Sintra to Porto

  Today we woke up after for some, twelve hours of sleep, in Sintra. We started the day slowly before checking out of our accommodations before heading nearby to a cafe for some simple fare and an array of espresso beverages. After three weeks back in Denver post graduation fueled by Duffeyroll and Santiago’s, it’s been a rough adjustment to the European breakfast. Once we’d had our fill we enjoyed a brief parting walk through Sintra to the train station, where we boarded a train back to Lisbon. 

       Once back in Lisbon, we scrambled to change stations in the narrow window between our arrival and our departure to Porto. This was achieved with time to spare, although once we had boarded our longest train of the day, there was a 30 minute delay due to theft. A pickpocket had been caught by a group of travelers and they held him on the train until the Lisbon police could come and investigate. Soon enough, we were moving closer to the start of our Camino. 

      Once in Porto, we made our way to our accommodations only to discover we had been locked out of the building which housed our apartment by another resident. Dagny and I were sent off to find a place for the family to watch Portugal’s World Cup game, but as a family of six, and seeing as the game was underway, the task proved impossible. 

        Once we had made our way into the AirBnB, we had some flat on bunk time before we headed out for some upscale Portuguese food. I selected for us a restaurant, Elemento, based on its nearby location and recommendation from the Michelin guide. After a brief walk we tucked into our dinner, and it did not disappoint. Every dish was great, with the pork that Adelaide ordered being a standout bite. Once we’d had some excellent desserts and settled our tab we perused the streets while Dave had his evening cigar, before heading back to our apartment for the night. 

Alastair

Sintra - Pena Palace and our Picnic

​The McLains on the Camino literally fell asleep on the 45-minute train ride from Lisbon to Sintra on Monday afternoon. We had so little sleep on the plane, we dragged through much of our first day in Portugal. Our first night in Sintra was pretty quiet filled with cards, some drinks, and some appetizers before our first dinner scouted by Alastair. It was a little early for EU standards for dinner, 6pm, but we couldn’t stay out any later. Dinner was delicious with steaks, duck, risotto, and a dessert sampler which was delicious. It was early to bed for all of us as we were exhausted.

 

This morning David and I were up VERY early, but still pretty well rested. We took an early walk through town to find the only coffee shop open at 6:30am. Yummy cappuccino for me and Americano for Dave, always. By 8:30 we had the kids up and out for more coffee and pasteries before our big day of touring.

 

Can you spot the McLains on the Camino sticker??

We walked all the way through city center toward Sintra’s Pena Palace. Adelaide scouted these sites for us two years ago when she studied abroad in Spain and she had us all excited for our long day of hiking in the Sintra mountains. We hiked for an hour and a half almost straight up to the palace. We all loved all the lush green plants, koi ponds, amazing flowers, and moss-covered stone walls. It got our hearts pumping, and it was truly beautiful. Pena Palace is the oldest surviving royal palace in Portugal and dates all the way back to the Moorish period. A bright red and yellow royal residence complete with towers and ornate tilework. We walked all around the inside and outside of the palace. It is located on a hilltop in the Sintra Mountains and we could view a medieval fortress, the Castle of the Moors, from one side.

We hiked across a little valley to view a stone cross you could see from the palace walls. A highlight for me was sitting on the ground and enjoying a simple picnic we packed for the day. We had our morning pastry shop prepare ham and cheese sandwiches for us. We purchased some fruit from a local market and we had two chocolate bars to share. It was easy and perfect. We needed the food because we had thousands of steps to go for the rest of our day.

We walked all the way back down the mountain and back through town and up another mountain to see the Quinta da Regaleira and the Initiation Well. Alastair requested this stop weeks ago so we had to oblige. The well is a spiraling tower-like well that descends underground. The surrounding estate is impressive, with architecture inspired by influences including the Knights Templar. Was the well used for water or rituals like in the DaVinci Code? Hard to say.

 

By late afternoon we were exhausted! We found a beautiful roof-top deck for drinks, cards, and snacks followed by dinner number two at Alastair’s recommendation. Truly a “hole in the wall” with only about 10 tables. More yummy offerings with really delicious roasted vegetables. Alastair ordered the octopus, Ad and I had the duck, Magnolia pork cheeks, and Dave and D had steak with a fried egg on top. We all enjoyed it and our 8 huge bottles of water. We were exhausted and it was a really great day. So pleased we can make these amazing memories together. Tomorrow we will enjoy a lazy morning before our train ride back to Lisbon and onto Porto for some more adventures.

