Portugal: July 2-18, 2025 (Two days with Granddaughter, the rest solo)

Evora: July 4-7

Accommodation:
Casa do Menino Jesus: really wonderful apartment with easy access to town center, host was very kind- even gave me a ride to the bus station on departure day; full kitchen, nice sized bathroom, shared laundry facilities and great tips for local bakery/ cafe. Only small downsides: musty odor and construction mess at entry.

Meals that Stood Out:
Pateo, Pork Cheeks w/rich red wine reduction w/side of purple sweet potato purée
Pateo, Seared tuna on a bed of avocado garnished w/fresh tomato salsa & wasabi peas
Violeta, pastry shop and cafe - candies purchased to share with my family

Activities/Events:
Evora was on my radar when planning this third trip to Portugal as I was researching possible places to live and I wanted to explore the ancient sites. Turns out this was too far inland for my liking and much drier and hotter than I could get used to. However, seeing the megalithic stones, marveling at the Roman ruins and seeing the grand cathedral were worth the 3 night stay. It ended up that I had a personal “tour” of the stones (another story under “What Went Wrong”). There are many cobbled and narrow streets that were rough on my knees and hips but the hills were not bad.

Church of San Francisco is beautiful but the bone chapel eerie and musty smelling.
Evora Cathedral - rose granite gothic cathedral is largest and oldest medieval cathedral in Portugal of 11th and 12th centuries; amazing rooftop with many stairs (some circular) to climb, but the view of Evora not to be missed. I took the stairs very slowly.

Jardin Diana at top of hill not far from Roman Ruins was a cooler area which had a nice little cafe for a cool refreshing beer and tapas

University of Evora - beautiful grounds, but didn’t explore- this was part of the taxi “tour”

Porto: July 7-9

Accommodation:
Dear Porto Guesthouse: quite small room, bathroom tiny, but nice Juliet balcony overlooking courtyard with many flowering bushes and birds. Hotel up a steep hill.

Meals that Stood Out:
Whole grilled sea bream along the Douro River, seagull stole my fish head
Garden, Perfectly prepared eggs Benedict and fresh squeezed OJ

Activities/Events
Palacio da Bolsa (Stock Exchange building) English speaking guided tour of this beautiful opulent former palace - all the gold filigree and inlaid wooden flooring, really blew me away. Easy entry at the end of the day - I was quite surprised how easy it was to come upon an English tour within just 15 minutes of walking up to the reception desk.

I walked over the Dom Luis 1 bridge to Gaia and thoroughly enjoyed a tour and port wine tasting at Sandeman. Learned quite a bit of history of the business being founded by a Scotsman, George Sandeman, back in the early 1800’s in London. He was the first to brand his initials on the wine barrels. We had a pleasant group tasting after the well presented tour. I highly recommend this one. Going back over to the Ribeira district of Porto, I noticed a crowd interested in something and stopped to observe three young men jumping off the bridge into the Douro River. Apparently, it’s a thing and commonly done in the summer months. Risky though with all the boat traffic. I opted to take the funicular ride back up the steep hill to be nearer the central part of Porto.

Enjoyed a lovely meal of whole sea bream with potatoes/veggies along the riverfront. Near the end of my meal, while sitting there minding my business of removing the bones off the fish, a seagull swooped down and grabbed the fish head from the remnant plate. He was so quick, I hardly noticed. Grateful that he didn’t grab the remainder of the fish on my dinner plate. I really would not have liked that.

Aveiro: July 9-12
Oh boy, Aveiro might be THE PLACE. I was looking for a town in Portugal to live and this town had it all for me. Right out of the gate (or train station), the beautiful architecture of the buildings surrounding the station are gorgeous. Not far from the ocean, nice canal to salt flats, streets are mostly flat, locals are charming. All that I needed within walking distance or near public transportation. Uber and taxi available if required.

