Lisbon Half Marathon

While in Portugal, I became a more devoted runner, so I decided to train for the Lisbon half marathon. It is a beautiful race set along the waterfront of Lisbon. The race begins across the bay from Lisbon and runners cross the historic 25th of April Bridge on the one day of the year when it is closed to traffic. Runners then continue down to the Praça do Comércio in central Lisbon before ending in the historic area of Belém just outside of the city. Hillary also did a shorter version of the race with a few embassy friends, so she also got to run across the bridge.

Before the race, I was determined to finish in under two hours, so that I would beat the time of a friend from the previous year. On race day, I felt great and my legs felt strong, and I finished in 1:47, averaging just over eight minutes per mile, a full minute faster per mile than my goal.

The South African embassy had organized a post-race party for the diplomatic community, so we were able to soak up the sun after the race and chat with colleagues while enjoying South African sausage and wine. Not a bad day.

Spoofers

We went to our favorite Irish bar on St. Patrick's Day and found the place overrun by British sailors on shore leave while their ship was making a port call in Lisbon. A couple of the sailors joined our group for the night as we celebrated the holiday.

One of the guys was convinced that I was actually another sailor he knew named Kyle Blackburne.

However, the most important contribution the sailors made to our group was teaching us a game they called Spoofers. (Full name: Thank you gentlemen Spoofers.) The game is a strategy game in which the loser buys all the other players a round of drinks.

The game requires all players to have three coins. Each player puts any number of the coins, from zero to three in their hand and then holds their hand out in the middle of the circle with their finger pointed. The group then proceeds around the circle with each player guessing the total number of coins held by all players.

No player may guess the same number as any other player. After all players have guessed, players reveal their coins in the same order in which they guessed. If a player guessed correctly, they must stand at attention and say, "Thank you gentlemen spoofers" with a completely straight face.

If the player successfully performs the phrase, they are out of the game. However, if they laugh, smile, or have trouble getting the phrase out, they stay in the game and have to continue playing. This is repeated until only one player is left. The last player remaining must buy a round of drinks for the entire group, the type of which is chosen by the first player to go out.

Skiing in Spain

In February, we drove from Lisbon to southern Spain for a ski trip at Sierra Nevada Ski Station, Europe's southernmost ski resort, a short distance east from Granada.

The trip could be done in a day, but we were in no hurry to arrive at our destination. We stopped in Seville for a dinner of tapas before continuing to the small town of Carmona, a walled city dating back to the days of Julius Caesar. We spent the night at the Casa de Carmona, a sixteenth century renaissance palace converted to a hotel in 1991. The palace had seen better days, but it was located in the heart of the walled city and was a good place from which to explore. After a traditional Spanish breakfast in the main square, we continued our road trip east.

Our destination was La Almunia del Valle, a small hotel in the hamlet of Monachil on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The owners of the hotel, Patricia and Manuel, gave up Madrid to open this beautiful place where they cook traditional meals using local ingredients. We spent five nights in what felt more like a home than a hotel.

We had decided to divide our time between skiing and exploring the area. We started our first full day by driving the short distance over one of the mountain passes to Sierra Nevada Ski Station. The prices were more affordable than most places to ski in the United States and far cheaper than what we would have paid in Switzerland or France. The mountain is a high-altitude, barren mountain with few trees. The lift lines were short and the après-ski was great. Our last day at the mountain, we decided to snowboard. Hillary and I had both tried it out more than a decade before, but we assumed we would get the hang of it. Just when we thought we did, we would face plant at full speed. We both survived, but we were worse for wear.

We spent one of our days in Granada exploring the Alhambra, a ninth century fortress converted to a Moorish palace in 1333.

One great advantage of La Almunia del Valle is its proximity to Granada, allowing us to go into the city most nights for dinner. Granada is in the heart of Andalusia, home of tapas, so there are numerous bars serving small plates along with drink orders. We discovered Puerta del Carmen, a trendy packed bar that had arguably the best tapas we have ever come across - we made it a point to go back.

We also had dinner in Monachil, where at our hotel, we tried salt fish, a famous Iberian dish in which a fresh fish is coated in thick sea salt and baked for hours to lock in the moisture to create the most delicious fish you can imagine. On another night, we found a small local restaurant that had been carved out of a cave where we had a local white gazpacho soup called "ajo blanco", made with garlic and almonds.

The culinary highlight of our trip, however, was in Granada when we discovered La Oliva. A small wine shop run by a retired lawyer named Francisco, La Oliva is a must-visit on any trip to Granada. Francisco prepares a tasting menu in the back of his shop using local products for a maximum of three tables. The meal begins by sampling local gourmet olive oils from producers he knows personally. From there, the meal moves through around eleven more courses, all prepared on a small camp stove by Francisco. He has only one person helping him with cooking and serving, and she and Francisco were generous with pouring and refilling all the different types of wine which accompanied the meal. Francisco explains the story of each dish he brings to the tables. To end the meal, we had chocolate ice cream, sprinkled with a small amount of sea salt and orange-infuzed olive oil drizzled over the top, creating one of the simplest and best desserts we have ever found. The final treat was a flavorful Andalucian liqueur.

