Portugal October 2025
For our first day in Portugal and Porto we ended up at WOW World of Wine. A collection of museums where you can learn the history of the famous Port wine and off course have multiple tastings. We started at the Wine experience to learn everything about the making of wine, continued to the world of cork where you learn everything about the making of cork and usage in wine bottles. After that we ended up in the chocolate experience that also had many tastings for you to try. Then we went to the next museum about the Porto region and what makes it so special that Port can only be made there. And we ended up in the Pink Palace, a museum dedicated to Rosé wine with many, many tastings. After we had a couple of glasses we went down to the water where we find a food hall and had some dinner. We took an evening stroll next to the water and ended up going back to our apartment.
Today we decided to visit the centre and went to the chapel of souls a beautiful chapel in the centre of Porto covered in tiles and art. They had a service running so we could not enter the building itself. It is right next to the food market(Mercado do Bolhão) to see if it was something to had dinner but it was more something for small bites so we continued to our next location. We ended up going to another church Igreja dos Clérigos. It was a nice location where we could have a bit of a cooldown before we climbed the church tower to have a great view over old Porto. Ming was also intrigued by the chestnut sellers but ended not trying it out since most of the time we were stuffed by all the local eateries and pastry’s. We continued the our walking trough the streets for the authentic feeling and went from little shop to little shop. At the end of the day we needed to satisfy some Asian cravings and ended up in a Vietnamese restaurant.
We booked a full day trip in the Douro region to see where the Port wine grapes are grown. It started out with a bus ride to the small town Amarante to cut the driving time and have a small break. It was a beautiful little town and as soon as you walkaway from the touristy area they drop you have a real authentic feel. There is a nice bridge spanning over the river that you can use to visit the church that is free to enter and enjoy. After that we went to an area for a small boat ride in between the wine fields and ended up at a Port wine distillery (Mateus and Sequeira Vinhos) where we had a tasting session with a few ports and listened to the history about the making of port. We were free to roam the distillery’s mansions and we picked up a bottle to bring home for later to enjoy. Last we took a bus ride to a viewpoint on top of a mountain where we could see de Douro river running trough the hills. We enjoyed the tour but offcourse we also noticed that it was very commercial and they tried to get you into the places they want you to go. It was a good day in between off walking all the hills in Porto.
Our last day in Porto before we head out by train to the capital Lisbon. Since my fiancé is a contemporary art fan we needed to visit the Serralves Museum of Contemporary art. it s a huge mansion made in modern architecture with a big piece of land. On the entire land there is a spread of modern art which my fiancé enjoyed. After the visit to the musuem we needed to visit a local eatery since we did not try the local Francesinha sandwich. What a loaded lunch it was but the tummy was very satisfied. We were close to the beach so decided to head that way. The sea is very rough and we enjoyed the view of the sea crashing in the rocks. Since we had a view energetic days walking all the hills we had a slow down and chilled at the beach till sundown and enjoyed a big Sangria with Porto wine.
After arriving in Lisbon by train from Porto we decided to firstly started walking around the streets of Lisbon to feel the vibe. We loved the little street trams racing trough the streets and the old architecture. We visited the main church Sé de Lisboa and after that we walked trough the streets and up the hills to Museu Arqueológico do Carmo (bottom right) . This is a old gothic church destroyed in 1755 by a earthquake. We liked the church a lot and it had a small display in the back about what happened with the church and some old findings from the area. After the visits we roamed the streets and ended in a political rally since they had regional elections in the time we visited. It was fun to see how the contrast is between our local elections and how they campaigned here in Lisbon. Where ours is silent, they blocked entire streets with rally’s, marching band end flares everywhere. We ended our evening with a traditional Fado show. A Fado show is a local style of singing, we enjoyed it but for us its a definite one time thing.
It was a museum day today. Since we wanted to escape the heat for a moment we spend the day mostly indoors. We visited the Lisbon military museum, and we were stunned by what they all had to offer. The picture on the top left and bottom left was one of the multiple main halls they had. But there were non other visitors. Also the price was much lower then other museums in the area. If you ever decide to go there, I can highly recommend it. After a lengthy visit we took the buss to go to Museu Nacional do Azulejo. The national tile museum. We again were surprised by the offering inside as it was not only about tiles. There was a beautiful tropical garden inside and they had a fully golden chapel. After again a lengthy visit we took a bus for a small portion and decided to walk next to the beach till we arrived in the Oriente Region of Lisbon, here we spend some time in the mall to fill the time for our dinner reservation. Ming was longing for Hotpot again…
We took a few recharge days to prepare for the upcoming Sintra hills. We walked around Lisbon and visited a few view points(bottom right) and decided to visit LX Factory to see some art. Sadly to say LX Factory (top right) had become very commercial and the feeling it is more about food and shopping then real art showing. The places that are in the factory are very toned to tourist and the prices are like that as well. We decided to leave and go see the Torre de Belem and eat some Pastel de Nata from Pastéis de Belém. There was a huge line to sit down, but if you go in the side street there is a second check out where you can easily and fast go for some take away. Because we aimed for the LX factory we did not have any tickets to visit Nacional de Arqueologia. Coming in the area it was very busy and decided there was no way we will be entering the museum. We had a stroll to next to the beach.
On the last few days we went to Sintra on the south side of Lisbon. Travel to the location was pretty easy but if you ever decide to go to this location: buy the local bus tickets. If you want to climb that hill good luck to you. When arrived in the region of Sintra by train you get welcomed by a small old town with a few local eateries. We immediately took the bus up the hill to Santa Maria e Sáo Miguel (Picture to left) to grab a bite to eat in the old streets. There are many attractions in the area but we decided to choose 2 locations in the area. First we took the bus to Palácio da Pena (picture bottom left). The former summer palace of the Portuguese family. We took the a tour in the palace, it was very busy and they are working with time slots. Still there was not a silent moment in the palace and could be hard to see. After the palace we went to Quinta da Regaleira. I highly can recommend this place. It is a huge place with a chapel, old mansion and a garden full with a crypt and with a underground system and 2 initiation wells. After roaming the grounds for a few hours we needed to head back to start packing and end our lovely trip.