Accommodation:
Veneza Hotel: pretty central location, but away from the main street activity; lovely large double room overlooking courtyard and koi fish pond; small fridge; pretty stained glass window in staircase; nice glass of port wine in lobby; reception very inviting and staff was helpful to book tuktuk tour and giving directions to places of interest; fabulous bakery/cafe across the street along with a laundromat

Meals that Stood Out:
Papaya for breakfast bought at local fruit and vegetable market
Guaros Burger Bar, Cheeseburger served on a slate slab at a funky/artsy hole in the wall
Ostras da Praca, Oysters shucked/served table side; Porto tonico created table side too
Delicious nutty puff pastry with best cafe leit in Portugal at cafe across from hotel

Activities/Events:
Arrived mid-day and explored by foot the central part of Aveiro with moles pastry tasting and recommended pizza restaurant nearby. Hotel offered a nice glass of port to finish the day. Following morning I found a great fruit/vegetable market and ate a papaya for breakfast - oh, wow, that papaya brought back Hawaii memories.

I was looking for a way to do some birding near the salt flats and also have a guided boat tour on the canal. I was curious about the tuk tuk tour of the city with added boat ride, so I booked a tour. This was a first for me. It was perfect and the tuk tuk guide was knowledgeable about his adored city and pointed out all the historical architecture. Apparently there was a ranking of the most special buildings giving the best a number 1 rank and noting it on sidewalk plaques in front of the respective building. The driver also took me around to the end of the road closest to the salt flats (he wasn’t allowed to go further, as a personal vehicle was required for up close). The canal ride was ok - the guide tended to describe the sites using her Spanish instead of English. Most of the passengers were English speakers but one large group spoke Spanish. I don’t have much Spanish so missed some of the key points.

The tuk tuk driver suggested I explore the beautiful St Joana church and Carmelita convent. So, the next morning I enjoyed a great full breakfast at Veneza Hotel and walked to the church and convent. There is a very well done museum in the former convent that I highly recommend for some wonderful paintings and sculptures. The entry fee was minimal but a very worthwhile morning here.

That afternoon, I hopped on the local bus #36 to enjoy time seeing the cute village of Costa Nova(ride about 40 minutes). While on the bus, I had really close views of the salt flats and a pretty lighthouse before getting off at the town center. All the beautiful colored houses just blew me away: pink, purple, light green, baby blue, red - all striped. There was a pretty sizable marina, restaurants, shops, and playgrounds with splash zones for the kids and for adults acting like kids. A pretty special place to spend an afternoon and very easy to get to on public transport.

Next morning I boarded a FlixBus bound for Figueira da Foz for my first real beach time.

Nazare: July 14-17
Accommodation:
By The Beach: gosh, the location could not have been better: 2-3 minute walk to the beach, very close to fabulous restaurants and shops; a real beachy decore, large bathroom Juliet balcony with a nice peekaboo view of the ocean. Kettle for tea/coffee. Mini-Fridge never got cold, so I asked for an ice bucket and Lilliana graciously gave me a full bucket of ice to keep yogurt cheese and beer cold. The bed was somewhat hard for my comfort.

Meals that Stood Out:
Adega Oceano, Whole cracked stuffed crab
Adega Oceano, Grilled sardines with boiled potatoes
Gigantic Porto Tonico

Activities/Events:
I walked to the beach shortly after settling into my room. Walking down to the water was so much closer here in Nazare than in Figueira da Foz. Again, there are boardwalks provided on the beach, presumably for mobility challenged beach goers. The overall atmosphere of Nazare beach is not so much resort but definitely a place for tourists. Nazare is the famous location for the largest waves in the world. The huge waves come in the Winter so we had maybe 3-5 foot waves, but the undertow was very powerful. Again the water was too cool for me and I could hardly keep my balance standing at the edge of the shore break, so I did not venture too far into the surf. Lifeguard had to caution a family to move over to a safer beach location because the two little boys (8-10 yo, small) were barely handling the strong surf. I was nervous for them - they kept inching back to the strong surf. The swim wings they wore would not have been much help if they were swept out. I learned some lessons living near the ocean in Hawaii and number one is: NEVER turn your back to the ocean.

