a NOLA girl in a Big world

The last day in Portugal was extraordinary. It was the perfect way to end the 3rd stop on this 7 week adventure.

We still had the rental and there was 1 last site we needed to see in Lisbon before heading into the country and onto to the coast. It was the Jerónimos Monastery. One of the largest active monastery’s in the world. It also just so happened to be located next to the world famous Portugese bakery that served the best pastel de nata or egg tart.

Y’all. I’m sorry. I do not understand the hype. I finally can understand (but don’t agree at all) how non New Orleanians feel about beignets. I love beignets. It’s the perfect sweet treat. It’s simple. It does the job. AND I also have “history” tied to it. I have photos as a child, covered in powdered sugar. It’s a right of passage. So there is love and nostalgia. However, when I’ve shared a beignet with visitors, they like it. But they mostly certainly are confused by the hype. That’s how I felt about the pastel de nata. It tasted like a sweet egg. It wasn’t terrible with the cinnamon and powdered sugar, but the fact that the line to get in later in the morning, was down the street was WILD. But, I ate it. I snapped a photo. I did my Lisbon travel duty.

So this monastery. It was beautiful. It was big. It was impressive to see the architecture. But, when you’ve seen one monastery, you’ve seen them all. I tried to get a rosary for my mother. But they didn’t have any. So, I did the next best thing, I lit a her a candle. (It’s a Catholic thing.)

Having said a prayer for Diane, we got into the car and headed north, to Sintra. Sintra is known to have iconic palaces and some historical sites. Having the car, made it so that we didn’t have to rely on transit times and go with the wind and see what we wanted. So our first stop was to hit up The Pena Palace. It’s stunning. A massive structure at the top of a Mountain, painted red and yellow. It’s an impressive site to see, even from afar.

So driving there. The roads are NARROW. Truthfully, the narrowest roads I’ve ever seen. And WHINDY. At least 3 chicanes … I felt like I was an F1 driver racing in Monaco, just driving slowly. It was a tad nerve wracking.

It was a 40 minute drive up a mountain to see this palace. We finally made it to a parking lot, because the Apple Maps was incorrect and there was no way to DRIVE up to the palace. But we decided to park and explore. We went on a 30 minute hike, where we found a stunning outlook of Lisbon, an old church and our favorite Irish Couple, The O’Briens, from the day before. How random!? On a trail. In the woods. On a mountain. We collided with Sean and Siobhan. It was then, that Sean broke the news – the wait to get into the Palace was LONG. Remember when I shared that Philippa and I didn’t really have set plans? That also meant we didn’t have tickets for anything. So, we realized that seeing the palace, probably wasn’t going to happen. We had so many other stops that we wanted to see, that we didn’t want the palace to occupy the most time. So we said our goodbyes to The O’Briens and chose another spot on our map to explore. We chose a town called Peniha and along the way, we knew there was a pretty botanical garden that was said to be something to see. So we stopped. And let me tell ya – it was 100x better than anything we could have expected.

I’m not going to lie we were bummed about not going to see Peña Palace. It was a reminder of why we both like to plan things. Not being able to see the palace up close definitely shifted the mood a bit that morning. However, sometimes you just have to let go and trust that the universe is going to give you what you need, when you need it. And the universe gave us The Monserrate Palace, instead.

The history behind the grounds of Monserrate Palace could be multiple blog post. It was fascinating to learn. But the structure itself and the surrounding landscape felt other worldly. Every room was stunning. Every detail was thought through. To think, people lived here! I’ve seen some stunning historical homes on my travels – but this was different. It was magnificent, without being OVERLY GRAND. It was warm and welcoming, while also being opulent, but in the best way.

We spent over 3 hours at Monserrate and it wasn’t enough. Anyone traveling to Portugal- this is a MUST SEE.

We then took out the map and saw the most West Point of Europe and decided to end the day on the coast. It was unreal. With our feet in the water – at the edge of Portugal – we stood in gratitude.

Grateful …

to have bodies that have the ability to hike, adventure, and travel.

For jobs that allow us to live a well traveled life.

For community support back home to allow for time away.

To friendship that SAYS YES.

For life.

Portugal was a dream. It was exactly what I needed and Philippa, was the person I needed to experience it with.

The universe knows what we need, when we allow it to move how it needs to move.