Conventional wisdom advises much caution if not a firm prohibition on talking about politics and religion when travelling abroad. Avoiding such topics is one of the top ten reminders when preparing folks for international mission trips.
I’ll get back to violating the forbidden topics conversation rule, but first a very quick summary of our past two weeks: Great!!! Becky and I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, on Thursday morning, April 4, and left just after noon on Wednesday, April 17. Yes, two glorious weeks. For those who enjoy Google Maps, our itinerary took us to Lisbon, Sintra, Evora, Monsaraz, Redondo, Evoramonte, Porto, Aveiro, Peneda-Geres National Park, Ponte de Lima, and even a brief foray into Galicia, Spain. I’ve posted a few photos in the gallery below.
But back to those conversations against which conventional wisdom cautions. We found a tour guide to take us from Porto to Aveiro (the Venice of Portugal) and liked him so much we asked him to show us Peneda-Geres National Park another day. The sojourn into Spain was a bonus during our national park tour. One of the first things our guide told us on the drive from Porto south to Aveiro is that he doesn’t think Aveiro is at all like Venice, despite the gondola-like salt boats they use for tours through the canals of the city. I liked that honesty, and I think he is right about the comparison with Venice. Continue reading