Sintra, Lisbon, Algarve, Azores and Porto, Portugal

July 2019 – 2 weeks with friends and family

Do not miss one of our top destinations of all time … the Azores, aka the Hawaii of the Atlantic. A chain of islands that are part of Portugal. And as long as you’re in Portugal, you have no excuse to not visit Lisbon and take a ride on Tram 28 and stuff your face with pastel de nata (egg custard sweets). The allure of Portugal doesn’t end there, with a jaw-dropping rugged coastline and huge beaches to the south in the Algarve, and lots of port and red wine to be drunk while cruising down the Douro River Valley around Porto in the north.

Like the rest of our travel guides, this is not an all-encompassing account of everything we did. We do not want to make a list of ‘Best’ or ‘Must-do’ experiences since we know it depends on your personal preferences. These are only our personal favorites and they are divided into two groups: “Avventura Favves” and “Other Things We Liked”.

The Avventura’s Portugal Map

Our extended family at the start of our Lisbon food tour

Overview

This was actually part of a larger Iberian tour since the first stop on the 3-week trip was in Barcelona. Our original plan was to drive from Turin and make a full-loop of the peninsula to visit the Galicia region and San Sebastian in Spain as well, but after some quick calculations on gas, tolls, and timing, we decided it would be better to fly and focus on a smaller area. It just means that we will have to hit up the other regions on a different trip.

After 5 great days in Barcelona, we flew to Lisbon and started our tour of Portugal staying on the outskirts of the city exploring the palaces of Sintra. After soaking in the luscious gardens and beautiful architecture, we headed into town to meet up with Lynn’s parents and her brother and his family who flew in from the US. Lisbon is packed with beauty, culture, and excellent unique cuisine. We only spent 2 days there with a jam-packed food tour, a surprise sardine festival, and lots of egg custards, but easily could have spent more time.

From Lisbon, we all drove down to the beach area of southwestern Portugal called the Algarve. The rugged coastline is incredibly beautiful down this stretch with the waves at the tip being some of the best in the world for surfing. Unfortunately, we’re not surfers, so we headed further east to the big and sandy beaches near Lagos. Another downfall of not being surfers is that we weren’t wearing wetsuits because this is some of the coldest water we’ve ever felt in July.

After the Algarve, we returned to Lisbon with detours to see a Roman temple and have lunch in Evora. From there we spent a few extra hours driving and staring at a bunch of neolithic rocks in Almendres. Lynn’s brother loved it, while Dave would have much preferred to see and eat more in Lisbon. But if that’s how you get your rocks off, then go for it, but definitely not a favve of ours. After getting back to Lisbon we said goodbye to the extended family and flew to the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago to meet our friends from Chicago. It’s like Hawaii but in the Atlantic. We loved the beaches with huge waves, thermal activity, pineapples, roads lined with hydrangeas, dairy cows, and views of green and sea beyond comparison. It’s easy to get to from the US since it does not require going all the way to mainland Europe, so it seemed like a good meeting place.

After not enough days (we need to go back), we left island life behind to visit Porto. This is another beautiful city in Portugal, which has plenty of old Port houses to visit and try their fortified wines. The highlight is its proximity to the picturesque Douro River Valley for a boating adventure involving more wine.

This was an awesome trip. We now understand all the buzz about Portugal’s culture, beaches, and unique food. The food was particularly interesting to us because it’s not something you can find in cities around the world like Italian, French, and Greek cuisine. Everything is at very reasonable prices. And the Azores really blew us away and as we mentioned, it’s one of our all-time favorite destinations.

The only negative was that we didn’t connect that well with the people. We had a strange experience at our check-in in Sintra where the person showed us around the house for 30 minutes including how the toilet seat goes up and down at least 3 times. That was odd, but then we had an extremely rude cab driver in Porto, another 30-minute check-in at our Airbnb in Porto, and a very awkward wine tour (which we didn’t even know was possible). And it wasn’t just our own confirmation bias, our friends commented on it independently as well. This was just a note of mention…of course, there were plenty of fun and interesting people that we met along the way too.

