isabel

As you can tell by the thread title – who, what, when, where – this will be a rather utilitarian trip report, but hopefully it contains some useful information. I got so much help planning my trip by reading other people’s trip reports that I really feel obliged to post one myself.

Actually the photos tell the story better than the words do. They are at www.pbase.com/annforcier. There is a Portugal Gallery and a separate one for Lisbon. Warning. There are A LOT of photos.

The basics: My husband and I spent 12 days in Portugal, the first 6 driving around the central third of the country, the second 6 days in Lisbon. I felt it was a perfect amount of time, and the split between small towns and city also felt right. Overall we absolutely loved Portugal, and what a bargain. After Portugal my husband flew home (poor guy - had to go to work, plus we left our two daughters,16 and 21, home) and I went on to Scandinavia for 8 more days. That will be a separate report.

I'll keep adding to this as I get it done, hopefully in the next few days. Took me this long just to get the photos done.

isabel

First I'll tell you about the hotels we stayed in.

Evora and Coimbra, Ibis – 51 €/night double. Breakfast 5€ per person extra. Easy to find, free parking in Evora, 3.50€ in Coimbra. Both hotels are almost exactly the same inside. Rooms are quite large by European standards, queen size bed, closet, plenty of desk/table space, large bathroom, everything spotlessly clean, good AC, TV with CNN. Hotels have bar/restaurants, we only ate breakfast in them (quite good) but the bars gave us free ice upon request to bring to the rooms. In Evora the Ibis is directly across from the town walls, a five minute walk from the main gate (which is then another 10 minute walk to the main square in the center of the old town). In Coimbra it is on the busy street that runs along the river, but there is a nice park across the street, a five minute walk to the main square and the beginning of the old town. For the price Ibis Hotels are a great deal.

Marvao - Albergaria El-Rei Dom Manuel 60€ night double. Extremely nice hotel, inside the town walls but very easy to drive to (no traffic at all) and free parking, just down the street from the town gate. Extremely well done in terms of furnishings, cleanliness, etc, great bathroom, AC, TV with CNN, decent breakfast included. A steal.

Obidos - Albergaria Josefa d'Óbidos 70€ night double. A 4 star hotel, one minute walk from the town gate, right up against the town wall, free parking. Wonderful place, beautiful furnishings, great tiled bathroom, AC, TV, etc. Breakfast included. Cannot imagine a better deal on a hotel.

Lisbon – Residencial Florescente. 70€ night double. Great hotel, great location, great price. Steps from Placa Restauradores and Rossio, on pedestrian street but pretty but even though there are tons of restaurants and it has a nice lively feel, it was pretty quiet at night, especially with windows closed and AC on. Rooms were average size, bathroom small but spotlessly clean. Lobby and reception were very recently redone and very nice, hallways were all tiled. Internet access on your own computer throughout the hotel was free, and for 10 cents a minute there was a computer in the lobby you could use if you didn’t have your own. Breakfast was average. I’m definitely going back to Lisbon and I’ll stay at this hotel again.

Tomorrow I'll try to post the actual trip report.

Nikki

Woohoo, I've been waiting for this! Loved the photos, looking forward to the report. Looks like my four nights in Lisbon weren't nearly enough, and there's a lot more of Portugal to see.

Marianna

Isabel, thanks for the beautiful pictures! We loved Portugal also.

bobthenavigator

I am speechless ! You have outdone yourself. I have been to all of these places and you have captured the magic so well. Thank you--thank you !

Maddy

Wow Isabel your pictures are amazing. Can't wait for the rest of your report. What kind of festival was that in Obidos?

luvtotravel

Well, I just spent the last hour on your website. Incredible! What a wonderful eye you have. Thanks for bringing back memories, and please take more trips so you can share your talent with us.

bobthenavigator

Ann, I just took time to look at them all. I am so envious ! I had 2 trips to Portugal for a total of 29 days. But, that was 10 years ago and before digital cameras. One trip we went to noon mass on Easter in the big church in Castelo de Vide---a real experience. The other trip was over Palm Sunday in Marvao---I love your shots there. We also stayed in the Pousada in Estromoz--perhaps our best accommodations ever in Portugal.
You know that I love your work and this gallery got me a bit emotional. Thank you !

watercolor_traveler

Isabel, your photos are beautiful. I looked at many of them... Portugal as well as Sicily, France, Lakes and Cinque Terre. You have a very good eye. Portugal's white washed towns look lovely.

