On the fourth day of our Portugal journey, we joined the rest of our small tour group. This marked the “official” beginning of the tour. It actually started the evening before with a wine “meet and greet” and dinner.
Part of our welcome basket for the start of the tour.
The morning brought a trip to the southernmost part of Portugal, Algarve. Algarve is a region with sedimentary cliffs, resorts and tourism. “Algarve” is derived from the Arabic word for “the west.”
The Harbor at Portimão, Portugal.
We had a short boat trip scheduled out of Portimão, a very cute community of about 60,000 people with gorgeous buildings along the harbor. We went out around the southern coast to view the sandstone cliffs. And yet again, we had amazing weather: 75ºF and sunny. This would be the rule for the entire trip!
Sedimentary cliffs along the southern coast of Algarve.The resort mimicked the caves along the shore in its design.A cave with open top.Spectacular cliffs along the coast.
It was a long drive from Lisbon to Portimão. Almost three hours each way. While it was beautiful, I’m not sure it was worth that long of a drive. But, the weather really helped moderate that, though.
Us at the harbor in Portimão.
Tomorrow: baking class making the famous pastel de natas, a sunset cruise and the morning at one of the castles.
Day three was a day trip to Òbidos and Nazaré. Both are a bit north of Lisbon. Òbidos is a walled medieval town dating back to the 12th century. Narrow cobblestone streets, very old houses and shops. It was a beautiful small community with a fairy tale atmosphere.
Narrow, steep street/alley.This old house in the background is typical of Òbidos.
We found great souvenir shops (we bought some cork placemats) and just enjoyed walking up and down the hilly town. We also had Ginja de Òbidos, which is a sweet cherry liquer served in an edible chocolate cup. I’m not usually one for ultra-sweet liquers, but it was very good.
Ginja de Òbidos.
After visiting, we headed north to Nazaré. This is an area on the Atlantic coast famous for 100 foot waves and surfing at Praia do Norte. It became famous when Garrett McNamara surfed a 78 foot wave. We were a bit early in the season for the huge waves, but saw a couple of surfers. The high waves are the result of a large underwater canyon.
Wave action at Nazaré.
The Fort of São Miguel Arcaño lighthouse is an iconic symbol and a great viewpoint.
Fort of São Miguel Arcaño lighthouse.
We went in to the actual town of Nazaré for lunch and had some seafood dishes, one of which was a seafood stew. Frankly, it was nothing to write home about. Not a lot of spice or flavor. We are used to foods that have a lot of flavor and spice. We were going to find the lack of robust food flavors is common in Portugal.
Fish Stew. Meh.
We headed back to Lisbon to meet up with our small tour group and begin the actual “organized” tour. This was the tour agents first trip to Portugal and was kind of a reconnaissance mission. So we were guinea pigs in a sense, which we knew going into it.
Back at our hotel, we had a welcome wine and dinner meet and greet. Most of the group had traveled together before to Italy and France. This was the first adventure to Portugal.
Overhead wires for the electric trams that are throughout Lisbon.
On the first of our two “free” days before the rest of our group arrived, we decided to take kind of an overview of Lisbon. Just exploring. The city is known for its cobblestone streets and sidewalks. They are gorgeous. And we were very glad we had good shoes with thick soles because they are very uneven.
In many areas of the cobblestone, the patterns are beautiful (more on that later).
Glad we had good walking/hiking shoes!
We had heard through Rick Steves that you had to take the Tram 28 through town and especially through some of the older areas of Lisbon. So we did that. It was a popular tram and we waited in line about 30 minutes to ride. While it was nice, we later found just wandering around Lisbon was more satisfying.
We visited Rue Nova do Carvalho, also know as Pink Street. It is a hub of nightlife and popular for photos because of its vibrant colors. It was revitalized in 2013 with an urban renewal project that painted the street pink.
Family selfie at Rue Nova do Caralho, Pink Street.
Another area that was highly recommended was Time Out, a massive, indoor food court. A large number of eateries run by local foodie chefs. It has 26 restaurants, 8 bars and a dozen shops. Opened in Lisbon in 2014, it became the first of many Time Out Markets worldwide. We had a seafood pasta that was, frankly just OK. Our family had some smash burgers they said were awesome. And it was here that I discovered Portugal has virtually any beer you like, as long as it’s a Pilsner.
Time Out Food Court.
Later that day, Brenda and I just wandered around town on our own. We went down to the water and the Arco da Rua Augusta. In the Baroque Revival style, it dates to 1755. That was right after the earthquake that took out a good share of Lisbon. It was built in memory of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that killed 30 to 40,000 people. Construction was started in 1755 and completed 118 years later in 1873!
My sweetie at the Arco da Rua Augusta.
After that, we took an Uber back to our hotel. Our second “free” day would be a trip to Òbidos and Nazaré.
After planning a two week trip to Portugal with family and friends in a small tour group, we planned on flying out of Eugene Friday morning October 3 at 11:00 am. I got up Friday at my usual 5:00 am time and found an email with the subject heading “Your Flight Is Cancelled”.
Not the way I wanted to start our trip.
Apparently the remnants of a hurricane messed up our connection out of Amsterdam to Lisbon. And this affected six of us since we were traveling with family out of Seattle. The email said they would be booking us on the next available flight and would contact us “soon”.
Not good enough since we paid extra to fly in a couple of days early and we were just a few hours away from leaving. So I jumped on the Delta Airlines chat and within about an hour, I was able to get all six of us rebooked and rerouted through Paris to Lisbon.
Whew. And, we were so glad Jesus went with us (inside family joke; ask our kids).
