Bavarian Alps, Fussen, Germany

Beautiful country, but actually boring castles.  The best part of the castles are the pictures you take from the outside.  I would actually recommend that you skip the castles and instead spend time exploring the Bavarian Alps. 

Berlin, Germany

The kids were given the choice of sites to visit and they picked Germany.  Our first stop was Berlin.  We enjoyed Berlin, but we were surprised with how much of the buildings were new.  Realizing that the Allied forces leveled Berlin in WWII was obvious, but not what you expect when visiting Europe.  Seeing the Berlin wall memorial was the highlight.  Many of the sights like check point Charlie were tourist traps and cheesy.  Skip Berlin and go explore the countryside of Germany.

Nazare, Portugal

We ended our Portugal adventure with another beach stop at the coastal town of Nazare.  Nazare is known for their big wave surfing during the winter months.  The surfing and town have become more popular in recent years due to the HBO show 100 foot wave.  The town was surprisingly busy because they were holding the Euro beach handball championships.  If you have never seen a match, pull one up on the internet for a good laugh.  The sport is so embarrassing, the Ocho won't even cover it.  

From our base in Nazare, we also visited Fatima, Batalha and Alcobaca.  Batalha features the Monastery of Santa Maria, Alcobaca also has a Monastery of Santa Maria and Fatima is world famous for the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima.  The Basilica in Fatima was a very powerful and moving experience.

Besides the amazaing beach, we drove up to the cliffs overlooking the beach and visited the big wave surf museum at the light house.  

If you visit Portugal, spend a few days in Nazare.  This was my favorite stop of our vacation.

Evora, Portugal

We had a quick stop in Evora, which is in the central part of Portugal.  Evora displays history and architecture from its 2000 year long history.  Romans, Moors and the Europeans all held Evora at various times and you can see traces of those cultures while visiting the sites in the city.  

The highlight for me was the Church of St. Francis and the Chapel of Bones.  The pillars, arches and walls are all packed with the skulls and bones of the monks that were buried here.  There are over 5000 bodies.  Creepy.  

We also stoped at the Almendres Cromlech site.  This is the Stonehenge of Portugal and is even 2000 years older.  The drive to the site took us through several cork groves which gave us a view of the trees and how they harvest the cork bark.