More luna de miel in Mauritius

Our last post was about how we spent 7 blissful days doing almost nothing while on our honeymoon in Mauritius. Although we did spend the majority of our time either at the beach, pool, or eating (these are a few of our favorite things!) there were some highlights and activities during the trip.

As part of the honeymoon package, which we still qualified for, since we were (barely) under the 1 year limit, we were given a champagne brunch on the morning of our choice. Graham scheduled it for Sunday (Funday!) and had it delivered to our patio.

Luna de miel in Mauritius

We were together for over 5 years before Graham proposed and we were engaged for a year and a half. We joke that we don't like to rush into things. So, maybe it makes sense that it took us almost 10 months to go on our honeymoon. With the move, getting settled in Puerto, exploring our corner of Spain, several other vacations, and trips home to the States, our first 6 months overseas went by in a flash. And then familia and amigos started making plans to visit (awesome!) which made us realize that if we didn't plan a honeymoon soon, we probably wouldn't go on one before our first anniversary.

South Africa, Turkey, and the Maldives were all runners-up, but after lots of deliberation, and googling, and tripadvisoring, we discovered Maradiva Villas Resort in Mauritius. Mauritius is a small, tropical island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, near Madagascar, known for its playas. And the villas at Maradiva were exactly what we were looking for.

Home es...

We are home from our (belated) honeymoon! Paris and Mauritius were amazing and we will be doing a post soon (after we go through over 1500 pictures and get settled back in at the casa) but it got us thinking about something. Where is our home? It's a simple question we get asked all the time, but it's getting harder and more complicated to answer.

The longer Graham is in the Navy (almost 8 years!) and the more we move (too many times to count!), the more difficult it becomes to define where "home" is. We can go home to the States and also home to Spain. There is the place where we were born, where we're from, and where we live. And there are many clichéd ways to define home:

Home is where the heart is.

or

Home is where you hang your hat.

And of course, in this lifestyle, the ever-popular:

Home is where the Navy sends you.

The truth is we have a collection of places that are special to us. Here's a quick rundown of some of the places where we have hung our sombrero, where the Navy has sent us, and/or where our heart is.

Lisbon (Part Dos) and Sintra

Our first full dia in Portugal, we saw everything in Lisbon. Okay, that's not completely true, but we did get all the grande sites checked off our list (Yes, there was a list. Thanks to Meghann, there's always a list. Even lists of "foods to eat".) So, the next day we drove up to the hilltop town of Sintra, just outside of Lisbon. After parking the Mini, we caught a bus to the very top to explore the Castelo dos Mouros, an 8th-century Moorish castle. 

Semana Santa Procession

Easter in España is a major holiday. The country is predominantly Roman Catholic (Wikipedia says 94%) and that means Easter isn't just religious, it's also cultural. Many businesses close not just on Easter Sunday, but for a large part of the week before, and it is spring break for most school children. Each night of Semana Santa, or Holy Week, features church processions through the streets. Sevilla has the most well-known and largest processions, but most towns in Andalucia have their own. We went to downtown Puerto last week for some Tuesday night tapas hopping and to see one of the processions.

Lisbon, Part Uno

After our unexpected stop in Castro Verde, we made it to Lisbon in the early evening, checked into our hotel, then hopped on the metro downtown to find something to eat. And drink, of course. The area around the triumphal arch is called "Baixa" and most of the streets are pedestrian. 

Shoppers and people just out for a stroll on the Rua Augusta.

Rainy dias

The rain in Spain...doesn't just fall on the plain. It falls in Puerto, too. The weather here has been a combination of windy, gray, rainy, and generally dreary for a large part of the past week. It's not always sunshine and walks on the playa. And that also applies to our life aqui.

Puddle outside of our front door. Boo.