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Category: Portugal

Exploring the Algarve: Lagos, Tavira & Faro

Exploring the Algarve: Lagos, Tavira & Faro

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The Algarve, Portugal’s southernmost region, is renowned for its charming towns, beautiful beaches and delicious seafood.  It is a favorite vacation destination of the Portuguese and the rest of Europe so we were eager to see what all the fuss was about.  Even though the weather was still cool and damp when we arrived, the Algarve did not disappoint.  We had time to spend a few days each in three Algarve towns: Lagos, Tavira and Faro. Lagos Our first stop…

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Castle Hopping in Sintra

Castle Hopping in Sintra

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One of the most popular day trips from Lisbon is to the lovely little town of Sintra. We had been planning to visit Sintra on our second to last full day in Lisbon but Dan still wasn’t feeling great. Luckily we ended up pushing it back to our last full day – it turned out there was a nation-wide train strike on the day we originally planned for. (Thank you Google Translate for revealing that ‘greve’ means strike. That would…

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Traveling South Through Portugal: Coimbra, Lisbon & Evora

Traveling South Through Portugal: Coimbra, Lisbon & Evora

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Coimbra After Porto we started to make our way south through Portugal.  Our first stop was the medieval town of Coimbra, famous as the site of Portugal’s oldest university. School was not in session when we were there so, like many university towns in summer, Coimbra felt a little quiet.  We still enjoyed exploring the winding streets and learning a little about it’s history. The Old Cathedral (exterior visible above) is a Romanesque, fortress-like building but it contains a beautiful…

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Welcome to Europe: Porto, Portugal

Welcome to Europe: Porto, Portugal

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With about three weeks left on our Asia itinerary it was becoming imperative that we book a flight to Europe as soon as possible.  We were looking forward to our two week break back in the States but we didn’t want to lose our travel momentum.  However, we were having a really hard time deciding where we wanted to start.   Our first stop in Europe would coincide with Dan’s birthday which upped the pressure to make it somewhere good. We…

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