Yes, you certainly can bring home canned fish. We always do. In Lisbon there is a very amusing, wildly colored shop called ¨O Mundo fantástico de las sardines porttuguesas" on Rossio square but also a store that is less flashy that I really like where you can also taste with a little eatery near Cais do Sodré called ¨Loja das Conservas¨ on Rua Arsenal. Another classic canned seafood shop is ¨Conserveira de Lisboa¨ in the flat Baixa area at Rua dos Bacalheiros.

https://www.mundofantasticodasardinha.pt
https://lojadasconservas.com
Conserveira de Lisboa | Established 1930

I'm a little over half way through this trip.

The first 3 days, in Lisbon and Cascais, were great, temperate weather.

Then after the first night in Cascais, the weather turned crazy, very heavy winds. Made outdoors dining very unpleasant or impossible.

I made it to Sintra or rather Pena and Moorish castle, which were both great but in the afternoon, clouds rolled in and from the Pena Palace terraces, you could barely see the valley below.

Next day I made it out to Cabo da Roca. Some sun so visibility wasn't too bad. I had visited a lighthouse west of Cascais first (where there are some nice restaurants with views, prices not too crazy). Then I tried to take the coastal road towards CdR and came across several sandbars across the road. In one, I got stuck and had to gently reverse and then cross the sandbar on the left lane to get past it.

At CdR, the gusts were strong enough to make you teeter several times. Parking wasn't too bad as a result.

Then I drove down to Carvoeiro and the windy conditions continued the first couple of days. Still enough sun to see the beautiful coastal cliffs in the sunlight but again very windy before the rain came on Friday and so far most of this Saturday.

Had plans to go to Faro and selected other areas along the coast but the weather wasn't cooperating. Even a short trip to Portimao was slow going and that was before the rain.

Just some bad luck the forecast for next week is for some warming and a lot of sun, but I fly to Porto tomorrow. Oh well, one reason to come back. But still enjoying enjoying it and looking forward to hopefully better weather in Porto and the Duoro valley.

We just got back from our 22 nights in Portugal on Thursday night and we were in the midst of that crazy wind storm - the wind howled for three solid days and wreaked havoc on contact lenses. Tree crud was thick and half the city of Lisbon was sneezing and coughing. I was freaked out about flying on Thursday due to the wind, but it had stopped by then thank goodness.

Unfortunately, it seems to have followed us to Colorado, where the dry conditions and horrible wind are causing wildfires.

We really enjoyed Porto - it'll be interesting to see what you think.

scrb11.
Sorry about the horrible weather messing up your trip. I've been reading about the sand and wind storm in The Portugal News. They say that in the north,
heavy rain showers are expected over the weekend with temperatures reaching highs of 17 degrees C and lows of 8 degrees. The rain is supposed to ease up on Tuesday with increasing sunny skies and higher temps, with highs of 20C. Hope you have better luck with the weather gods in the north!

Yesterday, we ran into snow in Manteigas, which is up in the mountains. Crazy, the women at tourist info told us they only had snow twice this year. Loved watching some kids/dad making a snowman. The Serra da Estrela region is beautiful.

bdokeefee,
Are you hiking there? The Serra da Estrela has been on my list for a long time. Have you visited Belmonte?

Well... people cannot rely on weather forecasts. They are usually wrong. As this time they were.

First afternoon and first full day in Gaia and Porto were spectacular, not too windy, plenty of sun.

It was a tough trip from Algarve to Porto though, had to drive about an hour to FAO and then that flight is delayed about an hour, leaving about an hour to connect to the LIS-OPO flight.

When I got off the plane into the terminal, the next flight was already boarding and fortunately the gate was close.

No chance to eat anything or even go to the bathroom.

Then it took about half an hour for the bags to hit the carousels at baggage claim. While waiting in baggage claim, I checked Uber and showed like 18 Euro trip. But when I got out of the terminal I thought I would just take a taxi instead of waiting. My experiences with Uber in Lisbon and Sintra is that a lot of Uber drivers in those places just cancel if there is any kind of traffic on the way to pick you up. So I didn't want to get stuck in a loop of cancellations.

The taxi driver avoided center of Porto and probably that had to do with the Don Luis 1 bridge lower deck undergoing construction. But he probably was avoiding a lot of traffic so that meant looping to the east of Don Luis 1 and going well south of the Vincci Ponte de Ferro hotel. Still that meant the fare was over 31 Euros, more than what I expected but worth not using the metro which would have taken at least twice as long.

