Waking up in Sintra we looked out the window to find out there was an antique motorcycle show in progress. Since Gary used to ride a motorcycle, (Kawasaki 350 Avenger and Honda 750), we couldn’t resist taking a few pictures. The Motorcycle Club of Sintra is the oldest in Portugal, and this is their 29th […]

Everyone insisted we had to see Sintra and the magnificent Pena National Palace along with the Moorish Castle.
In the 19th century Sintra became the first center of European Romantic architecture thanks to King Ferdinand II who turned a ruined monastery into a castle and park.

First occupied by the Romans but abandoned in the 5th century, in 713 the Moors established a fortification on this mountain. In 1148, Obidos was retaken by the first King of Portugal, Alfonso Henriques, and it was one of the last battles in the final stage of the conquest of the Extremadura region. King Alfonso […]

During our short stay at Praia da Vagueira we had the opportunity to watch the fishermen who still use traditional methods to set their nets.

Heading south out of Porto, we had heard that the town of Aveiro was a nice place to visit. Because of its many canals, people call it the “Venice of Portugal”. Like many towns in Portugal, parking is a problem, and in this case, we couldn’t have found a spot if we had been driving […]

We wanted to explore a little further north of Porto. The first interesting beach we came to that evening was a small resort town called Ofir. The sun was setting over the ocean and we stopped in an empty parking lot near the “praia” (beach). Everything was fine until about 2AM when the parties began. […]

In the afternoon we did have a chance to visit the cellars of the Cockburn’s winery, one of the many producers of the famous Port Wines that this country is famous for. After an interesting tour we were allowed to taste a few. We now have a better idea of where this unique wine comes […]

Arriving in Porto, we followed the narrow backstreets that our trusted Garmin GPS seems to prefer and found our way to a dusty dirt bag of a campground in an eucalyptus grove. Its sole redeeming point was its proximity to a bus stop that would take us into the center of the city. Apparently training […]

Finally, we were in Portugal and ready to experience a new culture. Our Spanish was allowing us to get by. Since one of the famous things in Portugal is Port wine, which comes from the Douro Valley and takes its name from the Douro River, it was recommended that we follow the scenic secondary road […]

Still following windy secondary roads over the mountains and passing through small villages, we finally came to the Portuguese border. The old Customs House was abandoned so we stopped for a picture and continued on to Bragança. Again it seems strange to cross these international borders without even slowing down. Gary keeps waiting and hoping […]