12 Day Portugal Trip Report Plus 2 Nights in Salamanca, Spain
Sep 16th, 2017, 07:23 AM
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12 Day Portugal Trip Report Plus 2 Nights in Salamanca, Spain
12 Day Portugal Trip Report Plus 2 Nights in Salamanca, Spain
My husband and I are in our early sixties, and we were joined by our friends in Pinhão and spent a total of nine days together in Portugal.
1 night Óbidos
1 night Coimbra
2 nights Salamanca
2 nights Pinhão
2 nights Porto
1 night Guimarães
5 nights Lisbon
This was our fourth trip to Europe together since 2010. We've been to Italy, Spain (two times), and France. We would love to go to Turkey, but since there are travel warnings in Turkey, we opted for Portugal. Now that we've been there, we believe Portugal should be included among the top ten on everyone's travel bucket list!
Last year in Spain we got a flat tire and our car was “pick-pocketed” by a friendly, helpful local. This year we took all sorts of precautions, like an anti-theft backpack and purse, plus we used cable locks to lock our luggage into our car. All turned our well!
I'm a rather wordy writer, so go get a glass of port and settle down in a comfortable chair to read my report!
Saturday, May 13th
Our United flight from SNA to EWR (Newark) was uneventful (just the way we wanted it). While waiting for our connecting flight, we enjoyed the Art and Lounge at the Newark airport outside Gate 68. Our Tap Portugal flight from EWR to Lisbon was a mixed blessing. It was a great airplane (2x4x2), but my husband got the baño seat. His seat was directly across from the bathroom. In fact, he could easily reach out and touch the door. Luckily the plane offered a good selection of free entertainment and free wine to help ease his pain.
Sunday, May 14th
We landed around 6:00 AM, walked down the stairs, and took a bus to the terminal. It probably took an hour to get through passport. We picked up our Sixt rental car (automatic diesel Audi without cruise control) and drove to Obidos. My husband had been really worried about driving right after the flight, but Obidos was just about an hour drive and all went smoothly getting there. Once through the massive arched main gate, Porta da Vila, we found the streets were so narrow in Obidos that we almost scrapped both sides of the car as we drove to the hotel on the slippery cobblestones to drop off our luggage and park our car on the street.
Obidos is a pretty medieval village that is surrounded by a crenellated wall. Its historic center is a labyrinth of cobblestones streets and flower-bedecked, whitewashed houses. We walked the postcard perfect town of Obidos and sampled the Ginga (chocolate cups with cherry liquor), one Euro each. We had lunch at XII Apostolos because it smelled so good. We ordered the Capricciosa pizza with tomato, mozzarella, ham, mushrooms, artichokes and olives, plus we ordered an insalata mista. To say I loved the pizza is an understatement! I devoured it! After lunch we checked-in to our hotel, Casa Das Senhoras Rainhas, set the alarm, and took a much needed two hour nap.
Refreshed from our nap, we decided to walk the wall of the city with no guard rails just because we could and to check out the views. Crazy stupid for two jet-lagged travelers!
We had an especially delightful dinner at the hotel…..really enjoyed the local sausages starter, and the FULL glasses of wine. We ordered wine by the glass and the server must have poured one-half of a bottle into each giant sized wine glasses. Our room was really quiet and we slept all night.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast that was included with the room, complete with multiple kinds of eggs, juices, fruits, cheeses and more!
Monday, May 15th
We drove to Coimbra. Along the way had a failure getting to a nice little pottery store but found a porcelain store instead. Purchased a crystal vase from SPAL SA!
We checked in to Hotel Oslo, after many round-abouts! The room was adequate, small, and clean; and the rooftop bar was spectacular with a panoramic view. We walked the town, had some gelato, toured the Manueline style church (Santa Cruz) then met up with our Fado Tour. We were the only people on the tour with Sara. We learned a lot about Fado in Coimbra and the impact the university has had. We saw one musician on the Coimbra guitar and another on the Spanish guitar, plus two fado singers. We especially enjoyed seeing the Old Cathedral, where students have a “Burning of the Ribbons” ceremony wearing their black capes. The fado cloaks reminded us of “Harry Potter” and we later learned that J.K. Rowling had lived in Portugal for a couple of years.
After the fado tour we happened upon a pottery story and spent over 200 Euros on two appetizer plates and two olive plates. Coimbra is a beautiful town with lots of interesting stores for tourists.
Dinner was tasty but not noteworthy. My husband had cod dish and I had lamb shank.
We ended the evening on the roof terrace of the hotel sipping red wine and white port, typing up our memories, and savoring the view.
Tuesday, May 16th
Before we checked out of the hotel, we hiked up to the Coimbra library and were so glad we did because Biblioteca Joanna at the University of Coimbra is one of the most beautiful and well preserved Baroque libraries still in use. While on the tour, we learned that the university permanently settled in Coimbra in 1537 after moving back and forth between Coimbra and Lisbon. The College of Jesus at Coimbra University was built in 1547 to form priests and missionaries for their missions in Asia. St. Michael's Chapel is in the Manueline style. The Baroque organ is decorated with Chinese motifs. All walls are covered with azulejos, and the ceiling is painted.
We drove to Salamanca on the famous “highway of death”! Yes, the Portuguese do tailgate! Actually, we thought the toll roads in Portugal were really nice and were so happy to have the transponder because we could drive straight through the “V” lanes without having to stop.
We checked in to Hospes Palacio de San Esteban. It was a five star hotel that was built in the 16th century, and was a former convent. Our room was very spacious and decorated nicely. I was thrilled to receive slippers to enjoy for the rest of the trip. We got settled in the room then set out to go see the old town of Salamanca.
All the buildings were the same color, having been made out of the same stone. We knew we were in Spain when we saw all the ham hanging in the shops! Rick Steves calls Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor, “Spain’s grandest square” and we agree! I got a bit emotional because I knew this was to be our last time in Spain (at least for quite a while), and I was so glad to have the opportunity to see Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor! On the Plaza Mayor there was a temporary display of Gran Elefant dret, a giant bronze elephant sculpture sanding upside down and balanced on the animal’s trunk. The artist, Miquel Barcelo, had other sculptures on display at a number of venues in Salamanca. Interestingly enough, the sculpture had been exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, and New York before. We picked a café in the Plaza Mayor and had sangria and “free” tapas that were tasteless and their presentation was poor. Typical of the quality of the food in large plazas. We wandered around some more and picked another café and ate a pretty tasty Caesar salad.
Wednesday, May 17th
We ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then met up with a walking tour at the House of the Shells. Salamanca’s stonework looked so clean and new and the tour guide explained that the weather kept everything clean.
We saw the key sights and paintings on walls using bull’s blood. "Salamanca" font was painted on university sandstone walls with bull's blood when men earned the Vitor. "V" for victory along with student's name and graduation date.
At the tour guide’s direction, we spotted the astronaut on the New Cathedral of Salamanca that was added during renovations in 1992. We had fun taking pictures of the organs with their Spanish trumpets in the cathedral and sent pictures to my husband’s mom. The New Cathedral was very beautiful and ornate. It shares a wall with the Old Cathedral, which was quite plain. The Old Cathedral was originally supposed to be torn down, but it was too expensive to tear it down, so it remains and is still used today. We saw the old historic cloister with its unique arches and saw another work by the artist, this time it was Burnt Matches. At the university we saw colors of the various majors, classrooms, and the library (which was not as impressive as the library in Coimbra).
After the tour we went for what was to be a light snack that ended up being dinner. I had very tasty beans with chorizo and my husband had an ensalada mixta at Restaurante Isidro (Trip Advisor 4.5 stars).
As we walked back to the hotel we saw the little red train, so we hopped on it to see more sights. After the train ride we walked back to the hotel, talked to the man at the desk, then heard heavy rain! We had just escaped a major down poor by about five minutes. We had no idea it was even going to rain! We regrouped, the rain stopped, and we headed back to the Plaza Mayor and ended up at “Doctor Cocktail” for fancy gin drinks and wine.
