Country one - portugal recap
Long Post Alert
There were so many questions we had in planning for this trip – Where to go in the course of a year? How long to stay in each place? What to see? How to get there? Where to start?
For that last one, we decided we’d start in Portugal and head east from there. Portugal felt like a great place to launch this epic journey as it was a country neither Ben or I, nor my parents, who started this trip with us (and now have intentions of going the distance and staying for the full year) had ever been. We have Portuguese friends and relatives and have heard wonderful things about the tiny country that is the western most point of mainland Europe. So, we set our trip to start in the north in Porto then head south toward Lisbon and finally ending in the Algarve region and the southern shores along the Atlantic Ocean. If you’ve read any of the kids blogs, you’ll know how much we all enjoyed Portugal. Each of the cities were unique and welcoming and provided valuable lessons for a bargain.
PORTO
Porto was charming and easy to navigate on foot. Like our home in Louisville, if you know where you are in relation to the river – the Douro here – you can get your baring quickly and find your way to all the highlights. We entered several beautiful churches and Se Catedral, walked past the ridiculously long line for the Livraria Lello (said to be the inspiration for Hogwarts in Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling taught English in Porto in the early ‘90s), and traversed both the bottom and top levels of the Ponte de Luis I Bridge. We had a glass of Port at a winery in Gaia across the river and even made it to the lighthouse and beach along the Atlantic Ocean. Our VRBO was comfortable and had a fantastic rooftop deck where we had dinner two nights and relaxed after long days walking the city. All in all, we were in Porto from Monday to Thursday and when it came time to leave, we all agreed we could have stayed even longer. Here we bought the Porto Card, which was supposed to get us into a bunch of the attractions for free and provide discounts for other places. We also paid for two day transportation passes. This would have been great, except the next day we didn’t all have our card or the passes when we left for the day and so much of the money was wasted.
Lesson: make sure you have all the passes you’ve purchased with you when you head out for the day.
Ava on the top of the Ponte de Luis I Bridge with Porto and the Douro River below
DOURO VALLEY
We had hopes to make it to Douro Valley and some vineyards, but when we went to book the trip for the next morning they were all full and we were leaving the following day. As we looked at what it would cost us for the full day Douro Valley tour (about $400 Euros for the 7 of us) and then looked at how much our train tickets to Lisbon were going to be, we decided it would be more economical to rent a van for 24 hours and drive ourselves to the Douro Valley on our way to Lisbon, where we could return the rental. Unfortunately, the van we booked online didn’t actually exist at the rental company and so when we went to pick it up had a decision to make. Scrap our plans for Douro Valley and spend the nearly $400 Euros on 7 train tickets to Lisbon, or pay extra to rent two cars (both stick shift) and pay about $600 Euros for the adventure. Given that a combo of tour and train would have been $800 euros, we opted for adventure and the chance to see a few additional sites on our own between Porto and Lisbon.
Ben and my father were MVPs and “volunteered” to each drive a vehicle. Ben driving some version of a stick-shift station wagon and my dad driving a small stick-shift Fiat. We set our sights on one of the first vineyards we’d hit entering Douro Valley named Quinta de S. Bernardo. The owner, an architect by trade, and his wife opened the winery and a small (9 room) bed and breakfast at the site of his grandfathers 1912 farmhouse and vineyard. The property is stunning and the food was incredible. We would all absolutely go back!
Lesson: As the sign indicates, don’t always trust your GPS! We almost got stuck in one of the steep terraced vineyards on a “road” fit only for a mule or donkey.
FATIMA
After an amazing lunch overlooking the Douro River, we packed ourselves into the cars and headed south toward Fatima. This past Christmas, my mother watched the movie Fatima with Ava and they were both eager to see the holy site in person. During our harrowing drive up steep hills and around hairpin turns, we all said a prayer or two that we’d live to see Fatima! Thankfully, both our drivers handled the roads like pros and we finally pulled into Fatima just before 6pm. Unfortunately, Fatima was a bit more touristic and built up than we expected with a huge church and marble plaza now welcoming millions of visitors a year. We walked through the church and onto the plaza, but didn’t stay long.
LISBON
We finally arrived in Lisbon around 8pm and met our VRBO host to check-in to our 3 bedroom apartment in the heart of a Lisbon’s Bairro Alto neighborhood. The location was ideal with the famous Tram28 line running along the street just below our 2nd floor apartment. No rooftop deck here, but a small balcony overlooking the street and bakery/café below. One block away were multiple restaurants and a grocery store where we bought food we could cook in the apartment.
We let the kids set our itinerary for Lisbon, and on the first day, Ava pointed us toward Belem Tower. On our way there, we passed a monument to Prince Henry the Navigator and the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, which sits on the shore of the Tagus Estuary and celebrates the successes of Portuguese exploration during the Age of Discovery. After a full day of walking Lisbon, we opted to stay in for dinner and cooked in the apartment. On day two, Sophia felt like we needed a break from the heat and churches and should head indoors to the Oceanarium and the Pavilhao do Conhecimento (Pavilion of Knowledge aka the Contemporary Science Museum). The kids loved both, though admittedly might have had the most fun climbing the trees and running around the water features outside while the adults waited in the line to get in.
That night the kids opted to stay home and eat in again, while the adults went down the block to sit outside and have a drink at a café where a woman was playing Fado music. It was a perfect end to the day.
On our last morning in Lisbon, we had just enough time to hop on the iconic yellow tram 28 and ride it through the narrow streets and sharp curves of Lisbon’s most famous neighborhoods. With a stop right out our front door, it was easy to jump on and ride through the Alfama district, on toward the Monastery of Sao Vicente de Flora and a great view of the Tagus below. As we had to checkout of our VRBO before 12:30pm, we took a Tuk Tuk back and had a quick lunch before heading for the train station and our trip to the Algarve region – our final stay in Portugal.
ALGARVE
Our final VRBO was located between Vilamoura and Quarteira about a 15 minute walk to the beach. The win here was the beautiful pool we had access to right out our door and the ping pong table! Admittedly, we were all happy to spend a couple days relaxing and lounging by the pool and did little else with the exception of a boat tour along the coast to the famed Benagil Caves. It was the perfect way to see some of the famed beaches and coastline.
SUMMARY
All in all, this has been a great start to our year of travel. We’ve learned a lot in the 9 days since we left home, but still have many questions left to answer. While our short stay in each region of Portugal allowed us to see a lot of the country, it was tiring packing up every 3-4 days. We knew this would be an aggressive rhythm and have 7 days booked next in Paris. I wonder if that will feel like an eternity or if we’ll still hunger for more time in one place. After just two cities, all the churches and monuments started to look the same and life in a city/tourist center can be draining. The mix of city and beach/pool time was really good; we were all thrilled to jump in the water and relax more in the south after our time in Porto and Lisbon. I wonder how the mix of Paris and then Normandy will be…
