Obidos!!

It is so awesome to see a this city completely surrounded by it's castle walls.  They are still in tact and it makes it easy to imagine how the castle and walls served as a protection to the people.  Those who lived outside the walls came into the city when there was danger of an attack.  It is a beautiful little city with charming narrow streets.

It is possible to walk around the old castle wall, getting an idea of watching for approaching enemy attacks!

CORK!

On the way home from our devotional in Gaia we stopped by a cork factory ..."Cork Your Life"  We have been fascinated by cork trees and the process they go through to get cork products.  Cork is something we have never given much thought, until we came here and were surrounded by groves of cork trees all over the country. 

After the bark is stripped from the cork tree, it is stacked waiting for processing

This is a typical grove of cork trees seen all over the north and south of Portugal

Who knew that making cork stoppers was such a scientific process?  The Port wine that is produced in Portugal is very serious business and making the corks that are put into those bottles is also taken very seriously!!  There is constant and rigorous testing going on to assure a great cork?!?   

For some reason not known to me, these workers are responsible to test a random sample of corks by smelling them?!?  I am not sure if they smell good or bad but I know that it could be worse.... they could work in a bacalhou factory !!!  (that dried fish really STINKS)

The color of a newly stripped cork tree is actually very pretty.  The year is painted on the 'naked' trunk to keep track of when the next harvest is due.

Beautiful Beach Town

Figueira da Foz ... is a beautiful town with a unique beach front...

 When the tide is low it reveals these black rocky lines where families and children can play in the quiet pools. 

Portugal on Fire

It has been HOT here.  I am getting used to sweating.  Usually 15 minutes after my morning shower it seems I need another one... but the thought of putting more humidity in the air keeps me from turning the water back on!  Actually, it is not as bad as I was worried about, either that or Heavenly Father is blessing me to get through it.  Because of the heat and the fact that we have had no rain since May, there are fires all over Portugal.  The fire fighters have done a great job at keeping the fires from spreading too far but there is always smoke in the air- especially up North.  

On our way to Gaia in the north we were diverted off of the freeway because of a large fire that was in process of 'jumping' over the freeway.  Needless to say, we were 30 minutes late for the devotional and had an exciting experience with our Garmin!

This is a separate fire we saw on our way back to Lisbon the next day!

Missionaries on the Move!

We always hate to see the missionaries in our home ward of "Lapa" leave.  These are the ones we have a chance to know really well and the ones we can have over to dinner on a fairly regular basis

Porto Mission is losing a big group of valiant missionaries

This is our latest 'batch' leaving the Lisbon Mission.  As we counsel these Elders and Sisters about their future goals and helping them to make commitments about continuing to practice habits that will ensure their spiritual growth and strengthen testimonies... we are beginning to realize that the time is soon approaching when WE will be the missionaries leaving for home. We know we will have to make an effort to keep the Spirit strong in our lives and to move forward, not fall back into old habits and routines.  We feel our mission has changed us for the better and we would hate to step backwards when we return home.

A

One Rock at a Time!!!

All the stones being dug up for construction are saved in bags and then replaced

 Every sidewalk and plaza n Lisbon (and in every other city we have been in) are made with different patterns of white and black stones.  Some patterns are intricate and some more simple but there are small stones forming sidewalks and bigger stones forming many of the streets throughout all of Portugal.  Here is a closer look at how this is accomplished!

One stone at a time creates a beautiful pattern like this one which is one of my favorites!