Timeless Journeys - Portugal 2023

This post will give you an idea of how to plan a stay in Portugal in just about 8 days. You will be taken via planes, trains & automobiles and even trams as we explore the various changing terrain, sites, sounds and tastes of this amazing country called Portugal. We will make stops in Lisbon & Sintra to Albufeira (Algarve Region) to Porto and the beautiful wine country of the Douro Valley. You can use this for your plan, or just perhaps a framework as you set out on your own visit. As always, if you have been, or have any questions we would love to hear from you.

When I first reconnected with Edmi, my new bride, after my previous wife of 32 years passed away, it was with the purpose of talking about her travels. Up until the age 50, my life of travel was not Magellan-like to say the least. That year I finally made it across the pond to Italy and despite my co-travelers feelings about the journey, I was hooked on the concept of experiencing new and distant places.

I'm sure at various times I will recap and repeat myself about my connection to Edmi that led to my getting married to this amazing woman. However, this post is about our honeymoon trip and how it came about.

Since we started dating and began traveling together we always made an effort to explore places that neither of us had been to before. The world's a pretty big place so this was easy at the start. There was Singapore and Bali, Corsica and Croatia, Cayman Islands and South Africa and of course the North Pole in Finland, to name a few stops. However, when it comes to European travel, it's virtually impossible to not have repeats. Quite worthy ones at that.

So when talking about our honeymoon, with only a week of time off available, we wanted to do something fairly close. I had been longing to go to Portugal for quite some time. Edmi had been there, of course! So we decided to go to a couple of places within Portugal she had not explored before. There would be a few repeats, as this was my first time. I say repeats, not with a negative connotation. Some spots are worth multiple visits. Two of my favorite cities in Europe are Barcelona and Paris. I would go every weekend to either of those cities if it were possible.

With the groundwork laid out, let me now take you on our journey through a few beautiful locations in Portugal. I will preface this by saying if you have more time, take it. While this is a bit of a hit and run tour, it's a good way to get a quick taste of the variety of things this country has to offer. I would say an extra day in each of these areas would have been nice, but this was still an amazing journey.

We flew out of JFK airport the Monday evening after our wedding celebration. Of course the plane was delayed, we should all always plan on that possibility. The good news about the flight is with the help of the jet stream you are in the air for just slightly over 5 hours. Upon arrival it's fairly easy to navigate the Lisbon airport. Don't get me wrong, it's a huge international airport and has what I would call a degree of controlled chaos. It's easy enough to grab a taxi. However, make sure you have the address of your hotel, or first destination on your phone, to show the driver who may not be well versed in English.

If you have the time, learning a few phrases in Portuguese could be helpful. Make sure you know "obrigado" which means thank you. Some words are similar in Spanish, such as "hola" for greeting anyone. After that, you are on your own. Sometimes we Americans get frustrated with the inability of people in a foreign country to speak English. Just remember WE are visitors. This is their country and show respect to their language and their customs. It's the right thing to do. Plus, just enter the phrase on your phone and it translates for you. Come on people!

My first impression of Lisbon and the surrounding areas driving from the airport to our hotel, which was in the center of town, were underwhelming to say the least. You will see an inordinate amount of graffiti everywhere, even on some beautiful older architecture. It reminded me a bit of NYC growing up in the 70s. In fact, much of this graffiti was not even remotely artwork. I found most of what I saw looking like this picture below. Allegedly there are some amazing graffiti artists in Portugal, but I never saw any of that work.

We hopped in a taxi and after about a 35 minute drive through various parts of Lisbon, or Lisboa as referred to here in Portugal, we arrived at our hotel. We booked our first stay through Booking.com at a place called Browns Central Hotel. It's a relatively small boutique type hotel with a rather cool eclectic feel to it's lobby and bar area. The room was spacious with classic high ceilings and nice decor. When it comes to hotels on these type of excursions, at least for me, super high end is not worth it. We planned on spending most of our time exploring Portugal, not the inside of our hotel room. It's really more of a place to sleep, shower and refresh in between journeys outside. However,this does not mean I would suggest you go high or low on your hotel stays. That's a matter of personal taste and often budget.

As often happens when traveling to Europe from the east coast of the U.S., your arrival in Europe is too early to check in. The hotels are usually amenable to checking your bags until the room is ready. Don't be shy to ask if you can check in earlier, as well as a place you can freshen up. In addition, ask for suggestions of where you can go to get a quick taste of your location.

We had a very helpful young man who was more than happy to take out a map and suggest some short trips to see a few sights while we waited for the room to be ready. We preferred to walk, especially after having been cramped up on a plane for several hours and then into a taxi.

Of course we needed to grab a coffee, but you almost can't have one, without also partaking in a pasteis de Nata. These sweet little pastry cups were created by Catholic monks before the 18th century in the parish of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in Lisbon. Please don't hold me to this, but this is what my research told me.

I must be honest, sweets are not my thing. In fact, they may pull my Italian card for saying this, but I am not a fan of Italian pastry. This being said, the light crust in which these Portuguese specialties sit in, was a nice balance to the sweet but firm custard. Over the course of our stay I ingested quite a few with each location proclaiming they have the best pasteis. Of course you must have a great cup of coffee to accompany the pastry. There was no shortage of good coffee in Portugal. For me, anywhere I've gone in Europe, the coffee is always on point.

So after grabbing this little energy booster, we set off on a walk to a location suggested to us by the hotel concierge. If you are planning a trip to Portugal, plan on not only walking, but climbing the hilly streets. This doesn't mean you can't hop into a taxi/Uber or take their tram or train system, but walking is the best way to catch those little finds along the way to your destination. After all, everything you are seeing is often for the first time, so it's new and might just surprise you.