Portugal is one of the oldest countries in Europe. During our 9 day vacation in August, we learned about it's rich history and culture as we ate and drank our way throughout the middle and northern part of the country.
Dave and I took a direct flight from Miami to Lisbon via TAP Airlines. It was a comfortable 8 1/2 hour flight where we were served dinner and lunch. I guess you have to take an international flight nowadays to get food on airplanes. Anyway, upon arriving we breezed through customs and went to pick up our rental car. We were told that our car would be on the 2nd floor of the garage. So we entered the elevator and went up one floor. However, we quickly figured out that what we call the 2nd floor is really the 1st floor in Portugal. They start with the ground floor as floor "0" and then go up from there.
We rented a Nissan Qashqai, which is a compact SUV since we would be joined by my sister and her husband, Jackie & Craig, the next day. After checking out our new ride we drove straight to the town of Casais to catch the sunset before heading to our hotel in Lisbon, EPIC SANA Lisboa.
Upon checking in we walked about a quarter mile to have dinner at A Valenciana, a very local Portuguese restaurant which came highly recommended by the girl who checked us in at the hotel. Dave and I enjoyed our meal, especially the white sangria so much that we returned to A Valenciana 9 days later as our trip came to an end.
The next morning Dave and I walked around Lisbon until we came upon a really cute cafe to have a late breakfast. There was only one table available so we took it. Little did we know that the restaurant, A Brasileira, is a popular spot for people to take pictures with the statue of a famous Portuguese writer, Fernando Pessoa who was sitting right across from us. Needless to say at times it got a little crowded by our table.
We met Jackie and Craig back at the hotel and soaked up the sun at the rooftop infinity pool that overlooked the city. For dinner, we had 7pm reservations at a local Fado, Canto da Atalaia, in the historic Bairro Alto neighborhood of Lisbon. One very important rule of the Fado is to remain completely silent while the singer is singing. Someone from our party who will remain nameless got shushed from our waiter during the performance.
We spent the following day in Belem, a 15 minute drive from Lisbon. One of the bellhops at the hotel, Ivo, gave us some great recommendations on where to visit and what to eat while there. Our first stop was Pasteis de Belem birthplace of the nata, a delicious Portuguese pastry found everywhere throughout the country. We ordered nata by the 6 pack and ate every last one of them. Nata, by the way is one of the 7 wonders of Portuguese gastronomy.
We walked around Belem for most of the day passing by many structures to include: The Torre de Belem, Jerónimos Monastery, The Belem Tower, Monument of Discoveries and the Belem Palace (home of the president of Portugal). Since it was still high tourist season we decided not to stand in the long lines to get in to the buildings. It was all still beautiful from the outside.
The next day we checked out of our hotel to head over to our secondary location for this trip, Obidos. Since the town was only a little over an hour drive from Lisbon we decided to stop in the small town of Mafra. We visited the National Palace of Mafra which was built between 1717-1755. The self-guided tour cost us only 8 euros a person and was free from the touristy traffic.
Inside the palace is a beautiful library with approximately 30,000 rare books. At night the library is patrolled by tiny bats that eat the insects that would otherwise destroy the books over time. In 1910, the last king of Portugal spent his final hours in Portugal inside the National Palace of Mafra before fleeing into exile to the United Kingdom.
After spending the day in Mafra we drove to Obidos to check into our Airbnb, "the castle house". The castle house is located within the walls of the Obidos castle. In fact, the carriage house where Dave and I slept shared the interior wall with that of the fortress. The castle was built in the 1100's so as you can imagine there is a lot of history in this village.
The first issue we had was actually finding our way inside the walls. After failing to figure it out I texted the Airbnb host who gave us step by step instructions to finding the "tunnel entrance". The entrance appeared to be just wide enough to fit our compact SUV. We had to make a hard left and then a hard right and our house was the third one from the tunnel. Well, that sounds easier than it was. The first left was on an incline and our car couldn't get enough traction to get through. The tires started spinning and we began to slide backward. Oh, and did I mention that there was a major drop right behind us? After smelling the burning rubber of our tires Jackie, Craig and I exited the car leaving Dave to navigate the stick shift on his own. I took a video of it but had to turn away before the car made it in.
We spent the next 2 nights in the castle house. On the first night we experienced a minor earthquake at 5am! We walked the almost mile long wall around the village and explored the area within. I bought a very cool pottery basket from Oficina do Barro. The pottery is a traditional style from Obidos which originated in Italy. My piece was made by Luisa.
It was in Obidos that I had my first francesinha. A francesinha is a Portuguese sandwich that consists of ham, sausage and steak between two pieces of bread, melted cheese and a fried egg topped with a tomato beer sauce surrounded by French fries. It was delicious and I ate the whole thing!
Next, it was on to Porto, by way of Nazare, home of the world's largest waves. It was a beautiful day and on this day we walked the equivalent of 54 floors to reach the lighthouse on top of a 16th century fort.
Jackie and I did some shopping as we walked along the beach and Dave and Craig enjoyed some local beer, Super Bock, as they waited for us.
It was a little over 2 hours before we made it to Porto. One of the two cities that made up the original Portugal along with the city of Gaia. They are separated by the Douro river but you can walk over the river by way of the Dom Luis I bridge, which of course we did.
The four of us rented another Airbnb for the next 3 nights. This time it was a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom super contemporary apartment on the 2nd floor (or 3rd floor for us Americans). The first night we ate at an Italian restaurant named La Ricotta. We were able to walk there from our apartment and enjoyed a great meal with great service. They didn't have lasagna for Dave but they did have a delicious tiramisu.
The next morning Craig found us a great breakfast spot, Zenith. It was the first time since arriving in Portugal that we didn't have nata for breakfast. I had their Eggs Zenith, which was like an eggs benedict but the poached eggs were breaded. We then took a 10am, 2 1/2 hour walking tour with our very informative and hilarious tour guide, Diogo.
We learned that there is a strong connection between the city of Porto and the writer JK Rowling. Rowling lived in Porto for a couple of years while she was creating the Harry Potter series. Here is a great blog on Porto's inspiration in her books. Diogo took us past the famous bookstore and we learned about how the attire for the students at the University of Porto influenced those at Hogwarts. Diogo also taught us about how Portugal and England has the oldest alliance in the world dating back to 1387 when King John I married Philippa of Lancaster. We walked past the cathedral where they wed.
That evening we went to another fado, this one was recommended by Diogo and inside the Sao Bento train station at Presidencial Fado . A very unique setting that worked great. Our tickets included a one hour performance and a glass of port wine. We wrapped up our evening at Trasca for tapas and sangria. That day we walked 8.4 miles.
The next day we embarked on an 8 1/2 hour wine tour through the Douro Valley with another great tour guide, Jorge. That tour alone deserves it's own blog.
After leaving Porto we drove back to Lisbon for our final day and night. First, we visited the CristoRei statue. A statue built after the Second World War inspired by the one in Brazil. From there you can see the entire city of Lisbon perfectly.
We arrived at the EPIC SANA hotel and were met by our new friend Ivo who was happy to hear about our week of travels. We all walked around the city again, finding some last minute locations that we missed last week before enjoying another tasty dinner at A Valenciana along with their just as tasty white sangria.
In the morning our hotel provided a gorgeous breakfast spread. Unfortunately, we were still pretty full from last night's meal and wine. But I tried my best to enjoy the fresh pastries, nata, meats and cheeses before we had to leave for the airport. Everything about Portugal was amazing along with great food and great company how could we go wrong?
Until the next trip!
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