Portugal travel log

[KG1]

Thank you BBI for sharing your trip here with stories and pics so that someone like myself may experience such things vicariously.

Unfortunately, due to health reasons and the lack of funds to allocate I cannot experience these adventures firsthand.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Hey BBI what was the English speaking population %?

In Lisbon in tourist areas, I'd say 80% or so speak enough for tourist-y conversation and commercial transactions and nearly every shop/restaurant/attraction had someone on duty that spoke reasonably well. The further you get from city centers the more it drops but still well over half. Also most everyone spoke either English or Spanish. Some ask if we spoke French. A lot of tourists were Spanish, especially in Sintra. A restaurant manager told us there was a national holiday in Spain so there were many more of them than usual (I looked it up and it was Constitution Day, which they apparently get a 4 day weekend for).

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Thank you BBI for sharing your trip here with stories and pics so that someone like myself may experience such things vicariously.

Unfortunately, due to health reasons and the lack of funds to allocate I cannot experience these adventures firsthand.

Health limitations suck and one reason we are knocking out so much travel now. We are in our 40s and know that this is the time in our lives when we have both the financial and physical health to travel comfortably. Later in life the physical health can't be assumed. My dad always wanted to go to Alaska and always put it off, and now he'll never be able to.

 

[KG1]

Health limitations suck and one reason we are knocking out so much travel now. We are in our 40s and know that this is the time in our lives when we have both the financial and physical health to travel comfortably. Later in life the physical health can't be assumed. My dad always wanted to go to Alaska and always put it off, and now he'll never be able to.

The old adage of "Do it while you still can and are able" still rings true. Not having to look back in regret is truly a blessing.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Trip summary/review/highights.

Airline: TAP was great. We flew there economy and the seats were not tight or uncomfortable. I'm 71" tall and wear 36x32 jeans and had plenty of leg and hip room. The staff was nice, the plane was clean, and everything looked new. I read TAP completely redid their fleet so the oldest plane is only 5 years old. On the way back we got upgraded for some reason or another, no idea why. We got the very first row of Premium Economy, so no seats in front of us and I could literally extend my legs completely and barely touch the bulkhead. Both times we had 3 seats in a row of 4 and the 4th seat was unoccupied.

Airports: Chicago still sucks compared to Indianapolis' airport, but we got through TSA and customs quickly both times, ticketing agents were helpful, etc. ORD is just so large and busy and you have to park so far out and wait for busses compared to Indy being so compact and efficient. I don't *mind* ORD, but it makes me appreciate IND even more.

Lisbon airport is easier to arrive than depart. I've never seen so many check-in areas laid out in such a counter-intuitive manner. Once we found TAP it was super easy to check in. Two different bathrooms were closed for remodeling with no signage to that effect until you got there. ANA lounge was nice. We got there at the tail end of a very busy time, apparently, and had to wait about 10 minutes to get in. Once in, the lounge was being rapidly cleaned up as people left and there was no line when we left. A reasonable amount of sweet pastries, breads, basic sandwiches, and drinks were freely available. Bathrooms were clean and nice, didn't use the shower facilities. Security was quick and you don't have to take your shoes off. Arrival is great, very intuitive signage and there is a metro station right at the airport so you can take a subway train.

I'm not going to break down every city and tourist attraction, especially since I did the photo log, but hit a few that stood out:

Lisbon Aquarium stood out. It's both huge and very well done. I'd say Newport outside Cincinnati compares very favorably, and is better in some regards. Lisbon has one giant tank that you see from multiple angles as well as all the smaller tanks, but what stood out to me was one area that was designed and built by Japanese water garden artists. It was more than an attraction, it was an experience. There was stadium seating to encourage you to sit and stay. The tanks were long and took up 3 walls. Plants, animals, landscaping, etc. was all carefully curated, orchestral music was playing on a high quality sound system, water features burbled in the room and it was a very calming and tranquil environment to enjoy the beauty they had created.

Castle of the Moors/Moorish Castle: One of the best preserved castles in Europe, very large in scope (no Al-hambra, but much bigger than many we've seen) set high above the city and in a rugged and beautiful landscape of rock formations.

Evora's Chapel of Bones, which I've already discussed. An experience and catalyst for thought.


Portugal, and especially Lisbon, was great, we'll definitely return and I can recommend it without reservation to American tourists, novice or expert or anywhere in between.

 

[bobzilla]

But you should have DIED on the sealed metal death tube. How did you escape? Add purple if truly needed.

We are into single digit days before we go renact Joe Vs the Volcano. I'm ready for some time acting like cattle on sealed death tubes.

 

[Sylvain]

Did you come across Portuguese LEOs during your trip?

I remember during your trip to France you met a French cop and got a patch.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Did you come across Portuguese LEOs during your trip?

I remember during your trip to France you met a French cop and got a patch.

Yes, even saw a graduating class have their ceremony in a public square. Didn't ID myself or interact, though. My wife finally stopped outing me to foreign cops, which was the main reason I had the interaction in France.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

But you should have DIED on the sealed metal death tube. How did you escape? Add purple if truly needed.