Vincci Ponte de Ferro was kind of a splurge as I'd seen some other places that was a lot less. But I got a rate on booking.com that was somehow about 1/3 less than on the Vincci site itself. They upgraded me to a room with a partial view of the bridge:


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6c021947b0.jpg

But the best thing about this hotel is that they have an elevator which goes down almost to the river level so guests can use their room cards to go up or down 10 flights of stairs instead of walking up/down the winding road on the southern end of the Luis I Bridge or some stairs on the northern end.

Still you get your workout walking around Gaia and Porto. Today, my Fitbit shows 45 floors climbed.

Rain forecast for the next two days so easy come, easy go. Glad I got to enjoy this spectacular place in good weather. You can see there's been a lot of investment to renovate vacation housing stock on both sides of the river as well as a lot of buildings with cleaned up facades and several more with scaffolding indicative of more renovation.

Down in the Ribeira, there were huge crowds and the outdoor restaurant tables were full. Lot of street musicians with PA systems playing loud music which you can hear from a distance. I don't know if it's traditional Portuguese music or some pop-like uptempo music designed to be festive and appealing to the crowds.

I know Porto is already a huge tourist destination but looks like they're betting on it becoming even bigger.

scrb11,
Sounds like you're enjoying the Vincci Ponte do Ferro. Are you happy that you're staying on the Gaia side for photography?
Hope you get to enjoy the city with at least a bit of intermittent sun for the next few days.

I would say that the views of the Porto skyline are much prettier than the Gaia skyline. I found a little miradouro, Vittoria I think it's called and it was okay but not as nice as from the Gaia side. Also the top deck of the bridge has spectacular views on both sides, east and west, though west is more scenic.

I also liked the views better than in Lisbon. But in Lisbon, I only visited the Jardim de São Pedro de Alcântara in Barrio Norte.

I tried to get to the St. George's Miradouro but I couldn't reach it, instead reached the castle entrance, which had a queue to buy tickets. I will try again in a week as I spend a night in Lisbon before flying out.

scrb11,
The Miradouro de Graça has great views in Lisbon and a pretty square with quiosque for refreshments next to the church. We started there and made our descent from there through Alfama.

Hello Bdokeefe, may I ask what tour company in Portugal you used and were you pleased?

My experiences with Uber in Lisbon and Sintra is that a lot of Uber drivers in those places just cancel if there is any kind of traffic on the way to pick you up. So I didn't want to get stuck in a loop of cancellations.

Our experience in Sintra exactly! And then you get charged the fee - we did anyway, but I disputed the charges and was given a credit, not as good as a refund as I seldom use Uber, but better than nothing.

Still that meant the fare was over 31 Euros, more than what I expected but worth not using the metro which would have taken at least twice as long.

We took the metro from the Porto airport to Porto - 4.65 euro for the two of us and took about 45 minutes, but we went to Sao Bento - curious how long the taxi took?

scrb11,
Were you in Sintra during Easter week? (I can't remember). We used uber 5-6 times in the Cascais-Sintra zone w/o problems (twice at night), but..... that was before the holiday, when things weren't quite as crazy and crowds not as huge.

I didn't use a travel company. I had come over to Portugal twice in 2019, and used those as scouting reports. First trip with oldest daughter and her hubbie; next with 2 youngest daughter. So now with my wife she gets the greatest hits version.

Maribel- No not hiking. We stayed in Belmonte our first trip, this time 2 nights Castelo Novo and 2 nights Monsanto. These small villages are pretty special.

True, we've actually been 'lucky' with the weather, didn't have hardly any rain up north. As far as the snow, it was snowing back at home also...we were just in prettier surroundings here.

I don't remember exactly but 15-20 minutes or so.

Didn't hit traffic until we reached Vila Nova de Gaia. I just checked Google Maps and the way back to the airport would be going west of the Luis 1 bridge, not east, which is the route the taxi from the airport took. So maybe shorter distance overall.

I went to Sintra the 17th. I parked in a lot in the center but it was below the Sintra center. I had read that the free parking by the train station had a lot of incidences of break ins so I was willing to pay to park in the center, figuring it would be closer and thought maybe it was a manned parking lot. It wasn't and it cost me about 5 Euros for 4-5 hours or so.

There were a lot of people at Pena but probably not as many as in the summer. The forecast was for very high winds the following days so people may have come out that day.

I guess I will give Uber another try tomorrow to go back to the airport where I will pick up a car to drive to Pinhao.

