A Week in Portugal

Besides our Portugal motivations from our family's heritage, here are some other incredible reasons why we wanted to visit Portugal;

• Portugal has it all: historic cities, world-renowned cuisine, beautiful country areas with natural landscapes, and some of the world’s most spectacular beaches.
• Once the world’s maritime leader and the longest-lived of Europe’s modern empires, Portugal has a complex history to explore alongside dramatic geographic landscapes, turquoise beaches, a rich gastronomy scene, and all the Port and bacalhau (salted cod fish) you can ask for.
• Portugal won the "best travel destination" award in 2018, and after you read this article of ours, you will be able to understand why!
• Nobody anywhere does custard tarts (or pastel de natas, as they’re called here) quite like Portugal. And perhaps nowhere in Portugal does them as well as Pasteis de Belém in Lisbon, which is why queues for the sweet, rich and perfectly crisp tarts often stretch along the pavement.
• Perched on the western edge of Europe, Lisbon is the continent’s sunniest capital city, boasting an average of 2,799 hours of sunshine a year, beating out Athens, which has 2,771 hours of sun a year.
• Thanks to the rolling swell of the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal is one of Europe’s best surfing destinations with a wave for every ability. Best of all, the surf breaks are relatively uncrowded.

Perhaps now you can understand our enthusiasm for spending a week in Portugal, exploring it from North to South?

• Driving in Portugal is similar to driving in the USA; the freeways ("Autoestrada") are very similar, the information signs are easily understood, and the speed limits are easy to discern. Speed limits are in kilometers per hour, multiply by 60% to derive MPH.
• Driving in any European City is a lesson in patience and bravery. Traffic in Lisbon & Belém was thick, but most drivers were disciplined.
• Driving in Portimão was straight forward, but getting to our VRBO rental from the highway definitely required use of a mapping system. We had retired our Tom-Tom mapping device, and only used cell phone based mapping to navigate everywhere.
• Portugal uses tolls, and there are several methods they utilize to collect toll monies. You need to make sure that your rental vehicle is equipped with an RFID unit. Click here to go to the Portugal Tolls Website to check the current rules.

We flew from Madrid to Porto, Portugal via TAP Portugal Airlines. In Porto, we picked up our rental car from Auto Europe, fired up our navigation maps, and proceeded to drive to the Delfim Douro Hotel - our first stop in Portugal. Our route from the Porto International Airport was on the A4 east to exit 24 where we turned south on the N2. Once we crossed the Douro River Bridge, we then turned back west on the N222 to the Delfim Douro Hotel on the right side of the road.
NOTE: You have to make a slight right turn onto the M537 from the N222. Note that the hotel sign is small and since there is a wall separating the hotel grounds from the road (the hotel is a bit lower on the hill than the wall), you will not be able to see it easily from the road  - Click here a for Map of the road intersection

Card Benefits

• Unlimited free travel by bus, metro, tram and elevators.
• Entry to 35 museums, attractions & UNESCO-listed sites.
• Skip-the-line at Mosterio dos Jerónimos Archeology Museum.
• Free travel on CP train lines to Sintra and Cascais.
• Guidebook & discounts at participating shops.
• The Lisboa Card is valid for a full calendar year after its purchase date (just in case you need to postpone your trip), and is validated upon its first use.
• Click here to go to their website.

Our first destination in Portugal after landing in Porto, was the Delfim Douro Hotel and a strong desire to explore the surrounding area - some interesting wineries were just a few miles away, and we planned on visiting Quinta da Pacheca to take their tour that afternoon.

After driving most of the day, Lisbon was a breath of fresh air. We were able to park the car and concentrate on exploring the city by public transportation and walking. Our rental unit is located in Belem, very close to the Tagus River and also close to the metro train system station.

After Lisbon, the Algarve was our next "target area" to explore. We had heard stories from Celeste's parents about how beautiful it was, and how good the food was, so our expectations were high and our zeal to start our exploration there was at a high level!

It cannot be overstated how good the seafood & pastries are in Portugal. Yes French pastries are quite good as well, but Portuguese pastries are unique and excellent and we had them in every district in the Country! Below are pictures of a few of things we enjoyed.

Pastéis de Nata - these are from Pasteis de Belém which is considered to make the best in Lisbon

More great pastries - don't remember the name, but they were awesome!

Cataplana de Peixe - a Portuguese fish stew made in a special cookware called a cataplana.

 Pastel de Nata Quick History Lesson 

Pastéis de nata were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in the civil parish of Santa Maria de Belém, in Lisbon. These monks were originally based in France where these pastries could be found in local bakeries. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching clothes, such as nuns' habits. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country.

Following the extinction of the religious orders and in the face of the impending closure of many of the convents and monasteries in the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, the monks started selling pastéis de nata at a nearby sugar refinery to bring in some revenue. In 1834, the monastery was closed and the recipe was sold to the sugar refinery, whose owners in 1837 opened the Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém. The descendants own the business to this day.

Click here to view the complete Wikipedia Article about these amazing pastries.

Now as you have read on this page that we had a rental car while in Portugal, and so you can imagine that we had to stop for gasoline, or rest rooms, etc, at various locations throughout Portugal right? At every rest stop or gas station that we visited, there would be an espresso bar. So during most of these stops we would have an espresso with a pastry, and each & every time it was absolutely delicious!

The point we want to leave you with, is that Portugal Service Station food & coffee is miles & miles better than what you can find in the USA ! Do yourself a favor and give it a try.

NOTE: Below are some useful links where you can find even more information about the areas we have described on this page. There are of course, many other useful websites & pages, so for something specific, we would suggest using Google Search.

• Just Traveling Thru European Travel Tips
• Just Traveling Thru Travel Planning Tips
• The Ultimate Guide to Lisbon’s Iconic Egg Tarts on the 'Eater Travel' Site
• Delfim Douro Hotel
• The Top 10 Things To See And Do In The Douro Valley
• Google Search Results List for "Accommodations in the Duoro Valley"
• Wineries in Douro Valley area on the "Wine Tourism" site
• Lisbon History on the Wikipedia Site
• Google Search Results list for "accommodations in Lisbon"
• Google Search Results list for "restaurants in Lisbon"
• Google Search Results list for "accommodations in Cascais"

• Google Search Results list for "Restaurants in Cascais"
• Portimão Information on the "Wikipedia" site
• Portimão in-depth article on the "Algarve Tourist" site
• Portimão in-depth article on the "Lonely Planet" site
• Google Search Results list for "accommodations in Portimao"
• Sagres on the "Wikipedia" site
• Travel in Sagres Article on the "Travel in Portugal" site
• Google Search Results List for "Restaurants in Portimão"
• Things to do in Portugal on the "Get Your Guide" Site
• Youtube Search Results list for "Portugal"
• Amazon Search Results list for "Portugal"
• Visit our Youtube Channel
• View our Portugal Image Gallery

Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, that we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. So we would appreciate any click throughs, if you are inclined.

Note: All images on this page are the property of Just Traveling Thru, LLC unless otherwise noted.

Note: If you are interested in our European Travel Tips & Warnings, Click here. Or to take a look at our methods for Trip Planning click here.