Algarve Region, Portugal

January 15-18, 2016

We spent the weekend visiting the Algarve region which is the southern point of Portugal.  This area is mostly supported by tourism, but also has a lot of agriculture farther inland from the beaches.  Our first town was Lagos.  Given the coastal location of the town it has had human habitation of the typical march of civilizations of the Iberian Peninsula.  It reached a peak during the Portuguese Age of Discovery with being a frequent home of Henry the Navigator, a prominent shipyard, and most interestingly had the first European slave market.  The slave market was built in 1444. My favorite part of Lagos was the Ponta da Piedade sandstone cliffs along the Atlantic Ocean coast.  These cliffs are unstable and sheer cliffs that are at times 60 feet high. The sandstone’s erodibility made for having extraordinary grottoes and arches being formed.  We were able to hike along the edge of these cliffs and it was an extraordinary view.  At times the trail was a bit creepy, but a good little hike. The first picture of the cliffs shows the scariest part of the hike circled in white. We next visited the Fortress of Sagres which was built in the 15th century and is just 30 minutes from Lagos.  It is on quite the impressive point with a perfect view of all surrounding coastlines of which an attack could take place.  One of these attacks was by the Englishman Francis Drake in 1587. These cliffs are up to 100 feet high in places and the rock is a grey limestone very different than the golden sandstone of Lagos. One thing I found fascinating was that there were people fishing off the edges of these cliffs.  That is a very long fishing line. The fortress was founded by Henry the Navigator as a school and there is also a Nossa Senhora da Graça church. Much of the structure was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake.  That was the earthquake that even damaged cities in central Spain.  It would have been a good time to be in the construction industry.  Our last stop was Albufeira which is the most tourist-oriented of our places visited.  It also has the steep cliffs where most of the buildings are up on top of the cliffs.  Albufeira expands to approximately 300,000 residents during the summer and during New Year celebrations.  There are many hotels and restaurants.  There is even an escalator that goes down to the beach area.  Owen loved going up and down on that escalator.  This region is famous for their seafood.  A local culinary specialty is a rich steamed stew dish of local shellfish, traditionally referred to as Cataplana after the style of cookware used.

Budapest, Hungary

January 7, 2016

Budapest is the capital of Hungary and only a couple hour drive from Vienna that straddles the Danube River. Budapest is a unification of the towns of Buda and Pest in 1873.  Buda was on one side of the river with Pest on the other.  The city was originally a Celtic settlement that became a Roman capital.  In 1241 it was pillaged by the Molgols.  The city was rebuilt and in the 15th century was one of the centers of the Renaissance.  Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries.  We spent much of the tour in the bus which was nice to keep Owen warm.  We drove by the Dohány Street Synagogue which is the largest synagogue in Europe.  It was built in 1859 with a capacity of 3000 people.  We visited the Heroes’ Square which has a series of statues of important national leaders beginning with Stephen I from the 11th century and ending with Lajos Kossuth from the mid-19th century. Across a frozen lake from where we had lunch was the Vajdahunyad Castle which was built to no purpose but to be cool in the Millenial Exhibition in 1896. It has Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architectural styles. Originally, it was made from cardboard and wood, but it became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick between 1904 and 1908. Next we saw the largest and tallest building in Budapest, the Hungarian Parliament.  It was completed in 1904 using the Gothic Revival style.  We were not able to go very close because that was the day that David Cameron from the UK was visiting the parliament.  There were police officers everywhere. My favorite site was the Matthias Church which is a Roman Catholic Church in the Buda section of the city with an extraordinary outlook of the Parliament building.  This church was where coronation for the last Hapsburg king, Charles IV, was performed in 1916. Throughout its history it underwent several renovation in the latest architectural style of only moderate success so it has ended up being quite the mish mosh of styles.  I love the tile roof designs with beautiful oranges and greens. Lastly we visited Saint Stephen's Basilica named after the first King of Hungary. His right hand is kept in the reliquary of the church.  It is kinda creepy to see a desiccated hand sitting in an ornate box surrounded with candles and what not. Saint Stephen's was completed in 1905 with a neoclassical style.  It is much bigger than the Matthias Church. Throughout the city are 80 geothermal springs with a corresponding thermal cater cave system. It was these springs that attracted the Romans to the area. The currency used is the Hungarian Forint that has a 1 to 300 exchange rate.  Thankfully, many of the tourist areas accepted the Euro.  Another very fun trip that I had no idea we would have even visited.

Vienna, Austria

January 6, 2016

Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria with nearly one-third of Austria’s population. The city’s origins are with the Celtic and Roman people but it reached its highest significance in history as the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Vienna was a center for music and architecture. Owen’s favorite part about Vienna was the heated floor in the bathroom of our hotel.  He would go in there and lay down on the floor and then wouldn’t leave.  I enjoyed seeing the Ringstraße road that surrounds the Vienna city center.  It was built in the late 19^th century to replace the 13^th century city walls.  This road was intended as a grand boulevard that is lined with grand buildings, monuments and parks. Along this Ringstraße is the Vienna State Opera which was built in 1869. Next we visited the Schönbrunn Palace. It is a 1,441 room Baroque palace that covers 300 years of history.  It was originally built as a summer residence most notably of the Hapsburg monarchs and is now a UNESCO Heritage Site. Lastly we visited the St. Stephens Cathedral in the city’s downtown.  St. Stephens Cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna. It is a Romanesque and Gothic architectural style with a stunning multi-colored tile roof.