The more research I'm doing on Portugal, the more I see how crowded places there can be!!!. I wish we had visited about 10 years ago! I somehow fear that our trip to Portugal this Septmenber is going to be more challenging than even Andalusia or Barcelona. In terms of crowds and even hotel prices! Which is kind of a shock since I kept hearing how relatively inexpensive Portugal is.

Just as an FYI for anyone looking for new destinations...... I cannot recommend highly enough Romania, Georgia, and Armenia. Yes, I know those are not your tipical first choice options But, oh wow, our trips there were just incredible. Georgia and Armenia especially are so different from other places in Europe. And they are soooooo cheap! And not crowded YET! Especially Armenian. In some of the spectacular cathedrals and churches that we visited, we were practically alone. I am so glad that I got a chance to visit these three countries before they've become major travel destination. I do have to say though that Georgia is rapidly gaining popularity, so the numbers of visitors there grow by the minute.

Well, this had really nothing to do with my original post! But I wanted to share )

[QUOTE=minamax10;16877840]The more research I'm doing on Portugal, the more I see how crowded places there can be!!!. I wish we had visited about 10 years ago! I somehow fear that our trip to Portugal this Septmenber is going to be more challenging than even Andalusia or Barcelona. In terms of crowds and even hotel prices! Which is kind of a shock since I kept hearing how relatively inexpensive Portugal is.

Don't worry too much about the crowds and don't let it ruin your trip. Portugal in September might not be as bad as you think. We were there at the end of April last year, and the only place that had really long lines was the Jeronimos Monastery. Of course, I don't know how April compares to September. We were in Seville at the end of September and early October in 2017, and the crowds and lines were much worse than the crowds in Lisbon in April.

Oh, I'm so glad I found a kindred spirit! Most people's reaction to when I said I was planning a trip to Armenia was less than enthusiastic . I almost want to keep this a secret, but yes, Armenian culture, history, ancient churches are just spectacular. A huge surprise was how wonderful the service is in Armenia. Everyone we met at restaurants, hotel, supermarkets, even taxis drivers! were so nice. I mean for me this was a huge surprise since I expected to see the effect Soviet era should have left. There was none. We were treated like the most important and welcomed guests. I can go on and on...but Armenia (and Georgia) is definitely a must visit destination.

[QUOTE=KarenWoo;16877931] Perhaps because I planned everything in South of Spain so painstakingly and took advantage of all the skip-the-lines and reserved entrances, we didn't have to wait anywhere. Didn't really see any crowds or lines in Seville. The crowdest place was Cordoba's narrow streets, but even there it was not bad. Perhaps we just got very lucky with Spain. That's why every video (videoblogs etc) surprise me how many people are out and about in Portugal. But, yes, I'll try to worry less and plan more ). I'll defintely research and try to get as many tickets prebooked before we go whenever possible. Too bad that Belem Tower and Jeronimos Monastery have none of these

I think you can go to the Archaelogy Museum to buy your tickets to Jeronimos Monastery. You can visit the museum, and then go from there to the Monastery. I think the buildings are attached. I'm not sure why we didn't do this. Although I think it's because as I might have said earlier the line to buy tickets at the Monastery was short, but we ended up waiting in line for an hour because they let all the tour groups in first. And the tour groups kept coming and coming! They were from a cruise ship.

I know he will love it!

. Hm... I wonder how group entrances are arranged. Because we usually go as a group of 10-15 people with a private guide, we too were using "group entrance" pretty much everywhere we visited. Not sure how that's done for Jeronimous Monastery. Need to research more!