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The night sky exploded into a shower of color and light, silhouetted against the dark waters of Banderas Bay in the distance. To our left the golden dome of the church of the Señora de Guadalupe glowed bright, intermittently covered with long shadows cast by her iconic crown from the erupting show of light. Below the streets were crowded with spectators enjoying the spectacle and welcoming in the new year.
Continue reading “Portugal here we come”
It has been a while since I last posted. Well, we’ve been a little busy. Some years ago we started building a home in a lovely area about 45 minutes south of Lisbon, Portugal. And it has been quite the ordeal, providing us with an array of experiences, some good and some, well, some we’re still trying to work through.
I’ll be writing here about this journey which has proven to both humorous at times, (although it wasn’t always so at the moment), as well as educative– we’ve learned a lot along the way. I think that’s partly what’s saved us–seeing what we were undertaking as more of a journey rather than an end-point. Finally receiving the home when it was finished (is it really ever finished?) was just as important as what we learned and experienced along the way..
Continue reading “Lifestyle Changes”
When in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico we used to have a place to the north of the city, situated next to the beach, where we could go on weekends with the kids to enjoy the ocean. As everyone in the family loved the water, we all enjoyed surfing, waterskiing, paddle boarding and swimming.
Continue reading “Next Adventure: Building in Lagoa de Albufeira”
For the second time in two years we decided to drive up to northern France from Lisbon for our summer vacation, rather than fly. Covid is a primary reason as flying is rather complicated these days, but even more so we really enjoyed the drive last year and the places we visited along the way.
Continue reading “Portugal-to-France Road Trip”
In the north of Portugal, just above Coimbra but below Porto and a little east towards the Spanish border, lies a region known as the Dao. Through it the river Dao and alongside it were once tracks for a train that ran between the towns of Santa Comba Dao and Viseu from the 1890s to the 1980s. It is about 50 kilometers in length and back then it provided transportation for locals and delivered them supplies. When it was discontinued a “Rails-to-Trails” was put in its place. This is the process of converting abandoned rail lines (“Rails”) into bike paths (“Trails”), and it has become very common in both Europe and North America. In Portugal these bike paths are known as “Ecopistas.”
Continue reading “The Dao Region of Portugal – Biking & Boarding”
We’d been wanting to visit Madeira ever since our first visit Portugal some five years ago and learned that the island group was also part of Portugal (along with the Azores). Covid caused us to cancel our planned trip last year, but in March we decided to try again as Madeira was open to Portuguese residents only as long as you’d recently had a Covid test done. Our flight from Lisbon was just a little over two hours and we arrived to wonderful weather, about 20º (the average temperature throughout the year) with bright, clear blue skies. Madeira’s weather is similar to parts of thew Med with a mild and moderate subtropical climate. It varies dramatically, however from north to south and east to west creating small microclimates. The northwest is much wetter whereas the southwest is arid and dry.
Continue reading “Madeira, Portugal”
Our trip into northern Portugal took us to the very top of the country, to a region that has the Spanish border both to the north (which follows the Minho River) and to the east (marked by the Peneda-Geres National Park). To the west is the Atlantic ocean while the Lima River forms this region’s southern border. Through the middle flows the Vez River from the north until it empties into the Lima River.
Continue reading “Exploring Northern Portugal”
Well, after a few delays caused by a couple of dreaded the “C” diseases (Cancer and Covid), we have finally been able to venture out of our apartment and do a little exploring once again. It seems that our travels for awhile will be limited to Portugal as the borders in Europe are not all open yet and flying anywhere right now is not only a little risky but downright complicated. So we’re happy to just take this time to get to know Portugal a little better.
Continue reading “A visit to the Arabida Peninsula”
We were in need of a weekend getaway so we decided to head north and visit the town of Obidos that we’d been hearing so much about. And we weren’t let down! Obidos is a captivating medieval walled town an hour or so north of Lisbon, surrounded by rolling hills covered with orchards and vineyards. It’s set on a hillside, along a narrow ridge, allowing just a couple of streets barely wide enough for a car to run its length, and which are connected by a number of steep alleys and staircases.
Continue reading “Exploring Obidos, Portugal”
Anyone considering biking in Portugal, there’s an essential tool you must have and that’s the National Cycling Network guidebook, which maps out nearly 5,000 km of routes and includes GPS tracks in KML and GPX file formats, so you can follow the routes on your smartphone. As well, the guide has great photography and descriptions, so you have a really good idea of what your trip will entail before you begin.
Continue reading “Biking Portugal”