The Algarve’s beaches, northern mountains, eastern castle towns? Lisbon and the royal towns and palaces around it? Where to go on a driving tour.
Almost as much fun as traveling is planning a trip. I’m just now putting together our itinerary for spending April in Portugal (wasn’t that a song title?) and the excitement is growing by the minute.
I began by buying the new Michelin map, since the infusion of EU funds has helped little Portugal improve its long-distance highway system since our last trip. I also bought a new set of highlighters to identify destinations (in pink) and mark out routes (in yellow) between them.
That’s the easy part. Deciding where to go is the hard part, because I want to go everywhere. Lisbon is a certainty – we will arrive at the airport there and pick up our car after a couple of days exploring the city. First to the Alfama and castle, then along the renewed riverbank and up to the Bario Alta, where the Fado houses and little restaurants are.
Belem will take a day, revisiting the monastery and museums of folk arts, archaeology and maritime history. Then the decisions get harder, as we claim our rental car and have to decide which direction to head.
Will it be south to the beautiful city of Evora and the border towns of Marvao and Elvas with their hilltop castles, then on to the Algarve resort towns? Or north along the coast through the posh seaside retreats of Cascais and Estoril and on to walled white Obidos and the monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalhia?
Or should we rush past these close-to-Lisbon attractions and head for the northern mountains and the Minho valley? The mountainsides of the Geres will be yellow with wildflowers in April, and there will still be snow in the higher Serra d’Estrella mountains.
Portugal is such a tempting blend of old-fashioned hospitality and warmth, rural folkways and stunning modern architecture and design that it offers something for every mood. In a day we can time-travel from prehistoric dolmen and Celtic hillforts through Medieval castles and villages and baroque pilgrimage churches to stunning postmodern buildings.
Maybe we’ll just extend the trip and follow all those yellow lines we’ve drawn to all those towns circled in pink!
