Portugal notes summary
 

Just wanted to consolidate my notes thus far into one thread. And as I am exiting Portugal for Spain, I want to add in some new stuff. Basically I spent time in Lagos, Lisbon, Sintra, Evora, Faro, and Tavira. I wanted to get to Marvao but found it to be very difficult via public transportation, and thus missed it. Next time!

To get to the new stuff...

Evora I found great. I am unsure why I read a few times that Evora dissapointed people. It's really a beautiful little town, and surprisingly has a lot to see and do for such a small place. Definitely enough for a busy day. The bone chapel, cathedral, acqueduct, temple etc etc are all very interesting attractions. The bone chapel (aside from the novelty) was very interesting due to the hanging mummy they have on the wall. The cathedral I found to be very atmospheric, the design inside is really beautiful. The next door Roman temple isn't anything spectacular.. if you have been to Sicily or Rome itself you have seen much better ruins.

My favorite part of Evora probably was the acqueduct. It is small, but it's really beautiful the way that the people built their houses into it. I wish I could post a picture. I suppose it's one way of perserving history.. don't tear it down when it gets in your way, just build around it! Quite cool.

Evora can be touristy, which is why staying overnight there was great (spent 2 nights actually). Once night falls the tourists seem to vanish like roaches from a can of Raid. It's great to go meander around the pretty town with the Portuguese. Seems like once 10 pm or so arrives, the townsfolk all go on an evening stroll. Great to be there to do it with them, somethin ya cant do if you are daytripping from Lisbon.

Faro, on the other hand, was really not appealing. Not going to write much on it, other than the fact that outside a couple roads in the inner old town, the place is rather run down. Or, if not run down, filled with ugly modern buildings. The Portuguese seem to love tenement-style apartment buildings, and building them clone-style in clusters. Yuck.

By contrast, just down the road, Tavira is really nice. Not much specific to see, but it is enjoyable to wander around the pretty old town. The castle is neat enough, nothing like Sintra's, but hey it's free. Nice views from up there too, since it's basically in the middle of the city. If you look to the west you can see where parts of the original castle still are standing.. there are a couple towers and some wall still around. The town is built around them. Tavira also has a nice beach! Next... my Lagos-Algarve notes...

Date: 06/09/2003, 06:02 am

Message: After spending 5 days in Lagos I wanted to pass along some things I have noticed so far. First off, for those that say the Algarve is crowded from April to September... that can't be more wrong. The beaches here are used yes, but they aren't completely swamped with tourists by any means. There are a lot of beaches you can find that have no one on them practically .. and even the beautiful beaches closest to Lagos have plenty of room to hang out at.

I saw some 'Best Algarve beaches' posts before and so in answer to that I would say the Praia do Camilio has been my favorite thus far. It's perhaps a 15 minute walk outside of Lagos' center. It feels secluded, the sand is great and the water there is very swimmable (not a lot of seaweed, clean water).

Lastly I would recommend a grotto trip with one of the local fishermen. It isn't a huge trip or anything (40 min to an hour) but is really neat to see the cliffs and rock formations to the west of Lagos. It's also really cool actually just to see how the fishermen handle their boats.. our guy had skills .. he fit us into little cracks that we probably had no business being inside ;)

And lastly, my Lisbon and Sintra notes:

Date: 06/14/2003, 07:25 am
Message: Just got done with four days in Portugal's capital Lisbon, with a day over in Sintra. I decided not to go down to Cascais since I had spent so much time at the beach already in Lagos (click on my name to find my notes on Lagos if interested).

Lisbon actually surprised me by being more beautiful and fun than I had expected. People had told me it was an OK destination but nothing great.. I found it to be quite cool. The squares in the Baixa area are really beautiful, especially the main square Praca Dom Pedro.

At one end of the square, up on the hill is the back of a ruined monastery named Igreja do Carmo. If you are in the square it dominates one of the corners. You can walk around the inside (basically the roof is missing and some arches too) .. for me it was incredibly cool and beautiful. And strangely enough, in their museum, they happen to have 3 mummies, one of which is inside a 9th century BC Egyptian sarcophagus.

For me this ruined monastery was much more interesting than Lisbon's other famous monastery, the Jerónimos. Although the Jerónimos was interesting also. The best part was the inner courtyard, with it's beautiful architecture. Definitely worth the small admission price. The castle proved to be a bit of a let down, it was really too well restored in the 19th century. Looks too .. umm .. glossy and perfect.

I would definitely recommend a visit out to the oceanarium. It sits in the Park of Nations, at the end of the red metro line. Real nice to head out there on a nice hot summer day, because of course the oceanarium is wonderfully air conditioned. Lots of cool fish of course, along with penguins and a bunch of bird species. The highlight for me was definitely the weedy dragonfish.. not a regular dragonfish (which is already a cool and beautiful lookin creature) .. this particular type has branch looking structures growing out of its body, with big green leaves. It looks like a strange mutant plant-fish-lizard freak.. truly an amazing sight.

Lastly, Sintra is really great, as everyone says. Spent most of the day walking up to, and around, the palace and castle. The palace was so much more than I had expected.. turned out to look like something out of a Disney fairy tale, with all it's vibrant colors. It reminded me in a way of Neuschwanstein, with it's beautiful verdant setting on top of the mountain, and it's over the top architecture.

Thanks RAR--brings back memories !

Thank you! Thia is very helpful! We are planning to drive through (and may be rest for 2-3 days) the Algarve on a car trip from Andalucia to Lisbon/Porto/Salamanca/Madrid in August. It's great to know the beaches are not awfully full in Algarve, but we are still concerned that they will be so in August, as some posts have suggested. Can somebody comment on this, and may be advise on where in Algarve to stop to avoid crowds. Or, should we avoid this region altogether (seems to be a shame to skip it though). Should we make a base in Sagres or Salema and daytrip to other places from there?
Any advice is really appreciated.

Salema is probably the least crowded spot on the Algarve.

Bumping for all the summer Algarve goers :)

Hi RAR

Thanks for your descriptions. It corresponds mostly to the impressions I have myself.

Please accept that I indicate 2 web links with pictures of Lisbon and Evora, for the benefit of other readers.

http://www.norbiton.com/ukdave/lisbon/

http://www.terravista.pt/Guincho/3024/evora.html

Cool links :) No I don't mind at all, this board needs more Portugal info.

Nice report, RAR. You reminded me that Lisbon is one of my favorite European capitals. And Sintra -I'm looking right now at a little watercolor my friend painted when we were there. Thanks for the memories...

I would be very appreciative of any information about Hotel Tivoli Palacio de Seteais in Sintra ?

Thank you.
i have been getting moreand more interested in Portugal lately,
and hope my next trip will take me there.
(if only I can tear myself away from italy:) )

RAR - I am having trouble finding information on travelling between cities in the southern region. I plan on spending a few days travelling from Lisbon to Evora to Lagos, and then back to Lisbon. What would be the best mode of transportation in this region? It looks as though the train lines are less plentiful and frequent. Any recommendations/suggestions would be appreciated for the both the southern and northern regions. Thanks.

Bus is definitely the way to go in Portugal. I took the three trains in Portugal. Faro-Lagos, Lagos-Lisbon, and Lisbon-Evora. The first two were horribly slow (had to take the train because busses weren't running when I wanted to go). Lisbon-Evora wasn't bad though. I took busses around the Algarve, and from Evora-Faro. They were rather nice, and on time and efficient.

Here's the site for EVA, has a timetable:

http://www.eva-bus.com/uk/altaq.htm

RAR - thanks for the transportation info. -kstolze