Jll

Camino Chaos on Day 1!

​Yesterday, June 14th, we flew from Denver to Newark. Halfway through our flight, our plane got rerouted due to weather in the Midwest. 

Our short layover in Newark became even shorter, and we were certain that we would miss our only opportunity to fly to Portugal in the next 24 hours. The flight attendant made an announcement to the plane, asking everyone to let us off first. All six of us ran frantically through the airport, losing each other, jumping onto airport golf carts, and sweating profusely. Alastair and Dagny even got paged over the airport intercom as the last two people to board our plane.

Our flight from Newark to Lisbon, Portugal was an easy six hours on a big plane. We all got to watch our shows, eat dinner, and sleep for 1-3 hours before landing at 9 AM.

We took the metro to get into the city. Those of us who missed breakfast on the plane while sleeping were very hungry so we found a small restaurant and ordered an assortment of coffees and sandwiches. Mom found us an electric tuk-tuk driver to give us a tour of the oldest part of Lisbon that didn’t involve us walking hills. 

We got to see lots of beautiful overlooks, churches, and tiled building walls. 

We ended our tour at a restaurant that specializes in pastel de nata. I knew that the Portuguese dessert, pastry dough filled with warm custard, would be a hit with my family. 

We are now on the train to Sintra, Portugal where we will check into our first Airbnb and begin some real hiking tomorrow.

I visited Portugal in 2024 on my spring break during study abroad with my good friend Katy. No one else in my family has visited, and I’m very excited to get to show them around. It doesn’t hurt that I know Spanish too!

Adelaide

Here we go again...

It is not yet another sabbatical year, but this seemed like a big enough adventure to keep a travel journal.  Adelaide has graduated from Colorado State and after a gap year living in Fort Collins, she will be starting PA school in the fall at Rocky Vista.  Alastair graduated from Montana State a year early, a testament to how much he disliked the actual going to class and studying bit about college.  Dagny finished her sophomore year at Montana State and is very much enjoying her college experience.  Magnolia graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and will be attending the University of Kansas in the fall.  As for Jll and I, we continue living life trying to keep up with our children.  What better time to run away to Europe as a family.  This trip was Adelaide's idea.  She previously studied in Spain, traveled through Portugal, and thought that this was a good way for the family to spend time together.  I would go anywhere the kids invited me, so Portugal is as great a place to do that as any.  I am a little worried, though, about the 170 mile walk from Porto to Camino de Santiago.  Wish me luck.

We packed up this morning and are now on the plane to Newark.  After a short layover, we head to Lisbon to start the adventure.  Stay tuned and follow along with the McLains on the Camino! 

Dagny's Recap

        My summer was truly incredible. With every new place we went I talked with and learned from so many different people. I have stories to carry with me for the rest of my life. One of my favorite parts of the trip was when we would talk with locals and share stories and bits about our different cultures. 

In Morocco we visited this beach town called Essaouira. This was the last stop in Morocco so we had already been there for two weeks. At this point we had eaten so much  couscous and tagine. It had become a kind of joke everytime we sat down and someone would ask what we were having. We all knew what it was going to be. On this particular day we didn't have any activities planned and so we were just gonna hang out on the beach. My mom found us a spot on the beach that was just a private stretch that belonged to one of the hotels. We met up with a woman from our group and layed out by the beach. Maggie and I spent the whole day in the ocean. A girl swam up to me and Maggie and started talking to us. She was from a town close by called Marrakech. She was visiting Essaouira on vacation with her mom and her moms friend. The trip was to celebrate her finishing her final exams and graduating from high school. We talked about if we were planning on going to college and where. She said that she would like to leave the country and study elsewhere but would need to apply for scholarships. In Morocco all college is free so another option for her would be to stay at home. We talked about the food we were eating and the places we were going. It was amazing talking with her to be able to connect with someone my own age. Our whole trip we were mostly talking with adults. When we got the opportunity to talk with people closer to my age I felt like I was able to understand better how life there was because I could compare it to mine. This girl we met lived pretty similarly to me. She went to high school and hung out with her friends. In Morocco the driving age is 18 so she drove a moped to school and around town. She asked me if my parents let me go out and have parties with my friends because hers did not. For the most part we were very similar. 