Thursday, May 18th
After a delicious breakfast at Hospes Palacio de San Esteban, we drove to our next accommodation, The Vintage House, in Pinhao in the Douro Valley. As we neared Pinhao the scenery took our breath away. Mountains. Vineyards. Blue sky. White puffy clouds. More mountains. More vineyards. The mountain top vineyards were amazing. They farm every inch of the mountain tops. We arrived in Pinhao just in time to attend the Quinta Do Bomfim port wine tasting at 2:30 PM. We saw their vineyards, the barrel room and enjoyed the tasting of Graham port wines. We learned that Symington Family Estates owns most all of the vineyards in the Douro Valley, and if they don’t own them yet, they will. Many of privately owned quintas supply Symington as well. The valley is starting to produce wines in addition to ports. I tasted a Douro white wine and two red wines. At the tasting, my husband sampled three ports from Grahams: 1) Six Grapes, 2) 20 year-old Tawny, 3) Vintage Port. As a side note, after our trip we were watching “The Wine Show” on Hulu that our daughter turned us on to and they toured Quinta Do Bomfim just like we did and they sampled the very same “Quinta Do Ataide Doc Douro that I did! Plus the TV show featured pictures of our nearby hotel, “The Vintage House”!
We checked in to The Vintage House and were offered more port wine. Of course we said yes! Our friend came down to greet us, and the fun began with him and his wife! Our room had a wonderful view of the Douro River (as did all the rooms in the hotel) and a balcony. It was just gorgeous! We looked out on the river, boats, and mountain vineyards. Doesn’t get better than that! Before dinner we walked the tiny town of Pinhao, saw the famous azulejos at the train station, and picked up some cheese and chorizo for appetizers. We dressed up in our “Sunday best” for dinner and ate at the hotel. Our food was artistically arranged on our plates and very visually appealing (and was very expensive).
Friday, May 19th
This is one of everyone’s favorite days on the whole vacation! What made it so fun was we got to spend one-on-one time with a local, eat homemade Portuguese food, and cruise the Douro. All-in-all the “Anima Durius Douro River Cruise” specifically the “Wine and Sail” tour was a seven hour event!
After our breakfast at the hotel, Paulo met us at 11:00 AM on the dock right by our hotel (convenient)! We hopped in his car and off we went for a 30-minute drive to his family’s farm. The drive was a treat in itself. It was just amazing to see those mountain-top vineyards! The mountains are terraced and much of the farming must be done by hand because machinery can’t go there. Paulo walked us around the property, showed us the operation, and the family home. We learned Tawny Port is created in smaller barrels, while Ruby Port is created in large bins. Quinta das Pocos is a small operation, but Paulo showed us a wine publication showing that they were award winning. In fact, since 2002 they have been awarded with nine metals.
The soil in which the Douro Valley vines are planted is made up of schist, a slate-like metamorphic rock --- and we saw it in spades as we hiked the property. Instead of fence posts made out of wood, they were made out of slate because it’s so plentiful!
We ate lunch right at the farmhouse and the food we ate was exactly the same food as was prepared for the workers. They work hard and need lots of hearty food, and so that’s what we ate. The couple that live in the house and manage the workers prepared the food. We had some wonderful cheeses and meats, followed by a delicious soup, then a hearty pasta dish with lots of meat, and finally a dessert of cheeses and jams. Paulo’s mother made a pumpkin orange marmalade that was to die for! I also really enjoyed the boysenberry (probably) jam because it reminded me of the jam my grandmother always made. We felt much honored because Paulo opened up a special bottle of port that his father had made for his son’s graduation.
We finished up our time at the farm, petted the dogs and drove back to the boat.
We had our choice of the sail boat or a wooden cruiser, and we opted for the sailboat, although Paulo never put up the sails because it was such a calm day. We cruised the Douro for two hours. It was just breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful cruising the Douro. We gazed up at the vineyards and Paulo pointed out points of interest. He plied us with more alcohol and we could not resist!
Since we were still full from lunch, the four of us gathered up wine, cheese, meats and crackers and snacked for dinner on a charming patio at the hotel.
Saturday, May 20th
Goodbye Pinhao, hello Porto! After breakfast, we drove to Porto. It was about a 1.75 hour drive. My husband and I were challenged finding our hotel in Porto, the 1872 River House, because we did not have the address. Finally, our friend told us where to go and we dropped off the luggage near the hotel and my husband and our friend went to park the car.
The 1872 River House was a very cute B&B with 18 rooms. It was a 19th-century rowhouse located right on the banks of the Douro River and was right where we wanted to be for fun times in Porto! Our “headboard” was actually the fireplace!
We met up with “portowalkers.pt” for a Port Wine Tour in Gaia (across the river from Porto). On the tour we visited three wine lodges and tried seven different port wines. We visited a real working wine cellar, visited a modern wine museum, and went to a wine tasting workshop at a professional tasting room. One of the lodges we went to was Espaço Porto Cruz tasting room. The professional tasting room was very interesting. Our glasses of port sat atop individually lit areas so that we could see the port clearly. We also went to Quinta de Santa Eufemia and Ramos-Pinto, which features the famous vintage poster Monica in “Friends” had in her bedroom.
On our way back to the hotel, we passed by a painter who was displaying paintings of Porto, and both couples purchased beautiful watercolors of Porto.
We ate dinner at a restaurant that looked good, and it was! The three of them had a Portuguese cod fish casserole with cod, potatoes, green beans, and other yummy items. I basically had the same thing, but the fish, potatoes and beans were all separate. We were all happy with our dinner choices. The walk back to our hotel was a photo opportunity. We took some great photos of the Douro River, the Luis I Bridge, lights, buildings, and people. The area was just absolutely charming!
We said goodnight to our friends and decided to hang out in the hotel sitting area (breakfast room by day). The B&B provides beer and baked goods 24 hours a day, so we started to get some beer. Next thing you know, a very friendly B&B employee offered us port instead and we happily took her up on her offer. We are not beer drinkers much, but were really enjoying port while in Portugal! We enjoyed talking to her for quite a while, then we went to bed.
Sunday, May 21st
After a delicious breakfast at The 1872 River House, we walked to our meeting place for a free historical walking tour of Porto. Our friends were not fans of this tour, as we only walked by places and did not go inside anything. Plus, the guide’s pace was faster than they cared to walk, so they pretty much tuned out the guide and happily snapped photos of the sights.
When the tour ended, my husband and I decided to walk over to Gaia to check out Taylors Grand Port Wine Lodge. It looked so close, but turned out to be quite a walk uphill, especially because Siri played tricks on us and led us to and fro. Finally we arrived at Taylors, sweaty and thirsty! After gulping down water and trying to cool off, we opted to taste a 10 year old Tawny Port and a 20 year old Tawny Port. While both were tasty, we did not notice a significant difference in quality. In fact, my husband preferred the 10 year old Tawny. As we were sipping our port, we spotted a peacock and her peachicks that had walked into the tasting room. We snapped a few photos of them and followed them outside to the patio outside. It was very lovely and had an English feel to it, complete with lots or rose bushes.
We finally headed back to our B&B and after a rest met up with our friends for dinner. They had gotten a recommendation from the B&B (it has a Trip Advisor rating of 4 out of 5). The restaurant’s name was “Restaurante Traca”. It served Mediterranean, European, Portuguese, and Vegetarian. The menu choices were really interesting. I ordered the “Grilled deer loin with fresh foi and a mix of mushrooms with shoestring potatoes”, and my husband had “Octopus in the oven with baked potatoes onion confit in Porto Wine and turnip greens”. We had excellent service and thoroughly enjoyed the food, and even spoke of maybe going back there the next day for lunch.
Monday, May 22nd
Woke up in Porto. Walked via “Rua Das Flores” (street of the flowers) and went to see the inside of three churches because that’s what our friends like to do:
Igreja dos Congregados: Built at the end of the XVIIth century.
Igreja de Santa Clara. This church was changed in the XVIIIth century and the whole interior was lined with carved and gilt woodwork.
