Algarve to Lisbon

After exploring the Duoro Valley for a couple days, it was time to move on to our next destination, the Algarve, Portugal's southernmost coastline region. Our journey took just over 7 hours driving through the middle of the country. To break the drive up a bit we stopped in at the university town of Coimbra, the "Cambridge" of Portugal. Coimbra is a riverfront city and is the former capital. The town is home to not only the university but also a preserved medieval old town with a maze of narrow streets lined with shops and eateries. Situated atop of hill is the university campus. It was here where I finally made a deal with Z that if I agree to have lunch at Burger King that he'd stop mentioning it every time he saw a sign or location (and unfortunately for me there are a lot of them). Deal accepted and honoured for the rest of the trip!! 

From here we continued our rather scenic drive to the Algarve. We arrived late afternoon at the W Algarve and were warmly welcomed by the staff. We scored an insane upgrade here and found ourselves in a corner two bedroom suite with a wrap around balcony with ocean view; yea low season! The room even came with a little wine fridge which was awesome seeing as we brought some wine with us that needed chilling. The time leading up to our arrival in the Algarve was quite packed with activities and a lot of driving so arriving here our plan was to mostly relax. What we hadn't realized prior to arriving is that the Algarve was experiencing a sargassum problem while we were there. This was rather unfortunate because the few beaches that we attempted to visit were impacted making it undesirable to go into the ocean despite seeing in the not too far distance from the shoreline that the water seemed to be clear. So instead we mostly relaxed by the hotel pool when not exploring the area by car. The hotel grounds were quite nice and it appears there are plans to expand the property in the future. The beach right by the property is fairly small and rocky at the shoreline but would be nice if it hadn’t been for all the seaweed. The hotel has a shuttle to another beach about a 5 minute drive away and it is much larger with lovely white sand and a beach restaurant; unfortunately the seaweed had taken over here too and we skipped hoping in the water. 

We had not planned any tours in this part of Portugal, but after a very strong recommendation from one of the hotel staff saying we had to see the Benagli caves, we booked ourselves a last minute (day before) catamaran boat tour that explored the Algarve coastline. The tour started at the Marina de Portimão, about an hour's drive from our hotel. Our tour group in total was about 15 people which was great because it wasn't crowded and gave us plenty of space to comfortably relax on board; we chose to chill out on the netted trampoline area at the front of the catamaran. The tourgave us great views of the rugged coastline and the many beaches that are not accessible by any way other than by ocean. The coastline cliffs were stunning with their multi coloured layers of rock with random villages dotted along the coastline. There are numerous caves along the cliffs with some leading to a hidden beach; the most famous in the Algarve being the Benagli caves. These are only accessible by kayak or small boat so our catamaran wasn't able to get right inside, but we got close enough to get a good glimpse of the hidden beach inside while also maneuvering around all the ocean kayaks. Before heading back to the marina after exploring the coastline, we anchored so we could swim or partake in some water activities like stand-up paddle board. The water was so frigid that I didn’t last very long. Following the catamaran tour we enjoyed a lovely beach front dinner. 

After a relaxing 4 days in the Algarve, it was time to move on and head back towards Lisbon. To break up our stays still even more, we spent a night at the Penha Longa Resort located in the Natural Park of Sintra-Cascais and situated on the outskirts of Lisbon. The hotel had recently been renovated and provides a blend of modern and contemporary design with the picturesque hills of Sintra. There is a world-class golf course situated in the park along with lush gardens, hiking trails, and an old monastery. This was the second hotel we stayed at on this trip that was hosting a wedding. The resort has several restaurants onsite providing different exquisite culinary experiences, boasting two Michelin star restaurants. We didn't eat at either, however the head chef at the restaurant we did eat at, Arola, was the same chef as one of the Michelin starred restaurants. We had a lovely dining experience to explored a contemporary twist to some traditional Portuguese foods. Staying at this resort made it easier for us also to explore the town of Sintra and the National Palace of Sintra called Pena Palace. This is the only palace in Portugal and is a Romanticist palace originally built as a monastery in the 1400s before it was transformed in the early 1800s to a palace to serve as the summer residence for the Portuguese royal family (that no longer exists). We arrived too late to be able to explore the interior of the palace, however walking around the grounds and exterior was most interesting with the incredible views overlooking Lisbon and the ocean. The architecture of the palace was fascinating with numerous towers and turrets, all painted in bright colours giving it a very "playful" look. We also spent some time exploring the charming town of Sintra walking through the labyrinth of narrow streets lined with little shops, restaurants and wine tasting places.

