Exactly two months before COVID-19 caused the SF Bay Area (and the world, in general) to issue a shelter in place on March 16, 2020, Allison and I had returned from our epic 72-day trip to Europe and South America.

We started in the south of Spain, cut over to Portugal, and back across to Barcelona. From there we hopped on a trans-Atlantic cruise through the Panama Canal and down to Chile. We continued to explore Chile, Peru (including Machu Picchu), and Ecuador (along with the Galapagos Islands).

Now that we’ve settled back into our “new normal” world of no traveling, we thought it would be fun to relive our experience. This will be a multi-part blog post chronicling our trek. It’s mostly from Allison’s perspective, since she documented the journey on her Facebook page.

Hopefully this travelogue will inspire you to stay on your FIRE journey so that you can live the life you want! We know it’s so tough to be cooped up in one place, but we’re all trying to #FlattenTheCurve and minimize the impact to all the dedicated and amazing #FrontlineWorkers. #StaySafe

The first leg of our journey is Southern Spain (Granada, Córdoba, and Sevilla) and Portugal (The Algarve and Lisbon)...

 

SFO to Granada

11/4: We are getting so much better at packing! Everything we need for 2.5 months of International travel is in these two bags, plus two backpacks. And we kept the weight under 20 lbs per suitcase (half of that are Dylin’s shoes...)!

11/5: On BART: And we’re off!! They better get some more chefs on duty in Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru! I am ready to eat!

11/6-7: Gatwick Airport / London: Dylin’s first time in England, but not sure if it counts if you don’t leave the airport. It’s gray and drizzly in the UK (is that normal…?? 😉 ), so we’ve abandoned the idea of catching the train into London proper (we’ll be back for a proper visit!). Thank goodness for Priority Pass on a 7-hour layover. We’ve hit six airport lounges and restaurants in less than 20 hours of travel!

11/8-9: Granada, Spain: It is seriously bone-numbingly cold here! The temperature when we woke up was 2° C (that’s 36° F)! We didn’t pack any cold weather gear, so we basically are wearing everything in our suitcase to keep warm! Luckily, I brought two shawls for the cruise, so we'll be using those as scarves; we'll look very European now!

 

The Alhambra is everything you’ve ever heard x 💯. Hard to believe that this place was built back in the 9th century and revived by the Muslim empire in the 14th century! Walked almost 8 miles (I cannot even do the metric conversion. Yes I am a proud non-metric-er).

Met a lovely family from NJ with a rather precocious son, who wouldn’t stop making me guess all the countries that _he’d_ been to (my geographic knowledge is terrible). Ended the day at a tapas bar owned by an English/Portuguese expat couple. We enjoyed brilliant, Portuguese-inspired plates at dirt cheap prices (6 tapas and 3 drinks for 12,50€ - they were practically giving it all away!). 

 

Córdoba 

11/10: Córdoba, Spain: Arrived in Córdoba (as pronounced by Ricardo Montalbán in his dulcet baritone) in time to catch the end of the sunset over the Roman bridge (which starred in season 5 of Game of Thrones as the Long Bridge to Volantis). We walked around the Jewish Quarter, had some Moroccan mint tea, and then enjoyed more tapas for dinner. Dang, they sure do eat late here (the restaurant didn’t even open up until 8!). 

11/11: Finally got to see what all the fuss is about. The Mezquita is like the turducken of religious edifices - a church built inside a cathedral inside a mosque. First, we climbed the Bell Tower (for amazing views over the town and mosque), then we went inside. Everywhere you look, there was one amazing sight after another. 

We headed out of town after a short but sweet 25 hours to visit the Barber of Seville. Dinner was even later than the last couple of days, but we finally got our taste buds on some Salmorejo, which is the Southern version of gazpacho covered in Iberian jamon. YUM! Walked 6.4 miles and climbed 16 flights today, no wonder we’re exhausted!

Sevilla

11/12: Sevilla, Spain: Wow, one jamon-packed day in Sevilla! Walked around the Barrio and the Triana (birthplace of Flamenco) neighborhoods. We somehow misread our Cathedral tickets and missed visiting the Cathedral itself. However, we ended up on the most amazing, behind the scenes, private guided tour of the rooftops!

We got up close and personal with the flying buttresses, gargoyles, and stained glass windows, and went round and round the turret steps (we even confused Apple’s flight tracker, which apparently wasn’t tested on round staircases).

And since Sevilla is the birthplace of Flamenco, we booked a last minute show after a quick tapas nosh (so far, still not sick of jamon...) 7.2 miles, 18K steps, and 12+ flights later, we ended our Sevilla stay still in one (rickety) piece! Onwards!

The Algarve Region of Portugal

On to Lagos, Portugal, by bus to enjoy the amazing beaches and rock formations in the Algarve for a couple day break from the cities.

11/12: Lagos, Portugal: Visiting a new country for us! Sunny, yet not-as-warm as we would have liked, Portugal. The Algarve is the laid back southern region of Portugal. The capital is Lagos (pronounced “La gauche”), so we thought, great, a laid back metropolis, what could be better? Well, with a population of only 27K, it’s a pretty low-key town. This, as it turns out, is the vacation for our vacation (well, sort of. We still managed to walk 8.3 miles today, beating yesterday’s record 7.2 by 1).

