Porto, Portugal

 

Bryan and I snuck away to Porto, Portugal. Such an amazing city!! It still has that  "undiscovered" feel, yet all of the amenities, restaurants, music etc. of a full on tourist city. We have been to a lot of places and this one sits right up there amongst our very favorite. I always think that the key to a fun travel experience is to see where the locals go to eat, shop, and be entertained (not where the travel books recommend). Anyway, we did just that and had an amazing time. We already can't wait to go back one day!

We stumbled across a little fundraising dinner by locals. They had a little alley with music and tables and amazing food and cake. The "chefs" were so happy and wanted us to join in on the fun!! Sardines and a type of barbeque were the delicacy and did not disappoint!!

The streets were so adorable!

Beautiful sunsets from the bridge!

Capaccino and "Nada's"

I'm not sure if it was the weather or the location of both, but Porto was magical!

Say Cheese!!

Porto sits on the side of a river, but just a short way down that river is the Atlantic Ocean. The waves were amazing!!

All of the Port wine businesses sat near the river...

Amazing sunset!

The famous Porto bridge, designed by Gustave Eiffel himself (designer of a little famous tower in Paris ;-))

Our favorite waitress in Porto!! She was quite a character!! She befriended us!!

Sardines!

Believe it or not, the siding on these homes are made of tile!

Wine along the river...

Beautiful!!

A morning row by some locals!

Porto under the moon - heavenly!!

Famous cathedral on the hill!

Amazing Porto!!

Adorable streets (and definitely a great workout with the hills!!!)

The unbelievable tile inside the train station

We ate and drank our way through the city - a perfect getaway!!

"An der Wein Straße"…

There is an area in Germany with towns that end in the words "an der Wein Strasse" or as you would say in English, "on the Wine Street". For example, "Neustadt an der Wein Strasse" or "Forst an der Weinstrasse" to name just a few. We get such a kick out of how literal it sounds. Can you imagine "Washington on the Potomac" or "Vail in the Rocky Mountains". So funny! Anyway, we went to "Neustadt an der Weinstrasse" and it reminded us a bit of Bavaria - super cute! Our neighbors also took us a for a hike at another Wine town and the view was so pretty! Here are a few pics from both places... I guess I was so busy taking pictures that I forgot to get any of us - ha ha!

Neustadt an der Weinstrasse

Vineyards

We got a kick out of this signe. Pfalz is a state in Germany. Germany has a dring called a "wein schorle" which is half wein/half sparkiling water or lemonade. This picture demonstrates how much wine should be in the glass in Pfalz :-) You don't want to get cheated from your wine - ha ha!

View from the wine garden/beer garden

 

Dahn, Germany

Our neighbor told about a town not far from the French border - Dahn, Germany. It is this amazing little geological gem. It is known for being a spa town and also having lots of hiking. Bryan and I did a hike around the 2 recommended hiking loops. There are rock formations everywhere - absolutely stunning!

 

Saint-Malo, France

When we stayed in Mont St. Michel, we asked our host if they had suggestions for the area and they highly recommended Saint-Malo. I had never heard of it, but when locals have suggestions, usually they are really good! Sooo we headed to Saint-Malo and what a little gem it was! It is a walled city that sits along the English Channel, where you can walk along the entire wall overlooking amazing coastal islands with castles and other buildings. Truly amazing!!

Looking out at the little islands

The boats didn't stand a chance with the tide... so funny!

The little thing sticking out of the water on the bottom left is a diving platform and you can see the huge square swimming pool that is naturally filled with the tides - so amazing and free!!

It is hard to see in this picture, but the little door on this building was soo cool!

Someone needed a break, so Kiwi let him rest for a bit ;-)

The entire city was walled with these beautiful buildings, just inside the walls

A closer picture of the diving platform..

The poor boats!!

Amazing!

Break time! :-)

 

Mont Saint-Michel, France

This place has been on my bucket list for quite a while. It is just amazing to me how in our society, we have a hard time completing a road construction project in a 5 year time-span, yet these very brilliant people (so long ago) built these incredible structures in such difficult surroundings - especially when considering tides and temperatures and no electricity or gas!! Mont Saint-Michel is an amazing Abbey built on a tidal island on the edge of the English Channel. 

...AND.... for the best part....they have Sheep there!!! Sheep are my absolute weakness. I knew that there was a chance that we would see sheep in front of Mont Saint-Michel, but I was in absolute heaven when we came across the sheep at the same time the Sheep herder was herding them in for the night. And without liability - we were actually able to be in with the sheep as they were being gathered up. I. was. in. Heaven.!!!! My family knows this about me, so I think their smiles were more in support of how happy I was than their actual excitement for the sheep! The. absolute. best!!!

Our adorable little French Cottage that we rented for a few days...

And this guy was our neighbor

and so were these guys... (they were very interested in us!)

I was soo happy!!

There were sooo many of them. On a side note, we loved that they can still herd sheep here and that it isn't sold out to Condos or amusement parks overlooking the island! Simply beautiful!

Amazing!!

The sheep were everywhere! :-) There was even a bit of a traffic jam!

Even Kiwi was smiling!

On the island, looking up at the Abbey (crazy that this is a real place!!) So glad that we finally made it there to visit!!