In September of 2016, Kelly and our friends Ben and Bonnie spent a week exploring Portugal.
Kelly and I started the trip by flying into into Lisbon on a Thursday, and then taking a train up to Porto for two nights. We stayed in an amazing studio AirBnB in the heart of the old city. We spent 48 hours wandering the streets of Porto (including longer than necessary to find tickets to a Porto FC game). Porto is definitely a city I'd love to come back to explore further.
Saturday morning, we took the train back to Lisbon, where we were scheduled to meet up with Ben and Bonnie when they arrived on Sunday morning. We spent about 18 hours wandering around the city, taking in the beautiful architecture, and eating lots of great food.
Saturday night we went to bed, not quite sure if Ben and Bonnie were going to make it the next day. They had a Saturday night flight out of JFK in NY, but their train from DC to NYC ended up extremely delayed. When Kelly and I went to bed, we didn't know if they were going to make it.
Luckily for us, they made it in the nick of time, and arrived in Lisbon Sunday morning. They rented a car for us, and we began our road trip south down the coast to Zambujeira do Mar, where we rented a house in the quaint coastal town for 4 nights.
In Zambujeira do Mar, we spent our days hiking to beaches for picnics, eating copious amounts of pulvo (octopus) in the local restaurants, and enjoying all the cheese and wine the town had to offer.
On Thursday, we packed up and headed back north, this time to stay in another gorgeous house is Azenhas do Mar, which is 40 minutes northwest of Lisbon. Here we also spent most of our time lounging around the house and exploring the town. There was not a sand beach in town, but there was a wading pool that was filled by ocean waves and high tide. We spent three relaxing days in the town before finally flying home on early Sunday morning.
Overall we highly recommend a visit to Portugal, and encourage you to get off the beaten path if you can, and see everything great about Portugese culture.
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