Portugal

I received a few emails asking me about my quick trip to Portugal...sorry for the delay...here it is.



The Conference
The trip to Portugal was one of the better business trips I have had the chance to take. The resort where the conference was located was in the countryside about 20 miles outside of Lisbon. The resort was surrounded by small towns and vineyards as far as the eye could see.


The conference started on Monday so we landed in Lisbon, got a ride to the resort, showered and went straight to work. Needless to say, that on Monday I was feeling the effects of crossing the pond – the worst part was that as tired as I was I couldn’t sleep at all that evening.


Tuesday afternoon was “planned” activities or free time at the pool. I figured I could always sit around by the pool so I selected “jeep safari” as my activity. It was more of a scavenger hunt using the jeep to find a set of locations that was handed to us. It was a lot of fun and we got to truly experience the Portuguese countryside.


Lisbon
Wednesday afternoon was the true highlight – 14 of us rented a shuttle to take us into downtown Lisbon. We toured the Castle of Saint George, a couple of beautiful churches and then the made it down to the town Commerce square. Wandering through the streets of Lisbon was truly a unique and memorable experience. Many of the streets in the tourist district are closed to cars so you can just walk up and down and grab a beer, glass of wine, coffee whatever you desire in the little outside cafes and shops. London is still my favorite European city, but if I ever get a chance to go back Lisbon, I would so in a heartbeat.

I don't normally like pictures of myself but this is one of my favorites.




I'm sitting in a window of the Castle of Saint George, outside the window is a straight drop over 100 plus feet down...just a very cool memory from the trip.


Here are a few more shots...

Cool
Pixs
from
Lisbon

It was a good trip for both business and personal reasons. I was lucky that I got to wander around Lisbon with one of my best friends - it was a day that I will truly never forget. I couldn't help but pause and think at a couple of different times how much Jen would have loved to been with me, but for a few hours I got to just let loose and...for lack of better words just have some fun...it felt good.