Ohhhh…that bed.  It was heavenly.  And the room was, well, really, really cold!  We inadvertently left one of the windows open overnight.  Ay yi yi.  I had to get the blanket when we woke up, just to sort of stay warm as we were coming back into full consciousness.   I mean, duh, it is only 26 degrees outside, so what could we expect?

Our original plans had been to get up early and go retrace our drive from yesterday, just in the sunshine.  But, it is still way too cold and windy to go drive this morning, so Plan B.  We just hang around the room finalizing our packing, then take showers and head to breakfast at 9:30 (they have 4 times to reserve breakfast – it is off season now, so not so busy, but we can imagine during ski season what a zoo this place will be).  The breakfast buffet turns out to be very good. Tons of food, pastries and meat and cheese, sweets and fried and scrambled eggs.  Perfect to get us started for our day.

Fortified, we grab our bags and leave the hotel to drive up the mountain in the gorgeous sunshine. There is tons more snow – or maybe it was there yesterday and we just couldn’t see it because of the clouds. Anyway, we pull over at just about every viewpoint, and it is just gorgeous scenery.

We make our turnaround point at the Covao do Boi – even though there are probably a lot more scenic views as you continue up the mountain, we do have a plane to catch and 3 more hours of driving –  which is just as incredible as yesterday, even more so in the sunshine.  And, we noticed something we didn’t yesterday – the carvings of the Virginia Mary that we totally missed in the snow yesterday. The carving was done to honor the protection granted to the shepherds who work in this region.  So cool.

Making our turn back down the mountain we go, past stunning views of the two reservoirs up here – sparkling in the sunshine. Once again stopping at the Miradouro do Covao where, now, there is no snowman.  Boo hoo, he either melted in the sunshine or someone took him.

On down we go, with more beautiful scenery and overlooks, past our hotel, with a view up the hill to the chalets, and more views over the valley….

… until we get to Covilha and start our trek thru town proper, where the stupid GPS takes us on all these little teeny backroads instead of keeping us on the main wide road. Seriously! What is that thing’s problem?  We actually made a wrong turn coz who can tell which way to go on these tiny narrow cobblestone streets – plus the way dingbat GPS wanted us to go was blocked by a delivery van.  But the wrong turn? It actually worked in our favor and out us back on the main road. Jeez. Sometimes I hate that thing!

A couple of churches later and we are onto the highway, swiftly making our way to Lisbon. 

Stopping at a service rest area, we bought our last pastel de Nata (boo hiss)  and picnicked on our remaining bread crackers and jam, then headed onto a viewpoint Ed found at the confluence of the Tagus and the Zezere rivers. A pretty little place to eat our last pastel and enjoy a little leg stretching walk along the river.

Another hour or so and we are safely at the Airport but only after Google GPS dingbat took us 4k out of our way after getting gas. We could have made u-turn at the roundabout right after the gas station. But oh no. Dingbat had us going through all sorts of ramps and turns and elaborate driving to end up right where we started 5 minutes before. Again. Sigh.

Rental car returned (the agent walked around it 3x looking for damage – that’s a little ADHD and frightening to be honest), then up to check-in, where surprise! We can only check our bags to Frankfurt. We were sort of worried about that, but bonus, it means we have access to Ed’s beer and the Febreeze! (Yeah, the things you have to think about). Plus I bought a bottle of wine in duty free and now I can put it in a bladder in the bags for Chicago!  Perfect!

The lounge is lovely, we upgraded to business so have the TAP premium Lounge where we have more Pastel de Nata.  Joy. Along with other food and beer and wine.

At the gate, we are the first in line, but it’s a bus, and we swear the driver doesn’t know which plane to go to!  He’s driving really slow and looking around a lot. Once we get to the right plane we sit (stand) on the bus for 10 minutes before they let us off. Oh, and we are at the front door, and they only open the back door.  What the F?  Ugh. But we are finally aboard and actually take off right on time. (Which is a miracle because we’ve been watching this flight and it is late every single night. But not tonight – thank you travel gods!)

The flight is good, wine excellent, food half and half. Ed’s duck confit is absolutely excellent, my 3 cheese ravioli has excellent flavor, but is so very dry and needs much more sauce. Oh well – we’ve been munching and eating all day, so we don’t really need much food. But the beverages are quite tasty!

After a fabulous sunset…

… we arrive right on time in Frankfurt – and even have a gate!  Shock of all shocks – we’ve never had a gate here, only buses.  However the gate is the very last gate at the absolute end of the terminal, making the walk to the baggage claim a very, very long one. Then our baggage carousel is at the far end of the claim area (are they doing this on purpose???) and to add insult to injury?  The bags are delayed 15 minutes.  What is up with that????  Jeez.  Fortunately, since we were first class, our bags are marked priority and come out first, so finally we are on our way to the airport Hilton Garden Inn, which is another hike.  Well, hell, we needed some exercise today, why not? Except it’s late, we’re tired and it’s a haul up 4 flights of escalators with all our luggage.  The pot of gold at then end of the rainbow though is a lovely room on the top floor of the hotel, excellent beds, good a/c (which I totally need because I made the tactical error of wearing a sweater (I mean, come on, it was only 50 degrees or something when we left and 40 when we arrived – and those planes are normally cold!) and after a couple of beers for Ed and some vinho verde for me, we sack out and sleep soundly all night.