Thursday, December 2, 2010

Travel: "She Said" Best of Portugal

Whenever E and I travel, we have "dueling cameras" to capture our different viewpoints. While E shared his favorite parts of Portugal, here is a collection of my highlights:
Portugal feels like a storybook country with painted castles:
 And quaint villages:
But contain more captivating, sordid tales of royal assassinations and marriages of 10-year-old Kings to their 8-year-old cousins. It's similar to San Francisco with its winding roads and hills where you're rewarded with amazing panoramic views:
And even a bridge similar to the Golden Gate Bridge:
And with all the walking and climbing you're justified in downing several of their famous pasteis de nata tarts each day:
I loved the ocean-side aspect of seeing fresh fish in windowshops:
Traveling to the boca de inferno:
And seeing one of the biggest oceanariums in Europe. Their aquariums are the size of 4 Olympic-size swimming pools. Can you guess which one is E?
And of course the omnipresent pictures of E reading maps:
We planned this trip as a type of 'belated-honeymoon' after our elopement. But it was extra celebratory because after waiting 7 months for them to score the results, I found out I passed and I am a National Board Certified Teacher! This is an intensive, rigorous, mind-blowing process; less than 3% of teachers in the nation have reached this status.
We were lucky to have such an amazing trip, and I was glad to take it with my favorite person.

27 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations A! That is such a HUGE accomplishment! You totaly deserved that trip!

Love your pictures and am insanely jealous!

parlance said...

Oh, those photos of buildings are lovely. However, my saliva started pouring into my mouth when I saw those custard tarts. They are one of my favorite foods.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the certification. What an amazing accomplishment!

jen said...

Congratulations to you!

Both sets of pictures are beautiful.

heartsong said...

Congratulations! My sister-in-law went through that mind-numbing process and I saw how hard she had to work. You should be very proud!

Kate said...

Huge congrats! And such great photos. It looks like a beautiful country.

Zona said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!! (7 months to score... wow!!)

Great pictures. What a fabulous trip!

Mack said...

These are some gorgeous pics! And congrats on your cert!!!!

Wyatt said...

What a great trip and congrats on your accomplishment! Your pictures make us want to dust off those passports!!

Wyatt's Mom

Anonymous said...

Firstly, CONGRATULATIONS! I just knew you'd do it. Yippee!

Secondly, I luved BOTH yours and E's tales of your adventures in that Portugal place. It sure is pretty and I'm ever so glad you had such a fun and magical time with each other.

wiggles & wags,
Mayzie

Two French Bulldogs said...

Awesome pictures!! You sure are making mom want to go there more and more. Congratulations on your accomplishment
Benny & Lily

Shauna (Fido and Wino) said...

CONGRATULATIONS! That is so incredibly exciting! Yeah for you- I can only imagine the feeling in your stomach when you were opening that envelope :)

Yeah :)

AC said...

What a fun trip! It was great reading both of your posts and seeing the different pictures you took. AND!! How cool that you weren't just belated honeymooning, but celebrating your certification! There are many teachers among my family and friends and I know what an *insane* process board certification is!! Congrats! I hope you're proud of your accomplishment.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Good for you, that is crazy exciting news. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than heading off to a gorgeous country like Portugal. For some reason it has never been on my radar. Ireland, France, Germany, Russia, but never Portual. You have made me add to it my already long travel list. As an owner of a history, those buildings are filling my brain with imaginations.

And those tarts...

Thanks for taking the time to share!

A Confessed Pit Bull Addict said...

I love your photos as well! And congratulations on your certification - well done!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! Much deserved, I'm sure! I bet the pups are so proud ;)

Liz said...

Congrats on passing the test! I've never looked into this before, but it sounds like it's a lot of worth. Your pictures are amazing and those tart things looks yummy.

brooke said...

congratulations on your certification! how exciting!
Love these trip pictures! Makes me want to plan another trip!

houndstooth said...

Congratulations on passing the National Boards! I know it's an intense and difficult process.

Your pictures are beautiful! It looks like an amazing trip!

The Daily Pip said...

Congrats on passing the national boards! That's a huge accomplishment!

I love that picture of the painted castles. It was very interesting to see your pictures/different view points!

Your pal, Pip

Sightless said...

Yay Congrats on passing!!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the National certification! That is a GREAT accomplishment! :)

Your view of Portugal makes Mom want to go :) Very cool place :)

Thanks for sharin,
Roo

Kari in Alaska said...

Congrats on passing! and Portugal is still on my list of places to visit :)

Kari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com

Mary said...

Oh my gosh! That is such fantastic news! Congratulations! What an interminable wait, but at least you got to celebrate in style.

Did you choose Portugal because of the surfing locations? Just curious. All the photos are beautiful. I have been interested in going to Portugal ever since I studied abroad in Brazil. I could continue to butcher their language, except this time I could butcher it in a completely different dialect. And all the pictures of E looking at maps cracks me up.

Two Pitties in the City said...

Mary--We actually did want to find a place for surfing locations, but then as I did more research (Aka: saw them travel there on the Bachelorette)I liked how there were so many similarities to San Francisco which holds a special place for us because that's where we eloped. E didn't realize I was taking all of those pictures of him with the maps; we're going to have 10 pictures of E with maps on our facebook.

Joana Pereira said...

About the comment in my blog, I have an Olympus E400.
Did you went to Sintra?? For me, is the most beautiful place.

Sweet kisses from my litle Pit "Bé"

Anonymous said...

I'm so behind on reading blogs! Congrats on becoming a National Board Certified Teacher - that's great!!!

Love the photos of Portugal - I haven't been there, but it's one of many places on my list that I'd like to visit :)

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