Morocco was maybe my favorite place that we visited. It was just so different then any place I'd ever been. The food and the culture and art and especially the architecture. There was so much to see and learn about and our group did an incredible job of covering all of Morocco and seeing everything there was to see

Another one of my favorite experiences was when we did a walk with locals in Malawi. Malawi for us was right in the middle of a bunch of drive days so we were all pretty grumpy. On this day we got to pick from a few different things to do. We could go swimming and fishing in the Malawi lake, we could go on a bike ride, or we could take a walk with locals. We chose the walk. The campsite we were staying in was surrounded by this kind of gate. When we walked out of the gate to meet with the people, someone came up to each of us and shook our hands. We each had our own buddy to walk with and talk to. For me this was pretty uncomfortable at the start. I don’t like talking to strangers, especially by myself but after a little while I really began to enjoy myself. I was walking with a guy only about two years older than myself. HIs name was JB, he worked selling artwork and making bricks in order to support his family and pay for school. Along our walk we learned about the school system, we learned about the crops most every family grows, we learned about how they built their houses and the family structures. We learned about the lives of the people we were walking with and their personal struggles. The kids in the village were on holiday from school. They liked to walk with us and hold our hands. They liked to answer all our questions. At the end of our walk we went into the shops of the people we were walking with and they showed us their artwork. Paintings and sculptures and things like that. Once we saw it all my family met up and we decided what we wanted to buy. Addie and I wanted this game we had played called boa. With the game you move rocks around the board and try to steal the other players. Alastair wanted to buy a sculpture of an elephant and Maggie wanted one of two elephants. My dad bought a painting of Africa and all the places we had been and my mom asked these guys to make her two paddles for a game we were playing. With everything we bought we had to negotiate the price. So we all talked and figured out what would be reasonable and then we bought our stuff. They told us to come back in a couple of hours and they would be ready. When we did we all hung out outside the gate and talked and hung out. We had a great time. In the end we exchanged contact info with a few of the locals and went back to the camp where we spent the rest of the night playing bao. 

This trip was truly amazing and I am so grateful for the time I got to spend with my family learning and seeing parts of the world. I am going to continue traveling all my life meeting new people and having new experiences. I will take the lessons I've learned this summer with me forever. The memories we made will forever be some of my favorites. Thank you Africa.

Dagny McLain

Adelaide’s Summer Recap

This summer was absolutely the adventure of a lifetime. I feel incredibly fortunate to have a family who is willing to dedicate the time and effort to embark on a 76 day journey away from home. While we visited 10 different countries and saw some incredible things, the most important part of this summer was the quality time that I was able to spend with my family. Even if we were being thrown around in the back of a truck or sleeping on the ground or getting blasted by sand in the desert or using some of the worst bathrooms known to humankind, we were doing it as a team. I love my family more than anything and this summer wouldn’t have been the same without them.

With that being said, here are my favorite memories from this summer:

Morocco - While riding camels in Merzouga, we faced a sandstorm that was wildly painful and very funny. Even as we fought to keep the sand from reaching our eardrums, the 6 of us were laughing.

Egypt - Oddly enough, I really enjoyed riding the sleeper train that transported us from Cairo to Aswan. My siblings and I had never spent a night on a train before and it was pretty cool! Although our cabin was kind of dirty, Dagny and I had a room that adjoined to our parents so we could chat with them. Dagny successfully brushed her teeth from the top bunk which was hilarious and we got to wake up to the sun rising over the landscape racing by.

Jordan - Swimming in the Dead Sea was an activity that we all looked forward to with great anticipation. While I spent the whole swim terrified of getting the salty water in my eyes, the feeling of floating was very unique. My favorite part about this day, however, was that we spent some time swimming in the hotel pools after we swam in the sea. The 6 of us wrestled in the pool and practically drowned one another while the life guards laughed at us and smoked cigarettes.

Israel - I’m very grateful that my parents made it a priority to bring our family to the holy land so that we could better imagine what life would have been like when Jesus was alive. Visiting Christian sites across Israel such as Jesus’ birthplace and tomb brought to life the stories that I’ve heard in church my whole life.

Palestine - Visiting the Ayda Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem was an eye opening experience for me. I learned much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the complex history of the territories over which they fight. Being in such close proximity to the violence helped me to understand what life is like for Palestinian refugees living under Israeli occupation.

