Category Archives: By Country – Portugal

Out of Iberia (part 1)

This one’s a long post-of-two-halves, to play catch-up and to help reflect the pace of this leg of the trip, covering more than a week’s travelling across two countries and a huge swathe of Iberia. Leaving Lisbon and starting to … Continue reading

Posted in By Country - Portugal, Personal stuff, Travel stuff | 2 Comments

Palaces. Lots of Palaces.

The outskirts of Lisbon sprawl gently right up to Sintra, and it’s impossible to tell (apart from looking at the signs on the retail parks) where one ends and the other starts. But when we did hit Sintra’s historic centre, … Continue reading

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Lisbon

A less thrilling entry to the city than when we arrived in Porto maybe but Lisbon proved to be the slow burning on and off again romance to Porto’s impetuous fling. A regal elegant capital, much of the centre of … Continue reading

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Houston, I think we have a problem…

Part 1 of a hopefully very occasional series. So there we were, cruising gently down a fairly major dual carriageway, just left Sintra on the way to Mafra, 4.30 on Friday afternoon… and the van lost power. Totally. Change down. … Continue reading

Posted in By Country - Portugal, Van stuff | 3 Comments

Fatima

(Warning: This post may contain traces of cynicism. It is not intended to cause offence. I’ll deal with any eternal consequences later, in person, if I have to.) In early 1917, three small children were looking after a flock of … Continue reading

Posted in Art & Culture stuff, By Country - Portugal | 5 Comments

Porto to Lisbon

Falling seriously in love with Porto meant we spent longer there than we’d planned. That shouldn’t have been a problem but for the rapidly approaching wedding of 2cv friends, Kim & Luke, back in the UK. We’d booked flights from … Continue reading

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Love at first sight

Getting lost in rush hour traffic isn’t necessarily the best introduction to a city, but it didn’t stop us falling in love with Porto almost instantly. We were firmly hooked and ended up staying for five nights with full on … Continue reading

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Braga to Porto

Yes, it’s another one of those catch-up posts… Internet access has been iffy, and we’ve just been too busy seeing and doing, in all honesty. As we left Braga, there’s a church on the edge of the city, on top … Continue reading

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St João in Braga

– or – How Ellie and Adrian got hammered and nearly left under a cloud… June 23rd is St João’s eve – the evening of the feast day of St John the Baptist. Big business around these parts. We’d had … Continue reading

Posted in Art & Culture stuff, By Country - Portugal, Food stuff | 3 Comments

Portugal at last

We crossed into Portugal on the ferry across the wide Minho river which marks the northern border with Spain. We had woken to an overcast morning, but cliché or not, the sun came out as we landed on the Portuguese … Continue reading

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