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Lisbon & Tagus Valley Travel Blogs

Background: Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil as a colony. A 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy; for most of the next six decades, repressive governments ran the country. In 1974, a left-wing military coup installed broad democratic reforms. The following year, Portugal granted independence to all of its African colonies. Portugal is a founding member of NATO and entered the EC (now the EU) in 1986.

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By TravelingLindsey
October 6th 2009

Portugal, Spain's backpack Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley

Contemplating Lisbon

The first official ISA excursion is completed, and I have to admit, it was nice getting out of Sevilla for awhile, and though I’m starting to appreciate the benefits of going to see the sights of a place in an organized mass of people, I still prefer traveling in a smaller group. Two people is best. Day one: After the sleepy bus ride to Portugal, where Connie and I had plenty of time to bond, we arrived at the infuriatingly luxurious hotel (just give me a bed, seriously… I’m not that hard to please and rather cheap…) and Raquel and I [View Full Entry]

By majik
September 16th 2009

Ericeira Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Ericeira

Car park sale

Drove an hour south to the town of Ericeira, just 40km North of Lisbon. Lots of headlands and cliff faces with right hand point breaks. Checked out the coastline and then went to our accommodation, Beach Tour Ericeira. A really nice two bedroom apartment with pools and ocean glimpses. Spent the next days at the beach (water getting chiily), eating the local produce and drinking local wine and beer. One day we headed into Lisbon and went to the Castle of St. George and their version of Scitech. Indiya and Jarah really enjoyed the Science Centre. On our last day [View Full Entry]

By majik
September 8th 2009

Peniche Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley

Matt carving it up

It took three hours to reach the coastal town of Peniche, which is one of Portugal's well known surf destinations. The town is on a huge rocky headland, with a smaller town Baleal on the next rocky headland. The landscape is dry and baron and the houses rather ramshackle. There was an instantaneous good vibe about the place. Lots of places to surf, although Matt still didn't find the waves he was seeking. The best spot was Consolacao, a right hand point break. Some good waves for me and the kids. Spent three days exploring the region, which included Obidos [View Full Entry]

By Krunch
August 20th 2009

Goodbye Lisboa Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

At Belem

We came back from Obidos and went to the city centre of Lisbon. This time we headed to the district of Belem with its beautiful museum of National Archeology. Belem is most well known for its pastries of Belem, delicious flaky custard tartlets that have been served for over a century. We got it from the most well known café of Antiga Confeitaria de Belem. It’s a nice area with parks to walk around in. As the sun began to set we headed for dinner in a Portuguese restaurant and I had some grilled seafood skewers yummy. We caught one of [View Full Entry]

By Krunch
August 19th 2009

My favorite in Portugal... Obidos... Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Óbidos

Inside Obidos

Obidos was probably my favorite town in the Lisbon region. In the old town the walls are covered with pictures from stories which were once hailed as the traditional bridal gift of Portuguese Kings. Its about 100k north of Lisbon so it did take us 2 hours to get there. Once we got to Obidos me dad and Liz decided to get some meringue and strawberries. Yum! We walked along beautiful cobbled streets lined with whitewashed houses sporting terracotta roofs. The shops had all there local handicrafts. Another thing we all noticed was the beautiful flowers growing everywhere including morning g [View Full Entry]

What could be better then strawberries and merringe?

By cappper
August 9th 2009

Back in the home land Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Praca do Comercio

Sunday Grabbed and over night train from Madrid to Lisbon on Saturday night. I am still Hemorrhaging money and the train ride did not help. My accommodations were already booked in Lisbon so I needed to grab the train but the only spots they had on the train were 1st class sleepers. It was nice that I had my a whole room to myself and a bed for the 10 hour train ride over night. But $212 later my wallet is once again a little lighter. ::Sigh:: Got into Lisbon, slightly delayed, Sunday morning and found my way to the Hostel. [View Full Entry]

By SKMantle
August 4th 2009

Laundry, Laundry and More Laundry. And Cascais, Portugal Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Cascais

Our pile of laundry

So, out of necessity we picked our first hotel in Lisbon on the basis of in-suite laundry. NO ONE PANIC, it was still a nice hotel. After a couple weeks without laundry, it was very welcome. We spent our first night in the hotel doing a load an hour and hanging it from every possible chair, table and balcony thing we could. The next day we grabbed some breakfast and headed for Cascais, a nearby beach town. It was quite nice, although the walking was slow due to some “dodgy tummyness”. I went for a quick swim in the ocean and [View Full Entry]

By Carly and Jez
August 1st 2009

A glimpse of Portugul; Salema and Lisbon Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Lisbon famous tram

Day 471 (26/7/09) Salema, a tiny fishing village, just past Lagos on the southern Portugese coast and thankfully remains untouched by commerical tourism. After bacon and eggs for breaky we walked to the Salema beach, hired a bed and umbrella for the day and relaxed after a hectic week on the go. We called it a day and retreating to camp for a wine before taking up our hosts recommendation for a delicious dinner of prawns and red snapper at a local restaurant. On our walk back to camp a kind couple offered us a lift .. life savers after just [View Full Entry]

By RobertoandJim
July 2nd 2009

sintra, almada, lisbon Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Sintra

P7020121

today we went to sintra. parked illegally as usual outside the town hall. we walked everywhere to find a cash machine and eventually found the biggest one ever!ha....my card was blocked so had to ring up and kick off! had some steak and a good egg. everyone got the same! we had a few games of pool with ronaldo, tried one of his chocolate cigarettes, checked our facebook then headed for almada we crossed the 2nd famous bridge in portugal and saw jesus on the other side. we drove up to him but we were about 45mins too late as it [View Full Entry]

By Isabel og Sveske
July 1st 2009

Portugal er en god oplevelse Europe » Portugal » Lisbon & Tagus Valley » Lisbon

Kaere venner! Nu er de fleste af jer ogsaa snart ferieramte - tillykke!! Jacob og Joy har vi sagt farvel til efter en hyggelig uge paa havet paa evig jagt efter steder at BAAAADE. I Malaga havde vi verdens hurtigste og temmeligt tilfaeldige crew-skift paa en naesten ulovlig kaj. Lars, Trine og Amanda har rejst med os nogle lidt lange dage paa et lidt haeftigt hav, og fik fast grund under foedderne efter en lille uge. Vi moedtes dog i Aqualand i Albufera og havde en skoen dag i rutchebaner og boelgebassiner!! Vi er nu kommet til Portugal, og i dag [View Full Entry]

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