Kenya - While our time in Kenya was limited, I was blown away by the hospitality of our hotel staff and the three Kenyans who made our overland trek possible. When our luggage was lost for 19 hours when we first arrived in Nairobi, the hotel staff were so helpful and welcoming. While the 6 of us were beyond stressed about having to replace everything for the second half of our trip, the concierge worked diligently to locate our bags. Our guide, driver, and cook for the overland trek, Michael, Dan, and Emmanuel were all Kenyan. We enjoyed spending a month learning from them about Kenyan culture, the Swahili language, and traditional Kenyan dishes such as Ugali.

Tanzania - From the beaches of Zanzibar to the animals of the Serengeti, Tanzania had a lot to offer. My favorite destination was the village that we visited in the Usambara mountains. I was impressed by the overwhelming greenery and biodiversity. We were able to take an 8 mile hike which included a gorgeous overlook, countless chameleons, a delicious homemade lunch served on wooden plates, and dancing.

Malawi - While our time in Malawi was short, it was definitely impactful. On our free day at Lake Malawi, we had a guided tour of the Mbamba village. I enjoyed getting to know the local artisans as they taught us how to play Bao. In return, we taught them how to play smashball.

Zambia - By our 7th game drive, I thought we had seen it all. However, in South Lalongwe National Park, we got to watch a dozen elephants roll around, play, and swim in a river as they were returning to the park after a night of raiding the nearby village. I loved watching the babies as they learned to swim and ran to find piles of dirt once they were done. Elephants have definitely become my new favorite animal.

Zimbabwe - For me, the most terrifying moment of the entire trip was when we stood face-to-face with white rhinos in Madaba National Park in Bulawayo. My heart was racing throughout the entire encounter knowing that at any moment, the rhinos could charge at us and flatten us before our guide could scare them off. While it was incredible to view the animals from up close, I don’t need to do it again any time soon.

South Africa - While visiting Soweto, we visited a small building consisting of one room which held approximately 20 toddlers and 2 caregivers. These children were all in daycare so that their mothers (as young as 12 years old) could attend school. I was shocked by the health crises and circumstances faced by the individuals living in townships such as Soweto. Lack of sex ed, prevalence of tuberculosis, stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS, unemployment, and teen pregnancy complicate the lives of the young girls and boys. I’m grateful that I was able to learn from this community so that I may further discuss global healthcare issues as I pursue a career in medicine.

Adelaide McLain

Maggie's Summary

This summer I made so many amazing memories with my family and I am so grateful for each and every experience. I’m going to write about each of the ten countries we visited.

Firstly, we spent a lot of time in Morocco and my favorite city was definitely Chefchaouen. There were stray cats everywhere in Morocco but Chefchaouen had the most. Chefchaouen is known as the blue pearl of Morocco and we saw a beautiful view of the blue houses after walking to the Spanish mosque on the top of a hill. My favorite part of being in Chefchaouen was the dinner we had on a patio overlooking the valley where we were surrounded by kittens the entire time. After seeing so much of Morocco I can confidently say that it was the most diverse in landscape out of the countries we saw. We were in the mountains, the desert, cities, and the middle of nowhere and it was always beautiful.

Next we flew to Egypt where we spent each day sight seeing, we saw temples primarily as well as the great pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. My favorite thing we saw in Egypt was the Valley Of The Kings where we entered the tombs of kings including King Tutankhamen’s and we saw his mummified body. I liked seeing all of the design work that went into those tombs and learning about their discovery. Egypt was very interesting for me because of the ancient history we learned about and saw.

Jordan was our next country which had the best hotel accommodations of our first 4 countries. We went sightseeing in Jordan but we also had activities planned. We went to Petra which was one of our most memorable days in Jordan, the caves and carvings were amazing and I liked the hike we did that day as well. I also really enjoyed floating in the Dead Sea and even though I got the salty water in my eyes I thought that was a very interesting experience. My favorite activity that we did in Jordan was spending the day on a boat where we went snorkeling in the Red Sea. I had a lot of fun that day primarily because I love snorkeling. The balance of sightseeing and activities made Jordan one of my favorite countries that we visited this summer.

The last country we visited before we re-entered Africa was Israel including the Palestinian controlled areas. In Israel we spent the majority of our time visiting churches that served as historic landmarks including the place of Jesus’s birth, crucifixion, burial, and several places he was thought to have lived. Despite seeing all of these religious landmarks, the most powerful part of our time in Israel for me, was crossing the wall into Palestine. I didn’t know what to expect when we were told about the Palestinian controlled territories so when we were driving through a security checkpoint to a city surrounded by a thick cement wall, I was decently shocked. We spent the following few hours learning about the relationship between the people in this community and the Israeli military surrounding the wall outside of it as well as the rights that the people inside did or did not have. That was one of our most valuable experiences in Israel in my opinion because of how much our perspectives grew and how much we came to understand about that specific political dispute.