WT

isabel

I'm glad you guys like the photos. Portugal is so beautiful it's pretty easy to take good shots of it. The number of images I posted is less than half of the number I took, so as you can see, I took a lot!

OK, so on with the report -

Car Rental/Driving in Portugal. We rented through AutoEurope which booked us with Europecar. Although I booked it months in advance, I didn’t realize till a few days before the trip that our voucher said AC was not guaranteed. I called AutoEurope and they wanted another $75 (the cost of the 7 day rental was $173 to AutoEurope, plus 69€ for local taxes, second driver fee, etc). Anyway, as the forecast was for temps in the low 80s and there was still a chance we would get AC (it just wasn’t guaranteed) I risked it. Might have been a really stupid risk, as the temps ended up being close to 100 and we would have melted, but it turned out the car did have AC (so I saved myself $75). It was a brand new car, very tiny, plenty of room in the front seat, but trunk just barley fit our two 20 inch suitcases. Picked up and dropped off at Lisbon Airport was easy to do. Driving in Portugal is great, roads are in very good shape, signs are easy to understand and everything is well marked, drivers are courteous. The only thing in all of Portugal that we though was high priced were the highways tolls (about 8€ to go about an hour). We never had any problem parking anywhere, and it was almost always free. We did not drive in Lisbon itself, and I don’t recommend that, but driving elsewhere was great.

Day 1, Sunday – As we approached Lisbon by air I was able to pick out several landmarks including Torre de Belem, the castle and the aqueduct. That was exciting. We landed around 8am, and were in our rental car by 9:30. No line at the car rental desk, which was not the case the day we returned it (Saturday around 10am), when the lines were huge. We headed out and our route took us over the Vasco de Gama Bridge.

It was highway all the way to Evora (toll was 7,75&euro and we were there and had found the Ibis hotel by 11:00. We walked into town, about 10 minutes up a narrow cobbled street to the main square, Praca de Giraldo, where we had lunch at a small café. Then we just explored Evora. Being a Sunday, a lot of the stores were closed and there wasn’t much traffic, the town had a very peaceful feeling. It’s definitely “town” sized – certainly not a small village, but really didn’t feel like a city either. It was a hot, dry day and everything was very bright. The old town, surrounded by medieval walls, is a UNESCO world heritage site (and also in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die). The architecture is pretty interesting, quite a mix of styles from Mudejar to Manueline to Roman to Rococo. Lots of nice streets, some with arches, squares, churches. A few large fountains. Most of the buildings are white, with yellow and blue trim, characteristic of most of the towns we visited. White keeps the interiors cool, blue keeps the flies away and yellow keeps away the evil spirits. We checked out the Cathedral (Se), the Temple of Diana (Roman Temple ruin), and the old University. We also went to the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) in the Igreja de Sao Francisco which is basically one little room full of about 5000 human bones. Apparently bones shrink when they dry which is why they were so small and how they are able to fit that many in a small space. After having seen the hundreds of clothed, complete skeletons in the Capuchian Monastery in Palermo, this was rather boring (the bones are not in complete skeletons but randomly line the walls). The Temple of Diana was also rather “tame” after the Greek and Roman ruins in Italy, but it has a nice setting, right behind the Se in the center of town.

We had dinner on a small side street (grilled tuna) and marveled at the large amount of food we got for so small a price.

bailey6325

Isabel - it's so nice to read your report and look at your beautiful pictures! It brings back so many fond memories from our trip.

I also have a photo of the steet musician in Lisbon with his sing-along dog! Wasn't that something?!

isabel

Bailey - glad you are enjoying my report, your's was very helpful in planning my trip. Overall, we didn't think the street musicians in Lisbon were all that great - certainly not compared to some of the wonderful ones in places like Paris, London and most of Italy. But that guy was pretty cute I have to admit.

