December 24, 2018
At the beginning of this month, Lars and I visited the Christmas market of Torrox Costa, one of the biggest of its kind at the Costa del Sol. Part of it took place under a tent. As soon as we arrived, a green Santa Claus greeted us and in the background, we could hear Christmas songs. We soon felt surrounded…
December 22, 2018
After a good night’s sleep, Lars had a surprise for me; we would spend the first half of the day… wine tasting! Here we are at Herdade das Servas, just outside the town of Estremoz. Or as their website says: The Serrano Mira family covers a vineyard heritage of 300 hectares of vineyards, aged between 20 and 60 years old and…
December 19, 2018
After our Peniche/Nazaré adventures, Lars and I decided to go east, to a charming town called Estremoz: I had never been this far inland in Portugal. Anyway, we arrived there late in the afternoon, quickly found a hotel just outside the town and then went looking for food. The restaurant of the hotel was still closed, so went into Estremoz…
December 17, 2018
During our visit to Nazaré, we stayed in a place called Peniche: Somehow, Lars and I had high hopes about this town. Our travel guide described it as picturesque but we found it to be … boring and overcrowded. Maybe it was also the bad weather; it was cloudy most of the time. Maybe it was the fair that attracted…
December 12, 2018
Our trip in Portugal brought us to Nazaré: To say that I was excited to be there is the understatement of the year. You see, as a teenager, I used to bodysurf, especially when I was on holiday in Portugal. As such, I have always been drawn to big waves; the bigger, the better. Even now that my surfing days are over, I…
December 7, 2018
One of our most faithful readers asked us how far in Portugal we travelled and the answer is simple: further to the north. After having left Monchique, we had an overnight stop in Comporta. In other words, we had left the Algarve and were now in the region of the Alentejo. The only thing we did in Comporta was to go to a restaurant,…
December 5, 2018
In our last post, we told you that we had been thrown out of the hotel that we had booked in Monchique. Luckily, Lars and I quickly found another one: Bica Boa Inn. There was only one drawback: because of the fires, there was no electricity. The Inn only has a handful of cosy and clean rooms, but this guarantees a…
December 3, 2018
About a week before we left for our summer trip, Monchique was all over the news because of forest fires. Unfortunately, this is an event that happens regularly, at least once a year. Lars and I were not sure what to do: cancel our reservation and look for another hotel or not… We watched the news vigorously and the day…