Portugal - The Porto Leg

The Train ride to Porto felt as if it had gone past quickly (this might have been because I was studying on the train) and we arrived at a small station outside of Porto.  We promplty crossed the tracks and grabbed the bus to the hotel: The Yeatman.

The Yeatman has a more classical feel to it.  You feel as if you are surrounded by opulence, and that any person that stays there feels like royalty.  The views from the room are spectacular (especially in the evenings when Porto lights up across the river).

Once we were settled we were treated to a ride along the Douro river which provided great picture opportunities of the 6 bridges, after which dinner was to be had at Graham's Distillery.  The food was divine (slightly salty, but that is my preferred taste).  I also had my first taste of a Port and tonic cocktail (again, not my taste as I don't like tonic water.)

The next day we once again had a choice of activities, of which I decided to try the tuk-tuk, tram, and bike tour.  Our tuk-tuk driver was fantastically friendly, giving us a good run down of the history of the different sites we visited.  The tour took us through most of Porto town as well as some of Villa Nova de Gaia.  Once we were done there we stopped of at Calem Distillery for a Port tasting.  Whist these were nice, they were hardly the best ports I've had.

The next part was the bike tour.  Now I haven't ridden a bike in almost 15 years, so this was quite the scary part for me.  We rode all along the river and stopped off only to hear the leader give some history on the town, river and bridges.  At the turn-around point the organisers decided it would be best if I took a lift with the car back to the tram station.  The Tram was old, but fun to ride.

After a quick eye opening lunch (We are not quite used to being able to see topless sunbathers where we are from), we had the rest of the afternoon off to explore.  We decided to stop in at the Lello Library, a magnificent bookstore that had us hooked the moment we walked through the doors, as well as the Clerigos Tower and some of the churches.

After that it was back to the hotel for a dinner and a rest.  The following morning we decided to head to the beach and were greeted with really dull weather.  We opted to have cocktails at a small beach bar where none of the staff spoke a word of English.  I have never seen a waiter that looked so terrified as they had no idea how to handle the situation.  The afternoon was spent exploring more of Porto's city, churches and shopping areas.  I ended up buying a new shirt for our Final dinner that night and had lunch at the legendary restaurant: The Majestic

For our final dinner we could not have asked for a more awe-inspiring venue.  We were treated to a live show by one of Portugal's top performers in the Arabian room at the Royal Stock Exchange Palace.  The room was gold plated with lighting that made the venue absolutely magical.  Not a single person that walked into that room did not first have to stop and "wow".  I would love to include a picture but not one of my photos give the room justice.  After a wonderful dinner we had a chance to take photos outside on the balcony and finally dance the night away in the entrance hall.  We finished this off with a nightcap at the Yeatman.

On the final morning, my partner was stricken ill, so I had to do the last minute shopping alone and rushed back to pack.  Once this was all done it was back on the plane home.

A wonderful trip that will never be forgotten

Portugal - the Lisbon Leg

It's taken me a while to follow up on the last section (what can I say, life has a way of stopping all the fun things we do) so I hope I managed to remember everything accurately.

Our trip involved two legs, one in Lisbon, and one in Porto.  Below is some of our experiences in Lisbon.

After a many hour flight with Turkish Airlines and a brief layover in Turkey, we had finally arrived in Lisbon.  A quick disembarkation, easy customs pass through, and short wait later we were on our way to the hotel.

On the way to the Hotel we briefly stopped at the Mariners museum for a brief tea and cakes with a wonderful view of the Jeronimo's Monistary.  Our first taste of Pastel de Nada had me hooked.  Once the tea break was done we continued on towards our Hotel, the Penha Longa Resort.

The resort is a magnificent golf estate with many things to see if you take a walk through the premises.  A beautiful chapel, rose gardens, roman bath, and old shrine are just a few of the things that one can see.  The resort also had several great restaurants where almost any kind of food can be eaten.  The poolside bar is a great place to relax with a cocktail or two or one could lounge around at the inside bar where style meets comfort.  The rooms were well designed with a nice balcony overlooking the golf course

Penha Longa Resort

After a quick lunch at Il Mercato, we decided to stroll through the resort before getting ready for a surprise event... A wedding!  One of the couples on the trip with us had decided that this was the perfect opportunity to tie the knot.  Neither of the couple's parents were still with us, and all their friends had managed to make it on the trip.

After the Nuptuals it was on to our first official dinner... and boy was it one hell of a party.  I must say this about Portuguese wine and beer, its extremely light and easy to drink.

I would love to go into detail about each and every day's itenary, but to be honest I just can't remember it all.  However it wouldn't be much of a blog post if I didn't at least share some of the experiences.

One of our first stops was the famous Jeronimo's Monastery, the final resting place of Vasco De Gama.  Before this I had never seen such detail on any church.  Each sculpture was unique and beautifully crafted.  It was truly a blessed experience.

Jeronimo's Monastary

After this we navigated the narrow streets of Lisbon in Tuk-tuks and saw some beautifully tiled houses.  Unfortunately many houses were missing tiles, some buildings were starting to fall to ruin and one could not imagine the amount of grafiti everywhere.  Onwards and Upwards we went until we reached the Castle of St George.  The views over Lisbon were magnificent and well worth a few Selfies (I myself am not a great fan of selfies).

Through the next few days we also managed a trip to the quaint traditional castle town of Obidos (where their cherry liquor had me wanting more), a late night stroll past the Tower of Belem and the Padrão dos Descobrimentos (we almost missed the last train home for this), the Lisbon Dungeon (for which I am still asking L for forgiveness), and the Santa Justa Lift (we never ended up going up due to long queues).



Our last day in Lisbon will be remembered to me for two reasons.  Our engagement and the farewell to Lisbon dinner.

Whilst every woman loves an engagement story, I will spare you the gory details (I never could tell the story well anyway).  I popped the question at the Moorish Castle, and she said yes.  After which we went on to the Penha Palace and then finished off with lunch at a great restaurant in Sintra, Casa Porteguesa (where the owner gave me one of his recipes).  One of my only regrets is that we did not get to Quinta de Regaleira.

The farewell dinner was at Kais Restaurant, which was amazingly decorated and served what I believe to be some of the best food on the trip.


















Finally it was time to depart Lisbon and head on to Porto by train.