Received 2 November 2000

This "report" is being written while memories of Portugal are still fresh in my mind. My friends and I returned at the end of September, 2000 after spending 2 ½ weeks there. We had researched various locales extensively prior to going overseas, and planned a schedule that gave us three days in Lisbon, one week in the northern Minho region and another week in the upper Alentejo close to the Spanish border. (We had booked a villa in both the Minho and the Alentejo through the Internet.)

Orienting to an unfamiliar environment takes longer than one would think so we did not have time to get to all the locations we wanted to visit. Also, we were required to be largely self-sufficient, although in the Minho, Mr. David Lumby, as the official representative of "Something Special", the British company from whom our first house was rented, was on call for any problems we were unable to solve, such as how does the kitchen stove work?!

The three days in Lisbon and environs were enjoyable (we particularly liked Sintra), although our time there was really too short to do Lisbon and all its sights justice. In general, however, we all concluded that we preferred visiting the small towns and villages where one can see the old, and less cosmopolitan Portugal. In Lisbon, we got around on foot, by the highly recommended and exciting Tram 28, and also very easily by Metro. One does have to be careful, however, in the more touristy places. Watch out for anyone jostling or crowding you - it could be a cover up for an unwanted hand crawling into your pocket or bag as happened to one of our group. Part of the answer may be to look less like a tourist. With our bright North American clothes, waist pouches and cameras, we stood out like sore thumbs.

We found Lisbon looking a little tired in places though with beautiful buildings. Many, however, were in need of repair and refurbishing: there was certainly a great deal of construction going on. One building that shouldn’t be missed is the Oceanaria, a fabulous and huge, splendidly filled aquarium (built for Portugal’s recent Expo 98.).

We stayed at the Hotel Britania, which is a very attractive 30 bedroom hotel in a central location just off Avenue de Liberdade. (We had a very good, inexpensive lunch at one of several outdoor cafes on this rather grand, tree-lined avenue that leads up to a

Beautiful park. The hotel is in an old, restored building and is charming and very comfortable. I can't say enough about the staff, who were extremely pleasant and helpful, particularly towards my own situation. Continental Airlines lost my luggage and I did not see it again until the evening before our return flight to Canada. (That’s a story in itself!) The Britania staff made many phone calls to the airport on my behalf, at no charge.

The hotel also recommended a young man called Joao, (in English, John). On our second day in Lisbon, we booked John and his very comfortable 9-seat "tourist" bus for a one day private tour. His price was very reasonable. Joao, who has a wonderful sense of humour, speaks very good English as well as three other languages! He gave us many recommendations of where to go and what to see in the regions we were to visit. On this trip, he took us out along the coast to Cascais, where we had a nice, but rather expensive lunch in a restaurant just off the beach, and then inland to Sintra, where John continued commentating, stopping the bus along the way so that we could see the fabulous Atlantic ocean views. Tired and happy, we then returned to Lisbon and viewed some of the sights there.

Joao also voluntarily took a friend and me back to the airport in the evening to see if my luggage had arrived, refusing any compensation. Still no luggage, however, and, worse, nothing from Continental, financial or otherwise. Our last day in Lisbon, again saw me back at the airport to try to find the missing luggage. All to no avail, I’m afraid and as a result, the rest of the day was spent shopping in Lisbon trying to replace my wardrobe. While frustrating, it was interesting to buy clothes in a strange country, with unfamiliar currency and language, and altogether different sizes. Puts you on a fast learning curve! (Note: As of November 4^th, I’m still waiting for compensation from Continental.)

The following day we needed to get to the airport at Porto, some 200 kms. north of Lisbon, to pick up our rental cars at Europcar, who were very satisfactory. We discovered that it was both convenient and reasonable to rent Joao's bus for the drive. With Joao acting as tour guide, we stopped en route at Obidos (pronounced Obidoash - most Portuguese words ending in ‘s’ sound this way), which was very pretty, but touristed out perhaps, and also Nazare. Picking up cars at the airport avoided some horrendous in-city driving and the possibility of getting lost, and Joao very kindly waited to lead us en caravan onto the autoroute to tackle the first journey.

Our first house was a quinta very close to Ponte de Lima in the Minho, and which was rented through a British company, "Something Special". Our helpful Portuguese contact was David Lumby.

