Adventure: Portugal
2022
During the Delta wave (September-November ‘21) I was getting the itch to travel to Europe. We’d been postponing our travel plans for almost two years at this point and I really needed a cultural hit of castles and cobblestones. At that moment in time, we all believed in the indomitable efficacy of our vaccinations, so along with my husband, Jeff, I booked a trip to Portugal, a nation with one of the highest vaccination rates, for the day after Thanksgiving. Just as the Omicron tsunami was about to hit globally, we boarded our flight for Lisbon clutching our negative Covid documentation.
Despite the panicky news, our week was relatively calm Covid-wise. We saw more restrictions in place like a 10,000 euro fine for not masking, next level sanitation etiquette, and vaccination proof requirements to dine in restaurants. Europe has a far more sophisticated system of testing, tracking, and reporting than in the US. They laughed at our pathetic cardboard vax cards and asked where our phone barcodes were. It was sobering to witness this small example of how our nation has badly botched the Covid response by politicizing it. In Portugal the pandemic is a public health issue, period. The nation has banded together to respond accordingly, everyone looking out for each other, so that life can continue as normally as possible.
We also picked Portugal for its latitude. We wanted to hike and mountain bike and we were able to do both with sunny skies and 50-60 degree days in late November. Our timing had the added benefit of being off-off season, so crowds were very light and we felt very safe visiting the magnificent UNESCO sites, restaurants, and walking the narrow pathways. I think this is going to be my travel window for Europe going forward as it was very easy to book accomodations, rentals, and restaurants, and the weather was delightful.
We flew TAP Portugal direct from Dulles, seven hours and flawless. I recommend carrying on luggage, the checked bags fee is significant on this airline. We landed in Lisbon, rented a car, and headed thirty minutes west to Sintra, a UNESCO site, where we staged for the first three nights. We wanted authentic architecture and a deep dive into the history and culture so we chose to stay at a real palace: Tivoli Palacio de Seteais. It has a beautiful old-world elegance and is situated next to a gorgeous national forest. We literally rode and hiked from the carpark, our kind of palace. It is an easy walk into the charming town of Sintra, with lovely shops and restaurants, and we hiked to the castles from there as well. Sintra is a beautifully integrated location for an adventure-filled holiday.
Portugal is famous for beautiful ceramics and Sintra has lovely artisan shops offering a vast array of treasures. They also have quaint restaurants (loved Lawrence’s hotel) serving the freshest fish and delectable tapas. We found the food simply prepared, very high quality, and healthy. My weakness came in the form of the national pastry Pasteis de Nata. These gems are small tarts filled with a rich custard that have a shatteringly crispy crust. Served slightly warm, they are a seductive and addictive treat.
Fortunately, there are lots of opportunities to exercise around Sintra and these sites make for excellent day hiking/walking adventures: Quinta da Regaleira, Castelo dos Mouros (Castle of the Moors), Park and National Palace of Pena, Monseratte Palace, Initiation Well, Sintra National Palace, and walking Historic Sintra. If you are a history buff, you will go absolutely bonkers here, so bone up ahead of time. Hiking up to the Palace of Pena and the Moor Castle was truly a highlight. It’s a good idea to pack a light picnic as the facilities are limited during Covid. When you get tired of walking, there are plenty of tuk-tuks to provide a hair-raising sprint back to town. Because this area is so hilly, and there is so much to see and do, I think it would be fun to rent an e-bike for touring around next time.
Quinta da Regaleira was our neighbor, just down the street. The villa is a 19th century neo-gothic wonderland of intrigue with secret gardens, passageways, and mystical symbols.
As far as biking, the mountain bike scene is just beginning to evolve in this area and our outings required a guide. The trails in the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park are stunning, but rough old-school grade and not well marked. Tough going, but with the help of Cycling Rentals we were able to rent a couple of hard tails (ouch!) and sample the trails with our guide, Ralph, a British expat who filled us in on the local gossip. For road riding, the roads are very narrow but ooze with charm and meander in every direction; off season it’s a good bet for touring.
The hiking is much easier to plan solo and we used our AllTrails app (download ahead) and brought a map to navigate. Be sure to bring plenty of water and snacks and do tell your hotel manager your plans for the day, be safe. We used hiking sneakers to conserve luggage space as we had to bring our bike shoes, pedals and backpacks with water bladders. Dress is super casual and sporty everywhere.
This past fall we had been obsessed with the documentary 100’ Wave on HBO MAX. You don’t even have to like surfing to enjoy this gem. It’s a six part series on how the tiny town of Nazare, Portugal put themselves on the global map as THE destination for big wave surfing, with the help of American celebrity surfer Garrett McNamara. While planning the trip we discovered that Nazare was only an hour north of Sintra, so we took a day trip to see if we could experience the thrill of witnessing these awe-inspiring waves.
