Portugal – Beaches, Music, Monuments, Wine!
Portugal, a destination not often thought about is appropriate for the cost conscience traveler. Lisbon spreads over seven hills featuring terra-cotta and cobblestone streets, while staring out over the Tagus River to the Atlantic Ocean. A rugged Moorish castle tops the skyline, and the streets are lined with baroque churches and Gaudiesque art nouveau buildings.
Lisbon has some of the liveliest African music in Europe; terrific Cape Verdean, Angolan and Mozambican singers make the city home. For the coolest night out in Lisbon, one should head for the waterfront warehouse club, Lux Fragil, which is always packed with the most fashionable crowd on a Friday or Saturday night.
Allow at least three days for a first visit to Lisbon, and make time for the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos. Extravagantly decorated doorways lead through long cloisters to a church supported by pillars adorned with stone ropes and coils of faux seaweed. These rise to a fan-vaulted ceiling whose thousands of tons of stone somehow look light and airy. Many Portuguese notables are buried at this monastery, including Luis de Camoes, author of Portugal’s national epic, Os Lusiadas, and the explorer Vasco da Gama.
The Gulbenkian is one of the world’s greatest small museums. Oil magnate Calouste Gulbenkian acquired a hug collection of Egyptian, European and Oriental artifacts and Renaissance art, which was brought to Lisbon after his death. Highlights include intricate Roman jewelry, opulent Moorish carpets and tapestries, paintings by Rembrandt and Van Dyck, and an extensive collection of Rene Lalique’s art nouveau glassware.
Wandering the narrow, cobbled streets of the Bairro Alto neighborhood on a cliff overlooking the 19th-centruy city center is a must do in the late afternoon. There is a pretty medieval square or a magnificent church at every turn. The most beautiful is the Igreja de Sao Roque whose simple exterior hides what was said at the time to be the most expensive chapel ever built – a feast of rich gold work and beguiling complex mosaics of lapus lazuli, ivory, agate, and precious metals. Built in Rome in 1742, it was blessed by the Pope before being transported in its entirety to Lisbon.
An easy day trip from Lisbon would include an adventure to Sintra, a former royal retreat in cool forested hills near the coast. It looks like a Disney fantasy: pastel tiered castles crown the hilltops; faux-Moorish domed palaces lie hidden in wooded gardens; and extravagant neo-Gothic mansions loom at the top of steep driveways. The grandest of all is the Palcio Nacional da Pena, rebuilt by Portugal’s Austrian king-consort in the late 18th century. It’s a fascinating mishmash of Italian colonnades, Ottoman/Oriental turrets and windows painted in garish pinks and yellows. The interior of the building is preserved as it was when royalty fled during the 1910 revolt.
The Algarve coast, southern Portugal’s balmy Riviera, sees nothing but blue sky 300 days of the year. The most dramatic coatline is along the drive to the medieval fortress town of Lagos. Between Praia de Dona Ana and Porto do Mos, the cliffs have been broken by the wind and sea into jagged rock formations pierced by blowholes and grottoes. Secret half-moon bays of golden sand lie hidden from view from all but the ocean.
An hour beyond Lagos is Europe’s southwestern most point: Cabo Sao Vicente, a cape whose plunging cliffs are dotted with crumbling medieval churches and castles. More than 500 years ago, Portuguese sailing ships left to explore the world from these shores. There’s great hiking in the pine woods and peach orchards less than 20 miles inland, around the spa town of Monchique.
Families of Lisbon travel for weekends to the beaches of Cascais, less than 20 miles from the capital. Here they fight for space on the sand on the short beaches and wander, ice cream in hand, along the ocean esplanade or the clusters of narrow streets crowded around the town’s historical fort.
Every small Portuguese town has its own wine, traditional cakes and cheeses. In the mountainous Beira region, is the village of Pinhel which is famous for its red wines and vanilla-flavored cavaca candies - invented by the nuns from the local convents in the Middle Ages. Pinhel is a delightful maze of winding streets and makes a great base for hiking in the nearby park land, Serra da Estrela, or for visiting the Coa Valley, where rock faces are inscribed with Paleolithic art.
The Douro River flows out of Spain into a deep valley stepped with some of Europe’s oldest vine terraces. Port wine comes from here, together with some of Portugal’s heartiest reds. The Douro Valley is easily seen on a cruise from Porto, a destination in its own right.
Great features of traveling in Portugal include the fact English is widely spoken, however visitors who try to speak a few words of Portuguese will make many friends. Portugal is a great country for driving. Small distances and an excellent and well-signposted road network mean that it’s never a long journey to the next place of interest. The whole country, from north to south can be driven in a little over a day. But beware of Portuguese drivers… hugging the fender and flashing headlamps furiously on the highway - it is common practice.
Portugal is great for kids. Lisbon has a huge aquarium, and the dolphin and seal shows at the Zoomarine on the Algarve cost are some the best in Europe.
Portugal can be very warm in the summer, thus Spring (April through May) and Autumn (September through October) are cooler, just as sunny, and far less busy. The winter months (November through March) will generally be wet and cold.
A pint of locally brewed Sagres will cost about $2., and a sausage sandwich about $4. An average hotel will be under $100.00 per night.
If you have never considered Portugal a destination, think again, it offers a great vacation for a very reasonable price.