We started our overland trek in Kenya where we spent two days in Nairobi before we left with our tour. We spent the first day replacing the necessities that were in the luggage we lost before we located and picked up our bags that night with the help of the hotel staff. We also went to a church service on Sunday. We didn’t spend very much time in Kenya but my favorite memory was seeing apes on the side of the road on the way to the mall on our first day because it made me realize how different the rest of our trip was going to be from anything we’d experienced earlier in the trip.

Our first stop on our overland trek was in Tanzania where we spent 10 days. We had our first game drive there in the Ngorongoro Crater and then several more in the Serengeti National park which was the highlight of my time in Tanzania because of all of the animals we saw. My favorite thing to look at were the lion cubs we spotted. We also went to Zanzibar and back  by ferry during our time in Tanzania. We saw Stone Town where we did a city and a spice tour and we also spent time in the northern beaches which was very beautiful. Tanzania was my favorite country that we visited during the overland trek because we were able to spend more time there than anywhere else which allowed us to see so much more of the country and do a lot of fun things.

Malawi was our next stop where we only spent a couple of days, however one of my favorite days of the entire trip was spent in Malawi. We were staying along the beach of Lake Malawi and we spent the day on a walk around the community. We were each greeted by a local along with our tour guide. When the guide wasn’t talking to us I spent my time talking to a 20 year old girl named Jenny, we got to know each other, I listened to the guide, and we were accompanied by children in the community as well. After the walk around the community where we saw where they get water, the schools, the farms, and how and where they make resources like bricks and flour, Jenny taught me how to play the Malawi Bao Game. My family also purchased 2 Bao Boards, paddles for a game, a custom painted map of our trip, and 2 wooden sculptures from various locals. This day especially stood out to me because of the kindness we were shown by the locals and the curiosity of the children in the community.

We were in Zambia next but not for very long once again. My favorite part of Zambia was the game drive we did the morning of our first day there, we saw 2 male elephants play fighting in the river and then later on there were at least 15 more crossing the river including 2 babies, one of which was under a year old. I loved watching the elephants and everything they did was so interesting, it’s safe to say we had the best elephant sightings in Zambia.

We then drove to Zimbabwe, we saw and walked around Great Zimbabwe and then the next day we went on a “Rhino Walk”. All I knew was that we were going to have an opportunity to see rhinos but we ended up learning a lot about them, their behavior, and their risk of being poached. We tracked them on foot after leaving our vehicle on the main road and then once we spotted them we were all relatively surprised that our guide kept walking us closer and closer to them until they were no more than 10 feet away. We watched a male rhino first and then we found a female with a baby whose father was the male we saw first. This was an amazing experience and I was very glad that we saw rhinos after not being able to spot them on any of our prior game drives. We then drove to Victoria Falls and had a group dinner with our tour group as a goodbye. The next day we toured Victoria Falls itself which was gorgeous and very misty, we also walked to the bridge and then had lunch at the lookout restaurant where we watched people zip line between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The next day we went to church with our driver from the tour which ended up being 3 hours long and we had the opportunity to come back after lunch as well. And then after a relaxing rest of our day we flew out the next morning.

We landed in South Africa and got to our hotel which was right across from the Nelson Mandela Square which was very convenient for meals and is also where we got birthday presents for Dagny. While we were in Johannesburg we toured a prison, the current judicial building, Soweto, and the poorest community in Soweto which after seeing a large amount of Africa wasn’t as shocking as it would have been had we seen that first. My favorite thing about Johannesburg were the meals that we had in the square, the food was really good and was more familiar than any of the other meals we had on the trip but just spending quality time with just the six of us was a really good way to spend the last days of the trip.

As excited as I am to be home, I am going to miss spending all of my time with my family and I am so very grateful that I was able to spend so much time with each of them this summer. Naturally, I missed everyone in Denver, but it was so worth it, this summer was such an amazing experience for me and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Thank you to my parents for making this possible for our family and for instilling a love of travel in me as well as giving me an opportunity to spend so much time with our wonderful family.

-Magnolia