Our European Vacation or How to see Europe from the back seat of a car.

Our story begins as a lunch discussion after church on a sunny Sunday in February. We were discussing vacations and a comment from our friends, Sara and Chad, was, "Hey, you should join us on our trip to Portugal.” Diane (nor I) had ever been to Europe and she has it on a to-do bucket-list. She immediately said, “Yes.” I had some reservations because I had a sense our friends had a different view of vacationing than we do. Though world travelers, they are very spontaneous and view vacationing as more of a race against time to accomplish as many goals as possible in the time allotted. Kind of like “The Amazing Race” rather than “Rick Steves’ Europe.” We, on the other hand, are more, “Where can we go to eat a nice meal, take a picture then take a nap” kind of travelers. What we got was “Rick Steves joins the Amazing Race.”

My mission in life is to praise Jesus and make my wife happy. Although I had my reservations, wanting her to check that bucket list item, I joined the crazy train to Europe. We pushed our coins together and made our contribution to airfare, hotels and fun. We were joined by our friend Louis, more about him later. What we didn’t do was ask a few probing questions that, in hindsight, may have improved our lot in life on this trip.

Folks, I’ve hated airports since 2001 and my faith in them hasn’t changed much since. I often harken back to those days when you could just walk in, walk to the gate to depart or meet someone or just get some food and people watch. Now we’re barraged with PA announcements about security precautions, ‘don’t leave luggage unattended’ messages, long lines and not-so friendly TSA agents who change-up the rules on a whim and seem to compete to get you to get as close to undressed as possible. Even Pre-Check doesn’t always go as advertised with some new guy deciding whether shoes and belts are on or off. Don’t get me started on paying for my luggage which may or may not arrive at the same destination as me. I forgot the AirTags AGAIN!

The DFW experience was passable and the flight to Philadelphia was uneventful. We were fortunate our travel mates, Chad and Sara, are among the 1 percenters who have a zillion points and can get us free bags and a stay at the Admiral’s Club. Side note, American’s Admiral’s Club was the idea of American’s first CEO, C.R. Smith. In 1939, Smith, a Texas native, wanted to have a place at the new LaGuardia Airport for VIPs and other elite customers to go before their flights. Smith wanted them to feel like “Admirals of the American Airlines Fleet” so he named it the “Admirals Lounge”. The receptionists were called “Skippers” and the bar staff were “Stewards”. It was such a success, other airlines followed suit and now have their own lounges. 

Another friend, an American Airlines Flight Attendant we had met, spoke about the thankless job they had and whenever she traveled, she always brought a little gift bag for each of the crew as thanks for their work. Diane and I decided to do that for our international flights. The crew were very appreciative and gave our team extra attention, some extra snacks and a bottle of wine on the return flight to Philly and DFW.

Philly to Lisbon was a long haul but the 787 was well stocked, had lots of movies and made it to Lisbon without losing a door or engine cover.

After 2 ½ hours to Philly and seven hours to Lisbon, the first red flag waved. Our companions had rented a BMW X-1. Mind you, there were five of us with two bags a piece and some backpacks to accompany us. The X-1 is a fine “Luxury Compact SUV” (with an emphasis on “Compact”) that BMW even admits can seat “up to 5” if the 5th person is a pulldown armrest with Stanley cups. Just a little on the tiny size for all of us and our junk. Realizing this, our friend tried to get a van which was way too pricy but was able to secure a Volvo XC60 Hybrid SUV. Lots of get up and go but still a little small for 5 people and all our stuff but it had to do (see photo).

We hit the road and drove 2 ½ hours to a neat little town on the south coast of Portugal called Luz in the Algarve region of Portugal. Side benefit, our friend Chad speaks Portuguese from a time he spent in Brazil in his youth. You’d be amazed how Portuguese is NOT like Spanish. There are some similarities, but way different.

There is the  Praia da Luz (the Beach of the Light) which is very scenic with sand meeting cliffs. Luz harkens back to the time of Roman conquest and still has remnants of Roman ruins around town. There lies the Fortaleza da Luz which was built in 1624 to protect the harbor, church and village from pirates and Moors who plundered the area. The Fortress is now a great restaurant (Fortaleza Da Luz Restaurant) which overlooks the beach, and has a great menu to choose from. Portugal and Spain are both seafood centric but there are other things to eat there. One of the best Cheeseburgers and fries I ever had was in Salamanca, Spain. Also, everywhere we went most people spoke English, had English signs and even English translated menus.

There we were introduced to Vin de Verde (Green Wine). A Portuguese national favorite, it is basically a dry white wine with just a hint of carbonation and low alcohol content. It comes from the northwest corner of Portugal, the Minho region where a lot of Portuguese grapes come from. It’s kind of like their version of Boone’s Farm if anybody remembers those days. We spent the night at our really nice VRBO three bedroom condo.

