The process started a few weeks ago. It is complicated by the fact that a friend is coming with us, and her way of organizing a trip on a grid does not correspond to our way of doing it. It took us 6 hours to get our basic itinerary down. But things are firming up. Just purchased our flights SFO to Newark (5 days in NYC), JFK to Lisbon, CDG to SFO via a Barcelona layover of a few hours. Total cost $1100 per person plus the United luggage fee for our SFO-EWR flight.

We will spend 6 days in Lisbon, and then travel by car to Evora and Serpa to find ourselves in Lagos for 5 or 6 days. Then back up along the Atlantic coast with a stop in Sesimbre, 2 nights in Nazaré, two nights in Aveiro, to end our Portugal trip in Porto for 5 nights. From Porto we will fly to Basel to get to Strasbourg for 4 nights and then to Nancy for three nights. Our friend will then either return home or go to London while we stay in Paris for 5 days before returning home.

Hi Michael,
Maybe check into Salema on the Algarve and also Marvao over near the Spanish border. Hope that you folks have a great trip.
I am done.The end.

Should be wonderful! Enjoy.
(I can spend 6 weeks nailing down an itinerary -- and I travel solo.)

We spent the night in Marvão on our last trip, and were in Evora for two nights--beautiful jacaranda carpets after a rain. This latter stop is a concession to our friend and we plan to do a day trip to Estremoz and Vila Viçosa. According to an old Fodor's, Evora can be done in half a day if rushed. I'll keep in mind the suggestion for the Algarve.

A wonderfully planned trip! Hit the Batalha Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, when going between Nazare and Porto and maybe Albaca Monastery too if interested in those type of things.

I preferred Tomar to Batalha.

Sounds like you will cover a lot during your time in Europe. But I agree with PalenQ on Batalha monastery suggestion! It's impressive. Anyway, have fun during your trip!