Wave 4 (USA (American southwest and California and Boston), Rome, Portugal, Lake Como and Milan, France’s Côte d’Azur, Provence and southwest, Crete, Greek Islands, Peloponnese and Athens and Venice, we returned to northern and central Portugal visiting Aveiro, Braga, the Douro Valley and Coimbra, then visited Amsterdam for tulip season and Peru). – While home in the USA, we made a few trips. We visited San Clemente and the wine country of Temecula California in the fall and then took a loop around the four corners states of Colorado, Utah (with a stop in Moab and Arches Park), Arizona (visiting the Grand Canyon and Sedona) and New Mexico (stopping in Santa Fe) over Thanksgiving. In the new year, we revisited San Clemente and Palm Springs, visited San Diego and returned to Arizona to see the Saguaro cacti.
We returned to Portugal in the Spring via Boston, New York City and Rome. We did a little touring in Portugal including the west coast of the Algarve and Mértola’s Islamic Festival before heading back to Italy with stops in Milan, Lake Como and San Remo. From San Remo, we headed west for some time along the Côte d’Azur of France in summer and a week in Provence. From there, we continued west with stops in Nîmes, Carcassone, Bordeaux and other stops in the southwest of France, ending in Toulouse.
After a short few weeks home, we headed back to France and visited Paris and Versailles, then went off to Crete before ferrying north to Paros and Naxos. Arriving in mainland Greece, we visited the Peloponnese and Athens before wrapping up our touring with a few nights in Venice.
After returning from Greece, we took several months off from traveling and exploring except for a few short getaways around Portugal. We revisited Alentejo and visited the town of Luz, which was moved and rebuilt identically a few kilometers away when Europe’s largest man-made freshwater lake, Alqueva, was built. We ventured north to check out the pagan-style Carnival celebrations in Podence, revisited Porto with friends and stayed at Vidago’s Palace Hotel. We finally made it across the river from Lisbon to check out the town of Almada and finally, before closing out this visit to Europe, we visited Aveiro, Braga, the Douro Valley and Coimbra in a week-long trip with family to northern and central Portugal.
When we returned to the USA, we did so via Amsterdam, visiting the Anne Frank House and the tulip fields in bloom, then took a tour of Peru including the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Cusco and its high plains, took a ride on the Belmond Andean Explorer visiting Lake Titicaca and several stops along the way, laid low in the Colca Canyon and saw the Andean Condors soaring above, visited Arequipa and ended in Lima.
Wave 4 map. Places we’ve stayed in Blue, places we visited in Red.
The Traveling Ridleys 