Obrigado

Portugal is cool.  Especially because I  like tile, urban art, beaches, big waves, funiculars, coffee, and inexpensive adventure!

Months ago, my dear friend Steph Johnes and I realized that we’d be in Europe at the same time.  For the past six years, Steph has been creating a documentary film about a surfer, Maya Gabeiro who lives in Nazaré in the winter.  Maya holds the world record for the largest wave surfed by a female – 67 feet!  Nazaré is located an hour and a half north of Lisbon.  Steph said last year, “Come to Portugal for Thanksgiving.” I agreed without hesitation.

Steph and I share a wonderful friend, Elie McLaren. We affectionately call her GrandMcMummy.  Elie and Steph’s mom are forever best friends and Elie lived in Park City for years.  Steph introduced me to Elie when I was pregnant with Brewster in 2004.  We bonded instantly and Elie has been our surrogate grandmother ever since.  She hosted my kids for overnights and playdates since they were newborns. 

When Elie heard that Steph and I were meeting in Portugal in November, she hopped on our travel train.  She planned to meet her son, Brooks and his Brazilian wife, Ana Paula in Lisbon.  Ana Paula’s sister lives in Lisbon and so it was a prefect excuse to all rendezvous in Southern Europe.

Isn’t that what Thanksgiving is all about?  Being with family or friends.  I loved our holiday plan.  Portugal is Europe on sale.  I heard once that it is Spain’s Mexico.  True that!  Our flights, accommodations and meals were  30% less than France.

Steph recommended visiting Porto first.  We flew directly there on Tuesday night from Marseille.   I rented a two bedroom airbnb in the heart of the city so we could walk everywhere.   Our first stop in Porto on Wednesday morning was the Lello Bookstore, one of the oldest and most beautiful bookstores in Europe.   This place inspired JK Rowling’s Hogwart’s library.  We bought a ticket next door at the café and we knew we were in Harry Potterland when we saw a cart with Harry Potter props.  Sadie was psyched!

The book store lived up to its reputation.  It was a two story historic building lined with wooden bookshelves.  A grand staircase filled the middle of the store and a large stainless window covered the ceiling on the second floor.

I imagined JK Rowling sitting at a small table upstairs writing away in the ’90s.  I have always loved book stores and this was no exception. I was compelled to buy a couple of books: a collection of short stories by Phillip Roth and a Lonely Planet guide to the Galapagos to prepare for our Fuller Family Christmas trip.

The rest of our day in Porto was very easy and fun.  We loved exploring the city and it was small enough that we didn’t follow a map.  We walked through plazas, in churches and down narrow stairs.  What struck me about Porto was the old tile next to urban art.  Some of the art was certainly graffiti, but much of it was beautiful murals.

Down by the Duora River was Igreja de São Francisco a church filled with gold leaf wood carvings.  There was so much gold!  Portugal’s dominance peaked in the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th century and we could tell by the cathedral decadence.   The kids only tolerate churches for so long, so soon we stopped for a snack.  We found a little cafe off the river boulevard which proved a good idea because it started pouring!  Tucked under an awning, we ordered a hot chocolate and waited for the storm to pass before continuing our afternoon exploration.

After lunch we found a funicular.  We hopped in and headed up the mountain not knowing where it stopped.  It was so fun to be in a small city and just go wherever, knowing that we likely would not be lost.  Fortunately, the  trolley stopped near the São Bento train station which was on my short list to visit. The tile inside was stunning.

We left the station and noticed we were right back at our airbnb. The kids were ready for some downtime so we went inside and relaxed. A couple hours later, Brewster and I left to scope out another neighborhood.  We browsed a few hipster boutiques.  Brewster loves shopping and is quite a fashion aficionado which I am just now figuring out.

Later that evening, the three of us dressed up for dinner and walked up the hill to Flow, a treasure of a restaurant.  Brewster tried some new food including truffle infused butter, tiger shrimp and ceviche. Sadie stuck to her delicious steak, but the highlight was dessert!  We shared the yummiest Portuguese cheesecake topped with peanut salted caramel.   I inquired about buying a pie to bring with me to Nazaré for Thanksgiving  the next day.  Brewster rolled his eyes and reminded me that we were traveling on a bus.  Right. 