The beaches are beautiful, the street designs are fantastical, and the older visitors give this sleepy town a very retirement center vibe. There is, however, a small young, backpacker/wanderer, IG crowd that runs counter to all that (one young couple spent over 10 minutes on a cliff overlooking the sea, trying to get the perfect selfie for the Gram rather than enjoy the natural beauty).

As to be expected, seafood is bountiful. We finally managed to get seated for dinner, after striking out at our top 2 places (we didn’t think that a dinner rez would be required on a Tuesday night in the off-season, 90 minutes before the typical dinner time, but we were wrong!) The local specialty is Cataplana, a seafood stew cooked in a copper pot. The dish is 60% seafood, 40% potatoes. Apparently, the Portuguese *love* carbs, so they will put potatoes into a rice dish just because.

11/13: Salema, Portugal: Today was a vacation from our vacation. We finally found a beach in the sleepy town of Salema and got to enjoy some sunshine and sand. The bus to Salema was super crowded (standing room only!) with all these retired expats from all over (“The Lagos Strollers”), heading on their weekly hike. They graciously invited us along, but we didn’t feel like hiking another 8 miles today (their target), so we declined.

Dylin found a couple of cats to play with (there are so many unaccompanied cats and dogs walking around, he even saw a dog cross the street by itself _at the crosswalk _). We also found an outdoor gym (fun fact: it was donated to the town by the owner of the mansion at the top of the hill, as a quid pro quo for building his mansion without proper building permits!).

We decided to try a restaurant that Rick Steves recommended for the local fish stew, because last night’s was so disappointing, and we are so glad we did! This version had so much flavor (it was the jamon they put into the sauce) and absolutely no potatoes (keto friendly, yay?). This is the Portuguese version of cioppino, minus the crab. It was a great way to end our mini vacation. Tomorrow, we head to Lisbon! Can’t wait to sip on Port and eat egg custard!

 

Lisbon

11/14-15: Lisbon, Portugal: We left Lagos in the nick of time! It started to rain as we were leaving. Goodbye, sleepy beach resort, hello thriving metropolis!

D’oh, spoke too soon! It’s been on and off showers all day in Lisbon, and it’s cold on top of it all 😞 But, our Airbnb host is really cool, and he’s on the 3rd floor of a walk-up flat, so Dylin got to keep up with his workout routine by Farmer lifting our carryon bags up the stairs. As we waited for a trolley car to trip around the city, we met a random, hipster-ish couple from, of all places, Kansas City! Good to see other young American travelers out here.

We found a local place for dinner and managed to completely miss ordering their two specialties (not sure what we were thinking). Pork sandwiches and cod fritters looked much better than Portuguese sausage and eggs (breakfast, it’s what’s for dinner) and sardines (so bone-y), oh well, there are only another couple of hundred other places to check out!

We did manage to find the first of many egg custard pastries for dessert (a Lisboa speciality), they’re like a sweeter, more cinnamon-y Chinese dan tat, but with a phyllo dough crust. Lisboans sure do seem to like their baked goods, there’s a bakery on every street corner.

The sidewalks in Lisbon are slippery AF (and especially treacherous when wet). One guy was running to catch an elevator, wiped out completely, landed on his back, and almost took me out with him (luckily, I saw him slip at the last minute and stepped aside - what, was I supposed to cushion him on the way down?)

Tomorrow, more egg custards and meeting with a former co-worker of Dylin’s, who was brave enough to move to Portugal a couple of months ago.

11/16: Lisbon may well be the perfect city (certainly in Portugal). Urban, filled with fantastic people, great food, beautiful sites, what more could you ask for?

Ventured out of the main part of town to the neighborhood of Belém to visit the famous Monastery and Monument to the Discoveries. We even got a peek at their version of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was seriously amazing! First, they provide cool facts about the history and building of the bridge, then they showed a video commemorating the builders. 

And the best part, we got to go *inside* the bridge and see the innards of the cables and the supporting concrete structures. And if that wasn’t enough, they have a 26-story elevator that takes you to the side of the bridge, so you can stand next to the speeding cars and even look through a transparent platform all the way to the sidewalk!

We then met with a former co-worker of Dylin’s from his first Internet start-up, who moved here with his family to escape the high costs of the Bay Area. Then hit the famous Pastéis de Belém, and I’ve got to say, their pastels de nata are the bomb! Sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, they are heaven in phyllo dough!

Afterwards, we headed back downtown and walked around the city. Rode the trolleys and funiculars, then discovered the secret entry to the Santa Justa elevator! No more one-hour wait for us! Ended up at a midnight Fado show, where we were amazed by how nimble the old guitar players’ fingers were. Hopefully when we’re their age, we will be just as sharp!

An exhausting two days, but we will DEFINITELY be back again! Now, back to España (Madrid, to be specific). #BomDias!

Stay tuned for the next part of our journey, Part Two: Madrid and Barcelona!