Sunday, April 9 – Easter Sunday. Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Of course, this does mean some church photos from me, but only one church! Enjoyed an early morning stroll through a quiet town to an early Easter Mass. Just me and the little old Portuguese ladies who make me feel like a giant!

Cool old church as well, one that survived the 1755 earthquake and fire but still shows the damage that they wrought.

Another gorgeous weather day so Dan and I strolled along the waterfront before our lunch reservations. A lot of folks were still sleeping off their Saturday night revelries so it wasn’t too crowded, no hazardous scooters or bikes either.

We had our big meal of the day at lunch, at nice little place not far from the water. Some great seafood and fizzy drinks made for an excellent holiday meal.

To work off some of the lunch, we wandered up through the Alfama neighborhood towards the big castle on the hill. We actually thought it was going to be closed for the holiday, but it wasn’t, and there wasn’t much if a line! So, much to our surprise, we visited the castle! It was great, lots of walls and ramparts and armaments to explore, lots of peacocks running around and room for all the tourists to spread out. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon there.

This brings up the opportunity to provide a few travel tips from Chris, photo edition:

1) when taking a photo of your travel partner, significant other, etc., please stand at least 8 feet apart and take at least 5 minutes to snap the shot. Your fellow tourists will love you for that. Bonus points if you set up full 35MM and tripod. Double bonus for looking peeved when some poor soul crosses between you actually believing they have a right to see what they paid for…

2) in a castle with ramparts that have openings overlooking scenic views, stretch yourself into those spots as though you are a lingerie model posing for a cover shoot. Stay there for several minutes, because undoubtedly, Anna Wintour is going to use those shots in the next issue of Vogue…

3) finally, stick your wife in the narrow entrance of a venue for 10 minutes and growl at all people trying to enter or exit that “I’m taking a picture”. Man I am hoping that guy got a good shot of my left hip as I walked in…

Despite these actually minor annoyances, it was a great visit, made all the better by the fact that is was unexpected.

We wandered back to the Airbnb for some water and rest and decided some wine and tapas at an outdoor Cafe around the corner would make for a perfect evening meal. We then took a walk down to the river to see the sunset and the young locals enjoying their evening hanging out next to the water. A satisfying end to another fine day in this delightful country.

28,773 steps, 12.4 miles