Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Street Art in Lisbon, Portugal

Here again are a few more shots of life in Portugal taken this past April.  There are many abandoned buildings in Portugal, as they continue to struggle with a shaky economy.  Most are several hundred years old, passed down family to family.  If the family does not have the money to keep them up, they generally brick over the windows until one day they either have the money or they are able to sell the property.  A guide on one of the tours we took told us that they are effecting legislation requiring owners of these derelict buildings to maintain the outside of them.  The owners of these two buildings took a step further.  Rather than trying to continuously combat the graffiti they encouraged local artists to paint scenes on the outside.  

Street Art in Lisbon, Portugal, my favorite one

I don't really like crowds but with only one or two exceptions we did not run into many except at one of the castles we toured.  I just loved a quiet little town we took a tour to called Tomar, where one of the Knights Templar castles was located.  The trees were in bloom, not sure what type and the only debris in the streets were the purple petals.

Town of Tomar, Portugal

 There are some pretty narrow alleyways in the oldest part of Tomar.  I tried to make friends with this black cat but no luck.  That is the Tomar Castle right above the village.

Tomar, Portugal alleyway with Tomar Castle above

We spent a couple days on the coast right between Estoril and Cascais.  Life is pretty quiet in these two towns except in summer when the throngs of tourists arrive to enjoy the beaches.  It is still completely lovely in Spring time and I am so glad we were there when it was quieter.

Cascais, Portugal

 There were families out enjoying picnics on the beach, and others just having a coffee by the water.

Small beach at Cascais, Portugal

Many properties are up for sale for years before they are sold in Portugal.  In the town of Sintra, which is known as the palace town as many European families had, and still have summer palaces there, we spotted this old palace up for sale.  I have no idea on the price but if anyone out there is looking for a fixer upper, this might just fit the bill :)

My future DIY dreamhome, Sintra, Portugal

I managed to hand in my resignation on Friday to my part-time job.  I gave them four weeks notice to assure them I will not leave them high and dry in their busy season which ends at the end of September.  It came as a relief to me, as I have been working far too many hours between our company and that job.  Hopefully, starting in October, I can make sure we get a better work-life balance back which seems to somehow have gotten out of kilter this year when our business got so busy.  Well, hubby is off to pack for his 12 day business trip which he leaves on tomorrow and I am off to do laundry.  We have set a date this afternoon for a couple hours of beach time to enjoy the 27 degree celcius sunny weather we are having today and we will end it off with a BBQ tonight with Mom and a movie on Netflix.  Have a great weekend everyone!