Italybound07

bookmarking

isabel

Day 2 Monday– We drove around the Alentejo region exploring several small towns. The scenery is pretty boring. Mostly flat, very few trees and at this time of year, brown. Occasionally you run into an area of cork trees, and that is interesting. Apparently a large percentage of the world’s cork is produced here. They harvest it by stripping the bark about two thirds of the way up the trunk. What’s left is a very red color. There’s a shot of a recently harvested cork tree in my photos. Each year after that it starts to grow new cork, turning darker and darker until after ten years it’s back to the way it started, and they can harvest it again. So they paint large numbers on the trees, of the year it was last harvested. The brightest red trees all had number 6 (for 2006) on them. So of course cork is big in all the tourist shops, they make it into everything from pocketbooks and ties to postcards.

Our first stop was the village of Monsaraz, about an hour from Evora. Monsaraz is one of the most atmospheric places in the Alentejo. With its narrow cobbled lanes, white houses, castle and medieval walls,you get a feel of medieval Portugal. There are only about 150 residents, just a couple of streets with a handful of shops. There was a new large parking area outside the walls so it clearly looked like it was prepared for quite a few tourists, but the day we were there I think there were about two other cars in sight, and we saw no other tourists. The lady in the one shop that sold ceramics, local produce and postcards told us (in Portuguese) that bullfights are held in the castle in September and that’s when the tourists come. We climbed the castle for a great view of the town and the countryside, there are some large bodies of water, I guess they are lakes, right near here, and the Spanish border is only a few miles away.

We then drove over to Estremoz which is much larger and nowhere near as interesting. On our way we stopped in the town of Redundo which has a ceramics shop other Fodorites had said was worth going to. We found it OK but it was closed. As there was no sign posting hours we didn’t know if it was closed because it was siesta time, or because it was Monday. We pushed on. At the top of Estremoz is what’s left of the castle, just one tower which is now attached to a Pousada. You can climb the castle tower. There’s a little square out front with a 17th C chapel dedicated to Queen Isabel in which she died in 1336. It is decorated with azulejos that depict the miracle when the alms she was smuggling out to the poor turned into roses. Both of these were closed as it was Monday. According to the guard, “much of Portugal is closed on Monday.” But there’s a statue of Isabel outside the chapel, and given my screen name, I had to get a photo of her. Turns out Isabel is very popular in Portugal.

On our way back to Evora we stopped in Evoramonte. There’s a small “modern” town on the main road, and a smaller road leads up to the old town. I’d heard this place described as a “one donkey path town” and that was a fitting description. Surrounded by kind of crumbling walls, there is literally one “street”, lined with white houses. Smack in the center is the castle, a not very big square thing with a kind of interesting carved rope running around it tied in the center in a big knot. According to the sign, this castle is open on Mondays, except for the second Monday of the month, which of course this was. It was pretty cloudy by now, but this added to the forlorn atmosphere of the town. There was literally one shop here, selling a mix of antiques, furniture made out of cork wood, and a small selection of ceramics. My husband practiced his Portuguese on the non-English speaking storekeeper while I picked out a selection of small plates and bowls for €1.50 each! They were very similar to some I got in Italy last year for €8 (which at the time I thought was a pretty decent price). The shopkeeper was the only person we saw in the whole town.

Back in Evora we did some more ceramics shopping, had dinner and wandered around the town to see it lit at night.

peppermintpatti

Thank you for the great report, and the great pics! pp

MissZiegfeld

SUPER photo page!! Your London pictures literally have me in tears at my desk, I miss it so much.

StephenG

Great weather. what were the dates?

isabel

MissZiegfeld -Didn't mean to make anyone cry. But I know what you mean, sometimes I miss some of the places I've been so much I can't stand it. Definitly feel that way about London, and now I suspect Portugal is going to be in that category.

Stephen - we did have great weather - a bit hot but I like that. We were there July 9-21st.

I was at a party last night and everyone was asking how my trip was - so of course I was telling all about Portugal and about 5 people I think went home to start researching a trip. Anyway, here's the next installment.

Day 3 Tuesday– We drove to Marvao. We decided to go here only because Matt said it was his favorite town in Portugal. Most guide books didn’t even give it two lines. I did see it mentioned in a couple of trip reports, and that was how we discovered the great hotel we stayed in. Other than the Pousada, it’s the only hotel in the town. Marvao is in the midst of becoming “fixed up” which I guess can be both good and bad. I can definitely see tourists in it’s future, but for the time being it’s very “untouristy”. (Although there were a number (maybe 20) cars parked in the parking area outside the town gate.) About half of the handful of streets are torn up, utilities being run under the streets. And there are several newly redone areas, little parks, etc. There’s a rather formal garden in front of the castle entrance, and another area has a little water feature, clearly manmade but it was a nice place to cool your feet since it was in the 90s (about 37 C) and walking on top of medieval walls can get kind of hot. But it really is a charming place, completely surrounded by the medieval walls, full of white houses with a handful of churches and a few stores and a couple of small restaurants.

