Portugal Part 3

The last part of Portugal was the 24 hour race! The race was Saturday from 3 pm until Sunday at 3 pm. We went to the track Saturday before the race started. 

This is the car

 This is in the rig and is where the guys were to sleep

 My honey right before the race started! They got penalized and had to start at the very back. But hey... they had 24 hours to make it up, right?

 Diane Putman! Our husbands used to race in the same series and we have spent many of track days together over the last 14 years! Her husband races in a faster class but has been doing the European circuit for several years. It was so fun to bump into her!

 Heather's husband bought all of us a Magnum ice cream bar :) 

 Trevor, Heather, Andrea, and Harriet watching the race from the tower 

 It was "record temps" during the race (nothing compared to GA summer heat and humidity). Several teams had pools for the drivers to cool off in. The pink flamingo is hilarious! 

Chris is about to go in!

 We stayed until the evening and then headed "home". We only had one car and couldn't get an uber... so we rode him with 4 in the backseat. Not the safest, but a fun ride!

We went back to the track Sunday morning. Over night, there was an oil spill and they had to pause the race for several hours. Chris Lewis came to the condo for some rest, but Chis Wadle and Seth slept in the rental car (and brought blankets and pillow from the condo)

View of the track from the tower (where we watched the bulk of the time). We LOVED the panoramic views! 

Chatting it up with my man during the race

 Seth being interviewed during the race 

Crew cheering at the finish line. It was crazy how different it is in Europe. In the states you'd NEVER be able to be in the pits! If you were in the pits, you'd have special credentials, pants, and closed toed shoes. In Europe it's definitely more "at your own risk" mentality. 

There were several classes running this race. Seth's team finished 3rd. Granted, there were only 3 cars in their class but I think it's incredible to run those speeds for 24 hours and complete the race!! His car had an issue at the beginning of the race that put them out for a bit and they just never made it up. SO SO SO proud of them! I balanced myself on this ledge to get a better shot of the podium 

 Podium!

The team after the race 

 My handsome man!! I just love him

 After the race, I went to Heather's hotel rooftop deck and we layed out by the pool. It was nice to get some one on one time with her. 

 We ordered these coconut cocktails that were delicious!

That night, we met back up with everyone at an amazing pizza place. We ordered 3 different pizzas and totally pigged out. YUM! 

Monday July 9th was our anniversary! We've been married for 13 years. This was a great place to celebrate our past, present, and future together

Heather was with us for our adventures. We drove to where we rode our bikes earlier in the trip. I wanted to show them the spots Harriet, Andrea, and I saw. This is that same steep hill with the pretty views. 

 We'd been in the grottos via kayak, jetboat, and now we went in a tiny motorized boat. This was super cool! A man steered it from the boat. It sat 6 people. When we went in some caves, the man would say "DUCK"  as we narrowly avoided banging our heads on the cave entrance. 

 Love the light peeking through!

I walked around the jutted out rock in the ocean while Heather and Seth went through the tunnel. The water was SO cold, but I was brave and went all the way under! :) 

Heather's flight left later that afternoon, so we said our goodbyes. :( 

That night, Seth and I headed out on our own for an anniversary dinner. 

We ended up eating Indian. It was lovely to sit outside and enjoy our yummy food!

 Chris, Andrea, Seth and I left Tuesday morning to go back to Lisbon (our flight left early Wednesday morning). It was a big of a struggle getting the luggage into the wagon, lol

We drove to Algarve (where the ladies did the jet boat). It was fun to park the car and walk around to view what we'd seen from below

Just gorgeous. I truly couldn't get enough of these scenes! God made a special place here

We drove the 3 hours back to Lisbon and had one last amazing meal at a restaurant that specialized in red meats. We were kind of seafood-ed out (never thought I would say that!)

This was the outdoor area. There were bean bags scattered and low tables. It would be so fun to come back!

It was an old embassy (looked like a palace) turned into shops and restaurants. This elevator was quite old and interesting! 

