We did not choose this summer's vacation destination. John's brother, Ben and his little family planned to walk a 300-mile stretch of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, from Lograno to Santiago de Campostela. Then, they would somehow make their way down the coast to Lisbon. We were reluctant initially to agree to Portugal in August. It's hot. But there was a little bit of pressure to have the annual summer vacation. John's mom was keen to meet Ben's family in Portugal. John's other brother, Will, who lives with his family in Stockholm, Sweden, agreed to meet us, and Portugal was on.
Unlike other European countries where we have rented houses over the past 11 years, Portugal didn't seem to have many homes that could accommodate up to 16 people. A location near Lisbon was requested, and so I looked in the bedroom/resort communities of Cascais and Estoril. But even in February, nearly every home I found on vrbo was booked. We did eventually find a home close to the beach in Cascais and booked our flights and installed Duolingo on our smartphones and ordered travel essays, guidebooks, and maps.
As we were purchasing airline tickets, we learned that it cost less to arrive in almost any major European city and depart from Lisbon rather than fly roundtrip to/from Lisbon. Madrid is close (a one hour flight from Lisbon), and we debated spending a few days there, walking off jetlag and getting some time for just our little family. Barcelona is a two-hour flight from Lisbon. Both cities have tapas, but only Barcelona has Gaudi. Barcelona won. We would spend two days there for architecture and tapas.
During the five-month wait, I delved into the travel guides to familiarize myself with the broad arch of Portuguese history that included Romans and Moors, the Crusades and the Inquisition, explorers, dictators and now a place in the EU. I read Philip Graham's The Moon, Come to Earth, a collection of essays about the year his family lived in Lisbon that he wrote for McSweeney's. I delved into Jose Saramago's Journey to Portugal, a comprehensive tour of every region in the country, written in a third-person omniscient point of view. And we talked to friends who had been in Barcelona recently to learn about restaurants, neighborhoods, and the good ice cream shops. I wrote comprehensive packing lists so as not to forget chargers and converters and comfortable shoes. We sticky-tabbed the travel guides with more sights to see than was realistic. We sent each of the boys off to camp (Winston for a two-week session at Icaghowan and Simon for three week Widgiwagan camp that included nine days on trail in the Absoraka Range of the Rockies). And, I snuck in a quick roadtrip through the eastern part of South Dakota with a dip into North Dakota with a friend.
