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Since reaching a certain “milestone age”… don’t ask… I have found myself feeling a great sense of urgency to make lifestyle changes that would better suit this stage of my life.
Time is ticking faster than ever and it has now become a priority to ensure I use my time wisely pursuing those long-awaited dreams…you know the ones on the “maybe I will do that one day” list. Well, I have now taken early retirement from a job I loved to search for adventure. I feel the
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,