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Sintra – 2 nights

Because of Sintra’s cooler weather and forested hills, this town outside the city of Lisbon provided the perfect escape for the wealthy nobility of Portugal and elsewhere in Europe to build their massive summer residences in the 19th century. Today they have become a very popular tourist destination. Most people visit as a day trip from Lisbon and it can get quite crowded in the middle of the day. We elected to stay over for a couple of nights so that we could experience the food in the local town (which was exceptional), as well as visit the palaces at off-hours.

Avventura Faves

Quinta da Regaleira – We had planned to do the walking tour here at a set time, but because it took us so long to find parking (see Logistics below), we missed it. Instead, we did an augmented reality tour which was interesting, especially for the kids. It is a beautiful villa with even more beautiful gardens.

Celeiro Popular – We went to this casual bar/restaurant with lots of homemade choices for dinner one night. The owner was really friendly and walked us through all the different choices since most of the dishes were things we haven’t heard of before. It was necessary to be open to eating unusual meats to get the most out of the experience. It was delicious.

Tascantiga Restaurant is a great spot for lunch in town to try a variety of Portuguese foods, since they serve a long list of petiscos (Portuguese tapas). Caldo verde soup and sandwiches are on the menu as well. All go well with cold beer or sangria.

Logistics and Miscellaneous Notes

This can be done as a day trip from Lisbon. There are lots of tour companies offering a variety of packages including visits to 1 or 2 palaces, as well as some gardens.
We liked staying overnight in the area and found a reasonable Airbnb (although the check-in experience was weird – see above) with a beautiful pool for the kids to enjoy.
Just a quick word of warning, in the historic area near the palaces it is very hard to find parking, and it’s a one-way 30-minute long loop so you can’t turn around after passing the spot you want. Driving there was kind of annoying. If you stay in town, you could avoid this issue.

Next Time We Go

The kids were tired of touring and we weren’t really there long enough. We would have liked to see the other historic buildings and their grounds: Pena Palace, Sintra National Palace, and Castelo dos Mouros.

Lisbon – 2 nights

Our big, fun, extended family at the start of our Treasures of Lisboa Food Tour!

Lisbon is a vibrant city with its own personality. Its hilly, narrow streets and tram lines are reminiscent of San Francisco and it has a very strong food culture. You cannot leave Lisbon without trying the famous egg custard pastry known as pastel de nata at least a few times. And along those lines, make sure to focus on the food. Book a food tour, happen upon a sardine festival (like we did), or just wander the streets in search of many of their classic dishes.

Avventura Favves – egg custards, riding a tram, folk music, and cherry liqueur

Treasures of Lisboa Food Tour – Because of the unique and interesting cuisine, Lisbon is the perfect place for a food tour. And this tour company provided a great guide, who was funny and friendly (of course based on what we discovered about the Portuguese people it turns out she was not raised in Portugal – haha). We met her in the Alfama neighborhood near the Miradouro das Portas do Sol with its gorgeous view of the water. Highlights included whole sardines, white wine, chorizo grilled at the table, and cherry liquor. Maruto Restaurant was one of the stops and would be a nice place to eat even if you don’t do the food tour.

At the end, the guide had us wait in a park overlooking the city while she went to get us some warm homemade pastel de nata that her friend made for us. A sweet end to a great tour. Most of the group headed home to take a nap after all that food, but some of us carried on to a sardine festival celebrating this important part of the diet in Lisbon. We already had our fill of sardines on the tour, so we opted for a bifana (pork chop sandwich) at one of the stands made by a grandma who the guide recommended.

Besides the food, we heard the history of the Salazar dictatorship. No, that’s not a coincidence Harry Potter fans, JK Rowling lived in Portugal for a period (see more below about the Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto).

