Portugal: Finding the Perfect Balance

While I was growing up, I was certain that I never wanted to live in a big city. I thought they were too crowded and dirty and I had no desire to be in a concrete jungle. While I wouldn't have described myself as a country boy, I loved nature, camping, and other outdoor activities. After moving to Baltimore, I came to appreciate the positive aspects of living in a city: efficient transportation, access to cultural events, and the ability to interact with a diverse range of people, to name a few.  At this point in my life, the ideal location is a place that allows me to enjoy the benefits of both worlds. I have enjoyed many aspects of city life in Baltimore, but also appreciate living near a large park and being able to easily escape the city to go hiking along or swimming in the Gunpowder Falls.

Likewise, our recent trip to Portugal also possessed the perfect combination of adventures in the city and in the countryside. We started off by joining Santa and his reindeer on an overnight, Christmas Eve bus ride from Malaga to Lisbon, arriving early Christmas morning in an empty train station. We spent the morning working our way towards the city center and trying to find an open cafe to get some breakfast. Our apartment was a tiny little one bedroom place in the Alfama neighborhood, nestled on a walking path in a maze of narrow, winding streets and alleys. We marveled at the beautiful tiled buildings and rode an old street car to get a quick tour of the city before playing at a playground in one of the parks. 

Walking into the Alfama neighboorhood in Lisbon. The streets end up getting much narrower.

The next day, after recovering from our travels with a lazy morning, we rode a train to the nearby town of Sintra, which is famous for its many castles and mansions. I knew there were a couple of palaces, but the number of amazing homes in the area exceeded my expectations. We elected to tour Palacio da Pena, which was converted from a monastery to a palace by King Ferdinand II in the mid-1800's. The palace was grand and I wish that we had more time to explore the extensive grounds surrounding the palace, but night was closing in.

Standing guard at Palacio da Pena.

A beautiful sunset view from Palacio da Pena.

In the morning, we caught a bus to the town of Obidos, which is an old medieval city completely surrounded by the original walls. Our villa was a few miles outside of town and we enjoyed an evening walk in the countryside, complete with barking dogs and roosters. The next day, we had the opportunity to explore the historic part of Obidos and caught a couple of buses to reach the Atlantic Ocean, where the surf was enormous. I have seen big waves before, but never so close together such that the water was a constant churn of whitecaps. Of course, I had to brave the waves and take dip in the European side of the Atlantic. For the rest of the afternoon, the girls and I enjoyed making a sand village that had to be strategically protected from invading waves.

I braved the wild waters at Foz do Arelho beach.

A beautiful sunset at Foz do Arelho beach near Obidos.

The following day was a long travel day. Without belaboring the details, we had some train connection issues and ended up getting into the Porto train station after 7:00 PM. I expected to walk outside and see a line of taxis, but they were mysteriously absent. It turns out that a running race was just finishing and all the surrounding streets were closed. With no other option, we began to make the long, steep walk to our next apartment. Thankfully, after about half a mile, we spotted a taxi and were able to get a ride the rest of the way. Our moods were lifted when our host greeted us with a gift of delicious pastel da natas, a regular treat in Portugal.

Our day in Porto was a fun one. As in Lisbon, our apartment was in a labyrinth of narrow streets and we enjoyed weaving our way to an interesting park with lots of peacocks. We then explored the old Ribeira neighborhood along the Douro River before riding out to the mouth of the river to catch  the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. The girls particularly enjoyed watching huge waves roll past as we walked out on the breakwater. 

We enjoyed the beautiful view of the Ribeira neighborhood in Porto after walking across the Douro River.

To get to our final stop, we rented a car and drove out to Peneda-Geres National Park in northern Portugal, along the border with Spain. Our mountain home overlooked a steep valley with a bubbling stream. Unfortunately, there was no internet at the house and I hadn't been able to plan the next day's events. We tried to go to one of the visitor centers, but a GPS mishap took us out of the national park entirely. We ended up making our own fun by trying to build a bridge to get to a small island in the middle of a river, but I was determined to make amends and come up with a great plan for our last full day in Portugal. That evening, I found a cafe with internet and hatched the master plan.

Even though plans went array on our first day at Peneda-Geres, we ended up making our own fun.

We started the morning by driving the incredibly steep and winding roads through the park. The hairpin turns are the type where it is wise to honk before going around them to alert any oncoming traffic. Our first stop was along a reservoir, where we were able to hike to a waterfall and eat lunch. We enjoyed scrambling over the rocks to get a closer look at the falls. After lunch, we drove to another waterfall that was even more impressive, with several stages cascading down to the bottom of a steep valley. On the return trip, we also ran into a large herd of goats and had to wait for several minutes as they sauntered past.

A view of the Homem River reservoir in Peneda-Geres National Park.

I loved scrambling over rocks to the waterfall with my adventure buddies.

The view from the top of Cascada Tahiti.

That night we made it back to the Porto airport to prepare for our departing flight the next morning. It had been an exciting week of travel, but we were also ready to get back to our "normal" lives in Spain. Portugal had been the perfect mix of interesting cities with old neighborhoods, beautiful buildings, and good food and stunning natural landscapes.