After visiting Corse, South of France (Languedoc and Cote d’Azur) and Italy we decided to visit Portugal. I hadn’t been yet in this country but heard a lot about beautiful beaches, friendly people and good cuisine. Our goal was to visit some interesting places in Portugal – travel through Portugal not sitting in one place. Our trip took place on the turn of June. Trip was organized by me – hotels, car rentals and flight tickets were booked earlier using internet.
Our
trip started at Chopin’s airport in Warsaw. We had a direct flight to Lisbon
using Portugal lines TAP. The trip took us 4 hours – we got to Lisbon around
noon. Our group consisted of six people – two families. We rented car using
Economy Car Rentals (honestly speaking we had some problems with this – not all
important information was included in the agreement I received by e-mail), but
after an hour we were able to leave airport using rented cars. Our first target
was Porto – three hours trip from Lisbon, but before Porto we had a chance to
visit beautiful small town called Obidos. It lies about 100 km from Lisbon near
highway Lisbon-Porto. It was first contact with Portuguese culture and people. The
town is surrounded by a fortified wall of a castle. Narrow streets, beautiful
flowers, restaurants, shops …and marvelous view from walls (it is an opportunity
to walk around the town on castle’s walls). This place is worth seeing … First
important notice – restaurants are open from 12.00 to 15.00 and after 18.00. We
felt hungry at ten after 15.00 so we were able to eat only sandwiches.
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| Obidos street |
Porto,
aka Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal. Porto has long
history reflected in ancient cathedrals and churches, stunning buildings with
narrow small roads and bridges above Douro river.
What
is Porto famous for ? The most frequent answer is – Port wine (Vinho do Porto).
We had two days to check if Porto is worth visiting. The must is Port wine tasting – you can see a lot of barrels
of Port wine in producer’s special
caves. There are many of them - Ferreira, Offley, Sandeman, Robertson's etc.
In
Porto we had chance to taste grilled sardines – grilled sardines are as popular
in Portugal as hot dogs and hamburgers are in North America.
I
recommend on Porto Trindade Hotel – very good location, big rooms, marvelous
breakfast and welcome glass of Port wine. We spend two nights in this hotel.
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Tiled
main hall of S. Bento train station
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| Porto - Luís
I Iron Bridge – the iron bridge carriers traffic from Ribeira to Vila Nova de
Gaia. |
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Port
wine caves in Villa Nova de Gala
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Fatima - I
wanted to see this place – for different reasons. Mainly to see this holy place
and pray. I went to Fatima with mixed emotions – I heard about the crowd, atmosphere
of the market etc. On the spot it turned out these statements weren’t true – or
we were lucky. We saw the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, huge square in
front of the Basilica, the Chapel with Holy Figure of Virgin Mary and only few
people. We had an opportunity to pray and to visit all places connected with
this Holy Area. Fortunately sale of devotional articles took place outside of the
area which belongs to Basilica.
One
thing drew my attention – wax figures and wax body parts. Besides candles it is
possible to buy such stuff: legs, arms, ears, heads even wax models of children.
People
looking for relief from their ailments and give the figures into a fire.
We
spent four hours in Fatima. I don’t recommend eating dinner or lunch in Fatima
(in town) – restaurants are quite prepared for pilgrims and tourists – eat once
and don’t return. Maybe in places dedicated for pilgrims is opportunity to eat
something better – we didn’t try.
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| Wax figures and body parts |
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| The Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary |
Évora - we
decided to change our way of travelling and from Fatima to Évora we didn’t use
highway but public roads.
Beautiful views around, emptiness on the road and they were free of
charge – what more could you want ? We booked Ibis hotel – the best feature of
this hotel was location – right next to the old town. Rooms and breakfast –
Ibis style. We got to Évora on Saint
Peter’s and Paul’s name-day – the saint patrons of Évora. We had an opportunity
to take part in city fiesta on the occasion of this. The main point of fiesta
was bullfight organized in Évora only once a year.
Évora
is a beautiful Roman town – with ancient churches, narrow streets and ruins of the
Roman Temple. Due to all these features Évora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We
visited The Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) which is located near the Church
of Saint Francis in Évora. At the entrance to the chapel there is famous
warning: Nós ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos (“We bones, lying
here, for yours we wait"). The walls in the Chapel are covered and decorated with human skulls and
bones.
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| “We bones, lying here, for yours we wait ..." |
Algavre -
next
one week we decided to spend on South Coast – we booked nice small hotel Montinho
De Ouro in Luz near Lagos (www.montinhodeouro.com). Each day we visited other beaches in the nearest
area – in Lagos (Praia Dona Ana and Praia Camilo), in Luz (Praia de Luz) and in
Salema.
Sagres Point - is a windswept shelf-like promontory located in the
southwest Algarve region near Sagres. Only 4 km to the west and 3 km to the
north lies Cape St. Vincent (Portuguese: Cabo de São Vicente) which is usually
taken as the most southwestern tip of Europe.
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| Lagos |
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| Our hotel - Montinho de Ouro |
Lisbon. It
is very difficult to describe Lisbon – each place, each street and each
district is different. Lisbon is a town which we could love or hate – in my
case it is quite love.
We
spent four nights in a nice hotel in Baixa district – very near Figueria Square
and Rossio Square. Very good location was the most important feature of this
hotel.
Three
main districts of Lisbon are Baixa, Alfama and Biarro Alto - the next is Belém
and further away Sintra. Each of them has different character and apperance.
Alfama
the oldest district of Lisbon –occupies the tallest hills around town. The best
method for visiting this district is walking without plan – narrow and ancient streets
encourage to walk. A good way to visit Alfama is tram (elétricos), especially old
fashioned famous number 28 tram– we traveled a few times a day using one day
ticket (valid all day for metros, trams, buses and town’s lifts).
Belem
– it is an elegant part of the city. It is a place from which the caravels sailed
on their voyage in the 16th century. Today it is a place with
historical monuments, museums and cafes.
Biarro
Alto – a centre of eating and night life of Lisbon. You are able to find a lot
of restaurants, taverns and local
bars. Traditional fado can be heard here.
Sintra
– one hour trip from Lisbon by train. Sintra is a royal town and real gem in
Portugal – royal family spend summer vacation in this area. Definitely it is a place
worth seeing.
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The
lift Santa Justa in Baixa district
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The Feira da Landra
(‘thief’s market’) – the oldest city’s flea market
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| Lisbon's street |
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Alfama Tram – the most
known is 28 number
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One time stay in
Portugal is not enough – I hope I have a chance to return and visit the rest of
this beautiful country.