Aunt Cat aboard Tram 28 early in the morning

Tram 28 through the Alfama neighborhood – We planned on doing this activity before 8 am because we had heard about the long lines, but we ended up getting a later start because we were such a big group. Since it was fairly crowded, we (unsuccessfully) tried to outsmart the system by going to one of the last stops at planning to just stay on the tram as it restarts its loop at Martim Moniz, but they make you get off! So we only wasted more time. Moral of the story, go early to the start of the tram line.

After about 30 minutes we got off to stroll around the Jardim da Estrela and had a coffee and snack at the cafe in the park. The grandparents Ubered back while the rest of us walked back to the apartment.

The tram was fun to ride because it’s a great way to easily see cool views from many aspects of this very hilly city, but to be honest, we’re not sure why it is so popular. There are other European cities that use vintage, wooden trams like this (including Turin) but they are just transportation and not a tourist activity. If you are active and don’t like to wait in lines, it would probably be just as interesting to walk through the Alfama neighborhood and checking out all the mural art.

Fado folk music of Portugal is sad and moving. We went to an event at Adega Machado called Fado Inside the Box, which is earlier in the evening, a shorter performance, and doesn’t interfere with dinner. Most of the other performances start quite late at night and can run for several hours, which is not really ideal for the kiddos (or Lynn). Pick the event that makes sense for you, but it’s definitely worth seeking out at some point during your visit.

Pastéis de Belém – This is the home of the famous egg custard pastry that is also known as pastel de nata. The bakery is walking distance to other famous sites: Jeronimos Monastery, Belém Tower, Henry the Navigator’s monument, and the MAAT (museum of art, architecture, technology in a unique modern building). We saw them from the outside because we didn’t have time to go inside any of them, but anyway, the highlight of the area is the baked goods.

More sweets please! Fábrica da Nata has good coffee options and a nice glass-walled prep area where you can watch the pastel de nata being made. Fábrica do Pastel Feijão does not make pastel de nata, instead, they are famous for a sweet pastry made of beans called pastel feijao. It’s like Japanese sweet red bean paste and very good. If you need even more pastel de nata (like us), also try Manteigaria to complete the taste test for the best in the city. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Time Out Market – Time Out now has several of these upscale food courts around the world, but the one in Lisbon is the original. It was great for a large group of us because everyone picked their own food and we sat at a large table in the middle and sampled some of the beers they have at the bar in the enter of it all. We, of course, got more pastéis there.

Ramiro – This is a massive seafood restaurant that has many different options, including lobster that they’ll bring live to your table to select from. It’s massively popular so typically there is a long wait here, so be sure to reserve a table ahead of time, which we did via email.

A Ginjinha – Rather than getting the cherry-flavored liquor from the many people selling it out on the street throughout the city, go to the original location. This is a small stand in the people-watching friendly Rossio (King Pedro IV square). Order it ‘com ela’ if you want extra cherries in it.

Other Things We Liked

Rooftop drinks at Topo in Lisbon – The bar was super crowded and the bartenders took forever to make the drinks, but it was fun to see some of the nightlife in Lisbon and the view is spectacular. We also brought Ali with us for her first night out (which was pretty fun!). I guess they don’t care how old you are as long as you’re grandpa is there to keep an eye on you.

Logistics and Miscellaneous Notes

In Lisbon, we stayed in an Airbnb since we were such a big group. It was a nice apartment but without too much character. Unfortunately, Lisbon (as in Barcelona and elsewhere) is being taken over by corporate real estate companies that rent on Airbnb. This was one of those situations, so there were no personal touches. Besides guests not getting an insider view of the city from a caring host, this makes real estate prices a lot higher for the locals who are trying to live there.
Once again, the Lewins had one of our famous car rental disasters, but this one was kind of Lynn’s fault. She booked a car so far in advance that she forgot about it and booked a second car. Of course, by the time we realized it neither fee was refundable. She has since been removed from car renting duties, which really should have happened after her earlier mishap in Sicily when she booked a car for the wrong year.

