We flew from Sevilla to Lisbon, because the train would have been seven hours and the one hour flight actually cost less. We were glad we arrived early at the airport, as there was a crazy long wait to drop our bags, and we had a chance for free food in the lounge. It was a tiny airport like Long Beach, where we walked out onto the tarmac to board the plane.
We rented a car at the Lisbon airport and headed off into the Portuguese countryside. It reminded us a little of home, although some of the signs by the road were tricky.
When I started researching travel in Portugal, I read that the government had a program that turned many old monuments and castles into hotels. While they cost more than our usual budget lodging, they aren’t expensive for a hotel, and are priced like a pretty typical Marriot at home. I knew we had to jump on this chance to stay in a castle, so I booked us a stay in a fourteenth century monestary near the town of Crato.
They upgraded our room, so we ended up staying in the tower, and our balconies were the top of the turret!
The rooms were gorgeous, much fancier than what we are used to.
We felt like we were living in a fantasy novel, and loved exploring our balconies. I really felt like we needed a dragon to land on the edge to complete the effect.
The hotel’s included breakfast was really great. I felt in love with a local quince paste.
After our fairytale night, we headed to Marvão to visit the ruins of a Moorish castle that was built in the ninth century. It was captured and expanded by the Christians in the 12th and 13th century, but it’s hard to imagine how it could ever be conquered. It was pretty imposing as we drove up the hill toward it. Driving into the walled city was an adventure all by itself.
There was a cute little medieval village enclosed in the walls, which is still occupied.
The castle was huge, and we spent hours walking along the ramparts, peeking out of arrow slits, and climbing towers.
The steep land below and the cannons made it seem impossible that the castle could ever be taken, but apparently it was captured again in the 16th century. We could imagine a lot of history happening there.
After thoroughly exploring the castle, we had lunch in a restaurant in town. The food was fantastic, and the view was even better.
We headed back to our hotel. Liam and I started his ASL class (we have decided to learn together) while Bill, Willow and River went swimming.
We had dinner at the hotel, which ended up being pretty disappointing.
We were excited to be able to catch the sunset from our balcony/turret. It was truly magical.
The next morning, I worked a little from the balcony, the kids swam, we checked out the cloisters, and River played the piano before we headed back to Lisbon.
