Portugal
Our first visit to Portugal was not the traditional Algarve sun, sea and sand but rather part of a Spain + Portugal driving holiday, staying in Paradors and Pousadas along the west coast and then inland in a big loop. If you have not experienced these hotels then you need to. They consist of hotels installed in historical monuments and buildings, castles, convents and monasteries. The Spanish ones are called Paradores but use the same type of buildings. Both have some amazing examples. We flew into Porto, picked up our hire car and headed for the converted 12th century monastery of Guimaraes where our bedroom was in a thick walled monk`s cell. The very first picture below in the gallery is the front door! But first we managed to hit a drainhole with no cover on and wiped out a tyre and wheel rim! Not a good start. At our second stop, up near the Spanish border, we spotted a Swallowtail butterfly which is on the British list but not really seen outside the fens so a great spot/photograph. We then headed inland through rural villages where locals stopped their donkeys to gaze at a car going through and which to us seemed to be still stuck in the 1800s! Into Spain for a week or so before returning to Portugal much further south and staying at an amazingly decorated former Royal Hunting Lodge - Bussaco Palace Hotel with stunning gardens full of Hummingbird Hawkmoths feeding on nectar. Here we experienced the fabulous local speciality - roast suckling pig which was excellent. Also another food speciality to be looked out for - Feijoada which is a meat and bean stew to die for (I had previously enjoyed this in Brasil). So encouraged I chose another local speciality without checking exactly what it translated into - tripe!!! YUK. And then to a relatively modern stay on Aveiro sea logoon with traditional curved prow painted boats like the one in the photograph below. After checking out the menu we opted for a seafood stew which was enormous and extremely tasty, and drew admiring glances from all the tables near us. A really good choice.
Our second visit was both planned (Madeira) and unplanned (Lisbon). We were on a cruise to the Canaries and Maderia was en route but after that things started to go downhill. The North Atlantic was hit by four big storms in rapid succession and with no prospect of setting back into Southampton without a big battering the cruise company decided to delay and reroute us until there was a safe `gap` with less rough seas. This meant an unplanned call into Lisbon which was great because several people had recommended it but we had not had the opportunity to check it out. But first Madeira. Madeira is an archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa. It is known for it`s Madeira wine and warm, subtropical climate. The main island is volcanic, green and rugged, and the capital, Funchal has botanic gardens and is known for its harbor. We only had about half a day available so pottered around the capital in the pleasant sun ( and caught a few Pokemon and Pokeballs). Now this is going to sound weird but we were very impressed with the litter collection in Funchal! A large wagon approached what appeared to be a simple waste bin similar to a kitchen one. BUT with a twist of a key a two metre square section of paving swung upwards to reveal a huge bucket undeneath which the lorry removed and replaced by the collecting wagon. Simples.
The unplanned visit to Lisbon was useful because others had recommended the place but reviews talked about it being hilly. Both turned out to be correct. We could see the hills as we sailed into Lisbon under their red equivalent of San Fransisco`s Golden Gate Bridge. I made a strategic error straight off the boat by opting for the "hop on, hop off" red open topped tourist bus because it was difficult to judge the walking distance from the mooring to the centre. Big mistake! Tow hours later and in desperate need of coffee and loos we stepped off at the first `central` stopping off point after having been taken miles up the coast to `admire` the former Expo centre (modern building), new airport (modern buildings and overhead rail station (more modern buildings) - only the station makes it into my picture gallery below. The old centre looked very interesting but inaccessible to a big double decker bus. However, we made the most of the sea level bit of the town and amble along to a couple of huge squares with grand buildings around (and a Paris style cast iron cafe (with a built in loo for which you needed the key). There is still a tram service in Lisbon and it was essential to take photographs of one in the huge square that we next arrived in which was also the location of a series of open air restaurants. We settled on a promising one after browsing all their menus and got a table by a heater just as a storm arrived. The server suggested we move inside to a window seat so we could watch the passing crowd. It proved to be a good choice (if a bit pricey) and we worked our way down the seafood and followed by a local dessert - both of which appear in the gallery. Then the walk back to the ship turned out to be a relatively short pleasant journey past typical ceramic tile frontages that Lisbon seems to specialise in. And made us realise just what a waste of time the tourist bus had been. We were passed by a group of tourists who had made a better choice of transport - Segways.
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Browse through the picture galleries below relating to this page and you will get a much better idea than just reading my words! Each page has it`s own set of relevant images - where possible taken by us.