Next Time We Go

There’s a lot more to explore in Lisbon and we wished we had another day (or two) in order to:

Poke around the LxFactory, an industrial area converted into artsy stores and restaurants
Learn more about the beautiful Portuguese tile art at the Azulejo Museum (but we did see an amazing display at the Sao Bento train station in Porto)
Sip our way through a self-guided beer/wine tour with stops at Cerveteca Lisboa and kiosks around the city (like Quiosque Príncipe Real)
Wander around the Alfama neighborhood more
Try another bifana sandwich, this time at As Bifanas do Afonso
Eat more pastel de nata, Dave cannot get enough of them!

Algarve – 5 nights in Lagos

We were drawn to this southernmost area of Portugal after watching Rick Steve’s video where he enthusiastically recommended Lisbon and the Algarve. With miles and miles of white sandy beaches and a rugged coastline, there are many places to choose from to try to stay away from the crowds. We chose Lagos mostly because it was where we found an Airbnb with a pool within walking distance to a beach.

The highlight of this trip for us was an epic day on a private catamaran exploring the coastline and caves. The beaches were gorgeous and we ate a ton of delicious Portuguese cuisine with seafood at the forefront. The only negative was the water. It was COLD, even in July. Next time we would wait until August or September to go, although we have heard that the ocean waters in this area never really get truly warm like the Meditteranean.

Avventura Favves – yachting doesn’t suck, sea caves, variety of meals

Private Catamaran with Lufinha Yacht Charter – We found this charter through Seabookings and they were top-notch. The boat was equipped with a dinghy, as well as paddleboards so that we could go exploring into the small caves, including the famous Benagil Caves. Even with the freezing cold water, it was such a relaxing and awesome day on the water. It’s hard to beat the view of the rock formations on the coast of the Algarve.

Salema Beach – We didn’t want to miss Rick Steves’ favorite beach in the Algarve, so we took a short drive from Lagos to check it out. It was less crowded, with locals enjoying the beautiful sand. We ate at Olhos N’Agua Restaurante right on the beach. A great outdoor restaurant with delicious fresh fish for lunch. Easy and casual.

Ponta da Piedade – We parked close to this rocky point and took a short walk to the edge of the cliff. After yelling at our children a few times to take a step back and stop trying to kill themselves, we descended a few hundred steps to the water. It’s easy to do and definitely worth seeing. We would have liked to have lunch in the area but everything was too crowded for our big group, we should have made a reservation earlier.

Casa do Prego – The friendly owners of this establishment are serving up delicious meat-focused cuisine in a casual, fun atmosphere. We had reserved a table in advance via email, but when we arrived (with our party of 13), they could not find it. No worries, they sat us on the rooftop and served up great cocktails while we waited about a half-hour for our table. The food was delicious, and the service was attentive even though they were extremely crowded.

Restaurante dos Artistas – This restaurant has a more refined feel with creative dishes and presentations. We sat out in the gorgeous back garden and the service was impeccable. A bit pricey, but reasonable for that kind of fine dining.

Avenida Restaurante – This trendy, modern waterfront restaurant was reserved for an adults-only night out. The food was spot-on, with classic meats and fishes served with a Portuguese flair. The dishes were beautifully presented, and we enjoyed some good wine and great service. Definitely a splurge.

BARBOSA Bar & Kitchen – We went here for another night out without the kids – hey, they had their cousins to play with…don’t make us feel bad! It was a fun place with a warm friendly atmosphere, and good beer choices and solid food.

Ol’ Bastard’s – Okay, so we understand that fish & chips are not Portuguese food, but since it’s not something we have much of in Turin, we thought this was a great choice. The fish is fried to perfection, the service is fun, they have creative cocktail options, and the beer goes down easy. It’s the perfect spot for an easy meal.