With just one day left, what better way to celebrate our journey through Portugal than with a nice dinner at a wonderful restaurant?

To avoid the inevitable wind-blown and exhausted look, we took a taxi to the restaurant. The taxi driver’s face showed surprise at the relatively close destination (about a 30 minute walk), but the hills and cobblestone sidewalks are much more navigable in the back seat of a cab.

Our restaurant for the evening was Alma. It is a 2-Star Michelin restaurant led by chef Henrique Sa Pessoa. Alma means ‘Soul’ in Portuguese. On this evening, the chef and staff poured their souls into making our dining experience amazing.

We chose the tasting menu consisting of the Chef’s signature dishes. It was called the ‘Alma’ menu and it was outstanding.

The menu looked deceptively manageable as tasting menu portions tend to be on the smaller side…that is, until the service started.

We also selected to have the sommelier pair each course with an appropriate wine. To warm up our taste buds, we started with a glass of champagne to toast to a successful trip.

The pre-menu bites. They call them ‘moments’. We just ate them and called them ‘delicious’.

And then, with the bread service, our tasting menu began.

And we finished with a few extra treats. What an awesome meal and overall dining experience it was. Each course was a masterpiece. The preparation, presentation and nuanced flavors made the meal such a joy. Add in the friendly and efficient service and you have yourself a very memorable meal.

When we were ready, the restaurant called a taxi for us and within fifteen minutes we were back in the hotel room and talking about what a great meal we had just had. It was definitely one of the best meals ever.

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Wednesday ended up being a day for getting things done and relaxing. No tours, no big meals – just taking care of loose ends before we leave. The weather was mostly sunny, but windy and cooler. There was a high wind warning for the coastline and we were getting a bit of those winds.

We did go downstairs for a quick breakfast, but neither one of us were too hungry after last night’s dinner. There was room for a cappuccino and a Pain au chocolate – it’s like Jell-0, there’s always room. We had a chance to say ‘goodbye and thank you’ to the staff.

While the maid was working on our room, we found a comfortable place to sit and caught up on a few reviews, emails and confirmations. When we got back to our room, we used our private wi-fi to check-in with Air Canada for our flight and for our transport from Toronto to home.

With the “paperwork” completed, we went outside for a drink and to watch the cruise ships. Two new ships had arrived – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Both were large ships, but the Celebrity ship was huge compared to the other. I still don’t know how they float.

Later, we each had a hamburger on the terrace and then went inside, as it was getting cooler as the sun was setting. We turned on some music, repacked our suitcases and got a good night’s sleep.

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Thursday was our travel day. We had to get up early as we had an 8:30am taxi scheduled to take us to the airport. We bid a fond farewell to the desk staff as we checked out. They were all so friendly and helpful during our stay.

When the taxi arrived, we were able to zip through the empty morning streets to the airport. Only when we got close to the airport did we actually encounter traffic. As it turned out, we arrived with plenty time to spare.

The terminal layout was a little funky and confusing. We were able to use the kiosk to print out our boarding passes, but we couldn’t find an Air Canada baggage drop. We finally had to ask someone and they pointed the way. It was tucked into a corner after having to walk down a hallway. We did find it, dumped off our bags and then headed to a Priority Security line that had nobody in it. We passed through security, weaved our way through the Duty Free Shop and then finally arrived at the center of the terminal.

We were able to use the TAP Airline lounge, so we wandered up to wait for our flight to board. The lounge wasn’t anything special, but it was a comfortable place to sit away from the crowded terminal and they had clean, separate rest rooms, which we appreciated.

When boarding time approached, we headed to our gate. It was at the entrance to the gate area that we finally passed through Passport Control. I thought we had made a wrong turn somewhere and were somehow going to miss it, but they came through. Some of the machines were not working properly, but they did have someone available to help get us through. One stamp later and it was off to the gate.

We were happy to see our plane and to know that we had our Business class seats for the ride home. I filed a claim for losing them on the way over, but still haven’t heard anything from the airline. Boarding went smoothly and before long, we were on our way home.

The flight was mostly turbulence free – just a couple of bumps. It was a seven hour flight back to Toronto, but the time went by quickly. Passport control, baggage and Customs went smooth. We made a quick call to our driver and he arrived in a flash. It was the same gentleman who originally took us up to the airport, so we chatted most of the way and the time went by quickly.

The traffic wasn’t too bad as we took the 407 Toll route instead of the 401 around Toronto. Between that and being able to use the multi-passenger lane, we made excellent time. We crossed the border at Niagara Falls and got a chuckle from the Border Agent, as Sue had a detailed list of all our purchases and the costs. More than he must normally see for $28 worth of goods.

The remainder of the ride was uneventful. We were dropped off right in our driveway and in the house before we could even realize that it was quite chilly outside.

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And that my friends was our Portuguese Adventure!

We had a great time, saw some beautiful sights and met some wonderful people – making the trip an overwhelming success. Thanks for following along.

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I’ll have one more post with a summary, some details that I was asked about and a couple of updates. If you go to the blog site instead of reading it via the emails, I’ll also be adding the web links for some of the places and services that we used.