International Travel Guides

Portugal Trip : Day 8 Day 8, 20 August: Cathy’s conference over, we left the Marriott. Our Rough Guide suggested O Duque, just under the crest of the hill in Bairro Alto. We went and were treated gruffly by a man there who said he hated George W. Bush. He even had a cartoon that [...]

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Portugal Trip : Day 7 Day 7, 19 August: I climbed to the top of the Castelo de S’Jorge and admired the view. Below me, Alfama, the Baixa, Bairro Alto, and the River Tagus, or Rio Tejo. Spanning the Tagus, the Ponte 25 de Abril, once known as the Salazar Bridge, after the economics professor [...]

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Portugal Trip : Day 6 Day 6, 18 August: For breakfast, I had my bica (Portuguese espresso) and a nata (pudding in a small pie crust) at a sidewalk caf’Bicas are strong and oily and wonderful; if your car leaks oil, just replenish it with a bica. And so I had my Latin breakfast. Of [...]

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Portugal Trip : Day 5 Day 5, 17 August: I spent the morning at the Conimbriga ruins, the best Roman ruins in Portugal. The mosaics, which used to be the floors of wealthy Roman citizens’ houses, are well-preserved. A guide would have been nice, though. I saw two lucky (and probably rich) Americans with theirs, [...]

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Portugal Trip : Day 4 Day 4, 16 August: Drove from Pinh’ through Lamego to Coimbra, the university city. In Lamego we stopped long enough to admire the pilgrimage church, Nossa Senhora dos Rem’os, high above town. The truly repentant ascend to her on their knees. Portugal is like West Virginia: full of ambitious and [...]

Continue Reading Portugal Tourism Lamego to Coimbra, the University City

Portugal Trip : Day 3 Day 3, 15 August: Awoke at Quinta de la Rosa, a port wine estate in Pinh’ on the Douro River in northern Portugal. The night before, we’d arrived late and found no one from the estate to let us in. Two older Dutch couples pulled in in their rental car [...]

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Portugal Trip : Day 2 Day 2, 14 August: Cathy and I drove more than 500 km (310 miles) today, from Sintra to Coimbra and through the mountains to Muxagata and Castel Melhor, near Vila Nova Foz C’At Castel Melhor, Cathy and I toured the Penascosa area of the Parque Arqueol??o do Vale do C’. [...]

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