Suzanne and I spent just over two weeks in Portugal in the second half of September. The time was split evenly with the Bakers (Marv and Laurie) and the Herefords (Dean and Sue). While we visited eight cities, took five guided tours, and traveled a fair amount of the country side, it feels like we just scratched the surface. The country is rich in history and culture, and is filled with warm, humble, and industrious people.
Portugal is an old country and has self-governed for all but a short period of time. They scoff at any subservience to Spain and consider themselves historically and fundamentally different than the Spaniards. Many we spoke to state that their best times are behind them by several hundred years. They were once great explorers and to this day, many former colonies still speak Portuguese. This history seems to shape the collective persona of the people we met. The fact that they lived through most of the 20th century with nasty dictators didn’t help. Despite all this, people appear to be optimistic as the tourism and the economy are on the upswing.
Some other personal observations:
- Food and wine are both delicious and inexpensive.
- Iberian Pork is ubiquitous and also delicious.
- Fish and seafood are plentiful and varied – Cod and Octopus are king, but there are many others readily available.
- Like France and Italy, it seems like the best bottles of wine stay in the country and cost a fraction of what we pay in the US.
- The roads are generally excellent and the drivers are polite.
- The Portuguese knew how to build castles and walled villages – the building skill was amazing given the lack of tools.
- The Knights Templar have their fingers all over Portuguese history – you can hardly take a tour or visit a major sight without the Knights being mentioned. They were major players in the Portuguese empire.
- The Bakers and the Herefords continue to be great people to travel and spend time with.
In addition to eating and drinking, we also did a lot of sight seeing and employed guides to help us see the most important venues and to get the history and background. We stayed with and/or traveled with the Bakers in Setabul, Evora, Monsaraz, Sesimbra, Tomar, and Obidos. We traveled with the Herefords in Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, and Pinhao. A summary of the major sights is below, but the pictures tell more of the story than I can write.
Setabul – medium sized city just south of Lisbon where fishing is a significant part of their culture and economy. It is where Marv and Laurie HQ’ed for their three month stay. It’s considered a “working class” town and isn’t a tourist mecca. Nonetheless, we had a really good time with the Bakers, as well as some excellent chow. The market across the street from their flat was awesome, as was the fish restaurant that had “end-less fish” served in Brazilian steak house style.
Evora – classic medieval walled city that has charm, history, and shops. The walking tour was great and so was the food. St. Francis church was the most lavish church I’ve seen outside the Vatican. Right next door was the Bone chapel, which is the most unusual church I have witnessed.
Monsaraz – a small medieval walled village on top of high hill with incredible views. Just a beautiful and serene place. Interesting and unusual shops with working craftsman. We visited a couple of ancient megaliths on the way back to Evora that weren’t exactly Stonehenge.
Sesimbra – a medium sized resort town on the ocean just southeast of Lisbon. It features beautiful beaches and hotels. It also has a ruins of a major walled city and castle on top of the huge hill behind the city. On the way there we stopped at a tile making shop. Many of the houses and buildings in Portugal are covered in tiles, most often old and handmade. The shop had several people hand painting tiles and took us through the whole production process.
Porto – a magnificent city filled with life. It’s colorful, vibrant, and has a lot of character. The history is fascinating and extensive. We crossed over one of the big bridges to Gaia and went Port tasting, which was worth the climb on steep slopes to get there.
Pinhao – a village on the Douro River that is at the center of Douro wine making that’s about 90 miles east of Porto. We took the train that rides on the bank of the Douro. It was incredibly scenic. Our tour guide took us tasting to several wineries for both port and still wines as well as a tour of the area. Just a great day.
Lisbon – we stayed in the Alfama section and like Porto, it’s an energized place. The streets seem to be constantly full of people having a good time. Great shops and restaurants are everywhere and the place is full of history. We did a food tour that introduced us to not only what the locals eat, but how they live. We saw some great monuments, such as the Betlem Tower (Torres de Betlem), and learned their history. But trips to the Flea Market and the Time Out Market and simply wandering through the streets were also a lot of fun.
Sintra – this was a day trip from Lisbon and we were joined by Terri and Russell Jenson who were on the tail end of their trip to Spain. Sintra was fantastic. It is much, much more than the red and yellow Pena Castle that you always see in advertisements. It’s a huge park and town with magical things to see including the village of Sintra, the National Palace, Castle of the Moors, the Quinta da Regaleira, the seashore, and more. You really need a few of days to see it all, but we did see a fair bit because our (outstanding) tour guide spent 10 hours with us and knew all the shortcuts. This is a must-see. Just awesome.
Tomar – we went there because of Suzanne’s long time passion for the Knights Templar. We were fortunate to have the Bakers join us for the last leg of our trip. The highlight of town was the Convent of Christ and the Tomar Castle. Also we took a side trip to Dornes. This is a quaint small village on a lake that was recommended to us by our tour guide that was a nice diversion from tourists.
Obidos – this was the last stop on our trip and well worth it. It’s a beautiful walled city filled with shops and restaurants, but looks like it did 100 years ago. Most of the travel articles warn that it’s packed with tourists, but it wasn’t bad when we were there and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.
To sum it up: It was a great trip due to the sights, Portuguese people, food, wine, weather, cost, and our companions. If you haven’t been there, go before it gets crowded and expensive.