Thanks, scrb11, for the info about Sintra parking. Hope you enjoy your time in the Douro and can get up to those Miradouros if weather cooperates.

Weather's been pretty good in Pinhao. It rained on the drive to Pinhao from OPO but not too much and after I arrived, it was a bit cloudy but mostly clear.

Parked at Dois Lagres, walked down to town. It's a bit of a hike and there isn't really space for pedestrians on the road until you cross the bridge. Got down to the train station just looking around. Pretty there but seems uncrowded. So I made my way to the waterfront and there you saw people. There were few parking spaces and people took up 1.5 widths so fewer spaces than there could have been.

Had to wait about 15 minutes for them to clear a table at Veladouro. Food is good and well-priced but the place is popular, the word is out. LBV, the next door also had fair number of people as well.

When I checked in, they were telling me about restaurants and miradouros. I guess they sell tickets for the boat tours and the museum in Sao Josh da Pesqueira.

In fact that had this glossy pamphlet of that town, the museum and the Sao Salvador do Mundo miradouro. It's about a 40 minute drive but I had bookmarked some nearer miradouros so I went to those first.

Sao Cristovao do Douro was only a few km north of Does Lagres so I visited that one. Very nice, looking straight down to the bridges.

Then I went down to the town, tried to get lunch again but they weren't seating anyone, claimed they had all these reservations. There was a big spot of 2 or 3 square tables pushed together for a big party.

So I drove to Sabores do Douro, which is above town. I had seen on Google Maps that they had an outside terrace. Everyone was sitting inside but I asked to sit outside. They didn't have the umbrellas open so I felt the sun beating down. Still worth being outside.

Food was okay and bargain-priced. I had their bacalau grilled in coal. They had three types of bacalau, salmon and meats. Highest price was about 12.50 Euros but they brought out bread and olives and charged 4 Euros.

I would say the food and speed of service was better at Veladouro.

After lunch went up to Casal de Loivos, which looked spectacular. The receptionist at Dois Lagres said 10 minutes by car or 60-90 minutes hike. Well it took me longer by car. Last bit is on rock-laid narrow roads with a lot of dirt on them. It was a bumpy and steep climb on the car so I was deliberate and slow because I was driving in the middle, ready to stop or pull aside if cars were coming down the other direction.

I was the only one up there for about 15 minutes and then people started showing up. There is someone selling jewelry and crafts up there. His truck takes up quite a bit of the curb space running along the miradouro. Would people going up there for views want to buy anything? But I guess he's not permitted to park that truck in town to sell.

Sao Joao da Pesquiera does look spectacular but I have to wonder about the state of the roads going there from Pinhao so I passed on driving there this afternoon. Maybe another time.

I do see a hotel and quinta on N222, Ventozelo. Has restaurant so maybe a good place to stay for a night or two if you don't want to drive down to Pinhao for dinners.

The Miradouro São Salvador do Mundo is quite a long and tough drive from Pinhão.
Glad you got up to the one north of town, the Miradouro Casal de Loivos. In the village there's an olive oil press and shop, D'Origem
https://dorigem.pt/en/olive-oil-press/. .

The Quinta do Ventozelo is 2-years old and gorgeous and sits on one of the Douro's oldest and largest estates, 400 hectares. And it has its own boat. We're going up there for lunch in the fall. Not all rooms have river views. It's kind of a "get away" place.

Well the one in Galafura was great, though it's a long drive up winding roads.

I should have eaten at the restaurant there but figured I could eat in Mesao Frio after checking in.

But the restaurant seems to have a nice terrace with its own views.

Kind of a hazy day but still beautiful in the Duoro valley, between Pinhao and Mesao Frio.


Just got back home last night and if and when I visit again, I am going to strongly consider flying into some other European airport and train or drive into Portugal, so maybe from Andalusia.

Had the worst experiences with airports in Portugal:

1. 2 hours to get through passport control on arrival.

2. 1 hour delay on flight from FAO to LIS, almost causing me to miss my connecting flight. They boarded that flight as soon as they arrived in FAO and the passengers of the previous flight de-boarded the plane. Still it was late and I just barely boarded the next flight because the gate for the next flight was right next to my first light.

How is it that there are no directly flights between FAO and OPO. They have to be the second and third largest airports in Portugal? I guess Northern Europens going on holiday to Algarve don't visit Porto enough on the same trip?

