April 18, 2025   Travel Day to Portugal


We left Vence, France by car at 9:20am Friday, drove through our narrow alley one last time to the Nice airport, left the two rental cars, and got on our plane to Lisbon. The plane was smallish, four seats across, and the descent into Lisbon was a little bumpy. We met our pre-arranged driver, Roman, and rode two hours to Coimbra (pronounced Queem-bra). Roman was a great resource and answered our questions for the whole two hours; everything from what to see, what to eat, the history of Portugal as well as the current state of affairs for the average citizen.

The two hour drive took us through the beautiful, green countryside and rolling hills. Roman said almost 60% of the world's cork is produced in Portugal. They also produce wine, cheese, olives, and olive oil, but aren't permitted to export it due to agreements with the EU. Roman dropped us off at the end of our pedestrian only street around 5:30pm and we rolled our suitcases three blocks to our top floor Airbnb. We stuffed Rod and our suitcases into an elevator no bigger than a large phone booth and hoofed it up seven flights of stairs.

We found some pizza sandwiches type things for dinner and collapsed for the night.


The French villa.

Time to leave.

A last look down our narrow lane. The wisteria was in bloom and fragrant. We enjoyed it every time we walked into town.

Here's the experience of driving down the alley to the road. The car's sensors go nuts! Sorry for the jiggly camera.



On our way to the airport.

Small city driving.

In Nice airport, awaiting our flight to Lisbon. 

Leaving Nice, France.

Coming into Lisbon. 


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