Swiss Family Lary: 5th Anniversary in Portugal!

Dave and I took some time away to enjoy Lisbon and Sintra, Portugal! HP hosted it's employee recognition weekend, which just happened to fall on our 5th wedding anniversary, and had a great time! We met people from all over Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was lots of fun. We saw some beautiful scenery, ate wonderful meals (drank wines and ports too!) and had time to just relax by the pool (and even get a massage at the spa!). Thankfully, the day we arrived the sun broke and the weekend was nice and warm! Portugal was full of beautiful, historical neighborhoods, buildings, palaces, churches and monuments.

A lunch hosted at a local winery.

Dinner on the grounds of the hotel.

A beautiful park and palace where the team building activity took place - a mini amazing race-type activity. Half the clues were in the park and half were at various touring spots which we we driven in 4x4's.

The furthest most tip of Europe - amazing views! A bit of trivia - about 3,000 miles from this spot, directly across the ocean, sits Delaware. Up for a long swim to the U.S.?

A boat cruise on the River Tagas, lies just alongside the city of Lisbon. During the boat ride we passed under another "Golden Gate Bridge" - known to Portugal as the "Ponte 25 de Abril." Obviously the bridges share the same designer and U.S. Steel brought in all the necessary materials. The bridge links Lisbon to the municipality of Almada. It's anchor is the "Rei de Cristo" which is a mini version of Rio's Christ the King monument.

More stunning views of Lisbon.

The Torre de Belem - a defensive fortress at the entrance to the River Tagus estuary.

We were taken to a building in Lisbon which was once a monestary. Today it is a fantastic venue for special events! This was the formal evening for the HP awards.