Today we headed to the Lindt Chocolate factory. We got to do the museum tour. We learned a little more about chocolate. They confirmed that the reason chocolate became affordable for the masses is thanks to Portugal. So, yay Portugal! Listen, they had three chocolate fountains and spoons. Then they had a chocolate tasting station. They passed out chocolate at the end and in the store.

After the Lindt factory, we headed back into Zurich for some fondue before heading to Frankfurt. Now it’s time for some much needed sleep!

Yup. I said Liechtenstein. We did a day trip over to the 6th smallest city in the world.

Listen, sometimes dumb ideas turn out bad. Sometimes, they turn out great! Heath Ledger in A Knights Tale had me wanting to go to Liechtenstein. (Ya know….Sir Ulrich Von Liechtenstein….aka William Thatcher). Anyhoo, I’m gonna have to put this at the top of my must sees. We went to Vaduz and it was worth it. It is VERY tourist friendly. The people are lovely, they have wine, and the city is so beautiful! Also, they are ruled by a prime minister and a prince. The Vaduz Castle that sits 120 m above the city, was acquired in 1712 by the royal family. The ruling prince and his family actually live there. In a castle of that age, that’s pretty darn awesome imo. Also, the train ride there and back is pretty cool.

So, go see Liechtenstein! The only disadvantage was the train back was cancelled. They did provide a bus to the next closest train station….in Austria. Side note: when traveling between countries, you should still have your passports. Don’t be dumb and leave them at the hotel. Maybe you’ll be lucky and the officers doing a random check will skip you like the dingdongs who left theirs at the hotel….

Anyway, we came back and explored Old Town Zurich for a bit before deciding to call it an early evening.

We made a quick pit stop in Geneva on our way to Zurich. The original plan was to go to CERN. However, they aren’t open on Monday……and today is a holiday in France and Switzerland soooooo…..that didn’t happen. Instead we wandered around old town Geneva and saw some cool stuff. Geneva likes their fountains. I also found out that there was a Frankenstein statue and, for some reason, just HAD to see it. The water in the Rhône is ridiculously clear, the people were SUPER friendly, but it’s also very expensive. Nevertheless, it is a cute town that we enjoyed.

Then we boarded the train again and headed to Zurich. With it being the end of a holiday weekend, the train was crazy packed. Wade had to stand most of the 3 hour trip. We had a 1m pizza and Keely and Wade proved I can’t take them anywhere. The people are friendly and it’s an easily navigable city. The train station has been our favorite so far. So far, I’m loving Switzerland.

Lyon is definitely a must. It wasn’t part of the original plan. However, when we looked at train routes from Barcelona to Geneva, almost all routes had a stop in Lyon that required a train change and a layover. So, we decided to add the city and stay a couple nights. I’m so glad we did! The people were so friendly, the wine was tasty, and the town is beautiful! We also did a quick scavenger hunt through an app called Explorial that took you to some of the key places, gave you some interesting information, and had some fun tasks. We are looking at doing this in some of the other cities. (They have US cities too). We definitely recommend looking into it. Okay…..enough rambling. Here are some pictures.

There was a celebration of Bulgarians in the square that was kind of cool. They had music and dancing while in traditional dress.

More photos…..

So, Lyon is on our list of places in which we must come back.

Remember those slower days we intentionally built in? Today was one of them. We took the train from Barcelona to Lyon. We enjoyed a bit of the French countryside.

We are able to do laundry…..all of it. Thank goodness!!

Funny (to us) story; When Keely would get panicked in Portugal and Spain about speaking Spanish, the one word that always came out was “biblioteca”. Then she would randomly use it whenever she wanted to “blend in” lol! Imagine our surprise (and laughter) when the first place we see coming out of the train station is a “bibliotheque”.

Oh, and Keely is in HEAVEN with the amount of Nutella readily available everywhere!

Tomorrow, we explore Lyon!

Ummm soooo…….. there is A LOT to see in Barcelona. I mean A LOT. So, I’m gonna give my spiel and the post a bunch of pictures.

