Hello.
My lady and I are planning a trip for July. We're starting in Los Angeles, flying to Israel for a week or two for her son's wedding, then, for the sake of flight times, back to Frankfurt for a couple days before landing in Lisbon. Eventually, we're flying back to lalaland from Madrid. We got most of the rough idea fleshed out but still need a bit of advice.
After 4 days in Lisbon with a side trip to Sintra, we're heading north, through Obidos. At first we we were just going to spend one night there as I'd read it's a pretty town to spend some time in. Turns out we're going to be there during the medeival festival in July. So we're wondering if we should spend a second night there. That's our first question.
Then it's on to Coimbra for a couple nights. After that we're off to Porto. We were going to stay there for several nights, rent a car and drive to Amarante, spend the night there and then head back to Porto, by way of Guimares and Braga.
However, my lady wants to cruise up the Douro to Regua or maybe Pinhau, perhaps in a Rebalo. So we're thinking a couple days in Porto, then the boat, spend the night in Regua, next day to Amarante, a night there, then back by bus to Porto. Does this plan make sense? And beyond just making sense, is it a good plan? I mean, are we missing out on anything really beautiful, or cool, or unusual or whatever? She'd like to stay someplace nice in the Douro Valley, maybe take in some kind of wine country tour. I don't know if a night in Regua and a night in Amarante will s too much or if we'd be better off, after arriving in Regua, to just hop in a taxi for Amarante.
When we get back to Porto we'll spend one more night, then fly to Madrid. We were going to go by bus to Salamanca. But she figured out that flying will save us a lot of time for about the same price. In Madrid we'll probably take a few day trips. Or just rent a car and go tooling around for a few days.
What do you think?
And hey, thanks! 🙂
Andy and Nancy