3. Drove an hour from Mesao Frio to OPO for a 9 AM flight. I arrived at the Sixt rental car office around 7:30 AM and there was one guy checking all the returned cars for damage. I don't know what they don't even have a drop off option but they handled it a differently than the Sixt in FAO.

I barely made start of boarding for the OPO to LIS flight and then once landed, we boarded shuttles and it was a good 5 km shuttle ride to the terminal from wherever they stationed the flight.

All intra-Portugal flights do not dock to the terminals.

4. Then my departure, first leg was TAP for LIS-AMS. It was nice that they had a Premium Center for Star Alliance Gold, very few people there. But they asked me for emergency contact and other personal info. This is on a United ticket and United has all the information from me. So it seems TAP just wanted to collect data.

In any event, when actually boarding, we made it through the gate only to be standing and waiting about 20 minutes to board the flight. The jetway was clogged with people waiting to board. About 10 minutes in they wheeled in a passenger in a wheelchair and that wheelchair didn't come out for 10 minutes and then the line started to move.


I don't know how typical these experiences are but it makes me think avoiding Portugal airports would be a good idea.

scrb11,
Glad you were able to make it to the Miradouro in Galafura--incredible views from there. The restaurant is supposed to be nice but it was closed when we were there. It could have been on a Tuesday, its closing day.

I suspect there's not enough demand for a direct flight from FAO to OPO, maybe because of the Alfa Pendular high speed train.

We now travel to Portugal on Iberia (we're One World Sapphire) from MAD to avoid the passport control lines, making our Portugal trips in between our stays in Madrid, or we drive from Extremadura to Alentejo or from Galicia into the Minho. Both are very pretty drives.

Sounds like you had very a bumpy experience getting home with TAP but hope you were able to get some beautiful photos on your trip.

Got a lot of pictures.

Other than the windy weather, it was great. I wasn't aware there was a HSR train, something to research for the future.

Portugal really became pricy this year because I think they've received a lot of justifiable hype the last couple of years. Airfares and car rentals were high. So were some hotel rates in Lisbon.

Yes, scrb11,
I've found the Lisbon hotels' high season rates really have increased this year.

We were really, really lucky that our hotel honored the unbeatable rate that we booked for Dec. 2020, then had to cancel, then rebooked for December 2021 at that same rate (which they kindly honored) then cancelled again, then rebooked for March 2022. We'll return in November, but hotel rates are much lower then.

I've been meaning to ask...did you enjoy your stay in Carvoeiro in the Algarve?

Well the thinking behind Carvoeiro was that I would be going all across the coast and Caroeiro was kind of in the middle.

I had originally booked in Lagos for 2020 but when that trip fell through, I looked at different places. It's close to the boardwalk, where I chose to stay, a vacation rental. Also close to some restaurants, had to walk about 600 meters or so.

The boardwalk is nice, you can walk on a easy to walk wooden platform with seating at different places. Then there are gates where you can walk down into the rocks, though I don't know if you can go all the way down to a beach. So there is one place that had a bar that you could walk down to and another place where you can go in and out of caves, but the rocky ledges that they made into stairs are uneven so you have to be careful and may not be great for less mobile people especially climbing back up to the boardwalk.

I also thought I would go to the Tivoli and maybe visit one of their bars or poolside lounges but I couldn't get a good look from the street and they didn't have any menus posted. I guessed that their views weren't any better than other parts of the coast.

I don't think the Carvoeiro beach was anything special but it's convenient to town and shops and restaurants.

Portimao is a city and though nearby, still a bit of a drive because you have to go north away from the coast and then it's slow going on that highway and then go south. They had some construction blocking off the main road back to the freeway so I had to go round and round to find a way.

With better weather, I'd have gone to Lagos, maybe north towards the hills and east towards Faro.

Also another reason I chose Carvoeiro, it is an area of few restrictions on flying drones. The stretch of coast from just east of Portimao almost to Faro has no restrictions. Wind didn't allow drone flights until maybe the last day I was there.

I stayed 5 days, seemed like enough well-reviewed restaurants there for me. But someone might prefer Lagos or Portimao which have more options.

Thanks, scrb11, for your description of Carvoeiro.

I got quite lost in Portimão, and given all the high-rises in that area, it just wasn't for me.
We've enjoyed Lagos, the Costa Vicentina to the north west of Lagos with its gorgeous and pristine beaches and cliff walks and the Tavira area, close to the Spanish border on the eastern Algarve (our favorite being Lagos and northwest).

Thanks again.