An Epic Portuguese Summer
Boa Noite 🌟 As the cooler weather starts to settle in here, this is the first time in a long time I haven't been quite ready for fall... summer in Portugal was just too good 😍 And so, I dedicate this epicly long, overdue post to our first Portuguese summer - the one where we fell in love with this side of the Atlantic 💙
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| On the cliffs of Ericeira |
June //
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| My favorite flower in Portugal, the Bougainvillea |
Algarve
Towards the middle of June we took the train to the Algarve to meet our very first visitor, Justin's dad! We were able to celebrate Father's Day together with dinner overlooking the ocean, and got to show him around our favorite Algarve spots. We had a bit of cloudy weather while there but we made the most of it by hiking the seven hanging valleys trail from Benagil to Marinha beach. The views of Marinha from the hike were absolutely breathtaking!
His dad and I dipped our toes into the water at Marinha and it was freeeezing! So when we went paddle boarding the next day I was hoping to not fall in haha. Luckily I didn't, but Justin did 😂 He was trying to show off before we got more instructions on how to stand up of course. We chose the sunrise tour to have less people in Benagil Cave which worked out well, especially since we were staying nearby.
Of course we had to take his dad to Lagos as well, but all I got was a sunset pic from Ponta Piedade.
Back to Lisbon
Sintra
Not only did we get to celebrate Father's Day in person, but it was also his dad's birthday! So we spent the day showing him Sintra, mainly hiking to the Castle of the Moors. The steep trail weaved through the village before turning into a wooded, cobblestone path. There was
someone sitting on a rock playing the flute that made me think of Zelda
haha. It was so green and beautiful along the path, and thankfully shaded since it was a super hot day which is pretty unusual for Sintra.
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| We're going to the top! |
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| We lucked out with a gorgeous day! |
To cap off his dad's birthday we did a sunset cruise along the Tejo. It was the perfect way to end the day, the vinho verde was flowing and the views of Lisbon from the river were beautiful.
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| Tower of Belem at sunset |
Another great way to see Lisbon is to cycle the riverfront! We had a fun afternoon biking along the river to see the Tower of Belem during the day.
Douro Valley
I'm not sure the wine maker who hosted our tasting was impressed by us though 😅 He was so descriptive and poetic about his wine. He would ask us what each wine smelled like, and we might say something like "citrus-y?" then he would correct us and say "more like the scent of an unripened orange tree" or "the smell of rain hitting rocks". It's funny when he said it I would think it was true, but maybe it was the 10 glasses of wine haha. Safe to say we were not wine experts in his book or ours! So we played in the vineyard instead... 😉
Also as mentioned before, driving in the Douro is quite the adventure, very winding roads that follow the river. I was thankful Justin's dad was driving and also so I could enjoy the views!
Porto
After exploring the city for a bit it was time to get back out into nature, so we all went canyoning about an hour outside Porto. It was Justin's and my first time so I was a bit nervous and my uneasiness with heights was creeping in on me... luckily it was all ok! I actually really enjoyed it but it was a long day out.
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| Way up high! |
We started out by hiking down into the canyon which was hot wearing our wet suits and gear already. Once down in the river we got a safety briefing and it was time for the first rappel. I think we did about 5 rappels total along with some cliff jumps mixed in!
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| Justin rappelling |
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| Me rappelling |
The rappels were really beautiful, each alongside different waterfalls. However the water made the rocks slippery, so we had to be careful with our footing. In between rappels and cliff jumps you are climbing over rocks in the river bed, stepping into holes of unknown depth. Even swimming sections of it which was really nice for cooling off!
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| Somewhere down a river |
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| Justin's dad after a cliff jump! |
Canyoning was a great way to see a different side to the North, outside of the city and the popular destinations like the Douro. The canyon was absolutely gorgeous and it's one of those activities where you're fully present in the moment the entire time, which I really enjoyed.
July //
It was a great way to see Porto though, you end up covering more ground than you would walking and Porto is more spread out than it initially seems. There's kind of two sides to Porto to me, the touristy riverfront and then the actual city that starts behind all of that.
For our last day in Porto we were going to take Chris to the Douro for the day, but we all decided we'd rather explore the city more. I still felt like we hadn't had a lot of time to do so and after the segway tour we wanted to check out more of those spots in person (aka without the segway). |
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| View from the clock tower |
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| An aperol spritz break |
We enjoyed seeing Porto, and it was a beautiful city. But let's just
say it wasn't Lisbon, we are a bit biased at this point! I also think I
expected it to feel a lot smaller and quaint, but to me it still felt
like a bigger city (though not as big as Lisbon). I only bring it up
because Justin and I rode the sky car and the first thing the lady asked
us as the bottom was "which do you like better, Porto or Lisbon?" Let's
just say I gave a politically correct answer don't worry 😊
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| My favorite photo we took of Porto |
Back to Lisbon
We had a great time exploring Lisbon.... rooftop bars, botanical bars, miradouro bars, and of course seeing the highlights of the city.
