Members of the Rotary Club of New Tecumseth (formerly the Rotary Club of Alliston) led a vacation trip to Portugal in April. The group included several community members from Alliston, Angus and Toronto.
After spending two days in Lisbon, we travelled by luxury motor coach to Obidos, Nazare, Batalho, Coimbra, Aveiro and Porto in the north. We returned via Fatima to Lisbon for the final two days of a fascinating guided nine-day trip through historic as well as modern Portugal.
The group took plenty of advantage of its scheduled free time to socialize and share stories. Only a few of us knew each other beforehand but, by the time we headed back to Canada, we had all become new friends.
Photo Captions:
Nazare
Alliston residents Peter and Diane Hoondert, Richard and Phyllis Hunwicks and Pat and Bud Slocki on the edge of upper town overlooking the beach at Nazare
Lisbon Hotel
Eight members of our group relaxing together in the Lisbon Hotel
Coimbra
Bud and Pat Slocki in the hotel lounge at Coimbra
Palacio
Visitors are awestruck by the beauty of Porto’s Palacio da Balsa (the former stock exchange of Portugal), a neoclassical structure erected in the 19th Century as a ‘temple’ to commerce and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Raquel and Patricia
Rotary member Patricia Middlebrook (R) and her daughter Raquel strolling the narrow streets of mountain village Obidos.
Meringue
Patricia proudly displays a gigantic meringue from a café in downtown Coimbra. Back in Lisbon a couple of days later, the entire group happily helped her eat it.