Portugal Road Trip Oct 31 – Nov 18 2018
First some info: about us and what we encountered in Portugal
We flew SLC – MAD on Oct 30 using Delta FF miles, then a TAP flight to LIS on Oct 31. We check one bag each because I detest doing laundry on vacation, other than undies in the sink a couple times, and it leaves room for souvenirs. I am the planner and Kevin is my driver. Make that husband.
We picked up our rental car from Budget at noon. A 5 door manual Peugeot 2008 (model #, not year) which fit our luggage (a 25” and a daypack for Kevin, a 21” and a 16” for me) with room to spare for souvenirs. It cost €420 for 15 days rental including a toll device which allows you to pass through the automatic “V” lane. Our tolls totaled €94. We drove approximately 2700 kilometers, much of it in the countryside rather than on expressways. Our Garmin, named Mrs. Jeepus, worked well and took us along many little winding roads and through tiny villages with narrow streets, when at times we could see a larger road off to the side. This is the norm when set on “fastest” and we enjoy the drive through the scenic and cultural landscape. On the expressways the rest areas (Area de Servico) have fuel, restrooms, convenience stores and restaurants. Drivers are sometimes too quick to move back to the right after passing and we found that tailgating was common. Roads are excellent and traffic was sparse except near Porto and Lisbon.
As titled, this was a road trip with mostly one night stays. We like to sightsee en route and feel it’s the best use of our time. We don’t spend a lot of time in our room and don’t unpack. I booked all lodging through Booking.com, a combo of B&Bs and small hotels. Most nights were in the €80-100 range with a few around €135. I felt we got great bang for our buck in Portugal. There was only one hotel that we weren’t entirely pleased with. We threw a couple of Marriotts in the mix too. Kevin has lots of points and lifetime platinum status so we get upgraded rooms and some nice freebies.
We aren’t foodies and don’t drink wine, although we enjoy experiencing the local cuisine. We usually ask the host at our lodging or a shopkeeper for restaurant recommendations. Most restaurants open at 19:00 or 19:30. We really enjoyed the food. Most of the time we shared entrees and waved off the bread and olives, because the portions were huge. Lots of grilled beef, pork, and lamb served with salad and both rice and potatoes. We loved the “chips”, thinly sliced deep fried potatoes, that were more common in the East and North. We had cod twice and were not enthusiastic about it, but I became enamored with pastel de nata. We like to hit McDonalds (for cokes with ice) and they had a burger with goat cheese and grilled onions that was pretty tasty. Don’t judge, it’s a travel tradition.
I plan pretty meticulously, mapping daily travel times and researching the sights we will see via multiple sources. RS Portugal Guide was good for the limited areas it covers, but the “Julie Dawn Fox In Portugal” website in particular, was invaluable for the Alentejo and Central Regions, and north of Porto. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery and visited a wide variety of sites all over the country, from time periods ranging from the Jurassic to the Renaissance. I made reservations ahead for a cork factory tour, a night tour of prehistoric rock art, a winery tour, a hike, a Fado performance and bought advance tickets for Sintra.