1. They have a beach that is the most handicap accessible beach I’ve ever seen. Like, wooden walkways almost to the water, beach wheelchairs, seated rinse off showers and hose attachments.
2. Chupa Chups were created in Barcelona. The design for their logo was done by Salvador Dali.
3. Barcelona has a TON of architectural structures by Anthoni Gaudi. Like, he designed half the city I think.
4. La Sagrada Familia is a gigantic basilica. It is amazing. It is also not finished. Gaurdi died while it was being built. Between money, war, and other things it is STILL not finished. They are expecting the outside to be done next year. The full completion timeline has it being done in 2034…..152 years after they started building it. It’s super cool though and you could sit there for hours finding all the intricacies of the design.
5. The hop on/hop off tour is the best way to see the city. Refer to the intro…..
6. Portugal and Spain are trying to kill me with their hills and stairs. That is all.

We headed out for Barcelona this morning via train. We had a couple delays and we cut it close to our train departure. Bbbbuuuuutttttt we made it.

When we got to Barcelona, we changed train lines and the train we needed to get to the other train we needed ran into an issue and we eventually had to take another train to get to the train we needed. So…..yeah. We saw a quick snapshot before we got on the train that took us to our hotel.

Tired and hungry, we checked in, dropped our stuff and went to grab food. It’ll be an early night as we are doing the hop on/hop off tour tomorrow. (No, Keely isn’t really that mad. Just tired and being goofy.)

Oh Madrid! We had intended on going to see one or two things yesterday to make today a little more relaxed. However, our flight from Porto was delayed, which pushed back our timeline a bit. Then, when we landed we were told we were unable to deplane as we were waiting on paramedics for a passenger. That also pushed our timeline line back. So, instead of fighting our way downtown, we decided to relax and do some laundry.

Today though, we saw A LOT! We started at the Reina Sofia. I HAD to see Guernica by Picasso. Let me start with, I am not typically a Picasso fan. I don’t not like him, he’s just not my jam. However, I saw Guernica in an art history class and it’s been stuck in my brain ever since. So, I had to see it in person. There were some sketches he made before and his women of Guernica series plus a bunch of other stuff by him.

There was also a lot of Salvador Dali. I actually grew to like Dali a little more. Obviously, there was a lot of art by other people as well. There was some…..interesting modern art.

After the museum we walked and walked and walked and walked and walked some more. We hit some pretty cool places. The Crystal Palace was under construction so we couldn’t see that. However, we saw Madrid’s version of the Arc de Triomph. We saw allllllll the government buildings, the Palace, the Cathedral, Temple of Debod, and a bunch more. Most importantly, we stopped at Chocolateria San Gines for churros and chocolate.

After all of the adventuring, we got to see my friend Keren! Man, I’ve missed this girl! We had so much fun catching up!

We deliberately built in “slower” days so we wouldn’t wear ourselves out. We kinda wanted to enjoy the time, ya know? So this morning started with some pool time. We got Keely in the steam room and the sauna. She was not a fan of the steam room, lol! If you make it to Porto, the Boeira Garden Hotel Porto Gaia is definitely the way to go. It it bougie, yet casual.

After cleaning up, we headed out into Porto. We found a pocket sized car that looked like it had the power of a golf cart. We began at a coffee shop that was recommended to me by my new friend from the train. Fábrica Coffee Roasters was a good recommendation!

After exploring a bit and enjoying a hot chocolate (ya know….for health reasons) Keely and I went into the Lello Bookstore. I nerded out in the fanciest bookstore ever! I’m not sure what it is about having decorated ceilings in Europe, but I’m here for it.

Next we ate, had a few tasty beverages, and then went to a wine tasting. While wine may not be her thing yet, she did like the taste of sangria. That could be bad.

Wade scaled the side of the hill (I’m being dramatic, but there are A LOT of steps) to get to the palace and get a gorgeous photo of the sun setting over the river.

Tomorrow we head to Madrid. Mother Goose says you should visit Porto.

We took a train up to Porto this morning. The train ride was enjoyable and I made a friend. When we arrived at our hotel, we were greeted with a sampling of some local port wine and chocolate. In our room were complementary pastel de natas (yum!) and a complementary small bottle of port (double yum!) The wooden keys and QR code to enter your room makes it feel uber swanky. The worlds largest bottle of wine is on property too. So there is that.

Then we headed out to The World of Wine. We went through the Chocolate Story first. We learned a lot. Mostly, I need to consume more chocolate on a regular basis. For health reasons, of course.

After consuming some tasty chocolate and winning a chocolate bar in a claw machine, we went to The Pink Palace Experience. It was all about Rosé wine and had tons of fun photo ops!

After some yummy chocolate, wine, and some snacks we headed back to the hotel for a little more food and to snuggle up in our robes and slippers. I enjoyed a little patio time.