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| Riding the tram |
Chris's last day was the hottest day we've had so far this summer in Lisbon, even sitting outside in the shade was almost too much for all of us. But we managed to get to a miradouro for sunset on his night, the highest point in the city!
Ericeira + Praia do Meco
The rest of July was spent catching up on work, and taking a couple day trips on the weekends. Ericeira
is the ultimate summer day trip from Lisbon... it's a really cute surf
town with nice beaches and a gorgeous coastline. We visited two weekends in a row because we loved it so much
(and because we forgot the camera the first time haha).
Ericeira has the black rock cliffs similar to the western Algarve, and there is one section north of the beach where you can walk out on them. The locals even had tables set up on the rocks playing cards. It was an interesting mix of natural rock and man made additions like the bench we were sitting on for the photo.
Praia
do Meco is really unique with a sandstone cliff overlooking the beach.
Near the parking lot you can walk up the steep slope to the top of the
cliff where you get some amazing views!
For the last day of July we got to cruise the Tejo again with some of our running club friends. It was such a fun day out on the water! A few of us even jumped in but let me warn you... the water is cold! But very refreshing 💦
August //
Early September //
Algarve
September began in the best way possible, back in the Algarve but this time with Brandon and Brittany! We kicked off Justin's birthday with brunch and a visit to our favorite beach there, Praia da Marinha of course. All four of us are beach lovers so it was a fun afternoon just chilling on the beach drinking sagres!
How good was the weather on this trip? I've decided September seems to be the best time to visit the Algarve... warm weather and even the water felt so good to swim in! Although we aren't alone in that opinion, it was pretty busy at all the beaches we went to but it was fun to experience the Algarve getting back to its normal, post pandemic times.
After Marinha we hit the cave bar we discovered back in May, and after a couple pitches of sangria the boys did some cliff jumping in the grotto!
Afterwards we celebrated with dinner in Portimão, then a night cap at a bar built into the cliff. You have to take a elevator down to the bar which was pretty neat. Safe to say Justin had an epic birthday!
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| Spritzing ourselves 🧡 |
For the last morning in the Algarve we got to do the sunrise paddleboarding at Benagil again, it was a fun morning.
Lisbon
Back to Lisbon! We headed to the castle first with Brandon and Brittany for the best view 😊
Then it was ginja time! And exploring Lisbon 💛
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| Secret rooftop bar among the Bougainvillea |
And of course, Sintra! We opted for taking a jeep up to Pena Palace to kickstart the day.
The weather was really neat this day, it was cloudy and rainy and then switched over to being blue skies. So we got to see it misty and clear, the best of both worlds I think! Sintra looks good when the weather is moody.
From Pena Palace we headed to Quinta da Regaleira, a private 20th century palace and gardens. This was a new stop for Justin and I so we were really excited to see it. The most popular part is the initiation well, noone really knows why it was built though. Some theorize it symbolizes going from heaven to hell, then walking through the tunnel as a sort of rebirth. Either way, it's wild to me to think all of this was built for someone's private gardens. I mean the parties here must've been pretty amazing back in the day?! haha. That's all I could think about walking through it.
The garden is full of winding paths and secret short cuts through the trees or caves. It really is beautiful to walk through. It's like the secret garden 😊
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| These rocks are so wild looking to me |
It was such a great visit with B&B!
Fall/Winter Plans, Nomadic Life
Now that summer has come to an end, we've been trying to figure out our plans. The only thing that's for sure right now is we'll be at this apartment in Lisbon until the end of November. From that point on the plan has changed many times haha. Since we can be flexible we've decided to wait to book things as long as we can to see what border announcements come. We will likely travel around Europe a bit in December and then *hopefully* head to the Southern hemisphere towards the end of the year... but that's a big question mark right now.
On that note, we're embracing the nomadic life for now! We sold our place back home so for the first time ever we are traveling around without a home base. Our apartment here in Lisbon is starting to feel like home, so now I'm kind of sad about leaving it so soon. The time in Lisbon has really flown by, but after writing this blog post I think I understand why now 😂 This "trip" has become much more than just that, Lisbon has been an incredible city to live in and we're already planning on coming back in the Spring. After a visit back to the US of course. In the meantime we will see where this adventure takes us, and I'm learning to embrace the unknown!
💜
Sarah
"This is the journey of the soul, it's the adventure of meTo roam my own way, to flow in my own sea
To chase my own dreams on this adventure of me"