Greg and Deb's Travel Blog

Today we headed east into the Douro Valley, the home of true Port wine. To get there we went through the longest vehicle tunnel on the Iberian peninsula, 5.7km long, Tunnel Do Maroa. There were scars on the hilltops and down some slopes from bushfires earlier in the year. Europe in general has had a bad year for bushfires.
The area has no discernible dairy industry, it’s too hilly and dry, so the gastronomy is all about wine, olive oil and bread.
The quote of the day attributed to Percy Croft of the Douro Valley Croft family is,
“Any time you don’t spend drinking port wine is a waste of time”. Continue reading →

We met our guide in the hotel lobby for a walking tour of Porto. His name is Goncalo.
We started our tour at the Porto Train Station , it was formerly a monastery but was resumed by the Portuguese government at the end of the Portugal civil war in 1834. In 1896 it was converted to train station when last nun died. The main entrance to the station has vast mosaics covering its walls. The mosaics tell the history of Portugal. It was a really interesting way to learn their history, by story and graphics. It covers the times since the fall of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths period, Moors, Christians, trading, wine, exploration and a few local legends. Without Goncalo, it would have just been a meaningless four walls of blue tiles pictures. Continue reading →

Today we drove from Lisbon to Porto, with a couple of stops on the way. Our driver was Peter, the same one we had on Friday.
We were picked from our hotel at 8:55am and headed north. There were wind turbines across the hills as we got away from the city. There were also plantations of eucalyptus and pine trees for paper production.
We drove to Obidos, 84km , 1hr, north of Lisbon. On the way into the town we saw a long low aqueduct that brought water to the town There were 4 or 5 buses there, but the bus tourists were reasonably spread out, so it wasn’t too bad. Continue reading →

Today was a free day on our itinerary, we were left to our own resources. That meant a slow start to the day.
Breakfast a bit after 9am, and we eventually made it out of the hotel some time after 11am. We walked down the street, Av. Da Liberdade, to have a look inside a big church that sat at Largo de São Domingos, just around the corner from Rossio Square. Egreja Sao Domingos is one of the city’s most historically rich and visually striking churches. Founded in 1241, it was the scene of a massacre of “new Christians” (converted Jews) by a mob in 1506. It was also tied to the Inquisition with Jesuit missionary Gabriel Malagrida executed there in 1761. It has survived earthquakes in 1531 and the great one in 1755, it was gutted by fire in 1959, destroying priceless art works. Instead of fully restoring the church after the fire they preserved the fire damage, including the scorched pillars and blackened walls, it looks very dark, but shows resilience at the same time. Continue reading →

We were picked up at 9am and drove about 136km east to Evora, about a 75 min drive from Lisbon. The speed limit on the Tollway/highway was 120km/hr. Our driver today was John, and he will also be our driver for our trip up to Porto.
Our route east took us over the 25th April Bridge. Lisbon suburbs extend for about 40km from the centre of the city, it’s rural after that.
We passed a VW car manufacturing plant, the largest in Portugal, it employs about 10,000 workers.
Cork Oak tree farms were dotted all along either side of the highway. Cork takes 25 years to get to a 1st bark harvest. Unfortunately, the 1st harvest is not good quality. The next harvest is after 9 years further growth and then every 9 years after that. Cork bark is removed from just above ground level to about 1.0 to 1.5m up the trunk. You can tell recently harvested trees by the red colour of their trunks. Cork farms are randomly planted, not like an ordered orchard. Continue reading →

We woke at 8am! Normally we would be high fiving, but today we were being picked up at 9am! This meant we were a “little” rushed, but we made it with minutes to spare.
Fernando, our driver met us in the lobby and told us Luis, our guide was running a little late due to some unexpected issues, we drove down to a Metro Station stop and then drove around for a while until he appeared. We were on our way to start our day by 9:25am.
Some fun facts to start this blog.
Lisbon is a light city due to stone used in building, Porto is dark for the same reason, different rocks.
The marque who rebuilt Lisbon was/is a very disliked as a person but his work in rebuilding Lisbon is undeniably remarkable.
The Lisbon aqueduct was finished just prior to the 1755 earthquake. It survived the earthquake. It has the highest gothic arch in the world. It was used until the 1960s to help with Lisbon’s historical water shortage issues.
Now for today. We headed west to Sintra, the by-gone summer playground/refuge for the monarchy and the wealthy. Continue reading →

We were picked up at 7:35 for a Fado Restaurant.
Unfortunately our driver was given the name of our Fado Restaurant, but not the location. We just happen to be going to 1 of 2 same name Fado Restaurants in Lisbon. A quick phone to his office caught someone just as they were leaving. It was all sorted inside 15mins and we were on our way Fabo Ao Carmo, in the Alfama district.
Fado is a deeply expressive and melancholic style of Portuguese music that captures the soul of the nation. Continue reading →

Our guide, Luis, met us in the hotel lobby at 9am, our driver got caught in peak traffic and arrived a little later.
We found out that like so many other cities in Europe, Lisbon is a City of Seven Hills, joining Rome and Istanbul that we know of!
Now for a bit of history, it is sort of part of all our tours, you have to understand where the city/country came from to understand why it is what it is now. Continue reading →

I woke at 4am, Deb was awake around 3am, it’s a travel day, a new country awaits us.
We checked out of our hotel and were picked up at 6am and taken to the airport for the domestic leg to Istanbul where we transited for our Lisbon, Portugal flight.
On the way to the airport we saw the balloons flying at sunrise. It was a magic sunrise and the silhouette of the balloons against a dark reddish sky was magical. It looked like there weren’t as many balloons up as yesterday but it was still very special.
We arrived at the airport at 6:30am. The first passengers in the terminal. We went through security no problem and then waited for everything to open up. We checked in and waited, yes even a little hydrating was done. Departure time was 8:50am, we boarded at 8:25 and were in the air at 8:55am and on our way to Istanbul. It was a 65 min flight. Continue reading →

Up at 4:30am for another very good reason, Hot Air Ballooning over Cappadocia.
While we were waiting near reception for our ride, “Call to Prayer” started at 5:17, I’d forgotten how loud it is at that time of the morning.
We were picked up at 5:20am and taken to a staging/coordination area, we arrived around 5:40am. There were so many mini buses and cars, all full. It’s 10C and we are sitting on a minibus like most others, waiting. We drove to another area parked and then we were transferred from 1 bus to another, and parked and waited. We could see balloons inflating to the side of us, 9 or more glowing from the flame. And more being readied to inflate right next to us. We eventually got off the bus and just stood around waiting and watching all the activity as 1 balloon after another took to the sky. Continue reading →