Gracie joined her grandparents Rick and Sande Irwin from Saugeen Shores, Ontario, traveling to Portugal. The three of them spent two weeks in this European country.

This was the first time Gracie has been to Portugal.

“It was a surprise from my nana, which I call my grandma. She thought this would be a cool place to go. She’s been to Europe before,” she said.

Gracie had previously visited the United Kingdom, Scotland/Ireland, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Gracie Meyers and her grandmother Sande Irwin are pictured in Portugal on a staircase at “the prettiest bookstore in the world,” which became an inspiration for J.K Rowling.

Her mother Krista Meyers said traveling is a big part of why she homeschools.

“Whether it’s just a day trip, mini vacation, or a trip abroad, I like to incorporate as many hands-on experiences as possible. I myself have traveled all over the world, and I believe it’s the absolute best education anyone could have. It’s important to me that my kids experience other cultures and traditions,” she said.

While Gracie was in Portugal, she visited the cities of Lisbon and Porto.”The people were pretty nice. A lot of them didn’t speak English, so it was hard to communicate,” she said.

While there, Gracie learned that Portugal is the largest exporter of cork in the world. “The cork comes from the bark. Every five years or so, they would harvest it off the trees and it wouldn’t hurt the trees at all. Then the cork bark would grow back,” she said.

One of her favorite places to visit was Livraria Lello, what Gracie calls “the prettiest bookstore in the world.”

Gracie Meyers of Cassadaga is pictured with her grandparents Sande and Rick Irwin, from Saugeen Shores, Ontario. The three of them went to Portugal recently for an educational trip.

The bookstore is said to have inspired J.K. Rowling’s depictions of Hogwarts and Flourish and Blotts in the Harry Potter series, particularly its staircase and overall architecture.

She also visited Livraria Bertrand, the oldest bookstore in the world.

“It was created in 1732. In the great earthquake of 1755 it was destroyed. Immediately after that, they began working on it and now to this day it is the oldest operating bookstore in the world,” Gracie said, citing from memory.

Krista Meyers said when Gracie left, she gave her 17 cards for her to open each day. Along with being love notes, Krista said each card had various history and geography items on them to help Gracie in her education.

“As her homeschool mama, I made sure there were extra things she was learning about,” she said.

In the future, Gracie will be making a presentation of her trip to her local Homeschool Club.