On the beach promenade walk, I noticed old fishing boats and fish drying racks; kind of an outdoor museum for the history of this former fishing village. There was one fisherman prepping octopus for the rack. Nazare is famous for grilled sardines and you could smell the aroma now and again while passing some restaurants. It wasn’t offensive to me. Ladies dressed in black with scarves and many layered skirts advertising rooms for rent. There are several camper van parking lots at the far end of Nazare and a couple of campgrounds above the town. I noticed them while on the bus ride to Alcobaca.

Day trip by bus to Alcobaca to visit the monastery was fine - nice to get away for something other than beach time. I particularly enjoyed the cloisters and the cool fountain because again, it was so HOT. I could be mistaken but the architecture seemed to be predominantly Manueline. The tiled walls were wonderful as well. Finding the bus station going back to Nazaré threw me off a bit but a very friendly local man guided me on the correct path and I was back in Nazare in time for a nice dinner of cracked stuffed crab.

Sitio is the village above Nazare beach accessed by funicular ride or a very steep climb. I visited here in 2023 while on a day tour. This time, I wasn’t rushed and spent a good deal of time looking at the fabulous art work in the funicular station and outside along the walking trail leading down to Nazare. I stopped in several shops for nice Nazare TShirts.There were ladies dressed in typical black with many layered skirts selling dried fruits and nuts. I bought dried apricots and roasted cashews.

Left Nazare on an overcast day for my one night in Lisbon before heading to Scotland

Lisbon: July 17-18
Accommodation:
Grande Pensao Residential Alcobia: I requested a room away from the noise of the homeless encampment and was given an adequate room for the one night.

Events/Activities:
Lunch at my go-to small restaurant in Lisbon (Taverna Alfacinha) after dropping my bags at the hotel to store until after lunch. I had a tile painting workshop at 4 pm, so after resting in the cool AC of the hotel, I made my way to the workshop by Uber.

Lisbon continued……

Group of 12 “artists” painting tiles while in Lisbon was so much fun and very rewarding. I would do this again, though it took a fair amount of time - you have to be alright with that fact. It’s a two day process. I’de been to Lisbon two other times, so I was alright with taking 4 hours of a touring day to do this and then picking up the tiles the following afternoon. Our group was all English speakers but also, there were about 5 others speaking French with the instructor. It was kind of fun listening to them switching back and forth between English and French.

The instructor gave us a 15-20 minute talk about the history of tile making/painting in Portugal, along with giving us pointers on the actual painting process. There were many (maybe 50) different images we artists could choose from to paint two tiles. The tiles were painted and then left overnight for firing in the kiln and cooling before we could take our creations home. I painted one very traditional Portuguese tile of blue and yellow and a very cute blue and white kitty cat thinking of a fish dinner. Somewhat an homage to my dear kitty, Poppy, who passed away just two days after I left Seattle for the trip. The traditional tile was made into a trivet and the kitty was placed in a black frame (minimal extra costs).

Fado performance during dinner at a quite touristy restaurant very close to my hotel. I wanted something easy and different so enjoyed a plate of spaghetti bolognese and glass of wine. The next morning my Uber driver drove me to pick up my tiles and continued to the Lisbon airport for my evening flight to Edinburgh.

Transportation:
Used FlixBus pretty exclusively
Private taxi tour in Evora
Porto tram to river, not circular
Porto funicular by bridge, life saver
Train from Porto to Aveiro
Uber in Aveiro for bus station
Figueira da Foz Bolt from bus to hotel
FlixBus stops not often within a bus station but separate from all others
(Evora and FdaF)
Nazare funicular to Sitio
Lisbon Uber to tile workshop and airport

Fun Encounters/Interactions:
Pedro, my apartment host, graciously giving me a ride to the Evora bus station.

Wonderful kind tour operator arranging a private taxi to Evora megalithic sites.

