Our family(2adults, 3kids)recently got back from a wonderful trip to Portugal. All the posts on this web site helped so much in the planning so I am posting a report in hopes that it helps someone else. I first have to direct anyone who is visiting Portugal to the popular and helpful thread "Things to do in and around Lisbon" and a big thank you to Matt from England and Lobo Mau. Here is first a quick overview: We were flying on Frequent flyer miles so the travel was a bit convoluted.
Day 1-Flew to Montreal with a 8 hour layover. Then on to Paris, sleeping on the flight.
Day 2- 8 hour layover in Paris. Went to Eiffel tower. Then flew to Lisbon. Spent night in Lisbon VIP Hotel Berna.
Day 3- Rental car delivered to hotel, drove to Salema. Stayed at Salema Praia Club for 7 nights. Dinner at restaurant owned by Greek and French couple(will look up name)
Day 4 -Beach at Salema
Day 5 -Day trip to Sagres then picnic lunch at Martinhal Beach(Beautiful beach with hardly anyone else there.There is a small bar/restaraunt on the beach. Just East of Sagres)
Day 6 - Day trip to Castle in Silves(20 min drive from Salema. Beautiful and definitely worth the visit.)Then shopping in Lagos.( nice but very busy and one tourist shop after another. Worth a visit for buying gifts but wouldn't stay there unless you like the crowds.Dinner at Mira Mar in Salema.(good food and great view)
Day 7 -Stayed in Salema, Dinner at Barco Steak House (Excellent food)
Day 8 - Mass at Chapel in Budens then beach at Salema.
Day 9 -Pool and Beach at Salema
Day 10 -Drive to Monseraz. Stayed 2 nights at Estelagem de Monseraz.( My personal favorite place of the trip)
Day 11 -Day trip to Evora. Stopped at shops in Ruegenos de Monseraz for pottery.
Day 12 - Drove to Fatima stayed about 2 hours then on to Praia Grande to Hotel Arribas near Sintra(would not recommend this hotel.)
Day 13- After a dip in the pool went on to Sintra to see palaces. Skipped the castle because the kids had had enough castles and were getting tired. Then on to Lisbon. Dropped the car off at the airport and took a cab to an apartment on Praca Luis de Camoes in Chiado. Where we stayed for 3 nights.
Day 14 - Lisbon.Purchased 7 Colinas card. Tram 28 to Flea market at Fiera de Liadra by St. Victoria Church. Walked to castle Castelo de Sao Jorge. Lunch at small expensive cafe near castle where we were entertained with Fado music. Walked to elevador de Gloria.(kids loved this although it pales in comparison to the Eiffel Tower). Grocery in Chiado near the elevador so got supplies and ate dinner at apartment while watching Portugal-England soccer game. Great game! Watched the square below become a party after the game.
Day15 - Tram 28 to Mass at the Se.Then tram back to Metro station to Oceanarium at the end of the red line at Parque de Nacoes.Dinner with our new Fodors friends Matt from England and Lobo Mau(see LDC dinner report)
Day 16 - Flight from Lisbon to London. spent night in London at Georgian House Hotel near victoria station. Sightseeing on foot. Dinner at pub near parliment (will look up the name and report later)
Day 17 -Flight from London to home. Wow what a great trip! Past my bed time so more to follow.

Sarasara. So glad to hear from you!

You really had a busy trip.

Is there anything you wished you would have seen in Lisbon that you may have missed?

Sarasara,Looks like your agenda was as busy as ours. I'm still trying to get back into life pre-trip, but not really feeling it.

I've started a couple of different trip reports, but haven't finished one. I can't decide how detailed I want to go with it, especially since we were gone for a month.

So, did you enjoy the apt as much as we did? Wasn't the location perfect, albeit a little loud at times?

It looks like your LDC was another successful venture. I was a little hesitant to go at first, but DH/Robert was very supportive and it truly was one of the highlights of our trip. I feel like we've made friends for life with Joao,Gertrude, Matt and Lizzy. I hope to meet up again one day.

I look forward to reading more about your trip;hopefully I'll be ready to post ours before long.

Sarasara and Namaka.

