Both missing suitcases are now here. Michelle, who started learning Portuguese on Duolingo and was dismayed to discover she was learning Brazilian Portuguese was pleased when she thanked one of the deliverymen who responded by saying “Are you from Brazil? So am I “.

This morning we went down our neighborhood boardwalk with beautiful views over the cliffs to the sea. Getting back was as easy as 1-2-3. That is, to get back we walked up 123 steps.

2 year old Izzy loved the walk, and ran and strolled, until he came to a flat space and sat down. ” This”, he said, “is our headquarters.”. And he would stayed there the rest of the morning.

Actually not all of us went on the walk. Andrew, Joan, Josh, Olie and Ian went kayaking in the lagoon. No one fell in. All were tired.

Then, I went with Michelle and crew to Porrinhos Dos Leitoes, a suckling pig restaurant in nearby Salir de Porto. It’s a modern and large roadside restaurant, very popular and highly rated. One of the other complications of our trip is that half of us keep kosher and half don’t. I’m in the middle – kosher in our kosher home, but not outside of it. But suckling pig is a little too much for me, so I ordered the bacalau alla chefe (cod). Portions in Portugal tend to be large. My cod would have fed two or maybe three. The menu said there would be clam sauce, but in fact the fish was smothered in shrimp, prawns, clams, mussels and a few other things I couldn’t identify. It was surrounded by slices of potato and all mixed in a delicious sauce. It was too much in several ways and, IMHO, would have been better without the cod.

Following lunch, I went with Edie and Hannah’s family (minus Izzy) to Obidos. My second time in three days. Finally, the souvenir mania took control. A blouse, two bracelets, two ceramic dishes, a book, a harmonica and a Mickey Mouse noisemaker.

After an hour or two in Obidos, we were tasked with getting pizza for ten to bring home. Obidos, walled and castled city as it is, didn’t see like pizza land, and it’s only 20 minutes from us, but the route skirts Caldas da Rainha, the largest city on the Silver Coast, so we ventured in, eventually spotting Piazza Pizza, only to discover it was closed on Tuesdays. So Google and Pizza Near Me it was. Turns out we were only a few minutes from Mr. Pizza, and I ordered three maxi pizzas. I gave the proprietor my card and he said cash only. That would have been fine except that I forgot to bring my ATM card on the trip (for those with a photographic memory, you know that), Edie’s was at the house and neither Hannah’s nor Andrew’s were working. Luckily I had dollars in my wallet so we worked out an exchange rate favorable to him and got our pizza. Across the street was a “traditional Portuguese” bakery, with very rich looking multi-layer cake rectangles and I bought four- enough to feed maybe 16. The pizza was ok (although the olives on the veggie pizza weren’t pitted – say,, the cakes ok+++.

Enough for now. What’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Tomar? Could anything be more appropriate?