We came home Wednesday morning and were thrilled to be reunited with the kids! I missed them like crazy! This was truly a once in a lifetime trip! We're so thankful for our parents taking the best care of Adelyn and James. 

Andrea is photographer, so I have to give her credit. Any pictures that are really good are taken by her! She has quite the eye!

Portugal, Part 2

The guys were at the race track on Thursday. 

 The girls rented bikes and toured Lagos

 We'd park our bikes hike down to the various beaches. Just gorgeous!

 Harriet and I hiked up a narrow steep path to get to this small ledge that overlooked the water. It kinda made my stomach turn being up so high but it was super cool!

 That's it. I'm moving to Lagos and buying this house. 

 They carved pathways in between the rocks to walk from beach to beach

 A resort in Lagos

 We ate lunch at Camila's. It was a 45 minute wait but well worth it!

We loved exploring the coast!

On Friday, Heather flew in! This is my childhood friend that lives in London. Since we were "so close", she joined us for the weekend. Her husband flew in later that night. We met her just before lunch. 

That afternoon, we hopped on a jet boat that took us to Algarve, another area nearby with MORE beautiful grottos! 

The guys were at the track late that evening,  so the girls went to a sushi restaurant. It was all you could eat for 13 euros. The menu was extensive and the sushi was great! We ordered a ridiculous amount (this picture is just our first order!)

I'll do one more post to wrap up this awesome trip! 

Portugal, Part 1

Seth had a race in July at Portimao, which is off the southern coast of Portugal. I really don't know many people that have been to Portugal, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I hesitate to post this because I feel like I'm letting out a huge secret. Portugal is GORGEOUS! It's not crowded, it's not expensive, and did I mention it's GORGEOUS???!!!!

We flew out on Sunday, July 1st. Chris (another racer) and Andrea Wadle were on our flight and we all stayed together. We flew into Lisbon and arrived early Monday morning. We spent the first day (jet lagged) and explored this city. 

 Our first stop was Prazeres Cemetery. There were tons of these above ground tombs that almost looked like small houses.

 Next, we walked to a beautiful old church

I don't recall the name, but like most churches in Europe, it was ornate and makes you wonder how on EARTH did they build this so long ago??

 Across from the church was a neat park, where I tried to replicate the statue behind me. I crack myself up

Then we squeezed on a small trolley with about 246 other passengers. It was quite a hilarious ride

 We had lunch in a square overlooking the water. I had this strawberry tomato gazpacho. YUM!

 A view of Lisbon

 I loved the colors and roofs

Sao Jorge Castle 

 After walking around ALL day long (and taking a LONG walk) to this restaurant the hotel concierge recommended) we finally sat down and enjoyed a lovely dinner.

Cataplana (fish stew in a copper baking dish) is a famous Portuguese dish. We ate SO much seafood on this trip! Food was inexpensive and delicious 

On Tuesday morning, we got some more "things to do" suggestions from this awesome hotel concierge (Andrea and I just loved him)

Pena National Castle 

This is the coolest castle I've ever seen! The exterior colors and tile were mesmerizing 

We ate a late lunch at the castle and then drove to Lagos, where we'd be staying for the remainder of our trip (it was about 3 hours away from Lisbon and 25 minutes to the track). We rented a 3 bedroom condo that was within walking distance to the beach, shops and restaurants.  

This square was right near our condo and we had a lovely dinner that night!

On Wednesday morning, Chris, Andrea, Seth and I went kayaking through the grottos. Wednesday was July 4th. It was weird not being in America on our nation's birthday

 A catamaran took us (and several other couples) out into the ocean and then we followed a guide around the grottos in our kayaks. It was SO fun!

Seth and I jumped off the roof of the boat after kayaking! The water was SO cold! This area was interesting... it would be nice and hot during the day and so cold at night! Europeans love to vacation in Lagos because of how warm it is, but the ocean was NEVER warm. EVER. I mean, it's like mountain stream cold to where it almost burns your foot if you dip it in. Vacationers and locals seemed unphased. 

That afternoon, the 3rd couple arrived (Chris and Harriet). 

I'll continue in another post. :)