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Thread: Portugal

  1. #1

    Portugal

    Let 'er rip. Looking for travel dos and don'ts in Portugal for the fall. Good places, not so good places. Did you rent a car, what were the highlights, did you include some Spain?
    Thanks!
    Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'

  2. #2
    It's been a few decades but we started in Lisbon, went south along the coast, across the Algarve and into Spain. We did rent a car and were not looking for the beach resort scene. In addition to Lisbon, I remember really liking Sintra, Lagos, and a tiny town near the Spanish border but the names escapes me. Have fun!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    Quote Originally Posted by weezie View Post
    Let 'er rip. Looking for travel dos and don'ts in Portugal for the fall. Good places, not so good places. Did you rent a car, what were the highlights, did you include some Spain?
    Thanks!
    Very cool! Never been but have never met someone who didn’t enjoy the trip.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Boca Grande Florida
    Quote Originally Posted by weezie View Post
    Let 'er rip. Looking for travel dos and don'ts in Portugal for the fall. Good places, not so good places. Did you rent a car, what were the highlights, did you include some Spain?
    Thanks!
    My wife is a frequent visitor to Portugal and Spain with her friends, and loves it. I haven’t made that road trip just yet.

    I mentioned your post to her and she recommends a rental car, says you get a better feel for the country that way. Her tip: make sure the rental has GPS.

    She also uses an app called Viator to plan her adventures there. Says it’s a great App for booking tours, day trips etc.. at reasonable prices.

    Her favorite places:

    Porto (historical)
    Douro Valley area for wine interests
    Albufeira a coastal town in the Algarve region
    The city tour of Lisbon

    She loves Spain too, if you have the time. Recommends taking the train from Portugal, and says taxis are fairly easy in Spain. She likes Barcelona in particular for food, shopping and and culture. Check out La Rambla street in the Gothic Quarter, Casa Gispert market is a must, she says. It’s near the Picasso museum, too.

    Have fun.

  5. #5
    Thanks Wheat, those are excellent suggestions. Thanks to jimmy, too, and, with luck, I'll be able to recount our adventures after the husband and I yell directions at each other while driving in a small car in another foreign land.
    Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    Quote Originally Posted by weezie View Post
    I'll be able to recount our adventures after the husband and I yell directions at each other while driving in a small car in another foreign land.
    Last time MrsPK and I tried that, we mistakenly ended up in Luxembourg. True.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by OldPhiKap View Post
    Last time MrsPK and I tried that, we mistakenly ended up in Luxembourg. True.
    I'm guessing not a lot of people accidentally end up in Luxembourg. You just don't stumble on it.

    The good news? Probably didn't take long to get out.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    I'm guessing not a lot of people accidentally end up in Luxembourg. You just don't stumble on it.

    The good news? Probably didn't take long to get out.
    “Hilly but small” kinda captures it.

    Did not realize that General Patton is buried in the American Cemetery in Luxembourg (as are many of those who died around Bastogne). So we found a worthwhile stop once there.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Colorado
    My wife and I spent a week in Portugal about ten years ago. We loved it. The people were very helpful. Communication was difficult at times. My Spanish is poor but at least I can recognize words. Portugese was incomprehensible to me.

    We spent three days in Lisbon. Loved it. We spent two days in Sintra - it was great, smaller town with castles and historic stuff. We spent three days on the beach in a surf town, I can't now remember the name of it.

    Portugal was cheaper than most of Western Europe and the food was good.I don't usually like sardines, but fresh sardines grilled over wood are wonderful

    My only regret was that we didn't sample some Fado music. We didn't find a place that wasn't overly touristy.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    We spent five days in Portugal and another 9-10 in Spain.

    We used a tour company to plan the trip, pick us up at airports and train stations, and provide a guided tour of 3-4 hours at each destination. Wasn't too expensive. And avoided my saying, "Oh, let's just rent a car."

    Don't miss Porto. It is a lot of fun.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Dur'm
    Quote Originally Posted by Wheat/"/"/" View Post
    My wife is a frequent visitor to Portugal and Spain with her friends, and loves it. ...

    Her favorite places:

    Douro Valley area for wine interests
    A vineyard cruise down the Douro with Port sampling along the way is bucket list stuff for me. Some day.

  12. #12
    Nice work folks, I appreciate all the input!
    Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    Porto is the business center of the Port industry. There are Port houses all along the the south bank of the Douro River and in the hills above it. Each has serving areas, and it is quite a party scene along both banks of the river. It is a historical city with may interesting buildings and churches.

    Porto is close to the Atlantic, and it is a short cab ride to the beaches there, passing by the old houses owned by the English who developed the Port trade.

    The vineyards and wineries are quite a distance up river and there are tour boats to take you there.
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

  14. #14

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by jimmymax View Post
    Paywalled. Care to summarize (without comment)?

  16. #16
    The article highlights how Californians and other expats are moving to Portugal and inflating the economy there while enjoy a relaxed lifestyle.

    Thanks for the link. It looks beautiful but it's a tad too far from Cameron to be anything other than a great vacation destination.
    Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Undisclosed
    Quote Originally Posted by weezie View Post
    The article highlights how Californians and other expats are moving to Portugal and inflating the economy there while enjoy a relaxed lifestyle.

    Thanks for the link. It looks beautiful but it's a tad too far from Cameron to be anything other than a great vacation destination.
    Closer to Cameroon though.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    Quote Originally Posted by weezie View Post
    The article highlights how Californians and other expats are moving to Portugal and inflating the economy there while enjoy a relaxed lifestyle.

    Thanks for the link. It looks beautiful but it's a tad too far from Cameron to be anything other than a great vacation destination.
    Americans love it -- there is some resentment brewing among the Portuguese. But, trying to attract wealthy foreigners was government policy after the great recession.

    I was impressed with Portugal as a comfortable and charming place to live. I would go back.

    Then there's the language. My 12-15 hours of self-administered Portuguese instruction was helpful, but had the short-term effect of temporarily erasing all knowledge of Spanish from my brain, which was a problem when we arrived nest at Bilbao in Spain. Portuguese is hard to learn. But, if you know Spanish, you can read the signs, the menus, the papers without too much trouble. It's the spoken language. As one example, the word for "seven" is "sete," not that different from the Spanish "siete." But it's pronounced "setch." Go figure.

    But, there was much more English language knowledge than I expected. As the official language of the EU, English appears to be taught in the schools.
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by weezie View Post
    The article highlights how Californians and other expats are moving to Portugal and inflating the economy there while enjoy a relaxed lifestyle.

    Thanks for the link. It looks beautiful but it's a tad too far from Cameron to be anything other than a great vacation destination.
    Sounds like the local Asheville attitude towards Californians, Brooklyners, Floridians...

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15 View Post
    Sounds like the local Asheville attitude towards Californians, Brooklyners, Floridians...
    Same the world round. Jackson Hole used to be an undiscovered skiing and hunting outpost….

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