We are into single digit days before we go renact Joe Vs the Volcano. I'm ready for some time acting like cattle on sealed death tubes.

Mostly by watching movies and getting the pasta, not the chicken, I think. I saw Avengers Infinity War, Luca, DC Super Pets, and Christmas Story 2 on the trip home. Super Pets was pretty funny and likely the reason I survived.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Been back in Portugal for a bit now. Porto is an awesome city to just walk around and explore with no real destination in mind. Just had one of the best meals of my life, complete with a very nice stout beer and a sangria for my wife for 45 Euro. Not quite $49.

Porto is cheaper than the Lisbon, and the food and drinks are top shelf.

 

[dudley0]

So that explains why you didn't answer your door yesterday.

I thought you just saw that it was me and hid.

Happy that you and the spouse are enjoying cheap meals.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I survived another round of the flying death tubes and have returned from my second trip to Portugal. This time was: Lisbon->Porto->Aveiro->Coimbra->Lisbon via train. In total, we were there for 10 full days plus two travel days.

Cost: Cash wise, this trip was pretty inexpensive. I used various rewards for the airplane tickets and multiple nights of hotel stays. It was just my wife and I, and restaurants in Portugal (especially outside of the tourist areas of Lisbon) are very reasonable. A nice sit down restaurant is maybe $15-$20 a plate with drinks and a shared dessert. A junior suite in a 4 or 5 star hotel averages a touch under $200 a night. We had no real itinerary so we could take the trains as we liked and there are 'promo' rates for trains that are underutilized, amounting to 1/2 price. We took first class seats for about $32 total for each trip other than the first Lisbon to Porto, which was $64.

Food: As mentioned, restaurants are very cheap to the US mindset once you're outside the main tourism areas, and frankly even inside them isn't bad. We walked to a fishing village that's a suburb of Porto and the guy grilled a huge chunk of cod for us. It came with small potatoes, greens (mustard greens, I think), and carrots. A bottle of stout beer, an apple cider, bread and olives, and two coffees: $44.76.

Fancier place requiring reservations, 2x francesinha dishes with sides, bread and olives, sangria and beer, coffees and shared dessert: $48.91 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesinha#/media/File:Francesinha_in_Porto.jpg for explanation, but basically a huge multiple meat sandwich with a big slice of cheese melted over it and served in a beer and tomato based sauce.

Nice sit down place in Lisbon away from tourist section: similar meal as #1 but smaller pieces of cod: $33.23

Sitting down at a cafe and getting coffees and pastries was usually under $10 unless we got a little to interested in variety of sweets. Meat and cheese sandwiches big enough to split for 2 were under $5. @Born2vette we did return to the blue awning pastry shop and it's still just as good.


Touristy stuff: We mostly just walked around and discovered the areas. We didn't do many tours, as we've seen enough castles, churches, and museums at this point that unless there's something unique about it we don't bother with the tour. We averaged well over 20k steps a day (high of 36k) just walking around in the cities. I'll highlight as follows:

1) Lisbon: We've been here before so didn't do anything except explore new neighborhoods, sit in parks with views and day drink, botanical gardens, walk by the shore, and do some shopping (clothing is very cheap there as well).

2) Porto: Toured a port wine maker, did multiple port wine tastings (it's not day drinking, it's classy!), walked the river, walked neighborhoods, saw a Fado show (traditional singing and stringed instrument act), saw a light/sound art exhibit in a church, saw the main historical whatnots from the outside, botanical gardens and parks, and general exploring.

3) Aveiro: Smaller town on a salt marsh, has canals running through it like Venice. Walked the canals, generally explored the town, tried the local egg yolk based sweets (meh), and ate a silly amount of fresh seafood.

4) Coimbra: Historical city with one of the oldest universities in the world and the oldest in Portugal, operating in it's current location since the 1500s. Walked the campus, a very interesting mix of very old to fairly new buildings, statues, etc. Walked the town and river front. Everything is up hill both ways.

5) Back to Lisbon: just there for the day before we flew out, repeat of #1 except in the same neighborhood we'd stayed at the first trip in the thread.

We didn't take a lot of photos, but I'll try to upload a few later.

Again, we found the people very friendly and helpful (and there's no tipping culture there so they are actually just being friendly and helpful). We saw zero cause for concern of personal safety, no crime and pedestrian/motorist interactions are very respectful toward the pedestrian. Train stations and metros are well lit and attended. Women feel safe to sit in parks alone after dark. Food quality is so much better than here for the same money, including at the grocery, all of their fruits and vegetables taste like they were grown in dirt vs hydroponic blandness roulette.

I suspect we'll return at least once more to see the southern regions, but unsure when.

*Edit* Since it's INGO: We did see two gun stores. The first was hunting centric and was only shotguns as best I could tell. The second had shotguns, rifles, and various handguns. No such thing as a carry permit there, but you can get a license to have a gun in your home and to engage in shooting sports, hunting, etc. No idea the intricacies or expense of it and it's apparently a felony to leave a loaded weapon unsecured and unattended.