Sarah l'égaré en Senegal: Portugal Holidays with Mom

For Christmas and New Year, I jetted over to Portugal to spend the holidays with Mom. We met up in Lisbon, and despite her lost luggage, headed out for our adventure. As soon as we got to our hotel, I ripped into presents from two of my lovely aunts- there was no waiting for Christmas. I reverted to childhood at the site of Christmas, and it was wonderful. We spent the first 3 nights in an old part of the city and did lots of wandering through pathways and staircases (and up lots of hills!) to cathedrals, museums, lookout points, and castles. We also visited the aquarium, saw a Cirque du Soleil show, and went to midnight mass at a nearby cathedral.

After Lisbon came a night in Sintra, which "...is the most beautiful in the world" according to both Lord Byron and myself. We hiked through mossy forest up to a Moorish castle followed by the Pena Palace, which I'm convinced was the inspiration for candyland. Our bed and breakfast looked over a scenic valley, and I took my first bath in 9 months! We also visited the art museum and a fantastic 3-floor toy museum, with a toy collection that would send any child into a fit of glee.

From Sintra, we took a train to Obidos, a medieval walled-in town with beautiful views and winding stone paths. It had been taken over by a children's Christmas village, but was charming nonetheless.

Porto came next- it's a great city with lots to see and do; we saw the sites in 2 days, and headed back down to Lisbon for New Year's eve.

The contemporary art museum in the Belem district was quite a site, as was the way the city exploded for the holiday. There were people out all night, and they paraded through the streets, champagne-in-hand, from one crowd to the next, following the crowd and the music. It was quite a way to ring in the new year.

I got back to Senegal to find a transportation strike, and after being stuck in Dakar for a few days, finally made it back to Linguere - it's back to home sweet home in the morning.