We returned to Lisbon, via a more northern path, spending a night in the western town of Aracena, which is home to the Gruta de las Maravillas, a remarkable cave network well worth a visit.

Maxim Portugal Launch Party

At the end of January, we heard that Maxim magazine was launching in Portugal and that there would be a big party to celebrate the event. We decided that this was the type of party we needed to attend, so I worked my magic and got a group of us on the guest list.

Although our intern was able to work on important subjects of U.S. foreign policy, this party was probably the highlight of his time in Portugal.

Everyone else had a good time as well.

A Visit to the Azores

Nine hundred miles west of Lisbon in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is an archipelago of nine volcanic islands called the Azores. Although no one knows for sure when the islands were discovered, the Portuguese mark their official discovery in 1431 by Gonçalo Velho Cabral, a captain who sailed for Portugal's godfather of discoveries, Henry the Navigator. The Portuguese began to colonize the previously uninhabited islands in the ensuing decades. 

The Azores have a rich agricultural tradition thanks to fertile black volcanic soil. The region is home to large dairy operations that supply milk to Portugal and further in Europe. The islands also held geopolitical significance beginning in World War II when neutral Portugal allowed British and American forces to build an airstrip on one island and use the region as a base for controlling the North Atlantic. A U.S. Air Force Wing remains on Terceira Island and the U.S. government operates its oldest continuously open consulate on São Miguel Island. The Azores were also home to a large portion of Portuguese immigrants to the United States, especially those who settled in the northeast to work in the whaling and fishing industry.

I traveled to São Miguel three times during my time in Portugal, and Hillary went with me for a four-day trip in January 2012. While I was busy working, Hillary explored the island. One of the island's most famous sites is Lagoa das Sete Cidades, seen at the top of this post. The lake, which lies in a dormant volcanic crater, is actually two lakes, which are ecologically different and have different colors.

The church of Sete Cidades

Because São Miguel's industry is dominated by the dairy industry, there are cows everywhere. 

Downtown Ponta Delgada, capital of the Azores.

Hillary and I stayed the weekend so we were able to explore together and visit a thermal hot spring in the Terra Nostra Park in the center of the island. In addition to a large pool, the park was a great place to explore to see the island's sub-tropical plants along paths that friends said reminded them of Jurassic Park.

The best experience of our trip and among the most unique we have ever had was swimming in the ocean at Ponta Ferraria. Recall that the Azores are in the North Atlantic and we visited in January, so the outside temperature was only in the 60s and the ocean water was about the same. However, there is a small area on the western side of the island where thermal steam flows into the ocean. During low tide, the steam heats the water to where it feels more like a hot tub. Swimming in a warm ocean in the middle of winter was a one of a kind experience.

Barcelona

To celebrate the end of 2011, Hillary and I took a trip to Barcelona with a couple friends. We had both visited Barcelona during our backpacking trips in the summer of 2000, but it was time to see it again. It's a great city and we really had a good time. Here are some photo highlights.

Giant macaroni art 

 Doubt you're supposed to get in it - these girls must have no respect for "art"

 Casa Batlló

 Park Güell

 La Sagrada Familia

 Park Güell

 Nothing like a game of pass the pigs before going out for New Year's Eve

Getting ready to hit the town

 Great Catalan dinner to end the year

Spanish tradition says you have to eat 12 grapes at midnight - one per second. Hillary upped the ante to catch a dozen tossed to her

Headed out to a club after dinner - thanks, creeper, for joining our photo

Another night out on the town

There might have been alcohol involved in the breaking of this glass

We still don't know why there was a recliner next to the urinal, but a photo seemed like a good idea at that point in the night 

Chestnut Festival

In mid-November, we went with a group of friends to Marvão, a city near the Spanish border in central Portugal, to join the region's annual chestnut festival. Marvão is a medieval walled city on a tall hilltop rising out of the Upper Alentejo plains. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so we had wanted to visit, but we were really lucky to time our trip with all the activity surrounding the region's biggest annual festival. Enjoy the photos (a few courtesy of our friend, Matt).

We sampled a lot of the local wine, served in your very own clay cup.

And of course there are lots of chestnuts, which are roasted in big tubs over a wood fire to give them a great smoky flavor. 

And as Hillary is wont to do, here she is making friends with an old local who had probably never met an American.

It got a little windy up on the castle walls, which provided a lot of entertainment when the girls took their hair out of ponytails.

Locals sold the regional delicacies.

Including several different varieties of beer brewed in a monastery.

And everyone's friendlier at a festival, especially after a few beers.

We also tried chestnut liqueur.

And like every little Portuguese town, there was a castle with good spots for photos.

 And trees to climb.

There was also live music featuring several girls playing drums.

This guy was getting into it. 

Hillary with Ethan enjoying the music and the wine. 

On our last day, we went on a hike near the house we had rented for the weekend and found a reservoir that gave us a chance to take the group photo we had forgotten to take at the festival.