Perfect Portugal Vacation

The week of September 30th was China’s MidAutumn Festival, a week long holiday. It also happened to be the first available week Lila could arrange business meetings in Portugal. We decided to cancel our initial holiday plans in Asia in lieu of work + holiday trip in Portugal. It was a fabulous week, marked by our Top 10 adventures below in no particular order:

1. Saturday w/Chavez & Socrates. Venezuelan President Chavez and Portuguese Prime Minister Socrates unveiled details regarding their trade agreement. Among the collaboration areas were the export of 1Mu of Magellan PCs based on Intel’s classmate PC reference design from Lila’s group. We attended the press conference, as perhaps the only Americans in the audience. Needless to say, exciting and fascinating. Later in the week, we passed an oil refinery in Northern Portugal. Karl asked the taxi driver where the oil came from. His response, “we sell computers to the crazy Chavez for oil.” Karl then inquired about the types of computer. “They’re very good, for children, and not so expensive.” How cool is that: taxi driver who’s totally on message. J

2. A trip of “firsts” – This trip marked our 1st trip to Europe together. It was also Karl’s 1st time flying over Siberia (arriving in Europe from the East) & 1st time to Portugal, and our 1st trip where we tagged vacation onto one of Lila’s international business trips.

3. Castles, Forts, & Churches – Oh My! After a week in the country, we believe there are castles on every hilltop and a few churches in every valley. Given the geographical location of Portugal and its very rich history, the architecture is a mix of various centuries and styles. We enjoyed exploring a large majority of them, though got a bit Churched and Forted out after a while.

4. Southern California with a Mediterranean Flair – We spent one afternoon driving along the coast North of Lisbon, visiting the towns of Estoril, Cascais, & Guincho. It was very reminiscent of the San Diego coastline, but with many white washed homes and red tiled roofs. We enjoyed the old fishing villages and visiting the western-most point of continental Europe.

5. Tasting Our Way Through Portugal – Everyday we ate at least 1 meal at a Michelin-rated restaurant. We also tasted port in Porto, wine in Evora, and smoked meats & cheese throughout. We tasted Codfish cooked a few of the acclaimed 365 Portuguese ways (or 1001 ways, depending who you ask). We saw Prosciutto carved off a hind leg of pig, right before our eyes at a high-end restaurant. We had the best shellfish our lives, covered in garlic and olive oil. We enjoyed many desserts, including cheese with pumpkin jam. It’s a good thing the holiday is only 1 week. We would weigh 500 lbs/each if we lived here!

6. Sintra – Our first side trip from Lisbon was Sintra. It’s supposedly a 45minute drive, but took us twice as long as we couldn’t figure out the Portuguese road signs! Famous as a romantic getaway, the town in hills has extraordinary architecture and we learned about Manueline architecture. Our first stop was an over the top estate (Quinta da Regaleira) built in early 1900s. We enjoyed all the hidden doors & staircases. From there we explored the Moorish castle which we equated to Portugal’s “great wall.” The 9th century fort overlooks the coastline with steps along the walls. We were going to make it to the other famous castles, but decided we were castle’d out & opted to hang out in town. We spent a few hours roaming around the tiny streets, small stores, and eating lunch in a café before driving back to Lisbon.

7. Porto – our favorite…and not just for the port! We spent 2 nights in Porto, a beautiful city 3 hours north of Lisbon -- famous for its port and 67 churches. We had a fabulous 1-day private tour around the city where we visited the major neighborhood areas of the hilly town, 6 churches, a tiled-covered railway station, the old stock exchange, and had dinner by the ocean. The highlights also included a 1hr cruise on the Douro river and a private port tasting In Vila Nova de Gaia Grahams. We left with a 1970 vintage bottle of port. The following day, we did a bit more port tasting including at Taylor and Noval. We finally found an area we disagree – Karl prefers ruby’s and Lila likes tawny’s. Overall, a fabulous getaway!

8. Evora – Sleeping at a Convent in a World Heritage Site. Per recommendation of a colleague, we ended our trip in the town of Evora, southeast of Lisbon. We spent 2 nights at a Sheraton Luxury Collection hotel which was a restored convent from the 1400s. During the day we visited a cork factory which was not on any tourist map! The owner called his son from home to give us a tour and explain how cork is imported from around the town, sorted, treated and shipped out for processing. We have a new appreciation for the complexity of cork manufacturing! We toured the country-side of small towns white washed houses and the Alentejo wine region. Most of the day was spent wandering inside the old town within the fortified walls. The trip ended with a private wine tasting in the hotel’s wine cave, with 2 of the hotel staff explaining Portugal’s wine regions and history. What a fabulous way to end our holiday.

9. Everything that China is not, Portugal is! Great wine, blue skies, no crowds, delicious meats, lots of fresh fish (without heads attached), great cheese, and clean public toilets. Portugal is everything that China is not.

10. Lisbon – While Lila had a few days of work, we managed to find time to explore various neighborhoods of Lisbon. It’s a very charming city with outstanding food and architecture. We’re very surprised it’s not more of a destination spot, aside for all the Europeans. While we really liked Lisbon, the quieter towns of Porto and Evora were more our vacation pace.

The lowlight?
Avoiding sticker SHOCK death - our sole entry to the list of worst memories: cost. The US dollar makes traveling in Europe an economic pain in the wallet. Monopoly money would have gotten us further. The perfect example is our tiny rental car cost $100 to fill up ¾ tank. And watching CNN’s coverage of the flailing US economy didn’t help. At least the memories and experiences were priceless!