the land hits ocean. It was a gorgeous ride down, where you could see old lava flows that had destroyed the land, where the ocean glittered from up high, where you were surrounded by nothing by black rock. Just amazing!

The next day, we woke up early to make the long drive back to Kona, as we were catching our plane out to Kauai in the early afternoon. There are two ways we could’ve taken to get to Kona. The first, the way we came, around the southern tip, which probably would’ve taken about 3-4 hours. Then there was the Saddle Road, a road that runs through the centre of the island, right from Hilo to Kona. It takes about 1 ½ hours, and there’s absolutely nothing on the road, except for the majestic Mauna Kea, the highest mountain in the world at 14,000 feet (from sea level).

We weren’t sure if we would drive right up to the summit. We were concerned about time and all. However, once we got to the wait station (due to the altitude, you are obligated to stop at this station for at least 30 minutes to adjust), we knew we had to keep going to the top. Driving along thin dirt and gravel paths to the summit of a MOUNTAIN was terrifying and exhilarating.

It was freezing up there, so windy, and we could barely walk without feeling dizzy or faint – the altitude is just too much! There are lots of telescopes up there, as this is apparently the closest thing earth has to a space-like environment; Apollo did all their tests prior to going to the moon here. It did feel like another world.

Loco Moco to get ready for the trip

The Drive up Mauna Kea

After the terrifying drive back down, Soli thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of Saddle Road, and we made it to the Kona airport with time to spare, which turned out to be a very good thing, as we were not allowed to take all the food we had packed, so we had to say goodbye to our pet pineapple, among other mangos and delicious fruit. We boarded the plane to Kauai, and spent the next two weeks exploring a much different island.