For those regular followers, you'll know that I love a door, but rather than peppering the blog with shots of doors and their knockers throughout each post, I thought I would save them all for one post at the end.... If you don't love doors, there is nothing for you to see here. Door lovers,... Continue Reading →
See ya round Lisbon... today we're headed to Seville in Spain. Soooo much new (and some the same) history to learn... soooo much tapas to taste... soooo much sangria to sample.... soooo much flamenco to watch. We are staying right smack bang in the middle of the old Jewish Quarter in one of the most... Continue Reading →
After the chicken, we carefully made our way back over the slippery tiled cobbled streets back to our hotel for a chicken filled 'guts up'. This is our hotel on a slightly inclined street... It was lovely to sit inside our room and watch the rain come down as we dined on our hotel room... Continue Reading →
Today is our last day in Lisbon and indeed Portugal, and we were determined to get on that damn tram! Having learned our lesson with the No. 28, we decided to head down to the big archway and try our luck with the red historic tram. We just have to get through these crowds of... Continue Reading →
This morning we were tour guideless until this afternoon, so we had the day to wander at our own pace just looking at stuff. This is the Santa Justa Lift - built by Raoul Mesnier de Ponsard, an admirer of Gustave Eiffel's work, hence the similarities in style. It was built back in 1902 as... Continue Reading →
The search didn't take too long as Lisbon is all about the Fado. Fado is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon. It is commonly regarded as a form of song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain traditional structure. In popular belief, fado is a form of music... Continue Reading →
We arrived at the front of our hotel this morning to find our lovely friend Fernando waiting for us - what luck! So we would go to see Sintra with a local. The drive took about 20 minutes and this part of the world couldn't be any different from Lisbon or Porto if it tried.... Continue Reading →
Lisbon. Capital of the biggest city in Portugal and one of the oldest cities in Europe (and therefore the world) and the home of the original pastel de nata - apparently only 3-5 (reports differ) chefs know the original recipe! This is the view from our room!!! We are just walking distance to this beautiful... Continue Reading →
Our fabulous hotel in Coimbra was Quinta das Lagrimas. We arrived at the gate cause they don't let any old riff riff in this joint (except maybe these two ladies who jumped into my photo) And we were greeted at the door by Paulo who swiftly took out bags up the stairs. The room was... Continue Reading →
Well if we thought yesterday was a ghost town - check this out! You couldn't even see across to the other side of the river! We packed our bags, had our brekky and waited out the front of our hotel for our tour guide. As we were sitting watching the vans pull in, pick up... Continue Reading →
Yesterday marked the last day of summer holidays for the Portoians - back to school, back to uni and back to work. So when we woke this morning and pulled back the curtains, we were met with a ghost town. There are still tourists however... and we are two of them. Today we had nothing... Continue Reading →
What a massive day! We got up at the absolute crack this morning as we had a tour guide picking us up at 8am (or so Jenny had read). The sun hasn't even come up yet!!! Brekky didn't start until 7.30, so we had to be at the door ready to grab our plate so... Continue Reading →
Last night we headed out to find somewhere for dinner. Neither of us were very hungry so thought we'd just get a bit of cheese and bread to go with our bottle of wine. There is always a lot going on along the waterfront, and tonight we felt like something a little less....... conga line!... Continue Reading →
We started the day off right with a couple of Portuguese tarts..... and yes, that's right, they're just called 'tarts' here. Actually, they're called natas here, but that ruins the joke. Today we decided to jump on the big red bus and get a look at a bit more of the town and some of... Continue Reading →
We got up before the sun this morning, what with going to bed in the early hours of the evening last night, but it was lovely as we got to watch the sun come up behind the bridges. Porto has 6 bridges, just for a little FYI. This is the view from our balcony.... not... Continue Reading →
23 hours of travelling and we're finally in Porto, Portugal. Porto, and I'm guessing the rest of the country is one of those places where you just can't quite get your head around how old it is. How many people over 100s (and in Porto's case 1000s) of years would have meandered over the cobblestones... Continue Reading →