Sheila365

At the beginning of the year, Monte and I were invited to spend a week with my friends Irene and Joseph at their place in the Algarve region of Portugal. We took them up on their invitation and planned a two-week trip for June – one week in the Algarve in a quaint fishing village called Ferragudo, followed by a week for Monte and I to explore Porto and Lisbon together.

Ferragudo and the Algarve Region

Ferragudo was a wonderful place to visit. We walked along the beaches on the Arade River, and hiked the trails up into and along the cliffs that overlook the Atlantic Ocean. We took a boat trip out into the ocean that explored some of the caves and beaches along the coast. There are a number of companies that offer cave tours. I enjoyed our trip with BenagilExpress, and booked it ahead of time via TripAdvisor.

We hired a local named Luis who took us on a 4-hour boat trip up the Arade river to the historic town of Silves, which was the capital of the Kingdom of the Algarve back to the 13th century. We had time to explore Silves, tour the castle, explore the markets and cafes. Along the way, Luis told us all about the history of the region, and of the fishing and farming industries in the area. I recommend Luis and his tours, you can find a link to his website here.

We also explored Portimão, Praia da Rocha, and Alvor. We sampled the local fare: grilled sardines, bacalao, tapas, pastries, and many different flavors of gelatos. I saw some new birds, and found a geocache (of course!)

Irene and Joseph were wonderful hosts, and I hope to make my way back to Ferragudo again.

Porto

After goodbye hugs with Irene and Joseph we ubered to the Faro Airport for our flight to Porto.

I absolutely loved the place we stayed. It was an entire 1-bedroom apartment just a block away from the Avenida dos Aliados, and within walking distance from just about everything in Porto. If you are looking to book a place to stay in Porto, you should check out Almada 234.

It turns out that one of the days/nights we were there was Porto’s biggest festival of the year – the Festa de São João, celebrating their patron saint John the Baptist. And boy do they throw a party!

It’s a thing for everyone to bop virtually anyone that walks within arm’s reach on the head with plastic squeaky hammers for good luck. It’s also a thing to light candles inside paper lanterns and set them aloft. The sky was filled with lit lanterns throughout the city as far as you could see, all night long. It was truly a sight. They set fireworks off over the Douro River at midnight. Monte and I walked down with thousands of our friends to the cathedral that overlooks the river which turned out to be a great place to experience the spectacle.

We explored São Bento train station with its beautifully tiled lobby, the ancient Clerigos Tower, the Jardins do Palacio de Cristal, sampled the food and wine along the Ribiera (the Douro riverfront), we walked across the Luis I bridge, rode the Teleferico (cable car) down to the Gaia district full of Port wine houses and visited their tasting rooms. I truly enjoyed our time in Porto.

On the morning of our third day in Porto, we had a café com leite and a pastiche de nata, and then hopped on a train south to Lisbon.

Lisbon

We easily made our way to our hotel in Lisbon’s Baixa district via the metro from the Santa Apolonia Train station when we arrived in Lisbon. It was in a great, central location, just a couple of blocks from the Tagus river.

There are so many different places to explore in Lisbon. We picked a few among many. We spent a half-day in the historical maritime center of Belem. The Belem Tower dates from the 16th century. It was the last thing sailors saw when they set out to discover new trade routes, and, if they were lucky, was the first thing they saw when they arrived back home. Of course, we visited during one of the few times in the last 500 years that it was under renovation and covered with scaffolding, but it was still inspiring to see. There is a carved stone monument to the Portuguese-led Age of Exploration, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (monument of Discoveries). We also toured the Maritime Museum which was worthwhile. We visited the grounds of Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, a monastery which was built in 1501 to celebrate Portuguese success on the sea. The monastery is the final resting place of Vasco de Gama, as well as several kings of Portugal.

We also visited the Museu Nacional do Azulejo (National Tile Museum), located in a beautiful former convent on the east side of Lisbon, and walked through the history of the decorative tiles that define Portuguese architecture and art.

In the evening, we walked through the central historic district of Lisbon, exploring stores and restaurants, and taking the Santa Justa elevator up from the Baixa district to the Bairro Alto neighborhood. At the top, we had great views over the city, as well as the ruins of the Igreja do Carmo, a church built in the 14th century that was damaged in the earthquake of 1755. The quake andthe fires and tsunami that followed killed about 20% of the residents and pretty much leveled Lisbon. The city we see today has essentially been rebuilt over much of the last 350 years.

We took the train from Rossio train station to Sintra for a day trip to explore the Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle (well, it’s more the walls of the former fortress). Being a top tourist destination, it was crowded, but I had pre-booked tickets and transportation for our visit to be the first of the day, so we arrived early and beat most of the crowds. The things I like the best were the sweeping views from the top of the Pena Palace out to the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the south, the walk through the wooded trails down to the Moorish Castle, and the train trip through the hills and back.

Back in Lisbon, we explored the Praça do Comercio, the Chiado district, Cais Sodre, and rode the Gloria Elevator (well, funicular, really) up to the terrace at the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara, and enjoyed churros while taking in another sweeping view of Lisbon. And, of course, we enjoyed the local seafood for dinner.

At the close of a lovely trip, we packed up, bid adieu to Portugal, and flew home from Lisbon.

I’m already planning the next trip!