From the Sintra area we drove to our final destination, Lisbon. Traffic definitely got busier the closer we got to the city centre. Before dropping off the car, we stopped in at the Belėm waterfront area. This beautiful area of Lisbon is also home to the famous Pastéis de Belém, a must visit when in Lisbon. The cafe was established in 1837 and is the most popular place to get pastéis de nata. With how popular this cafe is, the tarts are extremely fresh as they keep making them all day long to make sure they don't run out. These delightful custard tarts are Portugal's traditional desserts topped with a dusting of either icing sugar or cinnamon and melt in your mouth and it's easy to want to eat more than one. We may have indulged ourselves a few times over the course of this trip. The Belém area has quite a few sites and monuments to see including the Jerónimos Monastery, and the Monument to Discoveries. From the boardwalk you can also get a good view of the Cristo Rei statue (which resembles Rio de Janerio's Christ the Redeemer), which was constructed as a symbol of gratitude to God for sparing Portugal during WWII in which Portugal remained neutral. 

Lisbon is Portugal's hilly coastline capital city. It boasts several distinct neighbourhoods, all which have a unique history of how they came to be. We choose to stay in the centre of Lisbon for ease of convenience to explore the city. We stayed at a funky, boutique hotel called The Ivens. The hotel and its decor was inspired by the explorers Ivens and Capelo and has a jungle vibe to the lobby and rooms providing an oasis feel within the bustling city. The restaurants within the hotel are a destination even for those not staying at the hotel. It's a very unique hotel, but very fitting with the explorer theme throughout. 

We started our Lisbon exploration with a private tuk tuk tour and this gave us a great introduction to the various different neighbourhoods and different sites to perhaps go back and spend a bit more time seeing. Lisbon is a relatively walkable city if you are prepared for its hilly landscape. It's also easy to get around via Uber, tram, or tuk tuk taxi. There are quite a few pedestrian only streets, a lot of squares often with street entertainment, and incredible viewpoints from the higher points of the city. There is no shortage of restaurants and cafes and shopping. The Time Out Market is a collection of different restaurants and bars with universal seating in the middle of a market style building. The city is rich history and culture and a vibrant nightlife. We felt quite safe walking around in the different neighbourhoods and even at night.   

All in all we had a great time on this adventure experiencing so many new things, amazing food and wine and the warmth of the Portuguese culture. 

To travel is to live, until next time.... life is good!! 

Portugal - Porto and the Duoro Valley

We decided again last minute to change our car rental booking because we once again found a slightly cheaper price through Europcar and they indicated they had mobile pick up. When we arrived in Lisbon, we didn’t have to clear immigration because we had already landed in the EU when we initially arrived in Tenerife so off to baggage pickup which wasn’t too bad and all the while Z was trying to initiate our mobile car rental check in which didn’t work. Needless to say, we walked over to Europcar only to find a massive queue and that their advertised mobile check in doesn’t work. Frustrating, because we ended up waiting over an hour before seeing an agent and even then the whole pick up process with the agent was slower than slow. We finally got out of the airport much later than we wanted and still had a just over 3 hour drive up to Porto ahead of us. 

Getting out of the city of Lisbon was a bit hectic with lots of traffic, but thankfully we didn’t take any wrong turns and got on the highway which aside from the numerous tolls on different stretches was smooth sailing. The thing I like about European highways are they are typically in good condition, there are plenty of service/rest stations along the side of the highways, the speed limit is appropriate for the roads, and most people tend to know how to properly drive… stay in the right lane unless passing and trucks stay in the right lane. It’s a novel concept that I wish would happen back home. The drive up to Porto was pleasant with the countryside more green and forested than we saw in Tenerife. We saw a lot of wind mills scattered around the country and the occasional solar panel farm as well; nice to see renewable energy sources being so vastly used. Z and I shared driving responsibility this time around and by the time we got to Porto, I was still driving and well I made a few wrong turns trying to get to our hotel. It was a bit frustrating for me because the city was unfamiliar and I didn’t want to hold up traffic or get into an accident trying to make a turn onto the route I was supposed to at the last second. After that experience, I stuck to the highway driving and Z did all the city driving with me helping in the navigation and it worked well. 

