Okay so here I am reading all your itineraries so I'm going to post one of my own:

Matt's trip up north...

So Sunday 14th May I'll be taking an easy afternoon train trip from Stºa Apolonia to Porto where I'll change at Ermesinde for the Douro Valley line to Regua.

http://victortrains.fotopic.net/c590651.html

(Although my train sadly I think will be the standard service and not the steam hauled train which only starts from Regua.)

Overnight in a cheap pension meeting a group of visitors from US and England - they'll be staying somewhere posh, whereas I'm okay in a sleeping bag on the station platform ;-)

Then in the morning I'll be catching a specially composed historic train which has been hired by this group to travel the Corgo narrow gauge line to Vila Real.

http://victortrains.fotopic.net/c780839_1.html
(Once again thanks to Vitor Nunes for permission to link to his photo album)

Lunch and an hour or two then back to Regua and while they go on to have a nice dinner somewhere I'll be rushing like mad to catch the train to Porto and back down to Lisbon before Lizzy has "my guts for garters!"

I'm using this opportunity to travel this line, for although it's my intention to travel the Tua to Mirandela route I want to be on this specially chartered train which will be a blast from the past. It should make for some interesting photos.

Of course I'll be posting the report here and I'm lucky that Lizzy has granted me such special priviledges for this trip - I know I'll have to make up for it in the long run...

Now LDC, anytime anyplace anywhere to quote an old Martini add, Lobo is the master at arranging these nights so count Elisabete and I in whatever the plan. Vitor, if you're reading this post you are more than welcome to come if in Lisbon, and likewise Graham, if you are reading this following our phone conversation earlier please feel free to join us with your wife for the evening.

Now is there anybody I haven't repsonded to via email? I'm not sure if I've missed any messages...

A pleasant day south of the river, I overlook some cliff faces behind my appartment and have the pleasure of watching hawks flying around and attacking the pigeons so must go, I'm just about to pour a glass of wine and sit out on the veranda to watch them.

Take care all,

Matt

Hi Everyone,
We're off tomorrow on our trip--heading to D.C. and Spain and ending up in Lisbon for the much anticipated LDC on May 26 or 27. I'll check posts for information on time and place. Thanks again for all the wonderful information I've found here.
Nancy

Nancy, if you are there, mail me, and I'll mail back my telephone number. I don't post it here by obvious reasons.
João

Hi Nancy. My good wishes for a safe and happy trip.

WOW. You really are going to have a lovely vacation.

Sherry

Nancy I didn't know you were coming to D.C. first. We may finally get some rain so be prepared but it is fairly warm and the flowers, etc are gorgeous right now.

Sher I definately plan to give a detailed report when I return.

Looking forward to Matt's report on a very interesting, if short, trip.

Hmnn last poster, lot of white space in your post. It works for the cover of a Beatles album...

But you are right, Top Gear, an English motoring program recently featured a race between a mountain bike and car down through the narrow twisting streets of Ol' Lisboa and the bike won...

Well, wasn't that an interesting afternoon? I guess the Fodors editors were hard at work.

Thank you!

Did I miss something? Didn't see any "white spaces" but can guess what you mean....

Nancy, have a wonderful trip and I hope we get to meet in Lisbon for the LDC.

Sher, after all the back and forth, I have now decided to keep the car for all 10 days. Just have to make up my mind about the automatic or not. Not thrilled to go off the airport with our junk ( remember the clubs?-ha ha ) anyway, I'll keep you posted.

Lyn. The voucher says that they will meet us in the arrivals hall and shuttle us to the rental area which is near the airport.

I have to find out from them if we can get a taxi from that office. If not they can just shuttle us back to the airport as we are not leaving Portugal immediately.

Good luck.

thanks Sher,

Well, I just tried to reserve the manuel trans. with Economy and they don't take Amex. So I guess that takes care of that. We will just have to be happy with Budget after all.
Think I'll start planning my stops now.

Lyn

Lyn. Carjet put us with Budget last year. But when I try for an automatic on the Budget website, they won't give that as a choice.

Go figure.

Sher, I booked directly with Budget. I don't remember seeing an automatic choice. My husband doesn't really mind driving stick, he just doesn't want a peugot or renault as I mentioned in an earlier post. So I am now offically putting the car to rest. Will use my Amex, get the points and hope for the best.