Praia do Norte: this is the beach where all the action takes place. The surfers are towed in by ski-jet and land on this beach, god-willing, after their ride. It’s a wild scene! The lighthouse fort, São Miguel Arcanjo, in the background is ground zero for gathering and viewing.
The big wave season is between October and March, so we hoped to get lucky. Nazare is a sweet, gritty town with a lot of energy in the air. We walked the beach, wandered the maze of streets, took the funicular up to the surfing site, and generally soaked in the ‘Red Bull’ vibe of the place. It was exciting to visit a place we had been learning so much about. Sadly, we missed seeing any super big waves, but I do follow them @bigwavesnazare to get my fix and stay connected to this ethereal energy.
On the way back to Sintra we made a pit stop in the uber-charming Obidos, the city of literature, and another UNESCO site. The high walled Medina area is fun to walk around and marvel at all of the Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance features. The town was all dolled up for the holidays and felt like the essence of Europe at twilight.
Obidos: I went nuts in this bookshop; Jeff walking the ramparts— they don’t worry about liability much here; doorway all dolled up for the holidays.
The next leg of our trip took us only a few miles south to the Atlantic Ocean. We traveled to the town of Estoril via Cabo da Roca, the western-most point in Europe and an important lighthouse for sailors. We had planned to hike the grounds, but the winds were 40 mph, so we moved on to Palacio Estoril, our accommodations for the next three nights. Estoril was once the summer colony for royalty and the hotel has an impressive gallery of black and white portraits to prove it. Today, the town itself is more commercial, albeit oceanside. The hotel is nice enough, not the most charming, but our planning proved to be prescient once we got the lay of the land. Turns out that the ultra-charming town of Cascais is a twenty-minute walk along the boardwalk, so this allowed us to bike and walk back and forth for dining, shopping, and sightseeing, giving us a delightful destination and plenty of exercise. We also took a sixteen-mile bike ride along the boardwalk that was nothing short of spectacular. Cascais has a beautiful harbor, arts center, shopping, Michelin star dining, and general air of festivity that really captured Portugal for us.
During the whole week we did a pretty good job of not stressing about Covid, although many of our dinner conversations were Scruples-like in that we played out various scenarios if one of us was to fail our Covid test. You learn a lot about your partner during this kind of conversation! It’s something to take very seriously when considering a trip over a border. There are levels of consequences, like extended quarantine stays, rebooking crowded flights, not to mention incurring a severe illness or hospital stay, that we didn’t consciously consider until we were actually in the crosshairs of possibility. It’s a little like playing in traffic—fun—but once you are safely on the sidewalk, you kind of go ‘WTF was I doing?!?’ Still, the world keeps turning and we must make our own risk assessments—at ages 64 & 65, this is the prime travel window we have left. While we had a blast on this trip, I do think we will remain stateside, at least for the near future.
On Thursday afternoon we endured the drama of administering web-based Covid tests (from Abbott Labs) in our hotel room, and passed them. We were just ahead of the newly mandated 24 hour window testing, so once we were in the clear, we could spend one more day enjoying the beautiful city of Lisbon, and fly out on Saturday. We drove to Lisbon and checked in to the InterContinental Lisbon. When forecasting the trip I wanted a corporate setting for the resources available—medical and technology—in case we had any last minute problems. It was a good pick, and only a fifteen minute drive to the airport. As a bonus, we were able to walk all the way to The Alfama, the old quarter, via the gorgeous Avenida da Liberdade, to meet up with our food tour group.
A combination of sleuthing and intuition led us to book Treasures of Lisboa with Ruthy and Marcio an adorable couple of entrepreneurs who hosted us for four straight hours of food, facts, and fun. A good food tour and hosts is really the fastest, most enjoyable way to meet a city and we try to do this wherever we travel. It has never disappointed. The tour went from 3-7 pm which was perfect for avoiding crowds and a lot more fun than just going out for dinner. We toured the old quarter stopping in various restaurants for local courses and lore. The restaurants were very hospitable and Covid-conscious requiring proof of vaccinations, spacious seating, and masking when not eating. We sat near a cute couple from Denmark, late twenties, and loved hearing about their educations and lifestyle. Thank goodness we had already binged Borgen on Netflix, so we knew a little bit about Danish culture.
All in all a fantastic week in Portugal. We will return, as we have just barely scratched the surface of lovely Portugal—refreshingly unspoiled and authentic, she is the quiet yet stunning beauty in the colorful family called Europe.
