Wining in the Med...

Pena Castle, Sintra, Portugal

JD and I traveled to Europe in June. It was the first time we had been overseas since 2004. We traveled with a group from Zaca Mesa Winery, on the beautiful Oceania Riviera cruise ship. All travel was facilitated by Food & Wine Trails. We spent two days, precruise, in Lisbon, a city I would like to revisit very much. The cruise stopped in ports along the Mediterranean coast, ending in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome.

In the light of the current political situation, I was afraid we were going to have to apologize for being American. Amazingly, all the folks we met - Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, Indonesians, etc. - were friendly, kind, interested and interesting. We were able to learn about the history of the cities and towns we visited, sparking our imagination and memories of what we had learned in school so many years ago. We ate delicious local food, drank beautiful local wines. Visited historic sites. Talked to people.

More after the jump...