http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Bapu/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Bapu en-us Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:49:08 BST Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:49:08 BST Our 11week trip is ending in Porto a very different city than weve visited before. It is huge 1.2 million in the Greater Porto area. It is built on loads of small unless youre trying to walk up them hills so that getting geographically oriented is tough. We were warned not to attempt driving in the city so we left our rental car at the airport and took a taxi in.Our first day we bought http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Northern/Porto/blog-258654.html Our trip north over the last several days has seen the topography change populations grown denser the weather colder and the coffee stronger. Portuguese histroy seems to be older as you go north as well. We thought we had a nodding acquaintence with its history in all the time weve spent in the south but we didnt.Our fist stop was at the walled town of Obidos. The wall is intact the ho http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Central/blog-257420.html Picking up a car at the aiport in Lisbon we drove west along what is known as the Estoril Coast. Development along the coast started the same way it did in the Algarve tiny fishing villages around coves where fishing boats could safely be anchored. Those fishing villages along the Estoril Coast have by now grown to the point that it is just one long town The neat thing about it is that train http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Cascais/blog-256129.html Forgive my not having blogged for nearly two weeks. My adventures will have to be condensed until I get back on track. Ill pick up in Madrid our first stop on our fiveday sojourn back into Spain.I was not prepared for Madrids charm. It is a beautiful city with a vibrant street life and exceptional culture what little we were able to see of it. Fortunately our hotel turned out to be very http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Cascais/blog-254402.html Were leaving our beloved village in two days. The month has gone by so very quickly. Weve discovered so much more about this area than we understood last year on our first visit. Our favorite discovery is the beachcliff walks that paralell the sea. The sea has changed greatly on this visit. Weve had a series of easterly winds and storms. So weve seen our quiet wave action turn into pou http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Algarve/Lagos/blog-249294.html Weve just completed our second threeday tour and this one wore us out. The first day the bus traveled for a total of eleven hours before we reached our destination in Granada Spain. Other than halfhour coffee and restroom breaks we only had one stop in Mijas in the hills above the Costa del Sol. That is Spains sunshine coast but we arrived in the midst of a fierce rain storm. Mijas was http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Andalusia/blog-248705.html Weve just returned from a threeday bus tour that was great fun. The first day we drove to Seville Spain for a few hours. What we saw of the city was beautiful the Plaza of Spain a beautiful building built for a 1929 Exposition the old Jewish Quarters and St. Marys Cathedral. The latter is twothirds of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that also includes a royal palace. Well be going back http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Algarve/Lagos/blog-246977.html We made two trips to Loule last week. The town is the largest in the interior of the Algarve between the sea and the mountains and is known as a great market town. Our first trip however was to go to their Carnaval They have the largest carnival celebration in Portugal with a parade of 17 floats. The parade was around and around the same four long blocks in town where the street is separa http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Algarve/Lagos/blog-245558.html Were finally bestrirring ourselves to get out on the road somewhat. Two of the places weve recently visited are Sagres and Monchique.Sagres is where Henry the Navigator set up his famous School of Navigation in the 16th century. Hed gathered the best minds in Europe to study navigation which started Portugal's ability to explore so much of the world. They believe his school was out on a pro http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Algarve/Lagos/blog-244220.html My sincerest apologies for not writing sooner. There is something about this place that just mesmerizes us. Whereas in Funchal there was a definite beat to the city and I wanted a routine here there is no schedule routine or desire to make plans. We are just so happy to BE here.A word about where we are The Algarve is the southern coast of Portugal Western Algarve is the least developed http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Algarve/Lagos/blog-243172.html Don loves the elegant and genteel feeling of Madeira and we both really enjoy the landscape flowers and the sea. But after three weeks we felt wed seen and done most of what Funchal has to offer. To spend more time as tourists you really must get out in the countryside. We did that last year on tours but if we go back well rent a car and do the exploring on our own. However the tho http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-241502.html The second thing on our must see list is a sailing trip the the Desertas. These are the three uninhabited islands you can see from Funchal. Theyve been declared nature preserves and you have to have permission to go out there. A charter company here sails out three or four times a week with paying customers for a couple of hours. However last Saturday the wind shifted and has been coming i http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-239621.html Our first agreed upon must see before we leave Madeira at the end of the week was Monte. It's a village just above Funchal that consists mostly of villas and doesn't really have a town just a square.One of the ways to reach Monte is by cable car from Funchal's waterfront. It's a twelveminute ride over Funchal and straight up the mountain. The ride is very quiet and you almost feel like you' http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-239116.html The first week of being on our own in an apartment has flown by. We've achieved a routine of sorts. We rarely get out of the apartment before 11 a.m. as we eat breakfast sit in the morning sun drinking our coffee etc. Don has been watching the Australian Open and I've been retooling my yoga routine. Anyway we generally get out the door just as the cleaning crew shows up to clean the apartm http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-238314.html Moving to an apartment in downtown Madeira and settling in to a comfortable routine has been just a bit challenging. Why do I have to have a routine going to feel settledWhen we first arrived our room wasn't ready yet. So we left our luggage and walked to the main Post Office to buy stamps for our post cards. That went smoothly. The Post Office Correios looked and operated much like those http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-237072.html The final tour we purchased for the first week of our stay in Madeira was a Typical Dinner. A minivan picked us up the hotel at 730 p.m. There were two passengers already in the van a mother and daughter from Surrey England. They immediately commented upon my American accent. Given that I've neither met nor heard any other Americans so far in Portugal I guess my accent is noticeable. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-236391.html Our first full day in Madeira we signed up for three tours. The first was the sailing excursion that I last wrote about. The second was the Nuns Valley tour we took on Thursday afternoon.The minivan picked us up at the hotel and took us to a lookout point Pico dos Barcelos about onethird of the way up the mountains above Funchal. It turns out that when you look at Funchal from the sea you http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-235504.html We booked a chartered catamaran to spend time on the water view any wildlife that might pass by and cast loving eyes upon the fascinating landscape that is Madeira.There wasnt enough wind to sail so we were motored along at a pleasing pace and reveled in the sea and sun until the crewman with binoculars shouted out. The captain sped up the boat and we were soon surrounded by about a dozen cavo http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-234892.html Monday morning as we prepared for our midday flight to Madeira from Lisbon we thought we had an easy day ahead of usNot It turned into the most bizarre travel day either of us has ever experienced.First problem as we were deposited by taxi in front of Terminal One at 1115 a.m. for our 1 p.m. flight we realized that Someone had misread the itinerary and our flight actually left at 1130 a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Madeira/Madeira/blog-234394.html Today is our last full day in Lisbon as we move on to Madeira tomorrow for an extended stay. But it has been great to come to Lisbon and spend a few days in familiar territory while we catch our breath.We made one short excursion this afternoon. One of our guidebooks told us we could get a oneday trambusMetrolift pass on the Rossio so we picked up two. Caught tram 15 down to Praca do Come http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/blog-233502.html