The next day we drove another 2 hours to another cool little town, Faro, farther east along the coast. Faro is another ancient town from Roman times established as a fishing and fish processing center. We did lunch. After a walk around and a rooftop drink overlooking Faro, returned to Luz. The next morning, we got back into our SUV and began our 3 hour drive to Seville, Spain. Lots of open country and the next red flag. You see, my friend driving is a cop.

All of you who were cops recall the driving habits you acquired while in Patrol or Traffic. For those who don’t know, imagine driving a powerful 4,200 pound vehicle (don’t forget that giant battery) that belongs to someone else and your only responsibility, regardless of preventative maintenance requirements, is to gas it up at the end of the day. Everything in between is crazy driving to get to your destination.

View of :Luz from our patio

Chad and Sara were in the front. As Chad sped our way through the Andalusian countryside, Sara was busy holding her Google Maps in one hand and monitoring the Volvo’s navigation console, calling out turns, lane changes and traffic circles (they were everywhere) like a co-pilot working an Instrument Approach in Cat 5 weather (clouds almost to the ground, really scary). While we were captive in the back sliding side to side as we hurtled across Spain trying unsuccessfully not to slide into one another like it was the 24 hours of Le Mans.

We were weaving in and out of traffic on the flat plains, hedges of vines heavy with their grapes whizzing by and winding mountain passes only occasionally stopping at gas stations to refill the Volvo’s insatiable appetite for gas at an average of  $1.62 PER LITRE (about 5.86 a gallon) and filling ourselves up with snacks and the best machine made Café de Leches I’ve ever come across.

Pastel de Nata and café

Let me digress, my first instinct on hearing that a side trip to Spain was in the plan, reminded me of all the pastoral beauty my good friend Dana encountered and documented and the people he met he has blogged about walking the El Camino de Santiago. “The Camino” follows the Pilgrim’s walk through Spain to the Shrine of St James at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Huge following, lots of foot blisters and eternal camaraderie to those who have completed or even attempted it.

Our ride was not so much pastoral as our view was confined to seeing the farms and villages zip by from the side windows and the view forward of lumbering trucks and lessor vehicles not keeping in tune with our friend’s schedule through a bug spattered windshield (see photo from Diane’s seat as she bravely straddled the cars tunnel). I got a much better appreciation for what it must be like sitting behind the pilots of the Space Shuttle.

After extricating ourselves from the rear seat, like butterflies from their cocoons, we visited Seville (Sevilla). An inland port, it is the chief city of Andalusia and the fourth largest in Spain. Sevilla was important in history as a cultural center, as a capital of Muslim Spain, and as a center for Spanish exploration of the New World.  Sevilla has been around since the 2nd Century BCE (that’s before Christ). It really brings the “Old” to Old World architecture. Sevilla became the center of the exploration and exploitation of America (think Chris Columbus).

Universidad De Sevilla est 1505

For two centuries Sevilla was the dominant force in Spain’s New World commerce; it was the site of the chief mint for gold and silver from the Americas, and many Spanish emigrants to the New World sailed from its quays. Sevilla was in fact the richest and most populous city in Spain in the 16th century, with some 150,000 inhabitants in 1588. Their importance was fleeting, however, since Sevilla’s prosperity was based almost entirely on the exploitation of the colonies rather than on local industry and trade. As a result, Sevilla’s economy declined in the 17th century, though its cultural life underwent a great flowering at that time. The painters Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, the sculptor Juan Martínez Montañés, and the poet Fernando de Herrera are the glories of Sevilla and of Spain. Miguel de Cervantes conceived of his novel Don Quixote while he was confined in Sevilla’s jail (I’m guessing Mike had too much Vin de Verde).

Catedral de Seville

Columbus is buried there in the Tumba de Christobal Colon in the massive Seville Cathedral. Although Chris is buried there, it was not his first stop. He died in Valladolid, Spain and was originally interred in Sevilla waiting for a Cathedral to be built in Hispaniola (now Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic). When Hispaniola (the D.R.) was signed over to France, they pulled Chris out and sent him to Havana. When that didn't happen, he was sent to Sevilla for burial in the Cathedral. He got more mileage after his death than he got “discovering” the New World.

We then returned to Luz to pack and prepare for our sortie north to Santander, Spain. One of our primary missions was to get our friend and fellow back seater, Louis, to his ancestral home of Rumoroso, Spain. Louis had traced his grandparents to the town prior to their migration to America. So we invigorated ourselves with Café Lattes and de Leches in the early light at The Studio Coffee in Luz and off we went on our 10 hour drive to Rumoroso.

