“If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.”: Portugal 2011

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.

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.

Tiled main hall of S. Bento train station

Porto - Luís I Iron Bridge – the iron bridge carriers traffic from Ribeira to Vila Nova de Gaia.

Port wine caves in Villa Nova de Gala

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.

Wax figures and body parts

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.

“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.

Lagos

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 16^th 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.