I really applaud you both for doing such ambitious trips with children.

Hope to hear more from you both.

Sherry

Sarasara. I think I read somehwere that your husband scratched the rental car and I was wondering how you made out when you returned the car.

ttt.

Sher, sorry I havent sent you the info on our car rental yet. My husband did scratch the car. He bumped into a sign when he was parallel parking in Lagos. Luckily for us the inspectors did not say anything about it when we returned it. The car had a few little scratches when we got it so maybe they thought it was already there or the car was pretty dirty when we returned it so maybe they just didn't see it but it was a pretty big scratch. But anyway they didn't charge us anything. I was a little worried because when we recieved the car I had to leave a credit card number for the excess( which I don't quite understand the process) and I wasn't expecting to do that as per the info on the web site for economycarrentals.com. We went through the Sixt car rental and I think the policy is that we leave a credit card for the excess but that if there is a charge economycarrentals pays it. But since we never got charged I'm not sure how that would have worked. Sara

A few more details about our trip:
Day 1:The time in Montreal was fun but I probably wouldn't go there again. In comparison to the other places we went on our trip it wasn't a highlight. Maybe we just didn't have time to fullly experience it. We went to the old port area. Ate at a good italian restaurant across from the port but can't remember the name. The port consisted of one tacky tourist shop after another. There was a nice i-max but we decided to look around the old part of town instead. It didn't rate very high on my scale(lots of tacky tourist shops all selling the same thing, although in beautiful old buildings.) There was the cathedral of Notre Dame which was beautiful and a cute christmas shop across the street. The kids liked the christmas shop also. Lots of little animated village displays. Day 2: Paris was wonderful. A note about going into town after flying all night. The kids slept well on the flight so they were pretty well rested but my husband and I did not. The seats on the flight were closer together than any other flight I have taken. So we were very tired by the time we arrived in Paris but better for us to be tired than the kids(who being tired have a tendancy to melt down.) We got some great advice from Robespierre on a paris thread on this web site telling us how to get into downtown from the airport.We had about 8-9 hours and that was plenty of time. We went up in the eiffel tower, ate a pastry, hung out in a park for a little while then went back to the airport. It was a great little taste of Paris and now I can't wait to go there for a longer trip. More details to follow.

Hi Sarasara. Thanks for the car information.
I think you must leave a credit card for the excess. I know that Economy told me that if you fail to complete the required paperwork if an accident occurs or if you are at fault (drunk, reckless, off road, leave the car unlocked and it is stolen) the excess will not be returned to you by them. I guess it is a little assurance that you will hold up your end of the contrace.

Otherwise, if it is just an accident and all of the paperwork is produced, you get the excess credit. I think this is what I understand.

Thank you for posting.

Did you like the apartment in Lisbon and the location.

What did you think of Fatima? It is so kitschy and tacky that it is fabulous. They should put a gay resort nearby.

PS Elevador Gloria is a funicular. Why would you compare it to Eiffel Tower? Do you actually mean Santa Justa?

Even though Fatima was tacky, when I was actually standing before the statue of Mary with lots of other people of faith praying I felt a feeling of peace and joy. It gave me a sense that even though people are wonderfuly tacky and often screw things up we still have a God given purity about us that no matter what our weaknesses we can hold onto if we just pray and put ourselves in the presence of God. Anyway, enough of my religious rantings. You are right I did mean the Santa Justa. One of the guide books I read compared it to the Eiffel tower. It is cool but not the Eiffel tower. Sher, We loved the apartment. Perfect location. We used tram 28 which stopped right outside the apartment and the subway which is just a block down the street. It is very clean and new and very well equiped with a blow dryer cooking utensils etc.

Sarasara. Well, I am not a religious person but I am glad we stopped at Fatima.
Also, I have a friend at home who is very religious and I bought her a pair of inexpensive rosary beads at the main gift shop there and she was thrilled to say the least.

If they ever do build a gay resort in Fatima, I would love to open a cafe/bar close on the main street. It would be called JESUS, MARY! I would hire drag queens to work as waitresses. How Pedro Aldomovar!

What restaurants did you eat at in Lisbon? Anything really good?