I caught a flying paper table cover at Buona Forchetta in Evora giving the seat neighbors a good chuckle - told them I didn’t want the paper to topple over my glass of wine.

Along the river in Porto, while I was enjoying dinner, a seagull decided he wanted a small taste of my grilled sea bream and helped himself to the fish head that had been placed on the remnant plate. The waiter said “the seagulls can be very quick.”

Alcobaca local pointed me in the correct direction for bus station.

Some ladies from TX traveling together had trouble with the McDonalds kiosk in Lisbon. So, I gave them all pointers (I’m not tech savvy nor do I frequent McDonalds, but it worked). We ended up having breakfast together and swapping travel stories. They wanted to paint tiles too after I explained the workshop.

Travel Treasures/Gifts:
Evora - ceramic egg cups from megalithic tour office; traditional Portuguese woven cotton bag for shopping, red wine from Alentejo district
Porto - bottle of white Porto from Sandeman
Aveiro - magnet, salt, dresses
Nazare - Tshirts
Lisbon - hand painted tiles from workshop

What Went Wrong:
Oh boy, this trip there were some doozies.

Madeira: On the day that I was to send my GD off on a flight to Madeira Island from Lisbon to meet up with her mother, her mother calls to say her flight from New Jersey could not land on the island due to weather conditions (high wind) and they diverted her flight to a Spanish island for the night. We learn this after I have dropped off GD at airport and before boarding my bus to Evora. My plan after dropping GD at the airport, was to catch the FlixBus to Evora and continue with my Portugal journey. Well, wringing hands and wondering weather I should stay in Lisbon to make sure GD’s flight takes off or continue with my bus plans, was a decision I could not make on my own. GD at airport says her flight is good to go and she will be landing on Madeira without her mom for the night. OMG, this was so stressful. Mom communicated with the Madeira hotel and GD stayed the night on the island by herself. Being 18 and fresh out of high school, I’m sure GD thought it was quite an adventure and felt pretty darn independent. But Mom and grandma were very worried. Long story short, mom was able to fly off the Spanish island onto Madeira the next morning and met up with her daughter at the hotel. Whew! Stressful!

Lisbon Oriente: Waiting for the Flix Bus to Evora, bus arrives 5 minutes before scheduled departure, I place my bag in the hold, queue up for driver to read ticket QR code, everyone else is placing bags in hold, driver reads my QR code and says wrong bus, I’m too early., next bus. I quickly scramble to the hold to retrieve my bag and it was buried under other bags, so I was unable to get to it. Pleading with driver to let me on the bus. It was going to the same place after all. He spoke to supervisor and let me on. Fortunately, there was a seat available on this packed bus to Evora. Yikes! Lesson learned in this fiasco was always have your ticket/QR code scanned by the driver first before loading your bag. A situation made more difficult when traveling solo.

Evora day trip to monolithic sites: I had researched a tour going to the monolithic sites in Evora in my initial planning and was ready to take an Uber or taxi to the tour company’s location. I arrive at the tour office and the tour guide said they haven’t been able to take people to the main sites because the road leading to the site was blocked by debris from recent storms. Ugh! I thought I was stuck and so disappointed not to be going to the stones. The tour guide saw my distress and was kind to suggest she call a taxi driver she knows that might take me to two other megalithic sites that were near the main site and just as wonderful. We worked out a price, and 15 minutes later, I was on a private taxi tour to those standing stones and ancient burial chambers. The driver was so kind and really quite impressed with the stones himself as he had not heard of them and the adventure was a first for him. He brought me back to Evora, driving to the University since I was explaining to him about my GD going to university this year. Two very nice locals who went out of their way to help me (tour guide and taxi driver). It’s one of the many reasons why I love Portugal.

FlixBus in Evora: Not a huge deal but, after my apartment host dropped me off at the Evora bus station, I looked around and didn’t see any FlixBus busses or a stop for it. There were plenty RedeExpressos. I walked up and down the street wasting precious time looking for the stop. There didn’t appear to be any bus stop sign and I was perplexed. Finally, I see the bus - can’t miss it because all their busses are bright green. Well, that got me in a sweat.

