2023 Portugal Trip: Day -1

 Short note.

The highlight of the day was the one hour I spent checking us in on the flight.  The core goal was to ensure that our two checked bags are free - an outcome of paying for the tickets with Delta's AmeEx.  Long story short, after about six attempts we got it to work.

The only other travel-related bit is our decision to take a limo from the airport to the apartment. The cost is 33 Euro, which looks reasonable.

Tomorrow we start from the house at 9am, flight out of SFO is 12:40, arriving at Boston at 9:40pm and flying out right before midnight.

Portugal 2023: Day -2.

So, we are going to spend 35 days in Portugal this time, from August 2 to September 5.  This year, we are a party of four, with Olga's sister Tatiana and our brother-in-law Yuri joining us on the trip.   In addition to being significantly longer (or longest overseas vacation trip before was around three weeks), we are homesteading this year - we rented an apartment in Lisbon for the duration of the trip.  

So far, confirmed plans include a five day/four night jaunt around Central Portugal with the intent to catch the Castle of Belver, Ourem, possibly Castelo Branco,  some caves, Batalha, Obidos, Peniche, and spend a day or so on the beach.  This is an ambitious list, I would not be surprised if some things get omitted from the eventual itinerary,  but there are some places (Obidos, Peniche) we definitely plan to revisit and show to our companions.

We also are planning to spend four days/ three nights on the Sao Miguel Island in the Azores.  Wish we could spend more time there, but timing of various things (including lodging) demanded a very specific departure and return days.

I plan to do short reports from anything that constituted an interesting day in Portugal. I suspect there will be several days where we take a break and just chill (part of wanting to spend five weeks in Portugal was to allow ourselves some chill days).  There are some planned day trips to the usual suspects: Cascais (which we really liked when we visited in 2017), Sintra (because it's a must for anyone first time in Portugal), Setubal,  the beaches, and perhaps one or two more places - depending on what's available by rail.   We might also take a train to Porto and spend a weekend there - but this has not been organized yet. Porto appears to have plenty of lodging that for a couple of days would be acceptable, so I hope we can plan on the fly.

Our arrival coincides with the Papal visit to Portugal for what is known there is the World Youth Day (or Week) - a major Catholic celebration. The Pope will also visit Fatima right around the time we are planning on passing by. The title picture in this post is the route closures in Central Lisbon on the day of our arrival. Fortunately, we can take metro from the airport to where are going to live.

Cheers!

One of the last pictures we took last year. Praca de Commerca.

Portugal Day 17: Lisbon

 Last day of the trip. Walked around, bought souvenirs. Haggled at the souvenir shops - some time successfully, some time - not.  The highlight of the day was coffee in a Banana kiosk on the final walk home.  Packed the bags, called the taxi....

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Portugal Day 16: Lisbon

 We wanted to take a day trip to Marques de Pombal estate. Instead, we took a hike to Graca to fix Olga's broken crown, discovered the beauty of Portugal's dental care, and walked all the way to Avenidas Novas to revisit the street we lived on in 2017.

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Portugal Day 15: Lisbon

 This is a placeholder entry. Walking tour of Bairro Alto and Baixa.  This is a placeholder entry.

Portugal: Day 14: Lisbon

 Revisiting the "fake" King George's castle.  This is a placeholder entry.

Portugal, Day 14: Porto - to - Lisbon, stopping in Batalha and Obidos on the way

 The original plan was to see something new, but we wanted to buy a few things we saw in Batalha (and nowhere else), and bring some sour cherries in ginja from Obidos.  Also had to put a cap into our car rental story. Turned out decent.  This is a placeholder entry.

Portugal, Day 12: Last Day in Porto

 Our last day in Porto. Walking around, tasting wine in Vila Nova. This is a placeholder entry.

Portugal, Day 11: Douro Valley Trip

 This is a placeholder for a Douro Valley trip entry.