Igreja da Ordem de S. Francisco: A Gothic construction from the XIVth century
We checked out of our B&B and drove to Guimarares. We could not believe how beautiful the Pousada Mosteiro de Guimarães was where we were staying. It was in an ancient 12th century Augustinian Monastery. Our room was nice, but our friend’s room was amazing, complete with a large sitting room and everything. Traveling tip: When staying at a really nice monastery, spend a few extra dollars for an extremely memorable room! Too bad the beds were not as nice as the rooms!
At the end of the hall from our room was a beautiful patio with a fountain and azulejos, plus it had fantastic views of the city. We sat there for quite a while sipping wine and taking it all in. Then we set out exploring. Hallways were wide and lined with red carpet. Lavish sitting areas were plentiful. We found the formal gardens, a cloister, the bar, lots of flower arrangements, the swimming pool, a pond, and a cemetery. We felt like we were practically alone at a fantastic tourist site. We fantasized that our daughter should get married here and had fun deciding where to have various related wedding events!
For dinner we picked the special for 75 euros, which included a starter, fish or meat, a dessert and a bottle of wine. We had to double-check with our waiter that it was 75 euros for each couple rather than each person. What a deal! I had “Roasted Little Goat” and my husband had “Golden Cod Fish from Pousada de Elvas”.
Tuesday, May 23rd
After breakfasting at the Pousada, we checked out and drove to explore Guimarães. The Guimarães historic town center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and authentic example of the evolution of a medieval settlement into a modern town" in Europe. We stopped to see the Guimaraes castle, but did not go inside.
The town was small, but shops seemed quite upscale and I had fun window-shopping.
We drove our separate cars about 4.5 hours to Lisbon. We took the toll road and ended up driving through the longest tunnel ever! We dropped off our car at the airport and took a cab to the B&B in Lisbon and were very impressed with our driver’s knowledge of the Lisbon sites and command of the English language. Meanwhile our friends made the challenging drive there themselves. They seemed a bit stressed from the narrow and steep streets and we had to ply them with wine to calm them down .
Our B&B, Casa do Barao, (9.8 on Booking.com & #1 of 234 B&Bs in Lisbon TA) was ideally located in a peaceful street of Chiado (right by Bairro Alto), and was just steps from restaurants, shopping and the famous tram 28. It was decorated quite nicely, with interesting knickknacks and paintings. It had a lovely outdoor area where we enjoyed breakfast and after dinner ports/muscatels many days. The staff treated us really well and made our stay especially enjoyable.
Sara from the B&B recommended a local restaurant, Lisboa a Noite, and we ended up going there to dinner. As we walked there, we saw lots of colorful streamers strung from buildings on one side of the street to the other. At the time we did not know it was in preparation for “Festivities of Lisbon” with Santo Antonio being the highpoint on June 12, but we found it colorful and festive. We all enjoyed our dinners very much, declaring the restaurant a winner.
Wednesday, May 24th
We started the day off right with a wonderful breakfast at the B&B. After much ado, we managed to take the electric tram to Belem. We went into the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is a supreme example of the Manueline style of building. We saw Vasco de Gama’s tomb. He was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
The Manueline ornamentation in the cloisters of Jerónimos Monastery were amazing! They are the prettiest and most impressive cloisters ever!
By the waterfront we saw the Torre de Belém that was built in the 16th century in the Tagus River to control the entrance to the city from the sea. We also checked out the Monument of Discoveries which celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries. While there, we snacked on gelato. I got the banana chocolate, and it was by far the best one (the next day everyone ordered that flavor!).
Next up was the National Coach Museum, Museu Nacional dos Coches, but it was too far away for our friends to walk, so we took a Tuk Tuk. Our driver had quite a sense of humor, and as we drove on some of the less smooth streets, he claimed that we were getting a free massage! Our Tuk Tuk driver pointed out the official residence of the President of the Republic that was across the street. It was painted pink and had two guards out front with what looked like ponytails. We would have missed it if he had not pointed it out.
There were actually two carriage museums. The older one was smaller and was in a former royal riding school, and had gorgeous painted ceilings. The new museum was much larger and housed lots and lots of carriages, plus some accessories. It seemed that the majority of the carriages were ceremonial vehicles for weddings or triumphal vehicles for VIP’s. The Italian coaches were the most extravagant, and were dripping with gold carvings.
We had planned on eating a Pastry from Casa Pasteis de Belem because they are supposed to have the best ones in all of Portugal, but the line was long and we did not want to wait.
The B&B had recommended another restaurant, The Red Door, close to the one we had dinner at the previous night, so we decided to go there, since it was close and we trusted the B&B’s recommendations. It was a casual atmosphere with elegant food, served well. We especially enjoyed the waiter and his wine and food recommendations. He tried really hard to please us, even opening up two white wine bottles to make sure the ladies liked the wine. The side dish he recommended for my husband was a winner, and might be the reason we went back to this restaurant again the next night!
Thursday, May 25th
Sintra day! We enjoyed our morning walk in Lisbon to catch the train to Sintra. On the way there we passed many buildings covered in colorful tiles, we spotted the famous elevator, and we took lots of pictures in the Santa Justa plaza. It had black and white tiles in a wavy pattern and was quite beautiful, plus a huge fountain.
The train ride was uneventful and as we disembarked, we were greeted by lots of tour guides hoping to have us pick them to drive us around Sintra. Since we had gotten a later start and walking to the Pena Palace was a 90 minute walk, we negotiated a deal with a tour guide and ended up with Diane in a van for 60 euros each. Rather pricy, but well worth it. We always enjoy talking to locals.
We were driven past eight sights and got to pick two to go into, while Diane waited for us. The views along the way were impressive. It was lots cooler in Sintra than it was in Lisbon, and we enjoyed seeing the beauty of the woods and valleys. It was easy to understand why Sintra was chosen as the summer residence of Portuguese kings and aristocrats. FYI, Sintra was recognized by UNESCO and was designated as a World Heritage site in 1995. Diane pointed out a real bark tree and we got to touch the exposed bark. We did not visit Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle), but looked up at it from afar.
The van could only go so far, and we had to walk the rest of the way up to the Palacio da Pena. I think our friends regretted not paying three euros to ride the little bus up the steep hills and stairs! We all agreed that the Pena Palace was more impressive on the outside than the inside. The architecture was stunning! It looked like a Disney castle! It was a conglomeration of turrets and domes awash in pastels. Architectural styles ranged from Arabian to Victorian.
Our other selection to tour was the Palacio Nacional de Sentra (Sintra Palace). It had conical twin white chimneys, which made us curious to see the inside. Fodors says that “It is the only surviving royal palace in Portugal from the Middle Ages, and displays a fetching combination of Moorish, Gothic, and Manueline architecture.” We saw the chapel with its Mozarabic (Moorish-influenced) azulejos from the 15th and 16th centuries. We enjoyed looking at the ceiling of the Sala das Armas with the coats of arms of 72 noble families, and the grand Sala dos Cisnes with the ceiling of painted swans.
We had hoped to enjoy a long-leisurely lunch in Sintra, but ended up having a snack of gelato in the afternoon due to time constraints. We returned to The Red Door again for dinner (same waiter, same wine, and good food once again).
Friday, May 26th
Originally we were going to take the famous Tram #28 to the Alfama, but the line was long and the tram was packed, so instead we picked a Tuk Tuk for 20 euros to drive us all to the Alfama. Our driver took us to Graca’s miradouros (lookouts) and we were totally impressed with fantastic panoramic views of the Lisbon skyline. The streets were so narrow and steep that we did not think Tram 28 could even take people to where the Tuk Tuk took us. We snapped picture after picture of the awesome view. When it was time to leave, there were so many Tuk Tuk’s parked at the site that we ended up being in quite a Tuk Tuk jam! We spent about 45 minutes with our Tuk Tuk driver, and agreed it was 20 euros well spent for the four of us! He was a wealth of information about the sights in Lisbon and a pleasure to spend time with.
