We hope you all had a great Christmas and a good start to the new year 2025.
Today we’re going to tell you what we’ve been up to over the last few weeks.
On 19.12.2024 we flew to Germany for a surprise visit. Our friend Mr. W. was kind enough to drive us to the airport in Faro.
If you ever read this post, thank you very much!
The only person who knew about our visit was Alex’s brother. He picked us up from Memmingen airport.
A big thank you for that too!
As we had a very early flight, which meant we had to get up at 2 a.m. and were hungry after landing, Alex’s brother took us to our first stop to eat a Leberkäswecken and have a coffee.
The drive from Memmingen airport to Iris’ parents, where we always have accommodation, takes about an hour. On the way there is the home of Alex’s mom and her husband. We took advantage of this for a short visit. Surprise surprise, Alex’s mom was very happy.
As we drove on towards Giengen, we realized that our junior was about to get off work. So we took a ride to the parking lot of our son’s work and waited in front of his car until he got off work a short time later. We spent the afternoon with him. In the evening, he drove us to Iris’ parents’ house, where we were allowed to stay during our stay in Germany.
The next day, we surprised our youngest daughter. After she stood speechless between door and door, the reunion was very emotional.
We were finally able to meet her first apartment and her boyfriend in person. We spent the day together for longer than expected. It was great that both our son yesterday and our daughter today had so much time for us.
Next, we visited our eldest daughter and son-in-law. She couldn’t believe it either and it was a very emotional reunion. Like her siblings, our daughter actually had the whole afternoon to spend with us. They now also have a new apartment, which we were able to visit.
How nice that our surprise was so successful and that we were able to embrace them all again.
Our friends, who we visited the weekend before Christmas, were speechless when they saw us, just like everyone else. We think our friend makes one of the best sausage salads. She always said she had all the ingredients at home in case we came over. And sure enough, that evening we had sausage salad.
We spent Christmas Eve relaxing with Alex’s brother at Iris’ parents’ house.
On the first holiday we met our children and their families, Alex’s brother and our nephews at Alex’s mom’s and her husband’s house.
And we actually had a little bit of a white Christmas.
We spent the last day of Christmas with Iris’ parents again. Our children and their partners also came over there.
After a delicious meal and, surprisingly for us, great presents, we ended the evening in a cozy atmosphere.
We also gave a few presents.
It was a very nice Christmas for us.
We spent New Year’s Eve with Iris’ parents.
Eating, playing, talking, laughing.
Iris’ parents live directly below a small mountain. At midnight, we walked up there and watched the whole spectacle from above.
Back at home, we played cards until after 4am.
On our last day, we had a farewell dinner for our loved ones.
We had a very nice time here in Germany. It was great how warmly we were welcomed by our family and friends. You all spoiled us so much, thank you so much!!!
Special thanks again to Iris’ parents, who not only gave us “asylum”, but also lent us their car at any time. So we were able to visit our girls, Iris’ sister in the beautiful Allgäu and Iris’ aunt and family.
Unfortunately, time went by so quickly, we were invited somewhere every day, sometimes we even had to plan two visits in one day. That’s why there are still a few places we would have liked to visit, but it wasn’t possible in such a short time. It wasn’t our last visit to Germany and maybe we’ll be able to make it next time.
Here are a few more winter impressions!
An evening with friends.
Craft lesson!
Visit to the Allgäu with Iris’ sister and family
After 19 days in Germany, it was time to say goodbye again. Iris’ parents drove us to the airport.
We took off punctually at 10:35 a.m. in cold Memmingen.
The Pyrenees from above
Landing approach Faro/Portugal
When we landed at Faro airport, our friends who had kindly picked us up were already waiting for us.
Before we all set off on the 1-hour drive home, we visited the Igreja do Carmo and the Capela dos Ossos (Bone Chapel).
The baroque church Igreja do Carmo is a striking example of contemporary church architecture of the period. It was built between 1719 and 1807.
The architecture is impressive from the outside. Especially the massive façade with the two flanking bell towers.
Inside, the church is characterized by the lavishly decorated main altar with gilded carvings and the equally decorated side chapels.
The monastery garden
The Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) is an ossuary in Faro, Portugal, which belongs to the baroque Carmelite church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo.
The chapel, measuring around 4×6 meters, was built with the bones of more than 1000 monks from the Carmelite order and was consecrated in 1816. It is located within the monastery garden of the church and consists of 1245 skulls.
Nativity scenes from different countries
When we arrived at the caravan park in Figueira, we found this message on our front door. What great friends!
We were warmly welcomed and embraced by Senior A. our groundsman and our friends. It wasn’t until late in the evening that we found time to unpack our suitcases before we crawled tiredly into bed 😉
We will now spend the rest of January here in this place. The adventure for this year will then continue in February. The idea is to travel slowly towards the north of Europe. We will certainly be able to tell you about more great adventures and experiences. In any case, we are already very excited about what awaits us this year.
We hope you enjoy reading our articles and looking at our pictures and videos.
Take care and feel free to contact us personally via the comments or email.