Blogs from Central, Portugal, Europe

Dear All I had a lovely day of explorations today, and feel so happy to be on the road again. In the morning, I bade farewell to my comfortable lodging in Póvoa de Varzim, realising what a great find it was. While Porto was busy and quite touristy, this place to the north of the city was Portuguese and authentic. I could really practise my Portuguese there, which I'd been learning for a few months already before my visit. Being a Spanish speaker, Portuguese is really quite easy to read. It is speaking and listening to it which isn't easy, they speak so fast and really "eat their words", as they say in Spanish, so it's difficult to catch what's being said. I'm enjoying the challenge though! I took the Porto Metro for the last time ... read more

Castelo Rodrigo is both a mountaintop fortified village and a ruined medieval castle. The mountain upon which it sits is just over the border from Spain, thus the castle has been much contested between the two countries over the centuries. The castle was established around 1209 by Alfonso IX of Léon, a Spaniard, but was granted to Portugal in 1297. By then a town had grown up around the castle. It aligned with Castile at the time of the previously mentioned Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385 and thence came back under Portuguese jurisdiction. In 1492 Castelo Rodrigo became a refuges for Jews expelled from Spain. A popular uprising destroyed the castle and palace in 1640 during the Portuguese revolt against Spanish rule. In the 20th century the community became a refuge for those seeking to escape ... read more

Did I say this was a country house? It seems to be located right next to a fairly main road and it was getting traffic at 5:30am. Cars would fly by.and the road is literally right next to the house. That combined with the bells from the nearby church and the 4-5 dogs barking nonstop throughout the night weren't great. The place is still really nice and the hosts are friendly but not quite country. We still managed to sleep in though so that's a good sign? Started the day going back to the castle we saw the night before. We walked along the boardwalk stopping in the shade of any trees along the way since it was 40 degrees. At least it wasn't humid like it is in Ottawa. At the end we went down ... read more

Yes, we went back to Sintra. We all decided that we really wanted to see the Quinta da Regaleira and the initiation portal that we didn't get to see on our visit a few days ago since it was crazy busy after the forest fires and closures. We decided to change up our plans and head to Sintra again after packing up before going to Aveiro for a 7:30pm Check-in deadline time. It was going to be close but we were going to make it happen. When we pulled into the parking lot, we were pleasantly surprised to see way fewer cars than on the previous visit. A good omen! After a mad dash for a washroom for the kids (the worst part about being a tourist), we jumped on a bus and were at the ... read more

Since Dave, Merry Jo and I were not catching a flight or train, we were among the last of the passengers to disembark the ship. After lingering over coffee, and saying goodbye to the crew, we were taken to the rental car center at the airport, where we sat, and sat, and sat outdoors in the gloom waiting for our rental. Soon, we were on our way out of Porto driving the somewhat bland countryside. Before we left Lisbon, we had changed our plans and decided to visit the ancient city of Coimbra rather than spend another night in Porto. It was a great plan, and we were all excited to stretch our traveler legs again after such a pampered time on the cruise. With Siri as our guide, Dave did the driving while I was ... read more