After our Tuk Tuk ride was over, we explored the Alfama on foot. Alfama is the old historical area, and it was charming with its narrow streets. The locals were busy putting up streamers and building bars in preparation for the Feast of Saint Anthony on June 12th and 13th to be celebrated for the whole month of June. These decorations just added to the ambiance and made our time in the Alfama feel very festive and special. Our friends found a highly recommended place to go for lunch, but it seems that everyone else found it before us, so we had to take our chances and pick one that was accepting diners. We found a place on the street and enjoyed a big pitcher of Sangria and our lunches. I think we all ordered the cod dish.
On our way back to the B&B, we stopped by a church and then toyed with taking another Tuk Tuk back, but the driver wanted 70 euros, and that was way too pricy, so we walked back. Part of our walk back took us through the Plaza of Commerce and it was so charming that when I spotted a restaurant specializing in gin drinks, we just had to stop and have drinks and watch the activities on the plaza.
Once back at the B&B, we relaxed for a while in our rooms and then met up at 7:00 PM. We had been toying with the idea of going to a fado, but after reading the Trip Advisor reviews, we determined that we would be disappointed with the quality of the performances. We all were too full from lunch to go out for dinner, but wanted a little something to eat. We ended up going to a take-out place for chicken on the grill, French fries, and a green salad. We took it back to our B&B and ate in the breakfast room. The B&B had an honor bar, and we polished off the wine bottles we had been working on during our stay. After our dinner, we moved outside to enjoy some port and muscatel, courtesy of the B&B. We were not 100% sure what muscatel was but were really enjoying it. My husband ended up researching muscatel and we learned that it is a very cheap fortified wine made out of the grapes used for raisins. It’s known as being the wine that winos drink out of paper bags. Boy did we get a laugh at ourselves. We had sunk to a new low! Actually, we preferred the muscatel to the ruby port because it tasted much like a tawny port to us. At the end of our final evening together, the four of us had drank a noticeable amount in both the port and the muscatel bottles!
Saturday, May 27th
As we walked to breakfast, we noticed that the B&B had already refilled the port and muscatel bottles ! We ate a final breakfast with our friends and wished them safe travels to Toledo, Spain.
While researching where to watch a fado performance the night before, I found and signed us up for a “Eat Drink Walk.” Gourmet Chiado tour that started at 11:30 AM. The tour had great reviews and was the closest food tour to the B&B. It turned out to be an excellent choice!
We met the group at the “Time Out Market”. It was a wonderful food hall with an excellent selection of local food vendors/food stalls. It had a wide variety of freshly cooked food. Wish we had known about it earlier, as it would have been a great place to go for the one night we opted for “fast food”.
The guide had brought along a photographer because they wanted to put together a 45 second clip of the tour to use for advertising. I has been checking, but has not seen the clip yet. On our tour, we met a couple of women from Manchester, a couple from London, and another couple from Australia.
Our first tasting was Ginja from Obidos. Since we had already been to Obidos and tasted Ginja, we knew what to expect. Instead of being served in a chocolate cup though, these came in a shot glass with a cherry in the bottom, and the brand, “Ginja de Obidos Mariquinhas” was a much better tasting one. I really wanted to bring a bottle home, but transporting liquor is always so inconvenient, so we did not purchase one.
Our second tasting was inside the Time Out Market. We enjoyed “O tal vinho da Lixa” which was a vinho verde, some cheese, dried fruits, ham and bread – presented on a slate platter. We also sampled “Peixinhos da horta”. The name of the dish is literally translated as “vegetable garden fishies”, as it resembles small pieces of colorful fish. Peixinhos da horta is a traditional dish in Portuguese cuisine of fried green beans. They were initially made on Portuguese ships as a method of keeping the vegetables from going bad. They became the inspiration for what is now known as Japanese Tempura cooking.
We stopped outside at a hole-in-the-wall place and we viewed a pork dish simmering on the stove. It was very soupy looking and did not appear appealing, but our guide assured us it is quite tasty.
Our third tasting was at a small restaurant named “Sol e Pesca” located on the pink street. Seems that this street was where prostitutes used to make themselves available to sailors off duty! Sole e Pesca was a low-key and quirky fishing-themed restaurant serving a vast array of canned seafood, plus beer and wine. It was decorated with fishing rods, wires, baits, nets, hooks, and more, and was a great place to taste great Portuguese canned fish. That was a first for us, a whole shop where they serve canned sardines! They were so tasty that we purchased one can of spicy sardines to bring home for Dad!
I did not believe him at first, but next our guide took us to a brothel. We walked past “artistic” paintings and graffiti on the wall and into a place with a pole just ready for a pole dancing underneath a red, yellow, and green lit up ceiling. In the sitting area, the red velvet walls were decorated with a moose head with antlers, numerous photos, and more items of questionable taste! The ceiling was a play on the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo. Some of the “X-rated” pictures we took at this brothel will not make it into our album!
Next, at the other end of the spectrum, we went to “The Palace of Gastronomy” which was a Bar/Food Hall. Had we known about this place earlier in our stay in Lisbon, we would have gone here. They had various themed rooms where you could buy food and drink. There was a bar/food hall, a kitchen, a gin and cocktails bar, a wine bar with charcuterie and tapas and a fusion place where “Sushi meets the Portuguese flavors”. The whole place was decorated extremely ornately in an old world feel, with rich wallpapers, paintings on the ceilings, moldings, arches, grand chandeliers and lamp posts, stained glass windows and more. We learned that when you enter this palace, you are given a “credit card” and you use it as you visit the various food vendors, then pay for everything you charged on your way out.
As we walked to our next food establishment, we passed the Bertrand bookshop, and our tour guide pointed out that this bookshop was established in 1732 and it is the oldest operating bookshop. It even proudly displayed a certificate from the Guinness World Records in its front window.
Our fourth tasting (or rather lunch) was at a very fancy restaurant with a beautiful chandelier with purple walls and gold and white wallpaper. We started off with a shrimp dish in garlic and butter (always a hit!), which was matched with a 2014 Merlot “Dory”. Dish #2 was octopus served atop sliced potatoes. Dish #3 was the cod dish we seemed to eat everywhere. Dish #4 was a beef dish with fries. We finished off the meal with expresso. I figured the tour was over, but it was not!
We walked over to the elevator and checked out the sights. Since it was so high up, the view was really good. We wandered around some more, and the guide pointed out good places to eat. Then we ducked into “Manteigaria” for a pasteis de Nata, our tasting #5. We had missed our chance to eat one of these egg tarts in Belem, and we were very pleasantly surprised at how tasty they were fresh from the oven with cinnamon in a flaky puff pastry crust. They rather melted in your mouth. It was fun watching the employees make them as well, thanks to a big window which allowed us to watch them.
Final stop, #6, was at “By the Wine where we gazed at the ceiling that was covered in wine bottles and drank José Maria da Fonseca Lancers Rosé. It was very upscale and tasty!
After the tour, we wandered around a bit more by ourselves, trying to but not finding any final souvenirs to purchase. We were still full from our food tour, and it was about 8:00 PM by the time we got back to our room, so we once again went out on the B&B’s patio and enjoyed sipping our final glasses of muscatel.
Sunday, May 28th
We ate our farewell breakfast at the B&B, packed our bags, and got into a cab to the airport. We had enough time to check out the United lounge and grab a quick glass of champagne and light snacks before boarding the plane. Since we had had such bad seats on the way to Lisbon from Newark, my husband had made sure we got good seats going back to Newark, and his efforts paid off. We got bulkhead seats and they had so much leg room that I could stretch out my legs entirely! Even the seats from Newark to OC were good because we had a window and an aisle, with nobody in the center seat. The Newark/OC flight was entertaining due to a very lively family with four extremely active kids (and mom), and a medical emergency in the back of the plane. Our son met us at the airport and gave us big hugs and drove us home!
Obrigado Portugal!
Portugal should be included among the top ten on everyone's travel bucket list!
Azulejos. Fado. Festivities. Food. History. Landscape. Pasteis de Nata. Portuguese People. Port Wine. Safe. Universities. Value. Weather.
My husband and I are in our early sixties, and we were joined by our friends in Pinhão and spent a total of nine days together in Portugal.