We always want Jesus to travel with us…
All went well on our flights, except we got downgraded from Comfort Plus to Economy. Not our favorite for taller people and a 10 hour flight. But, our travel insurance contacted us almost immediately, said they saw our flight was cancelled and we qualified for a $400 cash refund. Yay!
We had a short layover at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and made it to Lisbon Saturday afternoon within just an hour or so from our original arrival time. I must say John M on the Delta Chat was VERY helpful.
Arriving in Lisbon, we checked into our hotel (no problems) and headed to dinner at Rubro, an outdoor restaurant nearby. It was amazing. A wonderful start to our trip. Six people, tapas and entrees, two bottles of wine, bread and water for €127.
And the food was very flavorful.
Campo Pequeño, an old bullfight arena with a really nice outdoor restaurantShrimp, avocado, egg and lettuce saladA typical table wine. Very inexpensive and very good.
We walked back to the hotel and readied ourselves for a day exploring Lisbon on Sunday.
This will be my first specific blog post related to food. You may have noticed I added Food and Travel categories to my site. It seems, as I head full-on into retirement, those are two areas of our lives that are rising to prominence. So here it is.
El Nopalito, in downtown Eugene, is a short walk from our house. We had walked by it several times in the last couple of months (they opened at this location in July) and kept saying we need to try them out.
Last evening, we had that opportunity. And we were NOT disappointed!
Chips and Guac
We started with the Chips and Guac. Everyone seems to do theirs slightly different and some are too salty, have weird flavors of spice combinations, or even dry (or greasy), stale chips. El Nopalito nailed it.The chips were fresh, crispy and not greasy at all. The guac had just the right amount of salt and seasonings. It was excellent. We immediately felt we were off to a good start and anticipated the next round.
Carnitas Taco and Fish Taco
We wanted a variety this first time, so we each got one taco. As is now common in most Mexican restaurants, the tacos are reasonably-priced street tacos, so they are smaller. That’s OK, because we also ordered a quesadilla. I had the Carnitas, which was smoked pork and very flavorful. They have four salsas to choose from and we tasted all four and settled on two. I can’t remember which two, but they were all good. Brenda had the fish taco and thought it was very good as well.
Our only criticism was I felt the Carnitas could have used some jalapeño (next time) and Brenda felt the fish taco was good, but not the best she had ever had. All in all, though, they were very tasty and flavorful.
Tinga de Pollo Quesadilla
OK, so don’t let this picture fool you. The quesadilla was probably my favorite of all that we ordered. Doesn’t look like much, but it was very tasty. Tinga de Pollo is generally a shredded chicken, braised in a chipotle-tomato sauce and spiced. So while all you see here is a flour tortilla, inside is…wonderful! The combination of chicken and spice was perfect. I will definitely order this again. And I won’t share it with Brenda!
We WILL be going back. I’m anxious to try their margaritas and a few other items on the menu.
Our last day, as we were getting ready to leave, it started to rain bit. Our timing for the trip was impeccable. We were taking the noon ferry from the north end of the island, to Vancouver, then down to Seattle. I have to say this was the first trip I didn’t obsess about locating superchargers along our route. And the attached picture shows why. Between Vancouver BC and Seattle, there are no less than a dozen Superchargers in the 140 mile leg. Charging would NOT be a problem.
Screenshot
We had a great view of Pike Place Market from our room, the hotel was very nice and we were ready to get home.
All in all, it was a wonderful short vacation. It was also economical for “fuel” costs. We spent just $63 to drive 900 miles.
First, we toured Parliament (we had not done that on our first trip to Victoria), walked to a coffee shop (and had awesome coffee), then over to Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch. I’m starting to eat fish, but the fish and chips for lunch (even though Brenda said they were good) were just “meh” for me. But we did find a street vendor selling dried, pressed seaweed and kelp art that was beautiful. Our dining room pictures from New York in 2003 had faded, so we bought some replacements.
I had made dinner reservations at an Italian restaurant (Il Terrazzo) that came highly recommended. I was glad, because they were packed. However, dinner was excellent and so was the service. There is an Il Terrazzo in Portland we liked as well, but they are not connected.
Our fourth day was all about Butchart Gardens. It had been about 40 years since we were there and it’s just as nice as we remember. Gorgeous flowers and greenery and the weather was absolutely perfect. Sunny and at times a bit overcast, but in the mid 70s.
I have traditionally bought yellow roses for Brenda on our anniversary. Since we were going to be in Victoria on the actual day and since we would be leaving Victoria the day after our anniversary, I decided to have them delivered a couple of days early so she could enjoy them longer. I didn’t think they would travel well. She liked them.
We spent Day Three at the Royal Canadian Museum. We got to see John Lennon’s Rolls Royce (complete with actual record player). Very nice museum.
That evening, we walked over to Chinatown. Everything said it was phenomenal. It was nice, but VERY small. Only a couple of blocks wide and three blocks long. None of the Chinese restaurants in Chinatown looked appealing, so we ventured out a few blocks to Hope Key. It had great Yelp reviews and the owner was named Brenda. So it seemed natural.
We got into a great conversation with her and found out her husband’s name is also Bill. Wow. Such a coincidence! And yes, the food was excellent. Highly recommend!
The next morning’s breakfast was amazing. Only one other couple was staying at the B&B and we engaged in a good conversation. We then packed up, then headed up to Hurricane Ridge.
Hurricane Ridge is probably our favorite National Park hike anywhere. This was now at least our third time there. Sadly, the lodge burned down a couple of years ago during a renovation project, but we had decent weather and packed a lunch to carry in and carry out.
The weather was decent. A bit more overcast than we hoped, but very nice nonetheless. Cold (it’s almost 6,000 ft elevation), but we enjoyed a picnic lunch anyway.
I had scheduled an evening ferry to Victoria so we could arrive around dinner time.