We arrived at the Renaissance hotel in Porto later than we would have liked, but we got there in one piece, checked in and immediately left for our dinner reservation at a fabulous restaurant called Alto Porto, about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. I had originally made a reservation for 8:30pm but had to change it twice because of the fiasco at the car rental and as such our reservation ended up being for 9:15pm. But hey, most Europeans eat supper late anyway, so when in Europe… We had a fabulous meal and our first real introduction to Portuguese wines; something we both discovered we really enjoyed and really took a liking too. 

The Renaissance hotel is a fairly new hotel, just over a year old and already they are expanding the hotel with a second building. The common areas and rooms are modern and nicely decorated. With most city based European hotels, the rooms aren’t that large, but ours was spacious enough with a king sized bed, a couch, and desk area. The bathroom even had two sinks which was a bonus! Our time in Porto was very limited, so in the morning we had booked a private three hour walking tour to get to see as much of the city as possible. In the morning as we arrived for breakfast, the restaurant was filled with seniors that were just finishing up before they hopped on their tour bus. It went from overly busy to very quiet, very quickly. 

Our tour guide Viola, originally from Italy, gave us a great introduction to Porto, providing information on the history and pivotal times of Portugal, and took us around the main sights and miradours (viewpoints) in the old part of town. It was a great way to see as much of the city as we could for the time we had. We learned that Portugal is the oldest nation-state in Europe established in 1139 AD, Portuguese is the official language in more countries that I thought and besides Brasil, includes Angola and Mozambique, and the traditional Portuguese ceramic tiles known as azulejo are used to decorate buildings, churches, and even train stations throughout the country. Each tile is painted with a part of the end design and then they are assembled to create a beautiful picture or mosaic design. The famous Portuguese pastry, Pastel de Nata, created by Catholic monks in the 18th century is found everywhere but Viola's tip was only buy from a store where you see a long line up and where you can see them being made fresh! 

That afternoon we were off to our next destination, the Douro Valley…one of the popular wine regions in Portugal. The drive to Douro Valley was a couple of hours and we had booked our stay at Quinta Do Valdalagea, a quaint family-run quinta (winery B&B) located atop a hillside with incredible views of the valley below and accessible via a winding road

that turned gravel road and was only one-car wide towards the top. Our host was very welcoming and our room was situated in an old farmhouse-like building with only 5 rooms. It was very cozy and nicely decorated. Each morning we were provided with an impressive breakfast spread with more food than we could eat. Everything was freshly prepared and the hospitality was amazing. As we explored the extremely scenic Douro Valley, we quickly discovered our new found love for Portuguese wine. I always associated Portugal with port wine and the Douro Valley is the only area in the world that is allowed to produce port. Little did I know about the rest of Portugal's wine production. Little interesting fact, Portugal is the world's largest cork producer, supplying over half of the world's cork supply, and this goes hand in hand with being one of the world's top producers of quality wines!! Throughout the Douro Valley there are some 25,000 wine producers... way too many to all taste!! We did try several different wineries during our time there and did not find a single one that we didn't like. In fact, we had a wonderful wine tasting experience coupled with tapas style dinner at Aneto Wines and Table in the little town of Peso da Régua. We enjoyed their wine so much that we bought a couple bottles to bring back home. Another winery worth mentioning that we toured was Quinta Do Vallado, a 300 year old winery that still carries port from 1888 honouring the founder of the winery. We learned on our tour that even with modern day technology, some of the best wines they produce are from grapes they still crush the "old-school" way - stomping with their feet. Yum! 

The Duoro Valley is also home to many olive groves and one of our stops was a combined olive oil and wine tasting tour at D'Origem, which also had picturesque views of the valley below it. Driving around the Duoro Valley was a lot of fun with the windy roads taking you up and through the hillsides with small towns scattered all around. The views and landscape are breathtaking and for as far as the eye could see, there are wineries and olive groves lining the stepped terraced hillsides. Most of the wineries are passed down from generation to generation and you can really feel the passion of the people and the pride in their wines. The Duoro River runs through the area and valley coming from Spain and spilling into the Atlantic Ocean in Porto. We took a relaxing 1 hour river cruise from the small town Pinhaõ and enjoyed the much different scenery perspective from river level.