Halfway up, we stopped at Salamanca, Spain passing through the Plaza Mayor de Salamanca, a huge sprawling town center. Beautiful architecture and, though we didn’t stick around long enough, is lit up at night and quite a sight to see. Salamanca is a UNESCO World Heritage site that became prominent in the 3rd Century BCE and the capitol of the Castillo and Leon districts. It is also home to Salamanca University. In 1218 King Alfonso IX founded Universidad de Salamanca considered the oldest University in Spain.

We walked the winding alleys of the town and found Meson El Churrasco open for lunch (home of the great Cheeseburger mentioned above). Trip Advisor came in handy (make sure you get those international cell phone rates added) for restaurants and menus. Some of our companions were Gluten intolerant and many had Gluten Free options.

After a little shopping, we then hopped back into our Swedish ride and made the rocket run in the waning light to get Louis his photo op at Rumoroso at the very northern coast of Spain.

The Art Hotel Lobby

As day turned to night, we made our way to our next hotel, The Art Hotel in Santander, Spain (yes…I did say The Art Hotel). It is a boutique hotel with real modern art inside. It was a nice room on the first floor with an actual window you could open but our view was the alley next to the hotel. Packed up and ready to stuff our bags into the back of the Volvo the next morning, we now had a tried and true procedure for that and off we went on another 10 hour ride back to Lisbon.

It’s important to note that throughout our travels, we couldn’t help but notice that just about everywhere we went, whether on the road or in the cities, we encountered graffiti. I get the art and symbolism of some of it but it really takes away from the beauty of a place.

Lisbon (Lisboa) is the capital and largest city of Portugal. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens), predating other modern European capitals by centuries. Established by pre-Celtic tribes and later the Phoenicians there are ruins which date back to the 1st Century BC. The Portuguese were also big-time explorers, think Magellan, Vasco De Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator (an SUV we could have used on this trip) which is why people in Brazil speak Portuguese.

Lisbon was the nicest of the places we stayed. The Ikonic Lisboa is part of a chain of hotels throughout the world. It is located in the Park of Nations, the site of the 1998 Lisbon Expo on the banks of the river Tagus. It is a very modern hotel (not pet friendly) with an AMAZING breakfast buffet as part of our stay. Travel tip, don’t forget your 240/120 volt converters. If you plug something American into a socket, bad things will happen to your device and maybe the building.

Breakfast Buffet

For dinner, we walked into the Park of Nations and found Cantinho do Avillez. We were seated outside people watching on the promenade under the wings of a replica of a Sopwith Camel bi-plane from WWI. I enjoyed one of the best Quinoa salads I’ve ever had.

Luckily, the following morning, the airport was minutes away and we got there in plenty of time to get through security. Well…there was a slight deviation I experienced for the first time. I noted on my ticket back to Philadelphia had a series of four Ss printed on it. When I got to the gate, my name was called along with other passengers to return to the ticket desk. When I got there, we got pulled aside and a secondary search was conducted on me and my carry on bag just as the airline called for boarding. I was number three and had to take everything out of my pockets, remove my belt, remove my phone and iPad from their cases and my shoes. All items including me were swabbed for GSR and Bomb elements and once re-dressed, the agents were kind enough to let me jump the line to get on the plane. I was worried I wouldn’t make the flight.

When I got on the plane I immediately searched SSSS on a ticket. Here is what I found: Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its initials SSSS, is an airport security measure which selects passengers for additional inspection. People from certain countries are subject to it by default. The list is a subset of the “No-Fly” list. The passengers may be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list. In the case of Southwest Airlines, secondary screening selectees may have a "checkerboard" pattern printed on their boarding passes. So beware the dreaded SSSS or checkerboard on your ticket.

The flight back was long but comfortable. American has two meals they served, breakfast and dinner. Both were passable for airplane food. Because we had handed out our gift bags, we got a little more attention and got some extra drinks, snacks and a bottle of wine. Several of the Flight Attendants came by to thank us for the gifts and seemed genuinely appreciative.

Back in Philadelphia, we made our way to the Admiral’s Club for the three-hour layover which got delayed further by a storm front passing through Dallas. I had lost my original return ticket to DFW along the way and had the ticket reprinted in Lisbon. Unfortunately, the reprint did not have my TSA Pre designation and I had to go through regular security (note to self, don’t lose your ticket ever again). We got home around midnight and had to Uber in a Lincoln Navigator (how ironic) back to our car and home. A 1,362 mile road trip we will not soon forget.

In case you’re curious, the gift pack was a small flashlight (was timely in that the Attendants had recently been told they can’t use their phone flashlights on duty), mini tube of hand cream, tube of lip balm, a red “Flight Crew” key fob, one dark chocolate and one milk chocolate candy all packed in a snack size baggie….all available on Amazon.