1 night Óbidos
1 night Coimbra
2 nights Salamanca
2 nights Pinhão
2 nights Porto
1 night Guimarães
5 nights Lisbon
This was our fourth trip to Europe together since 2010. We've been to Italy, Spain (two times), and France. We would love to go to Turkey, but since there are travel warnings in Turkey, we opted for Portugal. Now that we've been there, we believe Portugal should be included among the top ten on everyone's travel bucket list!
Last year in Spain we got a flat tire and our car was “pick-pocketed” by a friendly, helpful local. This year we took all sorts of precautions, like an anti-theft backpack and purse, plus we used cable locks to lock our luggage into our car. All turned our well!
I'm a rather wordy writer, so go get a glass of port and settle down in a comfortable chair to read my report!
Saturday, May 13th
Our United flight from SNA to EWR (Newark) was uneventful (just the way we wanted it). While waiting for our connecting flight, we enjoyed the Art and Lounge at the Newark airport outside Gate 68. Our Tap Portugal flight from EWR to Lisbon was a mixed blessing. It was a great airplane (2x4x2), but my husband got the baño seat. His seat was directly across from the bathroom. In fact, he could easily reach out and touch the door. Luckily the plane offered a good selection of free entertainment and free wine to help ease his pain.
Sunday, May 14th
We landed around 6:00 AM, walked down the stairs, and took a bus to the terminal. It probably took an hour to get through passport. We picked up our Sixt rental car (automatic diesel Audi without cruise control) and drove to Obidos. My husband had been really worried about driving right after the flight, but Obidos was just about an hour drive and all went smoothly getting there. Once through the massive arched main gate, Porta da Vila, we found the streets were so narrow in Obidos that we almost scrapped both sides of the car as we drove to the hotel on the slippery cobblestones to drop off our luggage and park our car on the street.
Obidos is a pretty medieval village that is surrounded by a crenellated wall. Its historic center is a labyrinth of cobblestones streets and flower-bedecked, whitewashed houses. We walked the postcard perfect town of Obidos and sampled the Ginga (chocolate cups with cherry liquor), one Euro each. We had lunch at XII Apostolos because it smelled so good. We ordered the Capricciosa pizza with tomato, mozzarella, ham, mushrooms, artichokes and olives, plus we ordered an insalata mista. To say I loved the pizza is an understatement! I devoured it! After lunch we checked-in to our hotel, Casa Das Senhoras Rainhas, set the alarm, and took a much needed two hour nap.
Refreshed from our nap, we decided to walk the wall of the city with no guard rails just because we could and to check out the views. Crazy stupid for two jet-lagged travelers!
We had an especially delightful dinner at the hotel…..really enjoyed the local sausages starter, and the FULL glasses of wine. We ordered wine by the glass and the server must have poured one-half of a bottle into each giant sized wine glasses. Our room was really quiet and we slept all night.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast that was included with the room, complete with multiple kinds of eggs, juices, fruits, cheeses and more!
Monday, May 15th
We drove to Coimbra. Along the way had a failure getting to a nice little pottery store but found a porcelain store instead. Purchased a crystal vase from SPAL SA!
We checked in to Hotel Oslo, after many round-abouts! The room was adequate, small, and clean; and the rooftop bar was spectacular with a panoramic view. We walked the town, had some gelato, toured the Manueline style church (Santa Cruz) then met up with our Fado Tour. We were the only people on the tour with Sara. We learned a lot about Fado in Coimbra and the impact the university has had. We saw one musician on the Coimbra guitar and another on the Spanish guitar, plus two fado singers. We especially enjoyed seeing the Old Cathedral, where students have a “Burning of the Ribbons” ceremony wearing their black capes. The fado cloaks reminded us of “Harry Potter” and we later learned that J.K. Rowling had lived in Portugal for a couple of years.
After the fado tour we happened upon a pottery story and spent over 200 Euros on two appetizer plates and two olive plates. Coimbra is a beautiful town with lots of interesting stores for tourists.
Dinner was tasty but not noteworthy. My husband had cod dish and I had lamb shank.
We ended the evening on the roof terrace of the hotel sipping red wine and white port, typing up our memories, and savoring the view.
Tuesday, May 16th
Before we checked out of the hotel, we hiked up to the Coimbra library and were so glad we did because Biblioteca Joanna at the University of Coimbra is one of the most beautiful and well preserved Baroque libraries still in use. While on the tour, we learned that the university permanently settled in Coimbra in 1537 after moving back and forth between Coimbra and Lisbon. The College of Jesus at Coimbra University was built in 1547 to form priests and missionaries for their missions in Asia. St. Michael's Chapel is in the Manueline style. The Baroque organ is decorated with Chinese motifs. All walls are covered with azulejos, and the ceiling is painted.
We drove to Salamanca on the famous “highway of death”! Yes, the Portuguese do tailgate! Actually, we thought the toll roads in Portugal were really nice and were so happy to have the transponder because we could drive straight through the “V” lanes without having to stop.
We checked in to Hospes Palacio de San Esteban. It was a five star hotel that was built in the 16th century, and was a former convent. Our room was very spacious and decorated nicely. I was thrilled to receive slippers to enjoy for the rest of the trip. We got settled in the room then set out to go see the old town of Salamanca.
All the buildings were the same color, having been made out of the same stone. We knew we were in Spain when we saw all the ham hanging in the shops! Rick Steves calls Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor, “Spain’s grandest square” and we agree! I got a bit emotional because I knew this was to be our last time in Spain (at least for quite a while), and I was so glad to have the opportunity to see Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor! On the Plaza Mayor there was a temporary display of Gran Elefant dret, a giant bronze elephant sculpture sanding upside down and balanced on the animal’s trunk. The artist, Miquel Barcelo, had other sculptures on display at a number of venues in Salamanca. Interestingly enough, the sculpture had been exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, and New York before. We picked a café in the Plaza Mayor and had sangria and “free” tapas that were tasteless and their presentation was poor. Typical of the quality of the food in large plazas. We wandered around some more and picked another café and ate a pretty tasty Caesar salad.
Wednesday, May 17th
We ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then met up with a walking tour at the House of the Shells. Salamanca’s stonework looked so clean and new and the tour guide explained that the weather kept everything clean.
We saw the key sights and paintings on walls using bull’s blood. "Salamanca" font was painted on university sandstone walls with bull's blood when men earned the Vitor. "V" for victory along with student's name and graduation date.
At the tour guide’s direction, we spotted the astronaut on the New Cathedral of Salamanca that was added during renovations in 1992. We had fun taking pictures of the organs with their Spanish trumpets in the cathedral and sent pictures to my husband’s mom. The New Cathedral was very beautiful and ornate. It shares a wall with the Old Cathedral, which was quite plain. The Old Cathedral was originally supposed to be torn down, but it was too expensive to tear it down, so it remains and is still used today. We saw the old historic cloister with its unique arches and saw another work by the artist, this time it was Burnt Matches. At the university we saw colors of the various majors, classrooms, and the library (which was not as impressive as the library in Coimbra).
After the tour we went for what was to be a light snack that ended up being dinner. I had very tasty beans with chorizo and my husband had an ensalada mixta at Restaurante Isidro (Trip Advisor 4.5 stars).
As we walked back to the hotel we saw the little red train, so we hopped on it to see more sights. After the train ride we walked back to the hotel, talked to the man at the desk, then heard heavy rain! We had just escaped a major down poor by about five minutes. We had no idea it was even going to rain! We regrouped, the rain stopped, and we headed back to the Plaza Mayor and ended up at “Doctor Cocktail” for fancy gin drinks and wine.
