Divertimento todos dias

Before I tell you all about the “divertimento todos dias” (fun every day) we had with our friends who came to visit us, I wanted to share two more photos of our friends at the dog park.

This is João and Cookie

And Luisa and Buda

Every time we go to the park we have so much fun…and Smudge particularly likes seeing all his buddies!

Speaking of buddies, mom and dad’s good friends Krys and Les came to visit us. These are the friends that mom and dad went to Morocco with in 2008. We often visit them at their amazing “homestead” in Golden, B.C. They have sooooooo much space and they are nestled in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I love going to their place cuz’ I get to explore lots and there are so many cool smells. But I miss Rain, their four-legged companion, who used to show me around the place. (Rain has gone to doggy heaven, but I bet he is having fun in the never ending pastures there).

Of course one of the first things we did was take them to our local little beach for dinner…it has become quite customary for us to take our guests there and the Sangria is great too (so mom tells me)!

I made a new friend there as well. I liked the little girl cuz’ she cuddled me, but the little boy was a bit nasty as he tried to kick me (watch out for him when he grows up)!

Our friend Cristina took them on a tour of Lisboa (and yes, you guessed it, Smudge and I stayed home). They visited Castelo de S Jorge, which is on a hill in the middle of the historic part of Lisboa.

 

It’s quite the view from way up there!

And then they went to this amazing little place for lunch which was across the Ponte (bridge) de 25 de Abril . They would never have found this little gem of a restaurant without Cristina. They told me lunch was great and it was a particularly fun adventure when the sky opened up and poured cats and dogs on them (not literally of course as that wouldn’t be good for the cats and dogs).

It was great that Dad could take a few vacation days so we went up north with our friends. First we stopped in Guimaraes, which is an amazing historical town where the first king of Portugal resided…we didn’t meet him though cuz’ he was longggggggg gone! It was sure a cool town with a lot of churches, cathedrals and other religious stuff.

But of course we took time for a wee water and beer break.

  And what BIG beers they were!

We stayed two nights at Casal da Batoca, which was in Fafe (just 70 km NE of o Porto). It was another amazing gem that Blue Paradise arranged for us. Just take a look at this place…first the entranceway into the property…

and then the beautiful grounds.

There was a pool (and tennis courts)…

And there was a big building where the meals were served. Our apartment was attached to this…on the left side, but more about that in a minute.

Above the dining area was a cool recreation room …

Our place was called the hayloft and it was the most amazing apartment!

In addition to the two painstakingly refurbished family (or great rooms)…

there were two bedrooms with attached (modern) bathrooms …

 

and a very modern and functional kitchen.

But the piece de résistance (or the icing on the cake, so to speak) was the fabulous deck…where we spent most of our time together.

It was particularly good for Smudge and me cuz’ we could lie out there (and nap or watch the world go by) while the two-legged ones went for breakfast or dinner next door.

I really can’t say enough about this place cuz’ it had something for everyone and we all loved it!

While we were up north, we visited the lovely city of Braga, which was an interesting combination of old and new.

With all of our walking about, we took plenty of time to rest in the shade…

Then we visited the neat town of Barcelos. It had a river running through it so I got to go for a swim!

And after lunch, we walked through a pretty park and rose garden.

On the drive back to Lisboa, we stopped at a small village called Esmoriz. It had a cool walkway that was made of huge rocks….I wonder how they got them all to fit into place, not to mention how they ever moved them there in the first place.

There was a neat beach there and a lot of people were surfing.

When we were back home dad took Krys and Les up the west coast to see Guincho, Sintra, Azenhas da Mar and the beautiful coastline, which are some of our favorite places here in Portugal. (Mom stayed home with us cuz’ she had homework to catch up on and I asked her to help me with my blog)

On their little outing they stopped for lunch at this cool beach called S. Juliao…

 

And then in the evening mom, dad and Cristina took Krys and Les to a Fado house where they had dinner with Fado (jantares com Fado). They looked like they had a lot of fun…

And they said that all the Fado singers were really good that night.

 The gal singing is the one who is advertised on the poster…

Of course Krys and Les’ visit would not be complete without seeing the very crowded beaches…

 and going to a futebol game…

 

Dad and Les went to this very important national game with our friend João and his daughters…Portugal won of course!

Regrettably…Krys and Les’ visit was coming to an end so mom and dad took them to Gordinni’s, which is one of their favorite restaurants that looks over the water.

I sure am going to miss my good buddies…

but see you back in Golden!!!