Manhattan Moments: Cold & Cocooning

TRAVEL IN WINTER: A DAY OF SMALL ADVENTURES Arriving at the Airport Fortunately, the Chief Penguin and I are planners and early people.  We routinely arrive at the airport 2 hours before flight time—earlier if he sets the pick-up time.  On Thursday, we arrived at the airport, having been driven there and unloaded the luggage, …

Spain & Portugal: The Last Bite

I’m milking this travel experience for all it’s worth.  I decided to share additional notes about food and also something about flamenco. DANCE IN SEVILLE Flamenco originated in the south of Spain and is particularly associated with Seville.  Performances are usually in small halls seating around 50 people, and there are numerous venues around the city.  We went …

Portugal: More Lisbon

SQUARES, SHOPS, & TREATS In our two days plus in Lisbon, we explored four major neighborhoods with Tiago, a guide who is also a former architect. He was brimming with facts and enthusiasm for his city. We learned about the history of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake, visited several traditional shops (sardines, anyone?), walked some …

Portugal: Traveling to Lisbon

SEVILLE TO LISBON We traveled to Lisbon by car, and for Europe, it was a long distance, about 6 hours total which included one stop in a picturesque hill town. We passed olive trees, groves and groves of cork trees, and also pine nut trees. Some of the cork trees were very old and still …