oh the places we've been
McDonalds was our saving grace the night before and we woke up renewed with hope: tablets are allowed at meals, hallelujah! We had a full day planned for our last full day in Porto starting with an art class where we would learn about and paint our own Azulejos – the traditional tile that adorns most every Portuguese building.
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We set an alarm today because we had a date with the Worlds Most Beautiful Bookshop or Livraria Lello. It has become quite famous due to its association with Harry Potter (allegedly this is where some of the inspiration for Hogwarts and the moving staircases came from) so you have to book your ticket time in advance – the ticket is basically just a 8 euro discount for any book you purchase at the store. I had seen pictures of the staircase – a bright red and wooden artistic structure that weaves in and out and around itself at the center of the store leading to a gallery style second level. Books line the walls from floor to ceiling. Of course the ceiling is ornate, intricate and beautiful. I’m a sucker for books, I’m a Harry Potter fan despite the author, and before it all I was obsessed with Belle and the Beast’s library. Old bookshop with ladders and walls lined with books for me to own forever? Sign me the F up. I definitely teared up and it’s one “tourist attraction” I’m glad we did.
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Alright, as I said, our first day re-entering the travel universe was hell. Our kids were a mess, we were exhausted, our food choices seemed to go wrong etc. Luckily the city itself was easy to navigate, the people were friendly and easy going and no one other than us seemed to be bothered by our kids tantrums. We all slept in and we were hopeful that a solid 11 hours of sleep would improve everyone’s mood and outlook on life.
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Wow. It’s been a minute. What has happened since our last post in June of 2019? A baby, a global pandemic, a cross country move, and a 5 year hiatus of international travel almost to the day!
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Hmm…there seems to a be a theme going on with the last few posts…
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Our last night in Scotland was spent in the Glen Coe region of Scotland, a beautiful varied landscape comprised of the UKs tallest mountain Ben Nevis, high mountain passes with moors on top and more lochs than you know what to do with. Our drive away from Skye gave us the opportunity to stop at the Glenfinnan Viaduct to watch the Jacobite steam train go by. It’s more popularly known now as the Harry Potter train as the viaduct was used in the films when Harry is aboard the Hogwarts Express which takes all the witches and wizards to school each year (as if I have to explain that! …right?).
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We had three days in Skye and we jam packed every single one of them. We had grand illusions of hiking every day and did a fair job of accomplishing that. We realized towards the end that all of our hikes ended up showing us the far extremes of each side of the island.
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We were riding on a high from our long awaited for encounter with the highland coos and decided to push our first day on Isle of Skye by getting one of our hikes out of the way. The town of Portree was our home base and is only about a 15 minute drive to the parking area for the Old Man of Storr hike. The great thing about being this far north (apparently we are on the same latitude as Alaska) is the copious amounts of sunlight available well into the evening hours. We started the hike around 6 PM and had the benefit of a less crowded lot and far less crowded hike.
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Traveling somewhere new is inspired by many things, oftentimes these things are nature dependent and fleeting at best. For Japan we chose spring in part for the weather but also for the chance of seeing the cherry blossoms. In Norway we hiked the Preikestolen despite the overcast skies and many a boat tour was taken in the rain. We are holding off on Iceland for a few years but you can bet I’ll be hoping for a glimpse of the northern lights. Point is hoping for natural phenomenon while traveling is a fools errand.
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The drive up from Edinburgh to Inverness is rather easy and quick. We made time to stop at the Blair Castle where we encountered some amazingly friendly and knowledgeable staff who took such a genuine interest in our plans for the rest of our time in Scotland. One brought up a good point that many non-Scots see more of Scotland than the locals due to many Scots not wanting to “risk” their vacation time on the highlands due to the changeable weather. We have been insanely lucky thus far with only one proper drenching our first night in Edinburgh when we were far too jet lagged to notice.
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