Sunday, April 6, 2008

Palmela, Portugal

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and headed to Palmela. Palmela is known for cheese and wine. This weekend was the Festival do Queijo, Pão e Vinho (Festival of Cheese, Bread and Wine). Thinking it would be in the center of town, we punched the city center into our GPS and headed out on the 45-minute drive.

We arrived three hours after we left our house. It was not so easy to find. There were few signs and the last sign we saw, pegged into the ground, was pointed in the wrong direction! Eventually, frustrated and worn out from driving in circles, we detoured the family to the Palmela castle.

At the castle's tourist office, we found GPS coordinates on the festival's flyer(who knew there was a flyer!) and, after touring the castle, we found our way! We passed some wineries along the way that Matt and I would love to visit in the future (without the girls). The festival was small and attended mostly by locals. We sampled cheese and wine and dined on roasted pig sandwiches.

Even though we spent all morning frustrated and angry that we couldn't find the festival, once we got there, ran into some friends and had lots of wine, we couldn't help but have a really good time!

We ended the weekend today by taking the girls to Disney on Ice. While the show was in Portuguese and a bit long for Olivia and Lila, we still really enjoyed ourselves. Olivia only recognized Minnie and Mickey - but, was still enthralled during certain parts.

Matt and I came down with the colds the girls are getting over. So, we're feeling a bit miserable this evening. At least we fought the colds off long enough to enjoy the weekend with the girls. Next weekend, we plan to rest and stay close to home. Hopefully, by then, we'll all have finished a long slew of colds and illnesses!

1 comment:

Smitty 1, 2 , 3 and 4 said...

hope you guys feel better. the pics are beeeautiful.