Trip to Portugal
We just spent 12 days in Portugal, a country we did not know.
Our journey took us from Porto to Pinhao through Amarante, from Pinhão to Nazaré via Coimbra, Fatima, Evora, Lagos with a trip to Sagres and Cape St. Vincent, and finally Lisbon with excursions to Sintra and Cascais.
We planned our trip with the help of a Portuguese agency “Portugal Trails” that made the hotel reservations, car rental, and provided us with several useful documents like a 300-page guide on Portugal, equivalent to a Michelin guide and a “Tour Book” where our trip was planned day by day with the itineraries, suggestions of things to do and restaurants to try. In addition they provided us with a GPS with all destinations already programmed; this helped us a lot.
We drove more than 1700km which allowed us to really get to know Portugal. We did not expect to see that many forests and mountains! I was very impressed with the quality of their roads and highways.
Notre Voyage
(Click on any photo to enlarge it)
The Portuguese are lovely people, friendly and very helpful. Between French, English, Spanish and some Portuguese words we had no communication problems. We ate a lot of fish and drank a lot of Porto …
The weather was really hot, most days the temperature was above 30 degrees.
Porto : colorful and charming city with many churches covered with Azulejos (ceramics decorated with blue drawings). About this, the main hall of the train station is completely covered with azulejos; spectacular!
Gare de Porto
Église avec Azullejos
You need strong legs to visit Porto; everything is up and down! We stayed at the Grand Hotel Do Porto, we fell in love with it, a real gem! The King of Portugal and the Duke of Windsor stayed there. Very well located in a pedestrian street almost opposite the superb Café Majestic, a landmark and fine example of the Belle Epoque style.
We visited the Lello bookshop that inspired JK Rowling for some of the sets of Harry Potter as she lived for a while in Porto. We went to a McDonald’s located in an old café where the original decor, Art Deco, has been preserved. Took a boat trip on the River Douro. Took the tram (very nice) to spend an afternoon at the ocean. Had lunch at the Bolhao market and ate fish. Tasted the “Francesinha” local specialty that requires a good stomach!
Tram à Porto
Porto
Porto – Ribeira
Lunch au marché Bilhao
Amarante
On to Pinhão via Amarante, a picturesque little town on the Douro, one of the jewels of northern Portugal. From there we left the highway to take the scenic route 101 that meanders though hills covered with terraced vineyards used to produce port. This road reminded me of the Lebanon mountain roads …
Pinhão : small town nestled in the hills. We had dinner in a very nice little restaurant, Cais da Foz, where we saw firsthand how much the Portuguese are kind and welcoming. The owner offered us a port of his own making, delicious!
Coimbra
From Pinhão to Nazare via Coimbra seat of the oldest university in Portugal. Again, as in most of the cities visited, the streets are up and down. Fortunately, the Portuguese built lifts and cable cars everywhere!
Nazaré
Nazaré
Nazare : small bustling seaside town. We chose it because we wanted to spend 2 nights near the beach and it is close to Fatima where we wanted to make a pilgrimage. Unfortunately when we arrived at Nazare the weather was foggy and it was barely 15 degrees in the morning. The hotel location was great but one of the nights we slept very badly because of the noise in the street as Portugal had won its match of EURO 2016 that day! It is also on the cliffs of Nazare that the biggest waves in the world were observed.
Click here to see surfing on Huge waves in Nazare
A cable car provides access to the cliff where you can walk up to the point where the waves crash.
Dans le funiculaire à Nazaré
From Nazaré long road to Evora on beautiful highways.
Évora – Ruines & Poussada
Evora : medieval city in the heart of Portugal in the region of Alentenjo. The wall surrounding the city is intact.
Chênes Liège
The topography is very different, no more mountains but it is on a plateau. Drier climate. Country of cork oaks, Menhirs and Cromlechs that we visited. We spent the night in the Poussada Evora Convento, a former convent, and another place we fell in love with. Just in front you can see well preserved Roman ruins.
Menhir près d’Évora
From Evora to Lagos in the Algarve on excellent highways.
À Sagres
Falaises au Cap St-Vincent
Lagos : very touristy town with a very large marina. We stayed in a huge hotel complex in front of one of the longest beaches in the region. We summoned our courage and dove into the Atlantic, just seconds !! Brrr… Visited caves by boat. Made a trip to Sagres, a beautiful seaside resort with impressive cliffs and pushed to Cape St Vincent at the extreme western tip of Portugal. Again the cliffs are spectacular.
Au cap St-Vincent
Lisbonne – rue dans Alfama
Grottes à Lagos
From Lagos to Lisbon by motorway. Returned the car on arrival in Lisbon, where we took public transportation, Metro and the famous and very touristy TRAM 28.
Lisbonne – Ascenseur
Lisbonne- Alfama
Lisbon : big city, where as in Porto you need good legs to walk and climb! Fortunately there are elevators and cable cars …
We wandered around the old town and spent some time in the picturesque Alfama district.
From Lisbon we made two day trips, one to Sintra and the other to Cascais. In both cases we took the train. We were warned against pickpockets, fortunately we have had no misadventure of the sort.
Sintra Palais Pena
Sintra is situated in the nearby hills of Lisbon and was the vacation resort of the royal family. There are several palaces and a Moorish Castle. We visited the National Palace, Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira. Fortunately there is a bus that goes around because the whole area is very hilly and the climbs are steep!
Cascaïs
Cascaïs is on the ocean, a very pretty resort, but it’s really mainly the beaches.
Back to Montreal from Lisbon.
Click here to see more photos of this trip on the HIL-AIR site in the photography section
Photography, Voyage | Nabil | 
31 July, 2016 13:32
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