Well our little detour from “a month in Spain” to spend a week in Portugal has been a great move. Today is our last day in Oporto (as the locals call it) and it’s been a really great experience to be here for a few days.  Porto is the 3rd biggest city in Portugal and lies right at the mouth of the Douro river, and is the home of Port Wine (shocker, right).  We were welcomed at our AirBNB by a couple of the wonderful Pasteis and two glasses of fantastic Port.  Not a bad way to start a trip.

For me it’s been a chance to really dig in and do some of the work that’s been building up for the past week or so.  We’ve been so busy having fun that a few of those “should do” things have slid down the To Do list, and I feel like a big weight has been lifted off me with getting through the vast majority of those.  Now we’re finding our rhythm between traveling, my work, the kids downtime, and Amanda and I having a bit of time together (funny how that comes last!) and are settling into things on the road.

Each day we’ve been here has been pretty similar, which is great for us all.  The kids are going to the park mid morning, I’m able to knock out a bit of work and set things up for the day, and then we’ve had lunch together.  A bit of the same in the afternoon and maybe some sight seeing.

Amanda and I are noticing really cool things about the kids too.  Yesterday Amanda said they were playing on the playground with a couple of German kids and a few native Portugese kids, all speaking their native languages, and having a blast.  Last night they ran around like maniacs in a square after dinner with a little guy about Caleb’s age from Brussels, all the while completely oblivious to the language and cultural differences.

It’s exactly the kind of stuff we wanted to expose them (and frankly ourselves) to on the trip.  I hope we’re all able to keep this kind of perspective long term.

Tomorrow we’re heading back to Spain to the little town of Santiago de Compostela.  We’ll be there for a week and I think we’ll rent a car one day to tour around the province of Galicia.  Sounds like a really beautiful area and one that’s really well explored via car (as opposed to some of the bigger cities we’ve been in lately).  At least this time I’ll be driving on the proper side of the road.  🙂