We’ve been having fun discovering places to see and things to do throughout Portugal. It’s been enjoyable watching videos and reading blogs to find out tips about places to visit along with those to avoid: the ones that prey on tourists. I’ve also had some good recommendations from people online, especially for restaurants!

I’ve had many people suggest places where we can hike along mountain trails, along rivers and between towns. While I’m thankful for the suggestions, I try to gently let them know that we’re older and sometimes it’s a hike just to get to the mailbox.

Anyway, as our research and planning is on-going, I’ll just mention a few things that we have plans for already:

Porto:

Porto is the home of Portugal’s famous Port Wine Makers and we’ll be taking at least one tour and tasting. We have narrowed our choices down to Taylor, Graham’s, Sandeman or Fonseca, but they are pretty close to each other and sometimes the best choice is no choice. (wink)

We have an all day excursion to the Duoro River Valley. We will be taking the train from Porto to the town of Pinhão. We have some time to grab a little lunch and walk around before taking a Rabelo boat ride further on the Duoro River. Afterwards, we’ll take the train back to Porto.

Two nearby towns that we’d like to see are Braga and Guimaraes. We managed to find a small group tour to go to both in one day. Both towns are supposed to have some beautiful sights and a day tour seems like a good way to see them.

There are two cool markets that we are planning to visit. One on each side of the river and both come highly recommended. They sell fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood, pastries, wine and just about anything you need, plus lunch!

The remainder of our time will likely be spent wandering around visiting museums, churches and the waterfront.

Coimbra

Coimbra is where I will try to look at least a little bit smart. The main attraction here is the 800 year old university with an incredible library, a beautiful old chapel and a fantastic botanical garden. We snagged a guide for a walk around the university.

We will also be on the hunt for a location to grab some wine and listen to the students singing their version of Fado music. This should be more upbeat than the Fado we’ll hear in Lisbon. The university students are said to “use it as a mating call to attract mates”. We shall see!

Tomar:

We already talked about the Templar connection, so I’ll bypass those. The remainder of our time will be spent just wandering through the town and taking it all in.

Nazare:

Nazare is our midpoint “stop and smell the roses” town. It is a beach town right on the Atlantic Ocean. While there are some places we will visit here, we really just want to relax and watch the sunset here.

Sintra:

Sintra is a place that most people use as a day trip site from Lisbon. We’ll be staying there for a few days to really get to enjoy all of the beautiful sites. We’ll visit the enchanting Pena Palace, the Quinta da Regaleira, the Moorish Castle and the Sintra Palace.

Pena Palace & Moorish Castle photos from Viator

Lisbon:

The capital city has so much to offer and we’re going to try our best to see what we can. Like most of the other towns we’ll be visiting, Lisbon is known for its steep hilly streets. We’re going to try and strategically conquer it by using public transportation as much as possible.

We’ll be starting off with a Tuk Tuk Tour of town. That should at least give us an idea of where places are located.

We do know that two beautiful locations that we will definitely visit just so happen to be within close proximity to our hotel: the Castello de Sao Jorge and the Lisbon Cathedral. Like walking distance close.

While available throughout Portugal, we have been told to make it our mission to try the famous ‘Pasteis de Nata’ from various bakeries around town. They are little egg custard tarts with a pastry shell crust. We will do our best and report back on our favorites.

If we haven’t done so already, we also plan on visiting the Azulejo Tile Museum. We’ll see plenty during our travels, so if we’ve already been dazzled by blue and white tiles, we can swap out for another location.

There is a lot of history related to the earthquake of 1755 that destroyed much of the city. We’ll see some of the locations while moving around the city. However, there is a more recent attraction called “Quake” that we just might have to visit. More on that coming up later.

We haven’t decided on the location yet, but we do plan on stopping into a wine bar and listening to some Fado performers. It’s very popular in Portugal and is a melancholy form of music, almost soulful or mournful. Probably won’t meet any ‘Swifties’ there!

From here to there:

Getting around in Portugal seems like it should be fairly easy. They have a good rail and bus system. The cities have good public transportation, be it by tram, train, bus or subway. Plus, taxis and Uber are available.

Additionally, we’ll be using our friends at Daytrip for the longer intercity rides. We’ve used them in Italy and France and have been very pleased with the service. Besides going from city to city, you can arrange for them to stop along the way to visit places.

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We have some really interesting places that we’ll be eating at, but we’ll save those for when we get there. I will say that it will be quite a mix of places with the common link being good food to try at them all. Everything from Iberian ham to octopus will be in play, and of course, desserts!