Por-2-gal!

Ola!i have so far visited Lisbon, Porto, and Belmonte. Porto is just gorgeous. As i looked out the window of the tour bus i saw yellow apartment buildings and blue mosaic tiles. Everywhere i went i saw laundry hanging on the black iron-rod balconies. Here and there are vines climbing up old, but gorgeous gothic buildings. Porto is dirty but full of culture.
So far i have learned a lot about the Spanish Inquisition and i have heard numerous stories of the Morano Jews (jews who pretended to be catholic during the inquisition in order to be able to continue life in portugal or spain). The inquisition lasted for about 300 years so its amazing that jewish traditions still exist here. We met a woman named Louisa who was brought up in a catholic community but didnt celebrate christmas or easter and was told by her parents not to eat pork. Her father was the one who picked up all the similarities between his family´s customs and jewish ones. sharing this with his children opened up a new window for louisa and her brother. louisa "re-converted" last year and plans to make aliyah next year.
In the past few days i have been really touched by the stories of these jews who have come out of hiding. small, but present jewish communities are begining to re-form in the big cities of portugal.

i love it here in Portugal but i am getting antsy - i want to be in Israel already!

missing you all,
Nina
(just for fun, obrigada(girl) obrigado (boy) is how you say thank you here!