Peace out Portugal

Portugal its been real. What an adventure it has been, but all good things must come to an end. I will miss the warmer weather and the friendliness of the locals. For the last 2 weeks, I got to explore Porto and the island of Sao Miguel and Madeira. This was truly the beginning of my solo traveling.

Porto

As a local explained to me, Lisbon to Porto is New York City to Boston. I couldn't agree more. The city in the north part of Portugal had a small city feel with tons of culture and history, but without the feeling like a crazy hectic large city like Lisbon. This is also where Portugal's port wine originated from. I got to spend 4 days in Porto, but realistically 1 day was enough to explore the city. I did the hostel walking tour which brought me to all the tour sites and gave me a great brief history of the city. It also gave me an opportunity to meet a wide range of different people from different countries. We all got along great, that we all decided to do the pub crawl later that night together.

I started to realize that I could probably do some day trips to other towns during my stay. Because I was spending a decent amount of time in Porto, I became pretty close with the workers at the hostel I was staying at. They confirmed that a day trip to Braga and Douro Valley would be good experience for me.

Braga is an easy 40 minute train ride away from Porto. The biggest tourist attraction is Bom Jesus do Monte with Sameiro Sanctuary a 20 minute walk away. They are at the highest point in Braga and overlooks the city (everyone knows my love for high points). After walking all the steps to Bom Jesus and the uphill walk to Sameiro Sanctuary, my legs were dead so I didn't explore too much more of the city before heading back to Porto.

The Douro Valley was a bit harder to get to. I did some research on tours and the trains, but ultimately decided to rent a car for the day. I tried a few port wines before going to the Valley and they tended to be a bit sweet for my liking. But, I mainly wanted to go to the Valley for the viewpoints to take in the beautiful landscapes the valley has to offer. Since I was there, I might as well check out some of the wineries. I ended up at the Quinta da Roeda, which makes Croft Port. I got take a break from driving and enjoy some tasting of ports.

Sao Miguel (Azores Island)

I decided to splurge a bit and buy some plane tickets to explore the islands of Portugal. The Azores Islands are supposed to be like the Hawaii for Portugal. Don't get me wrong, I liked Sao Miguel, but it was more the expectation vs. reality. I saw pictures with dramatic landscapes that every nature lover would have to see. It was an island with beautifully green fields with stunning blue crater lakes. At that point, I was sold. What I didn't realize was how much the seasonal weather would affect my time. I was constantly on weather watch. I rented a car, and the guy helping me gave me a website that had live cams at each of the main towns and sites. I tried to get to the highest points on clearer days because I really never got a fully clear day. If anything, the island taught me patients. The clouds moved pretty fast through the mountains, so if you wait 30 minutes, it was possible to get a cloud clearing for a few minutes. I wasn't lucky enough to get a good clearing at Sete Cidades (and I tried 3 different times), but I did get a nice clearing for Lagoa do Fogo (shown below in order mentioned).

On the days that it was cloudy, I explored the west coastline where I was in awe of the contrast between the black volcanic rock and the teal blue ocean and parks like Terra Nostra Park and Ribeira dos Caldeiroes National Park.

Madeira

When decided if I wanted to visit another Azores Island or go somewhere else, Madeira popped up on my radar. I think the first article I read went along the lines of if you like beaches, don't come here cause its all mountains. That all I needed to read to decide to go. As I did a bit more research, I found tons of hikes that I wanted to do. Well, in Madeira they don't call them hikes, but walks. I did 4 different "walks", two of which were actually just walks, but I would qualify the other two as hikes due to the amount of elevation change. I started with the hardest one, PR1 - Pico Arieiro to Pico Ruivo, and of course I couldn't leave any of my camera gear behind. I think this was the only time I have regretted this. It felt like 5 hours of the StairMaster (going up and down) with a 15 pound weighted vest on. According to the Health App on my Iphone, I walked 30,395 steps (13.6 miles) and 326 floors. My legs were sore for the rest of my stay in Madeira, but it didn't stop me from continuing to walk. I averaged about 20 miles each day, but nothing compared to the elevation change as the first one.

The other "walk" I would consider a hike was PR8 - Vereda da Ponta Sao Lourenco. This was the furthest east part of the island and the hike took you along the coastal cliffs. As you weave around and up and down the cliffs, you can see the calm protected waters to the south and the rough waves to the north.

The other two walks were just walks through the forests to different waterfalls. They were nice to get out in nature, but for me personally, it wasn't as impressive as the first two walks.

Besides walking, I did get to finally experience Fado. Fado is a Portuguese music, mostly sang by women accompanied by a guitar. I also did get to drink poncha which is a Madeira drink made of sugar cane liquor, lemon juice, and honey. I was comparable in taste to like a Limoncello. On days that I did a shorter walk, I did spend some time at the beach reading a book. They have pretty temperate climate all year around. Every day was sunny at mid-60s, so I got a decent tan just in time for me to head to the rainy cold UK.

On to explore Scotland.

Click here for all Portugal pictures.