Upon our arrival, the owner of the house, Senor "Edgar", welcomed us and showed us through the house. It was large, rambling and comfortable with plenty of room for our party, (all women sans 'better halves'!) and the grounds were spacious and exotic. The house, which is full of amazingly wonderful antique and ornate furniture, has belonged to Senor Edgar’s family for hundreds of years.. The quinta was located about 5 kms east of Ponte de Lima where road construction in the centre of town was most disruptive and confusing. It took three tries before we could actually get into the town centre. Once there, however, the sights were well worth the effort, particularly from the old Roman bridge across the Rio Lima. After the addition of a second bridge, the adjacent Roman bridge is now pedestrian only, a very good move. We were blessed with wonderful sunshine the whole time and, as a result, the views from the bridge were quite spectacular.

Our first side trip was to Ponte de Barca, a small village on the river several kilometers west of Ponte de Lima. We stopped at an outdoor market in Ponte de Barca, which I'm sure was quite typical, chickens and other livestock lying along the edge of the road, and everything imaginable (pots and pans to ladies' underwear hanging up in full view) at the various stalls. We spent several very pleasant hours there and then headed on towards Moncao, a town very close to the Spanish border. This place was rather touristy and crowded, with great parking difficulties. We picked a spot eventually outside the "walls", usually a good move in any of the Portugese hill towns, and proceeded "au pied". This town experiences much cross-border shopping, with the Spaniards coming to buy linens; we thought that some of the prices may have reflected this fact. It was a very hot day, with lots of bottled water required! Deciding to head home, we had trouble getting out of town onto the main road. Eventually, after a rather near collision, (a miss is as good as a mile, however) we made it back tired and happy to our quinta.

Two of our group reported on a foray into Tui, Spain. This excursion was highlighted by a wonderful visit to the basilica museum and cloisters, and a drive along the Minho River, afterwards crossing over and down the Atlantic coast past unspoiled beaches.

We visited nearby Viana do Castelo twice. Viana is a very pleasant mid-sized town situated on the east coast facing out to the Atlantic. In September, there were few tourists in evidence, so again, North American women with their shorts, knapsacks, etc. did rather stand out! We browsed, shopped and lunched. In the smaller eateries, we found the food appetizing and inexpensive, even with our low Canadian dollar. The linens, shoes and ceramics were both outstanding and enticing. The shoes in particular were plentiful, attractive and well-priced relative to home. This pretty place, which was so close to our house, was well worth more than one visit. In particular, we decided to "do" dinner at the Pousada Monte de Santa Luzia, reached by a circuitous, winding, nerve-wracking road that led us up to the top of a very high hill. Once at the peak, one could view the whole of Viana and its wonderful harbour. The service at the Pousada was impeccable, the food excellent, and the panoramic view of Viana way down below was magnificent and unforgettable.

We decided to avoid Porto. The drive through on the way north to our house was pretty daunting, even in our tourist bus and, although we had four excellent manual shift drivers among our group, even they were reluctant to venture back into that confusing, busy mix of traffic. Perhaps, next time!

Regrettably, we did not manage to see Braga, Guimaraes, Peneda Geres Park or tour the Duoro valley. Just not enough time. Some days we also wanted to linger at the villa, enjoy its ambiance, and sit around the pool drinking the Portuguese wine. The short time-frame limited our overview of the Minho, but from what we saw, the area, while beautiful, was more developed than expected, albeit sometimes in a rather primitive way. All in all, however, we enjoyed the parts of the Minho that we did explore.

After that fine week, we bundled up our belongings and headed to our second house, located just south of Portalegre in the Alentejo region. Following the most direct route down the A1 to the turn off to Torres Novas, just beyond Fatima, we stopped in Torres Novas for a most pleasant lunch of "tostadas", (toasted sandwich of cheese and ham, a very safe selection!) on a wonderfully sunny day. Torres looked to have some very modern buildings in the section we visited. Not, however, a place of great interest. Proceeding along the N3, we crossed to the other side of the River Tejo at the first bridge. What a mistake! Serious road construction impeded our progress for the best part of an hour. Subsequently, we discovered that N3 continued on further to a second bridge that provides easier access to the N118, the next main road to Portalegre. We managed the turn off onto the N18 and the ring road around Portalegre, and were then just a few miles from our house, located near a tiny village/intersection named Caia. Blink, and you might miss it! Except, that is, for the group of inscrutable Portuguese men (the women are scarcely to be seen in such places) who sat always at the village corner impassively watching the comings and goings, and never acknowledging strangers.

