Visit from Friends, Portugal
January, 2013
Wherever and whenever possible, it is always a treat to have friends join us on our travels. This time, our friends Erin and Josee met us in Portugal to explore the general area. We really enjoyed our time with our friends, and its great to make new memories with wonderful people.
City of Lisbon
Town of Tomar
The town of Tomar is home to the Unesco World Heritage Site of Convento de Cristo. The Convento de Cristo was built around 1160 and is a religious building and is one of Portugal's most important historical and artistic monuments. We didn't tour the inside but walked the wall around the perimeter and explored the gardens and grounds. It was quite an amazing building.
Setubul to Arrabida National Park
This was a nice coastal drive through Arrabida National Park and we stopped at one of the beaches along the way.
In Setubul, trying "choco fritto" (fried cuttlefish)
Villa Nova Milfontes
We had a nice lunch at a place called Tasca do Celso and then walked the beach and watched the sun set.
Evora and Wine Tasting
The medieval village of Evora has a well preserved town centre still enclosed by its mid-evil stone walls, making it a neat place to see. From Evora, our plan was to do some wine tasting but we had some difficulty locating the tourist office. We ended up only stopping at one nearby vineyard to taste some wine. Nothing a little wine can't cure!
Castle Almourol in Constancia
We had a nice country drive to the town of Constancia to see Castle Almourol set in the middle of river on a rocky hill. Afterwards, we drove to a beautiful ocean look out point and then had a pretty drive along the coast to a city called Cascais (very near Lisbon) for a nice dinner and some outstanding gelato from a place called Santini's!
Megaliths, Pottery Town and Monsaraz
Cromeleque de Almendres Megaliths Monument
We drove to see a large circular collection of megaliths called Cromeleque de Almendres near the town of Evora. They were mind blowing as they date back 7,000 years ago and there's still debate over how and why they got there though there's some astrological significance.
Pottery Town of Pedro de Corval
The small town called Sao Pedro de Corval is a well known pottery town most popular for its colorful collection of wares.
Magical Monsaraz
On a whim, we stopped by the tiny stone village of Monsaraz perched on a hill top and overlooking the green valley below. We absolutely loved it! It was so tiny but so charming and it had a wonderful energy about it. It had amazing views of the surrounding green rolling hills and farm lands and was a wonderful place to enjoy the sunset.