We went to see Portugese bullfighting in Lisbon last night. We had driven up from the Algarve, dropped our car off at the airport and taxied to our guesthouse arriving around 4:00. We bought our tickets to the bullfight online and relaxed for awhile since the event didn’t start until 9:45. Our taxi driver had given us quite…
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Portugal’s Algarve: Time to Recharge
Portugal’s Algarve region is home to some of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen. Our four nights here have been the vacation within our vacation and provided a chance to recharge our batteries in advance of our time in Lisbon. We stayed in Salema, a lower key town on the Algarve about Midway between Lagos and Sagres. Oddly…
Evora: Old World Portugal
Our two nights in Evora took us to old world Portugal. Evora is in the Alentejo region where it is hot and dry. We stayed at the new Valeriana Exclusive Guesthouse right in the center of the old town. It’s always tricky driving through these old towns. Streets are a tangle, many are one-way, and they are usually paved in…
Hidden Portugal: The Schist Villages
Portugal is not as popular with American tourists as the rest of Europe so much of it may seem hidden. We (well, I) wanted to discover more Hidden Portugal. And I found it in the Schist Villages. These 27 villages lie in the Serra da Estrala mountains in central Portugal. Their name comes from the Schist stone that they are…
Good Luck in the Douro Valley, Portugal
No trip to Portugal would be complete without Port wine and the Douro Valley is the source. We experienced good luck on numerous occassions during our visit there. There are several towns in the Douro but to immerse yourself in Port, stay at a Quinta like we did. The Quinta de Marrocos and their staff were wonderful! The Quinta sits…
Galicia: A Short Respite in Spain During Our Journey Through Portugal
The Galicia region of Spain was a natural extension of our trip to Portugal. We had read that the food was some of the best in Spain and that the scenery was fantastic. Galicia did not disappoint! Galicia, like the Brittany region of France, was settled by Celtic people very early on. The Celtic influence is still strongly felt in…
Nazare, Portugal: A Full Day
Our time in Nazare, Portugal was great. We only had one full day there and we made the most of it! We started with going to market, stopped off to watch sand soccer in an impromptu stadium on the beach, had a picnic lunch, hung out on the beach, took the funicular up to the Sitio for sunset (gorgeous!), came…
More Portugal: Continued Live
More Portugal Dave and I are now in the beach town of Nazare. We will stay here for two nights. After a lovely day at the beach yesterday, we enjoyed the Festas do Mar in Cascais at night. It was a beautiful night and I wore the outfit I bought at the market earlier in the day. As we walked…
Live from Portugal
We are in Portugal! After flying overnight and arriving in Lisbon at 4:35 local time, we picked up our rental car, fought rush hour traffic and got to Cascais only to discover that a fest was interfering with the route to our hotel. Needless to say, this was not ideal when working on only four hours of sleep. We ended…
Having Fun in France With The Locals
Dave’s Fun in France We were able to have some fun in France courtesy of learning enough of the language to start conversations. In Roussillon, a hill town in Provence reminiscent of Sedona, we had hiked the Le Sentier des Ocres park enjoying the gorgeous, majestic red ocher cliffs on a picture perfect blue sky day. After the hike, we…