Central Portugal: Obidos to Porto-I took a road trip for eight nights to central Portugal. Two nights Obidos, one night in Nazaré, one night in Tomar, and two each in Coimbra and Porto. It’s recommended to stay two weeks in Nazaré to see the big waves but there isn’t much else to do there, in my opinion. I would love to spend more time in Porto and definitely plan to return. Obidos I stayed in the Hotel Real d’Obidos. Good location right outside the...
Andalusia: Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, Granada, Cordoba-I finally got my D7, Portugal Residency Card, so I could start planning trips to other European countries without worrying about being deported for violating EU immigration rules. Kelly was interested in visiting Spain with me, so I planned several different itineraries for Andalusia. I had one that was 14-15 days but we cut a few sites. We were both pleased with our final schedule though, Seville, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malaga, Granada, Cordoba, then back to Seville to drop off Kelly...
Gibraltar-I really wanted to see Gibraltar. It is one of those unique areas, despite its small size, that has been very important throughout history. It is the crossroads of Europe and Africa; Morocco is only 24 km away. It is also the crossroads between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and, like other areas on the Mediterranean, it had a large role in WWII. We read that crossing the border with a car can take hours. So we left the car...
Madeira-I spent 8 nights in beautiful Madeira, three nights in Funchal before renting a car to see the rest of the island and staying in Ponta do Sol. I flew from Faro with a layover/connection in Lisbon before arriving in Funchal. Funchal Arriving in Funchal I took the airport shuttle downtown. I booked a roundtrip ticket to save a couple euro, 6.00€, one way, 10.00€ roundtrip. Unfortunately, three days later, wanting to return to the airport to pick up my...
Evora and Estremoz, Portugal-Everyone in Portugal talks about Evora. It’s one of the things I’m asked frequently when meeting other immigrants in Lagos. Have you been to Evora? Not yet. Well, it was time. My well-used travel book, 1000 Places to See Before You Die, has a page on Evora. It also recommended the “pousadas” or historic hotels of Portugal. These are old convents or castles. I used the Pousadas de Portugal site to reserve the Hotel Pousada Convento Évora, a 15th century...
Exploring the Algarve-There are so many wonderful towns to explore in the Algarve, as well as magnificent trails, rugged coasts, parks, and beautiful beaches. Here are some of my favorites sites and activities. I feel quite lucky to live here and have time to explore little towns and search out new sites. I will continue to add sites as I explore. Almadena Forte de Almadena the Fisherman’s Trail runs along here. There is a nice trail from Burgau (actually from Lagos all...
Dining in the Algarve-There are some great restaurants throughout the area. I have been enjoying trying different restaurants and learning more about Portuguese food. Because of all the visitors and immigrants, however, there are plenty of options and styles. There is a lot of seafood, of course, and I found this article that helped with different types of fish: Portuguese Fish. I used this to make a cheat sheet and saved on my phone when I eat out. Carrapateira Microbar Carrapateira – great...
Lisbon Christmas Markets-Kelly M and I decided to go to Lisbon to see the Christmas markets. We took the Flixbus from Lagos to the Lisbon Oriental station. The bus stops at Portimao and another location before taking the highway north. It’s about a 4 hour trip. I thought the train would be faster but from Lagos you have to take a fairly slow train to Faro then can catch the express to Lisbon so it can take just as long. We left...
Balearic Islands, Spain-When planning my trip to Portugal, I asked Kelly M if she was interested in another trip, either to Mallorca in the Balearic Islands or Malta. The flights to Malta from Faro were more expensive and complicated so we flew to Palma, Mallorca for six nights. I’ve always wanted to visit the Balearic Islands. We also booked a one day tour of Menorca from Palma. We flew into and stayed in Palma. Palma The first night we walked all the...
The Algarve, Portugal-This was both a visit to a friend, Kelly M, who lives in Lagos, as well as a scouting trip for a rental for a move to Portugal. Kelly M is not the Kelly I’ve traveled with for years, but we also worked together. She recently retired and moved to Lagos. I flew into the Faro airport and she picked me up. We wandered through the Faro Old Town, visited Igrega do Carmo and Capela dos Ossos (chapel of bones),...