My solo journey of the heart and World
Travels from Fall of 2022
Tomar is an even smaller town than Aveiro and was the headquarters for the Knights Templar. The town was founded by one of the Grand Master Knights and a castle was built in the 12th century. This is what I was visiting Tomar for. The castle turned convent turned historical site was huge, very intact and it consisted …
I finished packing my stuff and walked to the subway station to go back to the train station to catch my train to Aveiro, my next stop. I had made the decision, both based on my struggle to make plans for Morocco and now my minor throat infection, to skip Morocco on this trip and save it …
I woke up with a bit of a headache and the feeling in my throat a bit more pronounced. I grabbed my phone and used the flashlight app to look into my throat in the bathroom. Sure enough, I had some white spots on my tonsils. Great. I didn’t feel too bad but didn’t want it to get worse …
I took an Uber to the train station to catch my train to Porto. Once I arrived in Porto, I walked the short distance to the subway and got off at the station that was just a 5 minute walk to the next Airbnb I had booked. Taking public transportation is interesting. Sometimes it is very easy and …
I did part of the second half of the audio city walking tour and also took a detour to see the “pink street”. This is an area I had heard about where there are many bars. I didn’t intend to go during the evening as it was a bit of a walk from my hotel that …
The next day I downloaded the Rick Steves audio guide for the Lisbon city walk. My plan was to do it in two parts over two days. I walked the 20 minutes or so down to the river front where the tour began at the Praca de Comercio, the large square right at the river front. Turning …
I managed to eat a soft crepe the next day before having John, the taxi driver, take me to the airport midday to catch my 4pm flight with a long stop over in Madrid. When I entered the airport two hours in advance I almost panicked because I saw the check in line that was as …
Jodi left early in the morning and it was just Debbie and I left. Debbie did some shopping while I did some work and worried about my dentist appointment later that afternoon. Our favorite taxi driver, John, picked me up and took me to the other side of town to the dentist I had made an appointment …
After Paros, we were taking the ferry to Piraeus port just outside of Athens. We got in the queue for the ferry and saw it slide in. It was way bigger than we imagined. After the people and cars and cargo disembarked, there was a line up of semi trucks that expertly backed into the hold, sometimes …
One thing I have not mentioned yet is the cats and the wine. First the cats, not just on Paros but in every place we visited in Greece. Street cats are everywhere and most of them seem quite well taken care of by the community, with some places even having city provided “feeding stations” for the cat …