We flew into Lisbon late and stayed at the Sheraton Lisboa hotel. Hotel was nice and comfortable. Location was ok. It was a little further from the old city then I would have liked. Lisbon was surprisingly chilly and wet. The next day we went to Fatima. If you are religious, this is a very moving place. There were hundreds of people there attending an outside mass where the Virgin Mary appeared many years ago. They had an area to buy candles and then you take the candles to these huge fire pits, make a wish, and through them in. All during this time, you see people who crawl on their knees from a far distance, up and around where the mass was being held. This was very moving. One man was crawling on his stomach, stopping every few feet, and crying his eyes out. There is also a fountain where people were filling up bottles. They say if you drink from this fountain, if you are sick, you will be cured.

After Fatima, on the way back to Lisbon, we stopped in Obidos. This is very small town surrounded by a castle wall. My husband, children, and one of our friends walked the entire top of the castle ledge. Since the others we were with and myself are afraid of heights (the ledge had no wall), we just walked the town. They had a beautiful church and mostly souvenior stores with some great pottery. While waiting for the others to come down from the castle, we sat outside the church in a town square and watch some children play football(soccer) on the cobble stone (ouch). They also had the most beautiful flowers growing up the walls I have ever seen. They were so vibrant in color. That night, back in Lisbon, we went to see a Fado show at Faia's restaurant. Food was good, show was great.

Next post will be Cascais and Sintra.

We drove from Lisbon and drove along the coast to Cascais. This was a breathtaking ride. It reminded me of the Carmel Coast of California. High cliffs with the water smashing against the coast line. Beautiful. We stopped at Guincho Beach. Nice sand, huge waves, clean water. That day, the water was so rough, they were not allowing people to go in. One thing I found, the water in Portugal and Spain was very cold! We stayed at the beach for about an hour and then went to the restaurant on the beach. After lunch, we drove up to Sintra and went to the Palace. The drive up to the Palace was beautiful. The further up you went, the thicker the trees got and the darker it became. We parked our car at the bottom (because it said you could go any further - but we later found out that wasn't so) and walked and walked and walked until we finally reached the Palace. What a Palace it was! I have never seen anything like this before - magnificent! and the views from the top - OMG. That night we ate at the hotel - good food.

Next day - on our way to the Algarve. Hate to admit it, but we saw nothing in Lisbon! Didn't have the time, plus our friends were not much into sightseeing. Will never go with them again.

Drove down to the Algarve. Roads and signs are very easy to follow. On the way, we stopped in a small town called Odemira. This was a typical neighborhood village will houses, apartments, etc. Very interesting to see and we had one of our best meals there. It was very typical Portuguese cuisine and had the best chocolate mousse I have ever had! We finally get to our destination - Portimao. We stayed at the Tivoli Arade Hotel. This is an excellent hotel for a family of 4. We got a huge suite consisting of a living room, dining area, small kitchen, one very large bedroom for only $130 a night including breakfast. In the living room the sofa was a trundle bed that slept 2. It was very clean and the pool was enormous in size and the beach was at the end of the hotel complex (very nice beach). My only complaint was that the people at the reception desk were not very helpful (except 2 of them - they were very good).

Portimao was a very exciting town. Lots of shops and restaurants along the beach open till 1am. We took a Grotto tour - best part of our trip. We started out in a large boat and then we transferred into smaller boats (10 per boat) and went in and out of the caves along the coast. When we got back to the big boat, we were able to jump off the boat and swim. The whole trip took 4 hours long. Because of this, we missed our drop off time for our car! This screwed everything up for us. We then decided to leave the car at the hotel for them to pick up the next day and we would take a taxi to the bus station. We get up at 5:30am to catch the 7:45am bus to Seville, Spain. When we get there, all the tickets were sold out. We had to wait until 3:00pm for the next bus. This set us back a bit, but everything worked out ok.

Next Seville.

My husband and I will be spending a few days in Lisbon before our sailing trip. Any hotel ideas closer to the old city. You mentioned theSheraton Lisboa was ok. What does that mean?

Sheraton Lisboa was very nice. Rooms were spacious and clean. Restaurant was very nice - on top floor overlooking all of Lisbon, and the food was very good. I just wished it was closer to the old part of Lisbon, but don't get me wrong, the location they are in was pretty good. I don't of any hotels closer.