As we entered our Alentejan villa, there were exclamations of surprise at the beauty and attractiveness of the villa, inside and out!. How lucky we were to come upon such a lovely spot. Set in spacious grounds that had huge Ali Baba pots here and there, there was a large swimming pool, tennis court, and even a trampoline large enough to accommodate our whole group. After settling in, we set off to Caia for groceries. With the help of the phrase book, drawings and generally waving our arms around and pointing, (not one of us spoke Portugese!), we were able to stock up on the necessary food supplies, including wine. I don't think that little shop had ever sold such a pile of groceries at once in years. And the locals crowding in were mystified that only three women were evident when the buying was clearly for a rather large crowd.

We very much enjoyed, too, our grocery shopping experiences at the big supermarkets in Portugal. Not only are they stocked with everything from fridges to televisions to the usual fruit, vegetables and meat, etc., there was our "Challenge". (Again, not speaking Portugese led to some rather hilarious body language!) From trying to separate a shopping cart from its brothers (you need to buy a key inside the store to unlock one from the set), actually finding our way into the store (sometimes more difficult than you’d believe since we didn’t understand any signage, and on one occasion set off to the rear delivery entrance!) to translating our grocery lists and finding the requirements, was quite an achievement, and only made possible by the kindly help of other shoppers.

But on to the places we were able to visit! Portalegre, being very close, was, of course, on the list. This town is a pleasant, smallish Portuguese town with the usual old section, and cathedral perched high up on a hill. A nice place to meander and perhaps shop, with not a great deal to attract the tourist. Again, parking and narrow streets were the usual problem, so leave the car outside the old town, if possible, and walk to the interior. Portalegre sits at the junction of the Alentejan plains and the mountains, with easy access to Castelo de Vide and Marvao.

Castelo de Vide is a delightful, small, picturesque village which called for our fearless drivers to squeeze cars through impossible places. To help those that try, there were even mirrors strategically placed in the narrowest of the very old cobblestone streets. Had we stuck our hands out of the car windows, we could have touched the walls of houses or shaken hands with the occupants. We stayed for several hours shopping for ceramic and linens and walking (trudging actually!) up the steep streets to the lookouts high up the hill. The views are spectacular both from the walls and from the castle ramparts. This little place is to be highly recommended. Here, the old and tarnished is attractive and beautiful.

On the same day, we continued on to Marvao, famous for its views out over the Spanish plains, a true fortress! Marvao is not to be missed: the views really are mesmerizing. As the saying goes, "On a clear day, you can see forever." We lunched (something we seemed to do a lot) at the Pousada de Santa Maria. Our meal was very elegant, not terribly expensive and with panoramic views from every vantage point. Even big ceramic pots on the adjacent rooftop added to our visual pleasure. And the mystery of the slightly older, paunchy gentleman lunching with and obviously courting the shapely, sweet-looking young lady was icing on our cake! On the way down to our cars, we should have apologized to the local business lady who patiently waited out eight tourists all anxiously queuing at the bank machine to withdraw cash. When we found one that worked for our cards, we all took advantage of it. It was puzzling that some ATMs did work and some didn't, for once our initial cash supply was spent, we relied on bank and credit cards for our cash supply.

Evora and Caceres, (in Spain) were both on our "to visit" list. With limited time, the vote favored Evora, highly recommended for its ancient and historic buildings, a UNESCO World Heritage site. To be truthful, we were a little disappointed in it. Evora is certainly a major tourist attraction, and even in September was quite crowded. The place in general, however, looked a bit tarnished. Loud music was blaring beside the Temple of Diana, which was surrounded by many young people playing basketball, and the site did not appear to be treated with any particular respect. Evora was the only place where we encountered a waitress who was quite upset when reminded she owed us change. On the other hand, the complexities of a parking meter were patiently explained by a stranger walking down the street, who ran back to us again when he remembered that parking was free from 12 noon on Saturday till 9:a.m. Monday morning. His helpful response served to reinforce our view that the Portuguese people are always gentle and friendly to visitors to their country. Time and again these people went out of their way to help us. The day we ventured forth to Evora was very hot, however, and our time there, rather short. We spent an anxious hour or so looking for each other in the very large municipal park where we had agreed to meet at the small outdoor sandwich snack bar referred to in Frommer’s. As it turned out, there were two identical sandwich snack bars, hence the confusion! Eventually, and after much wandering around in the heat, we gratefully found each other. By then, however, fatigue had set in, our exploring had been slowed down, and as a result, our first impressions of Evora were somewhat limited.

