Portugal is a beautiful country, friendly and very affordable. If you have been following this blog you will know that we have been driving through the length and breadth of this country. Our six week motorhome road trip here has been wonderful. We found that particularly the central and northern regions to be the most authentic and these regions have fast became our favourite areas for exploring by motorhome or by car…or in fact by any mode of transport. Here we found a
The Douro, a river made famous by a very unique product: Port Wine. Tasting the Douro Valley with its many wine varieties became our mission during our visit to this incredible wine producing region. Although wine production is not the only interesting thing to see in this area.
The green rolling hills of the Douro Valley with its slopping terraces brimming with grape vines are famed for being one of the worlds best drives…well, we can certainly attest to that, but it is also one of the hardest,
Zig-zagging down a hilly valley, following the Paiva River, the Paiva Walkways or Passadiços do Paiva as it is known locally, is a wooden walkway that takes visitors on a geology, history and nature journey through an area of abundant deposits of quartz crystals, fossils, rare flora and fauna.
The wooden walkway is designed to interfere as little as possible with the surrounding environment, but still letting visitors enjoy the topography and natural environment which would otherwise be inaccessible
Leaving the Sanctuary of Fátima behind we found ourselves heading towards the small town of Tomar (or Thomar in English). We had not heard much about this town before our visit, but it was enthusiastically recommended to us by someone we have met on our travels in Spain. The driving there from Fátima was mostly quite dull, flat, through small towns and some industrial areas. We were kept entertained by the many sights of pilgrims and their heavy backpacks walking at the side of the busy main
Continuing on with our road trip exploring Central Portugal we arrived at the impressive Mira De Aire Caves (Grutas Mira de Aire) near Fatima.They are the largest underground caves in Portugal, formed during the Middle Jurassic Age more than 150 million years ago. The caves were only found in 1947, and in 2010were elected one of the “Seven Natural Wonders” of Portugal.
The tour starts with a short film explaining all about the history of how this cave system was found. We then followed
Óbidos is a precious and charming gem in Central Portugal. Wrapped up within the remains of its high ancient walls, it is a visually beautiful town. Being very popular as an easy day trip from Lisbon, it is inundated by tourist crowds during the day, but virtually empty by night time and that was when we enjoyed it the most.
But I am getting ahead of myself here, before I tell you more about our stay in Óbidos, let’s rewind back to my last blog post as we left Sintra
Sintra is one of the most popular day trips from Lisbon, but in my opinion you can not do it justice on a day trip – it will be an exhausting and frustrating experience. Stay overnight in Sintra to give this town the attention that it deserves.
Sintra is packed full with UNESCO World Heritage sites – fairy-tale castles, unique things to see, nature, history and old world charm. Plus, staying overnight in Sintra would probably not cost any more than paying for an overnight stay in
Évora, capital of the Alentejo region, has a compact historic centre where most of the attractions are conveniently located within the ancient city walls. And one of its main attractions is a chapel decorated entirely with human bones.
The city is a treasure of a place with a UNESCO protected historic centre since 1986 and a wealth of interesting attractions including the rather chilling Chapel of Bones, one of the main reasons why I was keen to visit this town. Yet we soon found that there was
Mértola, located in Portugal’s Alentejo region is a town known as a village museum (Vila Museu) with particularly well preserved Moorish heritage.
This small walled town was built on a rocky spur on the confluence of the Oeiras and Guadiana rivers, and sits less than 15 km from the Spanish border. Now a small town of about three thousand people, it is a charming place with narrow cobbled streets and white-washed houses. Not yet discovered by mass tourism, it remains unspoiled and quaint.
An
Driving along the West Algarve and the Alentejo coastal roads was a very scenic road trip, and almost devoid of traffic . Showcasing the rugged contours of a coastline carved over millions of years, it is a landscape that has endured the huge pounding waves and merciless winds of the Atlantic Ocean. Gleaming whitewashed fishing towns, golden sandy beaches, caves and hidden secret beaches have made this road trip very special for us.
We crossed from Spain into the Algarve seamlessly, no border guards,