Portugal (18th to 26th September 2008)

Before returning to Cambridge for the next academic year, a group of us went to Portugal for a week. I met up with Ralph and Vinay in Cambridge and we flew from Stansted to Porto early on the morning of Thursday 18th September. We spent 3 nights in Porto, where we were joined by Adam, before going on to spend 2 nights in Lisbon followed by 3 nights in Faro.

Porto

We caught an early flight to Porto, and spent the first day exploring the old city. We climbed up the hill from our hotel to the cathedral, where there were some brilliant views over the city.





























We then meandered our way through the maze of streets and alleyways to the riverside and had a drink in a bar before climbing back up to the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal.





We had dinner in a restaurant by the river. The riverside, bridges and buildings were beautifully illuminated and it was warm enough to sit outside until late.

The next day, we crossed over the bridge into Vila Nova de Gaia, where we went of a number of tours of the different port houses (including Cálem and Graham's), enjoying all the free samples!







On Saturday we continued our exploration of the port-producing heritage of the region with a day trip to the town of Peso da Régua, a scenic two-hour train journey along the river Douro. We went on a tour of a vineyard in the nearby countryside (including some more free samples!).







Lisbon

On Sunday morning we met up with Adam in time to hop on a train to Lisbon. We had a late lunch in the Praça Dom Pedro IV, before ascending the bizarre Elevador de Santa Justa where we enjoyed the view with a few beers, whilst being serenaded by a John Lennon lookalike!











We then wandered up the hill and visited the castle as the sun set. On the way back to the hostel we came across a bar in a back street where the proprietors were performing live fado music (see video), which we enjoyed over dessert and a glass of port.









We spent the following morning looking around Lisbon a little more, before catching a train to the town of Sintra, just north of Lisbon, in the afternoon. An exhausting climb lead us up to a Moorish castle built into the rocks, where we were rewarded with fantastic veiws overlooking Sintra and the surrounding colourful buildings.











Faro

The following day we took another train to our final destination, Faro in the Algarve. We looked around the cathedral and old town, including a strange chapel where the inner walls were covered in human skulls, and spent a day at the local beach.









On the final day, we took a boat out to the island Ilha de Barreta, the most southerly point in Portugal. The beach was beautifully remote and deserted. We returned to Faro harbour by the last boat, and spent our last evening having cocktails in a small bar near our guesthouse.