Family, Birthday & Anniversary in Portugal… So much to Celebrate!
Portugal has been at the top of our list for years! We have both visited Lisbon in the past, and it has always been one of our favorite cities. Unfortunately, both times we’ve been, we only had a chance to visit Lisbon, and we’ve always wanted to explore the rest of the country. This time, we planned just that. And even after 11 days, we still feel like there’s still so much more to see!
We were especially excited for Portugal because Britt’s brother, Zack, and his wife, Jackie, were joining us! Before we left on our trip, Zack said he would either meet us in Portugal or South Africa, and he indeed delivered on his promise. Zack was with us when we visited Lisbon in January 2020 and he, too, loved it so much he was in for a full exploration of Portugal.
Crazy story about our trip in January 2020… we vividly remember sitting in the lounge at the Lisbon airport watching the news coverage about this new thing called Coronavirus. We were there when the first case in Portugal was reported… at the Lisbon airport! It was a very strange time because we didn’t know what to think, and looking back, it looks and feels even more strange. Needless to say, this time around, we had the chance to explore Portugal without the fear of a world-ending virus that was strangely named after a tasty Mexican beer.
We met up with Zack and Jackie in Lisbon, where we hung out for two days visiting some of our favorite places, checking out new ones, and spending lots of time telling stories and catching up. As with each time we’ve been back to Lisbon, we always forget how hilly the city is… and the hills always win. This time, our hotel was only a 20 minute walk from Zack’s, but it was straight down and then directly back up the hill. Needless to say, we did that walk two times before giving up and taking a Bolt (shared ride service in Portugal) to get around. The nice thing about Portugal is that many things are very affordable, and Bolt was no exception. The price of a 20 minute ride was around 3 Euros. And now you know one of the reasons we love Portugal!
While in Lisbon, we also took a day trip to Sintra, which we absolutely loved! We explored the city and visited the famous Pena National Palace and Quinta da Regaleira. So far this year, we have tended to pass on these types of activities because the costs can rack up quickly when doing many touristy things, but we’re glad we opted for these! We loved putting our tourist hats back on with Zack and Jackie to explore some of the sites in Portugal.
After a few days in Lisbon, we hit the road and headed North. Portugal is a relatively small country with a lot of coastline, so we were excited to explore by car. If you haven’t learned by now, we love road trips. We believe they allow for a more casual, choose your own adventure style of exploration because you can make changes to your itinerary on the fly and stop at places along the way that you may have otherwise never seen if you were on a plane, bus, or train.
The only question of this road trip was how was it going to be with Zack?! For anyone who knows Zack, you know he is not necessarily the first person you’d willingly choose as a road trip companion. For those who don’t know Zack… here’s a gif highlighting the experience of being in a car with him. We prepared for every scenario… snacks, music, distractions, etc. Unfortunately, with all our preparation and excitement about spending time together, we let ourselves get distracted and had potentially the biggest mishap of our trip thus far.
We’ll keep the story short… but essentially… when we were packing the car, we left our laptop on the side of the road and we did not realize it until we got to our first destination, Aveiro, nearly four hours later.
Upon arriving in Aveiro and beginning to unpack the car, we immediately realized something was missing… which caused panic to ensue. Within ten minutes, we were back in the car driving the four hours back to Lisbon to see if we could track down the bag. Thankfully, one hour into our drive back, the hotel called and said they found our bag still sitting on the side of the road. Untouched. We were so relieved and lucky that we made this error in as wonderful a place as Lisbon. We spent the next two weeks without our laptop, and ended up getting behind on lots of our travel planning, blog writing, and more, but we were able to spend the rest of our time with Zack and Jackie with no worries on our mind. And we’re happy to say that this is the single worst thing that has happened to us in nearly seven months of traveling. For that, we are very grateful.
Once that scare was over, we returned back to our regularly scheduled programming of having fun. Our two days in Aveiro happened to coincide with Britt’s birthday and our wedding anniversary. So, on top of finding the laptop, we had more to celebrate! And celebrate we did. We took a boat tour through the canals in Aveiro and learned about the city’s history before going to a nice dinner in town… and Zack treated! Thanks, Zack!
After Aveiro, we headed to Porto, which was one of our favorite cities we’ve visited so far! Unfortunately, like Lisbon, it’s super hilly, but worth all the sweat and tears. We absolutely loved getting lost in the tiny streets, strolling along the river, and enjoying the lively culture. We ended up snagging a last minute reservation at Casa de Chá da Boa Nova, a two Michelin starred restaurant on the coast just outside of Porto. This was by far the most expensive meal of our trip (and definitely an off the books dinner from our typical daily budget), but it was incredible. One of the best meals we’ve ever had… if not the best. They offered the choice of a 6, 12, or 21 course tasting menu, and we opted for the 12 course. We figured we’d try to salvage some of our budget and not go TOO crazy… 🤣. The food was outstanding and the views over the ocean were an added bonus! This was Zack and Jackie’s first Michelin star restaurant experience, and unfortunately for them, we think it will be hard to top! We highly recommend getting a reservation if you’re ever visiting Porto. All things considered, it was well worth every penny.
From Porto, we traveled up the Douro River (figuratively…) to the valley to visit a few vineyards and learn about Port wine. We booked a day trip through our Airbnb host, which we thought would be through a third party tour company but ended up being our host and his brother as our guides around the valley for the day. We absolutely loved this because we had the chance to learn about their family history in the Douro Valley. The tour was fantastic! And what we thought was going to be a half day turned into a full day extravaganza through the valley with two winery tours sprinkled in. Unfortunately, we learned that Justin was the only one of the four of us who enjoyed Port wine, but we all had a great time nonetheless. Two highlights of the tour were the road trip to Piñhao and the a boat trip on the Douro River, which were really great ways to see the vast landscape of the area and all the vineyards built onto the steep terrain.
Once we had consumed more than enough Port for the foreseeable future, we started making our way back South towards Lisbon, and we rounded our exploration of Portugal with two nights in Nazaré, which is famous for being the place where the largest wave was ever surfed. It was definitely a surfer’s paradise. We were there in the surfing offseason and the waves were still pretty big. We cannot even begin to imagine what the 80 foot waves look like, let alone people surfing them. We might have to go back in the winter to experience it. During our two nights in Nazaré, we visited the surfing museum where they have kept the boards of the big wave surfers, spent a day at the beach, and hung out at our Airbnb.
After Douro, we drove back to Lisbon for our final night with Zack and Jackie, which was definitely a little bittersweet. While we’ve absolutely loved every experience we’ve had on this trip, it was nice to spend some extended time with family. After 11 days exploring Portugal, there is still so much more of the country we would love to see. For a country of its size, there is so much that Portugal has to offer, and we love it more and more each time we visit. Next time, we’re hoping to explore more of the south, Madeira, and the Azores.