Matt, are you willing to try the Taj Palace this Friday? I'm ready to change and try the south bank this time.
I've been contacted by Maureen & friends, I've replied back my telephone number and got no further answer. If they contact us in any way, I think that Adega das Gravatas is a good option, otherwise we'd like to follow you and try the curry.
Ladylin, make sure you give either Matt or me the coordinates to contact you. I already have Nancy's hotel phone number and date of arrival. Anyway I hope to have today an idea of date and meeting point for 4th LDC meeting.
Sara, Berna hotel is good location. It's not too much into city center. The time you arrive, the traffic shoul be low. And it's easy to navigate to either bridge you choose to go south.

Count my husband and I in for meeting of the LDC on May 26 or 27. Lobo, I can also send you an email with our hotel info if you wish?

I've just contacted Pateo da Memoria and they told me to decide on the date, because they already have reservations up to December!!!
Anyway, I'll contact them again for more details, and hopefully we'll have a date set up today.
Either 26 or 27, the meeting point will be the newspapers kiosk just in front of Pasteis de Belem (on the other side of the street) by 7pm.
Matt will be wearing his New York Yankee's cap and I'll be wearing my Indiana Jones hat.
So far I count with:
Matt+1
Lobo+1
Nancy+1
Ladylyn+1
Baileys+1
I think I understood correcly who's willing to attend. If I understood wrong, please correct me.

Lobo, those dates are fine for us - I might be able to bring a couple more but haven't confirmed it yet. So maybe it will be ten but I'll need to get back to you. Friday is okay for us re the curry, we'll have to sort something out though if we go to the tie cellar - who is Maureen and friends? God I've been so disorganised since returning from England...

And now I'm just being plain greedy.

200 posts hurray!

This LDC sounds like a lot of fun, I'm sorry I won't be back in Lisbon till next March, but I hope it's still going then.

For robertsmyth, we have always used the Michelin maps -- actually, we buy their spiral bound atlas of Portugal and Spain (we have never been able to find one of Portugal only), but that's because we prefer the "page approach" to the "spread the huge map over your lap" approach. I think the atlas is about 20E.

I've now checked my map, and as far as driving from Braga back to Lisbon through the Alentejo, it looks like you can either take secondary roads (heading southeast as you leave Braga) or getting on the superhighway from Porto south and shooting east at a more southerly spot. If you start your swing southeast from Braga, you will be on secondary roads (typically in very good repair in our experience), through Vila Real (which will give you a chance to visit the Mateus estate, which is very nice when not beseiged by tour buses), through Lamego (has a more modest version of the Bom Jesus church and a nice regional museum), to Viseu (which I confused with Vila Real in my first post -- it's in Viseu where there is a very nice art museum and church cloister), then over to Guarda (possible detour through the Serra da Estrela), down to Belmonte (one of the country's most beautiful pousadas is there in my opinion, along with a really unusual Roman two-story ruin, and a nice castle town. (on the way down to Belmonte, you could stop at Celorico da Beira to buy lots of yummy cheese). Belmonte is also near some very nice "aldeias historicas de Portugal", historical towns, which in this part of the country tend to be all stone houses, some built into the rocks (I'm thinking here of Sabugal, Sortelha, and Linhares -- only Linhares is in the Serra da Estrela, the other two are off to the east of the highway south from Guarda towards Lisbon). Continuing southwest, you will take the turn-off to the east for Portalegre and make your way to Castelo de Vide and Marvao, two beautiful castle towns (I think many share my opinion that Marvao is the most specacular of them all), then swinging back west and going through Estremoz, coming into Lisbon from the west. That may be too hectic of a drive for four days if you want to tour along the way, so another option is to just get on the main Porto-Lisbon road and cut east on the highway at Entroncamento,which will take you over near Marvao and allow you to tour the Alentejo for the bulk of your time. I love the Alentejo, though the north of Portugal is very nice as well, so you will have some hard decisions to make. Boa viagem! L.

It's official: Next LDC meeting is on Saturday the 27th May, 8pm.
Meeting point is newspapers kiosk in front of Pasteis de Belem at 7pm. The owner assures entertainment up to 12pm, first with live music (fado) and then karaoke (international hits) for the brave.
I'll go previously on site with Loba (and Matt if possible) to see the menu, the payment methods, the karaoke and to obtain an estimate of the $$$$$ (or €€€€€€).
Nancy, Ladylyn and Baileys, if by any reason you have a change of plans, please let me know.
LDC management is very commited to keep costs below 20 euros/person. Let's see if it is possible.

LDC on 27th sounds great to me, lobo. Thanks so much to you and Matt for organizing it - sounds like we're going to have a great time! Looking forward to it! Are we meeting at 7 pm or 8pm at the kiosk?