Portugal

Our adopted home in Europe, Portugal, is a vast and diverse country with a lot to take in, behold, visit and explore.

A small but diverse country, Portugal stole our hearts from the moment of our arrival. Beautiful, decorative tiles adorn the façades of the buildings of its capitol city, Lisbon, whose history relays the story of the country itself, from dominance in maritime navigation, global exploration and expansion, to reconstruction from a devastating earthquake and movement towards a more nationally focused political policy. Portugal has seen the rise and fall of a monarchy and of a dictator. The sounds of Fado music spill out of bars in the maze of Lisbon’s oldest neighborhood, Alfama, and catch your spirit and fill your heart with the sentiment of saudades, or longing. As you sip coffee with a taste of your first pastel de nata or relax at an outdoor kiosk bar taking in a view of the city after a long day of strolling its hills you appreciate Portugal and its people and all it has to offer.

To the south, the dramatic, famous caves and beaches of the Algarve capture your imagination as you sip fresh orange juice and stare out across the vast expanse of ocean which separates the land between here and Morocco. As you venture north and into Alentejo you can feel the influence of the Moors and Berbers of Northern Africa who ruled this area for hundreds of years. Alentejo’s interior has the feel of an African savanna with golden fields decorated with groves of cork, olive and almond trees and vast stretches of vineyards curling up and over hills as you look in every direction.

North of the Tejo River, the landscape, and history, turns more rugged as you cross the Serra da Estrela mountains or glide along Portugal’s silver coast to its second city of Porto. Through cities in the north like Alcobaça, Guimarães and Braga you can trace the history of Portugal’s monarchy and its struggles for independence and to retain its lands. In Coimbra and Porto, black-robed university students roam the streets conjuring up images of Hogwarts often singing Fado de Coimbra in groups to entertain tourists and locals alike. Porto’s colorful riverside buildings and port houses adorn the opposite banks while bridges stretch across its Douro River as it glides to sea, and upriver into the Douro Valley dramatic and rugged vineyards cling to hillsides in this oldest demarcated wine region of the world.

And after all, it is Portugal’s welcoming, helpful and friendly people that charm the visitor most. For a people make a nation and these people love the rich, beautiful and authentic traditions of this place, this wonderful place.

Our first trip to Portugal was in the fall of 2018. A page of our various posts from that itinerary from Lisbon to Coimbra, Porto and the Douro Valley, to Evora and then to Cascais can be found here. For much more information, click on the links below to in order to explore our various posts by region or city.