Thanksgiving morning we woke up to rain.   Leaving Porto was not hard.  Although an Uber to the bus station was the easiest option, I couldn’t resist a 1euro20 metro ticket. The metro was quick and smooth. We arrived twenty minutes early for our bus to Nazaré.  We stopped once in Coimbra and I realized as we boarded that we only had five minutes to switch buses.  Brewster asked me why I booked such a short layover.  “I’m pretty sure that the ticket was issued this way” I responded.  But the fear of missing our bus to Nazaré remained inside me the entire ride to Coimbra.  It didn’t help that we left Porto nine minutes late.  However, the Coimbra bus station was not big, so we fortunately made our bus to Nazaré.  I texted Steph that we’d be on time and I finally was able to relax and enjoy the Portuguese country side on the ride to Nazaré.

Matt and I visited Nazaré in 2004 and the white town and forever sandy beach has not changed. But what is new is the surf scene.  Garrett McNamara, a big wave surfer is credited with bringing big wave surfing to Nazaré.  In 2011, after a few years of scoping out the enormous swell, Garrett broke the world record for the largest wave surfed.  Surfers from all over the world have now made Nazaré home for part of year.  Steph is friends with most of them!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at a farm just outside of town. Steph’s friend Lara, a Nazaré native hosted about twenty-five of us.  It was a motley crew.  World class surfers included Maya and her friend Sebastian Stedtner, Garrett, Toby, Raphael and a bunch of their friends.  Also at dinner was an artist from Australia, a videographer from San Diego,  Lara’s boyfriend Nuno who is the talented big wave lifeguard in town, GrandMcMummy, Brooks, Ana Paula, their daughter Luisa, Ana Paula’s cousin and her girlfriend and the Hutchinsons.

Everyone was so interesting.  Fascinated by their scene, I found myself asking the surfers very obvious questions.  Brewster was dying.  When I asked one of them where they were from, they’d answer, “Originally from Chile/Germany/Brazil but I live in the world.”  These were some beautiful brave athletes!

Friday was both sunny and chilly.  Steph and I went for a beautiful run on the beach.  We bumped into GrandMcMummy and Brooks on our way which and gave them a hug before they left to return to Lisbon.

Steph and I treated the kids to a long Portuguese lunch with a Kauai-coast-like view.  I thought about how vacant the Nazaré shore is compared to Hawaii or California.  It is a stunning part of our Earth and very few have developed here.

There are stairs down to Nazaré town from Steph’s house.  We headed down after lunch and passed a few locals bringing up their groceries.  I saw a couple of ladies in black which likely meant they were widows. I read Nazaré widows wear black.  They may have lost their fisherman husbands in the the same surf that makes Steph’s surf friends famous.

The four of us chilled on Friday night and left for Lisbon on Saturday morning.  Before leaving town, we visited the Big Wave Surfing museum in Nazaré.  It was so cool to see photos and surf boards of our Thanksgiving friends  on display.

Our first stop in Lisbon was the Belém Tower.  We were happy that Steph drove because it started to rain.  After Belém, we enjoyed the Time Out Market, a glamorous five star food  court.

After the market, we started to walk to GrandMcMummy’s airbnb but it was pouring.   We hopped on a funicular and then Ubered the rest of the way.

We spent that night drinking Portuguese wine and snacking with the McLaren crew.  I met Ana Paula’s sister, Ana Claudia. It’s typical in Brazil to have sisters with the same first name.  So when they are together, they go by Paula and Claudia but in their daily lives  in Los Angeles and Lisbon they both are called Ana. 

Sadie spent Saturday night with GrandMcMummy and Brewster, Steph and I walked back to our Bed & Breakfast.   It had stopped raining.  I loved the streets of Lisbon.  Like Porto, buildings were decorated with tile or urban art. Some art was more attractive than other art.  The art fills the city with color.   Steph and I speculated how long it will take for Lisbon to clean up.  All over, there are refurbished buildings right next to tear-downs.  Cafes and boutiques fill  Lisbon catering to the younger population. I want to return and further explore.

Sunday morning, Steph and I walked to a coffee shop and enjoyed a quiet Sunday scene.  We met Brewster for breakfast at our Inn and the three of us walked to pick up Sadie at GrandMcMum’s.  We took our time walking back to the car and then it was time to head to the airport.  Our flight back to Marseille was only two and a half hours making it back to our apartment in time for Sunday night pizza.

Obriagoda Steph!   You created quite the memorable Thanksgiving!  We loved it.  And we love you.   And GrandMcMum, obriagoda for saying “yes” The only thing that could have made it even better was Matty.