Portugal Summer 2016

June - July 2016
A 13-day adventure by Travel Cauldron Read more
  • 4footprints
  • 1countries
  • 13days
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  • 194miles
  • Day 1

    Lisbon

    June 28, 2016 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Our Tour started with 3 nights in Lisbon, based in a modern boutique Bessahotel in the Restoration Square area on the Avenida da Liberdade. We have enjoyed exploring the flatter down town areas which are accessible in the buggy and today took a tour with a private tour guide to see the historic area of Belen from where the Portuguese set sail in the late 1400's & 1500's to discover Africa, India, Asia & China. We saw the tomb of Vasco da Gama in the Monisterio de Jeronimo. . From there we moved on so Richard could take a tour of the Benfica football stadium. Then finally Pedro our guide drove us around the steeply hilly districts of Baixa Alto & Alfama with their tiny winding streets which would have been completely inaccessible to us with the buggy !Read more

  • Day 3

    Evora

    June 30, 2016 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Our 2nd destination was the historic, ancient city of Evora where all the streets located within the massive city walls are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
    We found it to be a beautiful place with narrow streets of whitewashed & yellow trim houses whose doors must be green or brown only ! , opening out into attractive tree lined squares & arched colonnades of small shops. The cobbles were challenging in the buggy but we managed quite well - then found Frederico a tuk-tuk driver who took the buggy from the Cathedral back to the hotel & then came back for us to take us on a full tour of the city.There are huge stone city walls - part of which formed the rear of the garden of our hotel Mar De Ar which was decorated in a country shabby chic style - an ancient aqueduct and the ruins of a Roman Temple. One of the memorable parts of our stay was a visit to the Chapel of Bones - decorated throughout with bones by the monks as a reminder that we are all going end up as bones whatever our status in life. The chapel inscription read "We bones are here & we wait for yours"
    We had found a tiny, 12 cover restaurant featuring on Trip Advisor as the best place in town - and pre-booked a table at Tabua de Naldo - great food & banter with Chef Naldo in the back streets of the city - even the taxi driver didn't think it existed ! The locals were celebrating their festival week & we wandered through the fair ground with every local organisation having a stall - from charities, schools, political parties & crafts people all represented.
    In all we thought this was a lovely atmospheric city
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  • Day 13

    Gale Portugal

    July 10, 2016 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After a busy few days we headed South down to the Algave to a small residential area west of Albufeira.
    We stayed in a small 40 room luxury hotel - Villa Gale - set about 100 yards from a long sandy beach. This part of the holiday was about relaxing by the pool !
    I enjoyed an early morning walk just after 7am when the beach was virtually deserted - but by lunchtime it was a wash with families, multi-coloured umbrellas, windbreaks & towels until the sun went down. We had a fabulous meal out of stunning fish brochette right on the beach side as the sun set - just so holiday !
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  • Day 13

    Faro Portugal

    July 10, 2016 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Our final stay was a night in Faro, to ensure we were near the airport for an early flight home. faro is an ancient town dating back to Roman times & today has a small old quarter around the Se - or cathedral. We stayed at Hotel Eva on the Marina and took a golf cart tour with Ernesto of the city to see all the sights. In the evening we wandered into the pedestrianised area close to the hotel and wandered around the shops before settling on the Vasco da Gama seafood restaurant for a final Cataplana to round off the holiday in style.Read more