Tuesday 6 February 2024

Looking back on our 18 days and 1300 miles in Portugal I’m just struck by all the different places we’ve been and things we’ve seen. What I’ll always remember is the surf, the sandy beaches and the stunning sunsets.

Sunset, surf & sea all captured in one shot!

Over time we’ll forget the pretty shocking driving standards and the unfathomable language. Avoiding the toll roads certainly slowed us down (to an average of about 30mph on most trips!). It’s meant we’ve really taken notice of everything around us - the birds, the flora and fauna and the agriculture. Olive trees, cork oaks, orange groves and even rice fields stretching for miles and miles.

Montado (managed land)

A muster of storks

The sun has shone almost every day for the past two weeks and it feels like spring has sprung even though there are very few tourists about other than in the honeypot areas - Porto, Lisbon & the Algarve. We’ve visited Roman ruins where we’ve been the only people there.

Miróbriga Thermae - cold, warm & hot baths

Milreu Roman ruins with beautiful mosaics

The Portuguese certainly seem to have a sweet tooth so we’ve tried out a few of the local pastries - just for research purposes of course! This mini baked cheesecake tart from Évora, called Queijadas de Évora, was a big hit with Dave as it wasn’t too sweet. Here’s the recipe if you fancy giving it a try https://iberismos.com/queijadas-de-evora-do-convento-a-mesa/?lang=pt-pt (if you translate the webpage to English it I think gems = eggs!).

Below are a few more photos of our road trip through Portugal. We head back into Spain now for just over 3 weeks and finish off with a few days in France before heading home.