Thursday, May 18th
After a delicious breakfast at Hospes Palacio de San Esteban, we drove to our next accommodation, The Vintage House, in Pinhao in the Douro Valley. As we neared Pinhao the scenery took our breath away. Mountains. Vineyards. Blue sky. White puffy clouds. More mountains. More vineyards. The mountain top vineyards were amazing. They farm every inch of the mountain tops. We arrived in Pinhao just in time to attend the Quinta Do Bomfim port wine tasting at 2:30 PM. We saw their vineyards, the barrel room and enjoyed the tasting of Graham port wines. We learned that Symington Family Estates owns most all of the vineyards in the Douro Valley, and if they don’t own them yet, they will. Many of privately owned quintas supply Symington as well. The valley is starting to produce wines in addition to ports. I tasted a Douro white wine and two red wines. At the tasting, my husband sampled three ports from Grahams: 1) Six Grapes, 2) 20 year-old Tawny, 3) Vintage Port. As a side note, after our trip we were watching “The Wine Show” on Hulu that our daughter turned us on to and they toured Quinta Do Bomfim just like we did and they sampled the very same “Quinta Do Ataide Doc Douro that I did! Plus the TV show featured pictures of our nearby hotel, “The Vintage House”!
We checked in to The Vintage House and were offered more port wine. Of course we said yes! Our friend came down to greet us, and the fun began with him and his wife! Our room had a wonderful view of the Douro River (as did all the rooms in the hotel) and a balcony. It was just gorgeous! We looked out on the river, boats, and mountain vineyards. Doesn’t get better than that! Before dinner we walked the tiny town of Pinhao, saw the famous azulejos at the train station, and picked up some cheese and chorizo for appetizers. We dressed up in our “Sunday best” for dinner and ate at the hotel. Our food was artistically arranged on our plates and very visually appealing (and was very expensive).
Friday, May 19th
This is one of everyone’s favorite days on the whole vacation! What made it so fun was we got to spend one-on-one time with a local, eat homemade Portuguese food, and cruise the Douro. All-in-all the “Anima Durius Douro River Cruise” specifically the “Wine and Sail” tour was a seven hour event!
After our breakfast at the hotel, Paulo met us at 11:00 AM on the dock right by our hotel (convenient)! We hopped in his car and off we went for a 30-minute drive to his family’s farm. The drive was a treat in itself. It was just amazing to see those mountain-top vineyards! The mountains are terraced and much of the farming must be done by hand because machinery can’t go there. Paulo walked us around the property, showed us the operation, and the family home. We learned Tawny Port is created in smaller barrels, while Ruby Port is created in large bins. Quinta das Pocos is a small operation, but Paulo showed us a wine publication showing that they were award winning. In fact, since 2002 they have been awarded with nine metals.
The soil in which the Douro Valley vines are planted is made up of schist, a slate-like metamorphic rock --- and we saw it in spades as we hiked the property. Instead of fence posts made out of wood, they were made out of slate because it’s so plentiful!
We ate lunch right at the farmhouse and the food we ate was exactly the same food as was prepared for the workers. They work hard and need lots of hearty food, and so that’s what we ate. The couple that live in the house and manage the workers prepared the food. We had some wonderful cheeses and meats, followed by a delicious soup, then a hearty pasta dish with lots of meat, and finally a dessert of cheeses and jams. Paulo’s mother made a pumpkin orange marmalade that was to die for! I also really enjoyed the boysenberry (probably) jam because it reminded me of the jam my grandmother always made. We felt much honored because Paulo opened up a special bottle of port that his father had made for his son’s graduation.
We finished up our time at the farm, petted the dogs and drove back to the boat.
We had our choice of the sail boat or a wooden cruiser, and we opted for the sailboat, although Paulo never put up the sails because it was such a calm day. We cruised the Douro for two hours. It was just breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful cruising the Douro. We gazed up at the vineyards and Paulo pointed out points of interest. He plied us with more alcohol and we could not resist!
Since we were still full from lunch, the four of us gathered up wine, cheese, meats and crackers and snacked for dinner on a charming patio at the hotel.
Saturday, May 20th
Goodbye Pinhao, hello Porto! After breakfast, we drove to Porto. It was about a 1.75 hour drive. My husband and I were challenged finding our hotel in Porto, the 1872 River House, because we did not have the address. Finally, our friend told us where to go and we dropped off the luggage near the hotel and my husband and our friend went to park the car.
The 1872 River House was a very cute B&B with 18 rooms. It was a 19th-century rowhouse located right on the banks of the Douro River and was right where we wanted to be for fun times in Porto! Our “headboard” was actually the fireplace!
We met up with “portowalkers.pt” for a Port Wine Tour in Gaia (across the river from Porto). On the tour we visited three wine lodges and tried seven different port wines. We visited a real working wine cellar, visited a modern wine museum, and went to a wine tasting workshop at a professional tasting room. One of the lodges we went to was Espaço Porto Cruz tasting room. The professional tasting room was very interesting. Our glasses of port sat atop individually lit areas so that we could see the port clearly. We also went to Quinta de Santa Eufemia and Ramos-Pinto, which features the famous vintage poster Monica in “Friends” had in her bedroom.
On our way back to the hotel, we passed by a painter who was displaying paintings of Porto, and both couples purchased beautiful watercolors of Porto.
We ate dinner at a restaurant that looked good, and it was! The three of them had a Portuguese cod fish casserole with cod, potatoes, green beans, and other yummy items. I basically had the same thing, but the fish, potatoes and beans were all separate. We were all happy with our dinner choices. The walk back to our hotel was a photo opportunity. We took some great photos of the Douro River, the Luis I Bridge, lights, buildings, and people. The area was just absolutely charming!
We said goodnight to our friends and decided to hang out in the hotel sitting area (breakfast room by day). The B&B provides beer and baked goods 24 hours a day, so we started to get some beer. Next thing you know, a very friendly B&B employee offered us port instead and we happily took her up on her offer. We are not beer drinkers much, but were really enjoying port while in Portugal! We enjoyed talking to her for quite a while, then we went to bed.
Sunday, May 21st
After a delicious breakfast at The 1872 River House, we walked to our meeting place for a free historical walking tour of Porto. Our friends were not fans of this tour, as we only walked by places and did not go inside anything. Plus, the guide’s pace was faster than they cared to walk, so they pretty much tuned out the guide and happily snapped photos of the sights.
When the tour ended, my husband and I decided to walk over to Gaia to check out Taylors Grand Port Wine Lodge. It looked so close, but turned out to be quite a walk uphill, especially because Siri played tricks on us and led us to and fro. Finally we arrived at Taylors, sweaty and thirsty! After gulping down water and trying to cool off, we opted to taste a 10 year old Tawny Port and a 20 year old Tawny Port. While both were tasty, we did not notice a significant difference in quality. In fact, my husband preferred the 10 year old Tawny. As we were sipping our port, we spotted a peacock and her peachicks that had walked into the tasting room. We snapped a few photos of them and followed them outside to the patio outside. It was very lovely and had an English feel to it, complete with lots or rose bushes.
We finally headed back to our B&B and after a rest met up with our friends for dinner. They had gotten a recommendation from the B&B (it has a Trip Advisor rating of 4 out of 5). The restaurant’s name was “Restaurante Traca”. It served Mediterranean, European, Portuguese, and Vegetarian. The menu choices were really interesting. I ordered the “Grilled deer loin with fresh foi and a mix of mushrooms with shoestring potatoes”, and my husband had “Octopus in the oven with baked potatoes onion confit in Porto Wine and turnip greens”. We had excellent service and thoroughly enjoyed the food, and even spoke of maybe going back there the next day for lunch.
Monday, May 22nd
Woke up in Porto. Walked via “Rua Das Flores” (street of the flowers) and went to see the inside of three churches because that’s what our friends like to do:
Igreja dos Congregados: Built at the end of the XVIIth century.
Igreja de Santa Clara. This church was changed in the XVIIIth century and the whole interior was lined with carved and gilt woodwork.
Igreja da Ordem de S. Francisco: A Gothic construction from the XIVth century
We checked out of our B&B and drove to Guimarares. We could not believe how beautiful the Pousada Mosteiro de Guimarães was where we were staying. It was in an ancient 12th century Augustinian Monastery. Our room was nice, but our friend’s room was amazing, complete with a large sitting room and everything. Traveling tip: When staying at a really nice monastery, spend a few extra dollars for an extremely memorable room! Too bad the beds were not as nice as the rooms!
