The hotel was absolutely breathtaking. The room had beautiful historic simplicity to it. There were simple white walls with dark brick lining and dark brown molding. The scenery overlooked mountainous lake so lush green I sucked in my teeth the moment I gazed upon it.
"This place is as beautiful as Eden." said Lee.
I side eyed him, "So there is an Eden."
Lee's jaw clenched and he silently walked inside. The interior was just as clean and simple as the outside with very unique crown molding on the ceiling.
My father checked us into the top floor suite and we head up to our rooms. The top floor hotel room was very comfortable. There were 2 full size beds and a fold out sofa in the room. The room was painted a pale lemonade yellow and featured dark wood bed frames and night stands. There was a big glass door stepping out onto a gallery overlooking the mountain side. I set my bag on the bed closest to the window. A little mini kitchenette was in the room as well. Sitting in a box were Portuguese teas.
"Dad. There is tea in the room. Do you want me to steep some for us?" I asked.
"Is the sky blue?" asked my father which was his sarcastic way of saying "how dare you ask such a silly question, of course I want tea."
I proceeded to follow the instructions and let the tea pot steep.
I decided to step out on the gallery while the tea steeped. There was a small table and 4 chairs outside so I decided tea with a view was important.
I grab the tea tray, pot and 4 cups in my hands.
"Let's drink it out on the gallery. The view is too pretty."
My father snapped his fingers, made a clicking sound and pointed at me as if to say "I like how you think." and we proceeded to enjoy a cup of chai with a view for about an hour just chatting away about what to do.
"I'm going to call that tour guide about how to get to their place for dinner. We are not refusing the chance to try authentic cuisine." said my mom as she walked inside to use the phone and dial the number on the business card.
"Just remember to not take over the hostess' kitchen. You are a guest alright dear?" said my father as my mom waved her hand in dismissal.
"Its too early for dinner but I am hungry so I think we should explore the historic district, do some shopping and have a little snack." said my dad.
"When are we doing the rock climbing excursion and the tea farm tour?" asked Lee.
"We are doing the tea farm tour tomorrow along with dinner at a local restaurant I heard does really good food with a live local music show. The excursion tour isn't till the day after because that takes all day." responded my father.
"I just got off the phone with Emilio. I told him we are staying here a week and I scheduled a private historic walking tour on Tuesday. I would love to learn some of the local stories and about the architecture. It's very unique. Maria said if we are going to be here a week she would like to have dinner with us on our last day so she has time to gather ingredients. I offered to pay her for her services but she sounded insulted and started screaming at Emilio in Portugese and he said that she would have charged upfront if she wanted money...but I would feel guilty just eating for free so when we do Emilio's tour we need to be sure to give a good tip alright dear?" said my mom.
My father grunted in response.
I gathered the dishes and rinsed them off.
"I'm ready to leave the hotel room now." I said and we all headed out to explore.