And what a view. It’s way high up and you can see Spain only a couple of miles away, plus what feels like half of Portugal. We walked the entire perimeter of the town on the walls (this can probably be done in about half a hour if you don’t stop for photos every six steps like I did). The castle was definitely the very best one we visited on the whole trip. It just goes on and on, little courtyards, and towers to climb, and archways to go under and outcroppings. Great place to fantasize about being a medieval maiden (or soldier, I guess depending on your gender - DH kept talking about things like “defending the center, falling back, giving up casualties”, etc. so I know he was having a good time).

In the afternoon we did a short side trip to the town of Castle de Vide, about 20 minute drive away. Larger, but still a smallish town, it also has an old castle at the top of the town. Not as compact or intact as Marvao’s it does have a nice tower you can climb for awesome views, and within the castle walls is one little street of houses, the sign says it’s a “medieval burb”. There were some kids playing ball and some old women standing around chatting with each other, people definitely live up here. The rest of the town was also full of white houses, some very steep stepped streets, a beautiful fountain, nice main square.

Back in Marvao, we had dinner on a terrace with a view to die for. And our dinner of grilled salmon, pork, Sangria, etc, came to €24 for both of us. The view alone was worth €24 . The town, and especially the castle are atmospherically lit at night.

Sher

The pictures are beautiful.

I am so enjoying reading your report.

Thanks

isabel

Thanks - OK continuing...

Day 4 Wednesday – We played around in the castle one more time, then headed for Coimbra. This is Portugal’s third largest city, but it wasn’t too difficult driving into the center and finding our hotel, which was right near the main bridge (Santa Clara Bridge, best view of the city is from halfway across this bridge) and the main square. From this main square, Largo da Portagem, a pedestrian shopping street runs along what I guess used to be the town walls (no longer standing). Off to one side and down some steps is a huge square (Praca do Comercio), with two churches and a number of restaurants with outdoor seating, and lots of street vendors selling all sorts of things. On the other side steps go up, through the Arco de Almedina - the entrance to the ancient, upper town (once both a Jewish and Moorish quarter), a 12th C gateway to the city. It’s a tall graceful opening in a massive stone wall. The arch is a double gate with a 90 degree kink in the middle for easier defense. Looking up you see two square holes in the ceiling through which boiled oil could be dropped onto enemies. Through here is the oldest part of town. The old cathedral is nice, has one of the nicest cloisters we visited, much smaller than the cloisters in the big monasteries, but very pretty. The old university is also beautiful and worth visiting. You can buy a ticket to visit the chapel and the old library, however, since I’ve spent most of my life being either a student or a college teacher, I just started poking around as if I belonged and found some nice small courtyards, tiled hallways, etc. There was a bunch of students standing around in one area, apparently waiting to take an exam, reminded me of my own students before a test. The streets around the old university buildings/courtyard are rather drab, with many 60s style cement college buildings that look like lots of U.S. college buildings, but a few blocks past the main courtyard area is a nice aqueduct.

Although it’s the third largest city in Portugal, the old pedestrian area we concentrated on is small enough to easily cover in half a day. Much of it is rather run down, some beautiful buildings but in need of a few cans of paint. Shopping on the main street was pretty boring. However, Coimbra is home to Coimbra style ceramics and there are several great shops with large selections. Coimbra pottery is multicolored (much of the other pottery in Portugal is blue, white and yellow) and very intricately designed. Although Coimbra ceramics are sold all over Portugal, this is most definitely the place to buy it, prices are a third the price of the same pieces in Lisbon. I bought a platter for €35 that I though would have been at least €75 in Italy. I later saw the exact same piece in a store in Lisbon for €114.

Coimbra pretty much shuts down after the stores close at 7pm. We had dinner at a small café at the opposite end of the pedestrian area, near the impressive Fonte de Manga, with a big central domed area and several pools radiating from it. But walking back on the pedestrian street there were very few people out and about. No good people watching or street music.