For three of our group, going to Arriolas after Evora, was a shopping highlight. After visiting eight carpet stores in 45 minutes, "We made our very satisfying selections"!

We did not manage to reach the Spanish city of Caceres, which apparently has many beautiful houses and palaces, relics from a time when that city was rich and prosperous. But a day trip into Estremoz, a relatively short distance from our house, was well worthwhile. The route followed a secondary road through the Alentejan plains and we just loved the brown, rolling and soothing countryside of this part of Portugal. We passed large fields with grazing sheep and goats, as well as wide stretches of land dotted with cork, eucalyptus and olive trees. A truly rural and pastoral scene of great loveliness.

Estremoz is a medium-sized Aletejan town with a renowned Pousada. On another fabulous sunny day, at the architecturally lovely Pousada de Rainha Santa Isabela , we enjoyed a café con lette (strong coffee with hot milk) and some very special "Royal Cake", and afterwards, spent a couple of happy hours a rambling through this attractive town.

Several of our group did not want to return home without stepping into Spain. The city of Badajoz was nearest and, in the interests of time, we decided on just a quick visit. A fortunate decision, because this was not one of our favorite places. The city is commercial and industrial, with rather unappealing outskirts, and as obvious tourists, we did not feel very comfortable there. It was a pity, as we didn't find our way to the historic, apparently more attractive inner section of the city.

En route back to Caia, we stopped in Elvas. What a delightful place. A wonderful centre square with many enticing places to stop for lunch or coffee or whatever! We loved Elvas and spent several hours there. It's very hilly with the typical steep cobblestone streets and many interesting little shops. Elvas is famous for sugar plums, but we found them a bit pricey and opted for other treats. Many of us were buying white Port as only the red is exported.

We did not get to Monsaraz, another well-known place to visit, but as all travelers know, you can't do it all!

Our trip concluded with a drive back to Lisbon and the Hotel Britania the day before going home. Generally, we found the roads in Portugal to be excellent, even if Portuguese drivers were fast and furious, and inclined to overtake on blind bends. Safe and sound, however, we crossed the astounding Vasco de Gama bridge which seemed to go on forever and which turns in the middle. Lisbon airport lies just on the other side of the bridge, and we then had a short but rather convoluted drive to the Europcar depot. With luggage galore (all that shopping!) piled into two taxis, returning to the Britania felt like going home. Our reception, as before, was warm and welcoming. At this point, late in the afternoon, my original luggage arrived at the hotel, with its contents never having been used!

We hired the ever helpful, reliable Joao and his bus very early the next morning for a hassle-free return to the airport for the flight home. Its always good to be home, but when the mind wanders to conjure up a scene, a vignette or an experience, one is back instantly to the warmth of the land and the people. We loved Portugal, particularly the Alentejan region. Another trip may well see us back there and perhaps include a visit to the Algarve. We had deliberately avoided that area because of its high tourist population and the significant build up of hotels and condos, but we understand that the coastline is quite magnificent and there are many wonderful houses to rent. Yes, any one of us would certainly go back to Portugal, always something wonderful to look at! After all, where else can so many senses be so readily fulfilled? Where else can you eat and drink so well (and so inexpensively) and yet not put on weight. All one has to do is spend a few hours walking up and down the miles of very hilly, cobblestone streets in order to offset the effects of those wonderful meals. And did we tell you about the group of 17 British hikers that we met on the road in the middle of nowhere? No? Ah well, that really is another story.

There is so much more that could be said. We had some amazing experiences but those stories must be told another time.

Diana Pilsworth and Bette Bowyer

Kanta, Ontario, Canada.

November 3, 2000.

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