What Went Wrong continued…….

Nazare bus: my Apple GPS directions in Nazare took me all over the place but not to the bus station, my destination. I finally retraced my steps and on the way back to the center of town, I see a large street sign pointing the way to the bus station. Sometimes it’s best to just look up instead of relying on the device.

Wine in checked bag - oops!: ok, I’ve checked wine before and never had a mishap. Well, upon arrival in Seattle, I’m looking for 20 minutes not seeing my bag on the carousel. Finally, I look over to the opposite carousel and a bag that looks very much like mine had a huge plastic bag tied around it. Yep, one bottle of deep red wine from Alentejo broke in one of my favorite TravelPro bags.Think the bottle wasn’t made well because the other bottle, a port wine, fared just fine.

Conclusion:
Portugal is a country where the people are helpful and kind, the pace is slower than other parts of Europe, the cuisine is to my liking, the wine smooth and easy on the palate, and relaxing on the beach is wonderful. I’ll have to talk with the family about my next “moves.”

On to Scotland for the third portion of the trip……

Oops. This section is out of order, sorry

Figueira da Foz (FdaF) July 12-14
Accommodation:
Restaurante e Al Cacarola Dois: Hotel was almost a mile away from the FlixBus stop near the main bus station. Bolt ride-share car was handy, although I probably could have investigated a local bus. Hotel is about a 10 minute walk to the beach. Though the name of the hotel conjures up a restaurant, the hotel is associated with the restaurant, which is located just a few steps from the rooms. The restaurant featured fresh fish, which was displayed at the reception area. Seeing that, I figured the food would be well prepared and delicious. Nice elevator big enough for two people with small luggage. Room was large, bed comfortable and bathroom adequate; welcome bottles of water. Breakfast provided at a nearby restaurant using a voucher was pretty good-usual hot and continental items were on offer.

Meals that Stood Out:
Restaurante e Al Cacarola Dois, Percebes (gooseneck barnacles) - taste very much like Opihi in Hawaii (limpets)
Restaurante e Al Cacarola Dois, Steak smothered in brown gravy with a sunny side up egg on top-reminder of a Hawaiian Loco Moco

Activities/Events:
Beach time - YES. By this time (being on the hot road for 2 weeks), I was more than ready to just lie around and enjoy the sun, cool water and salt air. Turns out FdaF is a resort beach town with all the amenities you would expect: cabanas, beach umbrellas with chairs, boardwalk, wading splash pools for young ones, tennis courts, beach soccer, beach cafe, etc. there is even a Ferris wheel and carnival/fair games, etc. I didn’t utilize any of this fru fru stuff, but was perfectly happy watching families navigate the water. I did get a bit nostalgic for the family and beach time in Hawaii. Lived their for 25 years. The sand at FdaF is wonderfully clean and just fine enough to brush off, but not so rocky/shelly that it’s uncomfortable. The water, even in late July, was cold for me - just walked in up to my shins. There were surfers way out in the water - brought out there by water skis.

Because it was so hot for so many days, I found myself running out of clean clothes so a laundromat stop was planned for the next morning. Very efficient washers and dryers, about 2 hours of my morning, and I was back out exploring. Other than the beach and activities surrounding the water, I didn’t see much else in the way of sites. Probably could have spent just 2 days here instead of 3. Sunsets were beautiful.

Packed up and left the hotel for the long walk to the FlixBus stop. My internet connection didn’t pull up Bolt so I walked to what I thought was the stop for FlixBus because I saw many RedeExpresso buses at a station. But alas, apparently FlixBus doesn’t always have access to a regular station. Something to keep in mind when booking services. It wasn’t much of a problem here at FdaF, but I could see it would be (like in Evora) when time is of the essence. The signs for FlixBus are not very big so easy to miss. The actual busses are bright green, so that’s good…..

Now off to Nazare and some more beach time.