At the end of the hall from our room was a beautiful patio with a fountain and azulejos, plus it had fantastic views of the city. We sat there for quite a while sipping wine and taking it all in. Then we set out exploring. Hallways were wide and lined with red carpet. Lavish sitting areas were plentiful. We found the formal gardens, a cloister, the bar, lots of flower arrangements, the swimming pool, a pond, and a cemetery. We felt like we were practically alone at a fantastic tourist site. We fantasized that our daughter should get married here and had fun deciding where to have various related wedding events!
For dinner we picked the special for 75 euros, which included a starter, fish or meat, a dessert and a bottle of wine. We had to double-check with our waiter that it was 75 euros for each couple rather than each person. What a deal! I had “Roasted Little Goat” and my husband had “Golden Cod Fish from Pousada de Elvas”.
Tuesday, May 23rd
After breakfasting at the Pousada, we checked out and drove to explore Guimarães. The Guimarães historic town center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and authentic example of the evolution of a medieval settlement into a modern town" in Europe. We stopped to see the Guimaraes castle, but did not go inside.
The town was small, but shops seemed quite upscale and I had fun window-shopping.
We drove our separate cars about 4.5 hours to Lisbon. We took the toll road and ended up driving through the longest tunnel ever! We dropped off our car at the airport and took a cab to the B&B in Lisbon and were very impressed with our driver’s knowledge of the Lisbon sites and command of the English language. Meanwhile our friends made the challenging drive there themselves. They seemed a bit stressed from the narrow and steep streets and we had to ply them with wine to calm them down .
Our B&B, Casa do Barao, (9.8 on Booking.com & #1 of 234 B&Bs in Lisbon TA) was ideally located in a peaceful street of Chiado (right by Bairro Alto), and was just steps from restaurants, shopping and the famous tram 28. It was decorated quite nicely, with interesting knickknacks and paintings. It had a lovely outdoor area where we enjoyed breakfast and after dinner ports/muscatels many days. The staff treated us really well and made our stay especially enjoyable.
Sara from the B&B recommended a local restaurant, Lisboa a Noite, and we ended up going there to dinner. As we walked there, we saw lots of colorful streamers strung from buildings on one side of the street to the other. At the time we did not know it was in preparation for “Festivities of Lisbon” with Santo Antonio being the highpoint on June 12, but we found it colorful and festive. We all enjoyed our dinners very much, declaring the restaurant a winner.
Wednesday, May 24th
We started the day off right with a wonderful breakfast at the B&B. After much ado, we managed to take the electric tram to Belem. We went into the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is a supreme example of the Manueline style of building. We saw Vasco de Gama’s tomb. He was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
The Manueline ornamentation in the cloisters of Jerónimos Monastery were amazing! They are the prettiest and most impressive cloisters ever!
By the waterfront we saw the Torre de Belém that was built in the 16th century in the Tagus River to control the entrance to the city from the sea. We also checked out the Monument of Discoveries which celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries. While there, we snacked on gelato. I got the banana chocolate, and it was by far the best one (the next day everyone ordered that flavor!).
Next up was the National Coach Museum, Museu Nacional dos Coches, but it was too far away for our friends to walk, so we took a Tuk Tuk. Our driver had quite a sense of humor, and as we drove on some of the less smooth streets, he claimed that we were getting a free massage! Our Tuk Tuk driver pointed out the official residence of the President of the Republic that was across the street. It was painted pink and had two guards out front with what looked like ponytails. We would have missed it if he had not pointed it out.
There were actually two carriage museums. The older one was smaller and was in a former royal riding school, and had gorgeous painted ceilings. The new museum was much larger and housed lots and lots of carriages, plus some accessories. It seemed that the majority of the carriages were ceremonial vehicles for weddings or triumphal vehicles for VIP’s. The Italian coaches were the most extravagant, and were dripping with gold carvings.
We had planned on eating a Pastry from Casa Pasteis de Belem because they are supposed to have the best ones in all of Portugal, but the line was long and we did not want to wait.
The B&B had recommended another restaurant, The Red Door, close to the one we had dinner at the previous night, so we decided to go there, since it was close and we trusted the B&B’s recommendations. It was a casual atmosphere with elegant food, served well. We especially enjoyed the waiter and his wine and food recommendations. He tried really hard to please us, even opening up two white wine bottles to make sure the ladies liked the wine. The side dish he recommended for my husband was a winner, and might be the reason we went back to this restaurant again the next night!
Thursday, May 25th
Sintra day! We enjoyed our morning walk in Lisbon to catch the train to Sintra. On the way there we passed many buildings covered in colorful tiles, we spotted the famous elevator, and we took lots of pictures in the Santa Justa plaza. It had black and white tiles in a wavy pattern and was quite beautiful, plus a huge fountain.
The train ride was uneventful and as we disembarked, we were greeted by lots of tour guides hoping to have us pick them to drive us around Sintra. Since we had gotten a later start and walking to the Pena Palace was a 90 minute walk, we negotiated a deal with a tour guide and ended up with Diane in a van for 60 euros each. Rather pricy, but well worth it. We always enjoy talking to locals.
We were driven past eight sights and got to pick two to go into, while Diane waited for us. The views along the way were impressive. It was lots cooler in Sintra than it was in Lisbon, and we enjoyed seeing the beauty of the woods and valleys. It was easy to understand why Sintra was chosen as the summer residence of Portuguese kings and aristocrats. FYI, Sintra was recognized by UNESCO and was designated as a World Heritage site in 1995. Diane pointed out a real bark tree and we got to touch the exposed bark. We did not visit Castelo dos Mouros (Moorish Castle), but looked up at it from afar.
The van could only go so far, and we had to walk the rest of the way up to the Palacio da Pena. I think our friends regretted not paying three euros to ride the little bus up the steep hills and stairs! We all agreed that the Pena Palace was more impressive on the outside than the inside. The architecture was stunning! It looked like a Disney castle! It was a conglomeration of turrets and domes awash in pastels. Architectural styles ranged from Arabian to Victorian.
Our other selection to tour was the Palacio Nacional de Sentra (Sintra Palace). It had conical twin white chimneys, which made us curious to see the inside. Fodors says that “It is the only surviving royal palace in Portugal from the Middle Ages, and displays a fetching combination of Moorish, Gothic, and Manueline architecture.” We saw the chapel with its Mozarabic (Moorish-influenced) azulejos from the 15th and 16th centuries. We enjoyed looking at the ceiling of the Sala das Armas with the coats of arms of 72 noble families, and the grand Sala dos Cisnes with the ceiling of painted swans.
We had hoped to enjoy a long-leisurely lunch in Sintra, but ended up having a snack of gelato in the afternoon due to time constraints. We returned to The Red Door again for dinner (same waiter, same wine, and good food once again).
Friday, May 26th
Originally we were going to take the famous Tram #28 to the Alfama, but the line was long and the tram was packed, so instead we picked a Tuk Tuk for 20 euros to drive us all to the Alfama. Our driver took us to Graca’s miradouros (lookouts) and we were totally impressed with fantastic panoramic views of the Lisbon skyline. The streets were so narrow and steep that we did not think Tram 28 could even take people to where the Tuk Tuk took us. We snapped picture after picture of the awesome view. When it was time to leave, there were so many Tuk Tuk’s parked at the site that we ended up being in quite a Tuk Tuk jam! We spent about 45 minutes with our Tuk Tuk driver, and agreed it was 20 euros well spent for the four of us! He was a wealth of information about the sights in Lisbon and a pleasure to spend time with.
After our Tuk Tuk ride was over, we explored the Alfama on foot. Alfama is the old historical area, and it was charming with its narrow streets. The locals were busy putting up streamers and building bars in preparation for the Feast of Saint Anthony on June 12th and 13th to be celebrated for the whole month of June. These decorations just added to the ambiance and made our time in the Alfama feel very festive and special. Our friends found a highly recommended place to go for lunch, but it seems that everyone else found it before us, so we had to take our chances and pick one that was accepting diners. We found a place on the street and enjoyed a big pitcher of Sangria and our lunches. I think we all ordered the cod dish.
