Portugal

We visited Portugal for 2 weeks at the end of 2023. I’m lumping the trip into one or two posts since we’re seeing so many places. I’ll update a few times throughout the trip.

We flew into Lisbon and headed north. First stop, Braga, just north of Porto. It’s a city of much religious heritage, and we could see this in the number of churches we walked by. It’s a beautiful city. That’s a catholic church behind the city sign. It’s full name is Igreja do Hospital ou Igreja de São Marcos.

We saw many of these trees around the city. It reminds me of the whomping willow. My guess is many of these trees were so old, and the branches so heavy, they were cut to avoid damage to the roads or buildings. Shoots have grown out of the cuts.

These are remains of an old aqueduct. You can see the old city wall to the left as well. These are from Roman times. The Roman ruins were not open when we walked by, and we didn’t have time to see the many museums. Next time.

We lucked out that we were there for their tree lighting ceremony. It felt like the one in Williamsburg, so many turn out to see it. The lights were beautiful.

We headed to Porto after Braga. We drove along the coast since we had time between checkout and check-in. The first stop was in Apulia. The beach was beautiful. We had a bite at a cafe before walking along the beach to see some old windmills.

Porto is a much larger city than I thought it was. We stayed just north of city center, next to their metro system. We walked down by the river the first night and had dinner at an excellent restaurant. And when I say “down,” I mean…down! I have found online the steps we took are called the Escadas Guindais and that there were a total of 292 steps, at least by one bloggers count. I did not count. I did pass several VERY unhappy tourists going up.

The shot above was from an overlook spot by the Fernandine Wall. The tracks are for a streetcar that goes to the riverfront area. It was closed while we were there. The bridge is the Ponte Luis 1 (Luis 1 Bridge), designed by Gustave Eiffel and built in the 1880’s. Below is a view from the riverfront.

I imagine the riverwalk gets very busy during the warmer months. It was pretty busy while we were there. We had live street music during dinner that was very good, and we walked by a street fire performer. Ben and I have both been a bit disappointed that all the music we hear is American. Even all the Christmas music–all Mariah Carey or other singers in English – none in Portuguese.

The second day in Porto we walked across the bridge into Gaia. Many of the wine cellars are on this side of the river. Almost all of it is Port, the main wine export for Portugal. We did a tasting. The ports were good but too much alcohol to try various brands.

We walked down the hill in Gaia and took the skyway back up.

The photo below has a good view of the Fernandine Wall and the streetcar that goes to the riverfront. If you don’t want to walk up 292 steps. If it’s running while you’re there. =)

I got a little side-tracked on our trip, back to update the entry with the rest of our trip. From Porto we headed to Coimbra, a city between Porto and Lisbon on the Mondego River (the river’s name led to several Indigo Montoya and Big Bang references). The city has a large university, Universidade de Coimbra and several large gardens.

The first day we walked around the river, crossing the bridges into the park on the other bank. We were lucky to get a break from the rain long enough to check them out. The first view is looking to the other bank, Santa Clara I believe. The second is looking back to Coimbra.

The riverfront park had several sculptures. This one was a favorite of ours.

The next day we took to the hills, wandering around the University’s botanical garden and surrounding area.

Our next stop was Praia Barra, a beach town near Aveiro. We stayed a block from the beach. Barra is a small beach town on a narrow peninsula. I imagine it gets very busy in the summer. There’s a nice boardwalk along the beach that extends into Costa Nova, though it was covered with sand while we were there. I don’t think they keep it clear during the winter.

Costa Nova is a pretty beach town with a fishing village feel. It’s known for its colorful striped buildings.

Our last main stop was Figueira da Foz. We stayed in a nice house about 15 minutes outside the city area in a more rural area. Both Ben and I really liked the city. Barra is probably my favorite place we visited, since it’s a smaller beach town. But Figueira is a close second. It has more to do as it’s a larger city.

I like the sprawling natural area it has between the road and the beach. It’s almost half a mile wide at its widest area. There are several sports fields and courts and a trail through that area. Here’s the view from the closest road to the beach.

The Forte de Santa Catarina sits at the mouth of the Mondego River. It’s believed that there’s been a fortress here since the late 14th century. The current fort was built in the late 16th century. We didn’t come across a museum close to it, just walked around it one night.