On our way back to the B&B, we stopped by a church and then toyed with taking another Tuk Tuk back, but the driver wanted 70 euros, and that was way too pricy, so we walked back. Part of our walk back took us through the Plaza of Commerce and it was so charming that when I spotted a restaurant specializing in gin drinks, we just had to stop and have drinks and watch the activities on the plaza.
Once back at the B&B, we relaxed for a while in our rooms and then met up at 7:00 PM. We had been toying with the idea of going to a fado, but after reading the Trip Advisor reviews, we determined that we would be disappointed with the quality of the performances. We all were too full from lunch to go out for dinner, but wanted a little something to eat. We ended up going to a take-out place for chicken on the grill, French fries, and a green salad. We took it back to our B&B and ate in the breakfast room. The B&B had an honor bar, and we polished off the wine bottles we had been working on during our stay. After our dinner, we moved outside to enjoy some port and muscatel, courtesy of the B&B. We were not 100% sure what muscatel was but were really enjoying it. My husband ended up researching muscatel and we learned that it is a very cheap fortified wine made out of the grapes used for raisins. It’s known as being the wine that winos drink out of paper bags. Boy did we get a laugh at ourselves. We had sunk to a new low! Actually, we preferred the muscatel to the ruby port because it tasted much like a tawny port to us. At the end of our final evening together, the four of us had drank a noticeable amount in both the port and the muscatel bottles!
Saturday, May 27th
As we walked to breakfast, we noticed that the B&B had already refilled the port and muscatel bottles ! We ate a final breakfast with our friends and wished them safe travels to Toledo, Spain.
While researching where to watch a fado performance the night before, I found and signed us up for a “Eat Drink Walk.” Gourmet Chiado tour that started at 11:30 AM. The tour had great reviews and was the closest food tour to the B&B. It turned out to be an excellent choice!
We met the group at the “Time Out Market”. It was a wonderful food hall with an excellent selection of local food vendors/food stalls. It had a wide variety of freshly cooked food. Wish we had known about it earlier, as it would have been a great place to go for the one night we opted for “fast food”.
The guide had brought along a photographer because they wanted to put together a 45 second clip of the tour to use for advertising. I has been checking, but has not seen the clip yet. On our tour, we met a couple of women from Manchester, a couple from London, and another couple from Australia.
Our first tasting was Ginja from Obidos. Since we had already been to Obidos and tasted Ginja, we knew what to expect. Instead of being served in a chocolate cup though, these came in a shot glass with a cherry in the bottom, and the brand, “Ginja de Obidos Mariquinhas” was a much better tasting one. I really wanted to bring a bottle home, but transporting liquor is always so inconvenient, so we did not purchase one.
Our second tasting was inside the Time Out Market. We enjoyed “O tal vinho da Lixa” which was a vinho verde, some cheese, dried fruits, ham and bread – presented on a slate platter. We also sampled “Peixinhos da horta”. The name of the dish is literally translated as “vegetable garden fishies”, as it resembles small pieces of colorful fish. Peixinhos da horta is a traditional dish in Portuguese cuisine of fried green beans. They were initially made on Portuguese ships as a method of keeping the vegetables from going bad. They became the inspiration for what is now known as Japanese Tempura cooking.
We stopped outside at a hole-in-the-wall place and we viewed a pork dish simmering on the stove. It was very soupy looking and did not appear appealing, but our guide assured us it is quite tasty.
Our third tasting was at a small restaurant named “Sol e Pesca” located on the pink street. Seems that this street was where prostitutes used to make themselves available to sailors off duty! Sole e Pesca was a low-key and quirky fishing-themed restaurant serving a vast array of canned seafood, plus beer and wine. It was decorated with fishing rods, wires, baits, nets, hooks, and more, and was a great place to taste great Portuguese canned fish. That was a first for us, a whole shop where they serve canned sardines! They were so tasty that we purchased one can of spicy sardines to bring home for Dad!
I did not believe him at first, but next our guide took us to a brothel. We walked past “artistic” paintings and graffiti on the wall and into a place with a pole just ready for a pole dancing underneath a red, yellow, and green lit up ceiling. In the sitting area, the red velvet walls were decorated with a moose head with antlers, numerous photos, and more items of questionable taste! The ceiling was a play on the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo. Some of the “X-rated” pictures we took at this brothel will not make it into our album!
Next, at the other end of the spectrum, we went to “The Palace of Gastronomy” which was a Bar/Food Hall. Had we known about this place earlier in our stay in Lisbon, we would have gone here. They had various themed rooms where you could buy food and drink. There was a bar/food hall, a kitchen, a gin and cocktails bar, a wine bar with charcuterie and tapas and a fusion place where “Sushi meets the Portuguese flavors”. The whole place was decorated extremely ornately in an old world feel, with rich wallpapers, paintings on the ceilings, moldings, arches, grand chandeliers and lamp posts, stained glass windows and more. We learned that when you enter this palace, you are given a “credit card” and you use it as you visit the various food vendors, then pay for everything you charged on your way out.
As we walked to our next food establishment, we passed the Bertrand bookshop, and our tour guide pointed out that this bookshop was established in 1732 and it is the oldest operating bookshop. It even proudly displayed a certificate from the Guinness World Records in its front window.
Our fourth tasting (or rather lunch) was at a very fancy restaurant with a beautiful chandelier with purple walls and gold and white wallpaper. We started off with a shrimp dish in garlic and butter (always a hit!), which was matched with a 2014 Merlot “Dory”. Dish #2 was octopus served atop sliced potatoes. Dish #3 was the cod dish we seemed to eat everywhere. Dish #4 was a beef dish with fries. We finished off the meal with expresso. I figured the tour was over, but it was not!
We walked over to the elevator and checked out the sights. Since it was so high up, the view was really good. We wandered around some more, and the guide pointed out good places to eat. Then we ducked into “Manteigaria” for a pasteis de Nata, our tasting #5. We had missed our chance to eat one of these egg tarts in Belem, and we were very pleasantly surprised at how tasty they were fresh from the oven with cinnamon in a flaky puff pastry crust. They rather melted in your mouth. It was fun watching the employees make them as well, thanks to a big window which allowed us to watch them.
Final stop, #6, was at “By the Wine where we gazed at the ceiling that was covered in wine bottles and drank José Maria da Fonseca Lancers Rosé. It was very upscale and tasty!
After the tour, we wandered around a bit more by ourselves, trying to but not finding any final souvenirs to purchase. We were still full from our food tour, and it was about 8:00 PM by the time we got back to our room, so we once again went out on the B&B’s patio and enjoyed sipping our final glasses of muscatel.
Sunday, May 28th
We ate our farewell breakfast at the B&B, packed our bags, and got into a cab to the airport. We had enough time to check out the United lounge and grab a quick glass of champagne and light snacks before boarding the plane. Since we had had such bad seats on the way to Lisbon from Newark, my husband had made sure we got good seats going back to Newark, and his efforts paid off. We got bulkhead seats and they had so much leg room that I could stretch out my legs entirely! Even the seats from Newark to OC were good because we had a window and an aisle, with nobody in the center seat. The Newark/OC flight was entertaining due to a very lively family with four extremely active kids (and mom), and a medical emergency in the back of the plane. Our son met us at the airport and gave us big hugs and drove us home!
Obrigado Portugal!
Portugal should be included among the top ten on everyone's travel bucket list!
Azulejos. Fado. Festivities. Food. History. Landscape. Pasteis de Nata. Portuguese People. Port Wine. Safe. Universities. Value. Weather.
Sep 16th, 2017, 11:02 AM
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Great report! We are planning a trip to Portugal in late April. What was the weather like? Do you wish you had stayed overnight in Sintra? We will have only 7 or 8 nights. Will go to Lisbon, Sintra, obidos & evora. Not sure if we can fit in Porto.
What was your favorite part of the trip?
What was your favorite part of the trip?
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Matt_from_England
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Aug 4th, 2006 07:15 AM
