The weather Gods have been pretty kind to us up until today! Yesterday we left Porto and drove down to Coimbra. It was only an hour and twenty minute drive and it was much easier getting out of Porto than I anticipated. In any case, not much exciting happened yesterday.

Coimbra was one of those places on our ‘maybe list’ but we quickly determined that it probably isn’t the place for us. It is a university town and that’s always a plus but we just haven’t found ‘the vibe’ here. Yesterday, we did find our way to a nearby mall that was pretty impressive because Barb needed to buy a swimsuit. While there, we found a huge ‘Walmart type’ store that seemed to sell everything under the sun.

After returning from there, the weather was a bit ‘iffy’ and we just decided to go enjoy the indoor pool and jacuzzi for a while. There weren’t any good restaurants within walking distance of the hotel so we opted to have dinner at the hotel.

This morning we had reservations to visit the baroque Joanina Library on the Coimbra University campus which is apparently the inspiration for the Harry Potter library. It was starting to rain a bit when we grabbed a Bolt (Uber equivalent) to head over there. When the driver dropped us off, we went on a bit of an Easter egg hunt to find the library but through the kindness of students and guards at the university we were able to find our way there.

The good news is that it was very impressive. The bad news is that we were unable to take photographs in the library itself. I was able to take a few photos before we got to the actual library but could not in the main library. That said, it is a magnificent building with books literally on shelves from the floor to the ceiling. It was worth seeing but were disappointed to not be able to take photographs.

When we finished on campus we headed to the main shopping street to wander around a bit in spite of the rain. We did poke around a few stores and then decided to stop at a little coffee shop for a pastry and coffee. When we finished there, we decided to walk the half mile back to the hotel through the rain. It was a pretty easy walk but by the time we got to the hotel, we were pretty soggy. We each had raincoats and waterproof shoes but our jeans took a bit of a bath.

It has been pouring heavily since we got back to the hotel so we are just chilling out. It looks like it might be clearing up a bit so we may venture forth again in a while. The fact is, we are just not feeling it here in Coimbra and are looking forward to heading to Evora in the morning. Evora is about a three hour drive from here and is an old walled city with old Roman ruins and other interesting sites to see. We are only staying there tomorrow night before we head down to the Algarve and the condo we are staying at in Lagos.

Just like in the States, weather forecasters here are not always correct – no rain today! It was actually another beautiful day in Porto. On our way to breakfast, we saw a note in the elevator about the Porto marathon and wondered how that would affect our daily activities. The impact turned out to be minimal. One bus route we were going to take was affected but other than that, it was just another great day in Porto.

We started off the day by walking over the Luis I bridge and taking the cable car down to the Douro river bank. It was just like a ski gondola – minus the snow! We figured we would just ride it down, walk around a little and ride it back up. However, we did find a couple of surprises at the bottom. Barb found an area where vendors were selling all kinds of things and picked up a couple of treasures. While she was occupied doing that, I walked across the way where we had seen a large gathering of motorcycles. There were motorcycles of all sizes and brands – even a couple of Harleys!! I’m not sure what the occasion was for the gathering but it was fun to watch all of the bikers and walk around.

We wanted to go see the Bolsa Palace which was formerly the stock market built by the city Commercial Association. The marathon disrupted the bus we would have taken to get there but is was close enough we decided to hoof it. When we went to buy tickets, we found out you had to buy a timed entry ticket associated with a tour guide. It was a few minutes after noon and the next tour was at 12:30 but was in French. The next English speaking tour wasn’t scheduled until 2:00 p.m. So, we bought a ticket for the French tour and at 12:30 we set off with a small army of French speaking tourists and our French speaking tour guide. The language was, in some respects, irrelevant because the building was magnificent and spoke its own language.

We were very close to the Douro River by then and decided to stroll along the river to find a place for lunch. There were tons of restaurants and we just chose one and rolled the dice. Barb had a salmon salad and I had a shrimp salad and they were both delicious. We broke our streak of mediocre lunches.

We hiked back up to our hotel and it was a climb but we managed. There are not a lot of overweight people here and it’s easy to see why. If you are walking around, there are a lot of ups, downs and stairs. It’s easy to get some exercise just going out to get a cup of coffee!

As we approached our hotel, we decided to get on another hop on/hop off bus and take a different route around the city. We saw parts of the city that were truly amazing and we were glad we made the choice to take the ride. There are a lot of expats who have chosen to live in Porto and it is easy to see why. It is a bit cooler and wetter here (normally) than what we are looking for but the place has certainly given us something to think about.

Tomorrow we head for Coimbra which will be the start of our journey southward. Coimbra is a university town about an hour and twenty minutes from here. Possibly the most challenging part of the day will be to retrieve our car, get it to the hotel to pack our luggage and find our way out of town! The adventure continues.

It was certainly a busy day exploring Porto. The weather was great and it was a perfect day to tour the city. We started off with a cruise on the Douro river which runs through the heart of Porto and its surrounding communities. However, we did not take the ‘normal’ river cruise on one of the big boats. Instead we opted for a cruise on a Beneteau 44 sailboat which was perfect for us. There were only 10 people on board in addition to the skipper and his mate. We motored the whole way but the engine was very quiet, the boat was very spacious, the weather was fantastic and it was a very relaxing way to see the city from the river. It was a great way to spend the morning.

When we returned to the hotel the next mission was to find the Hard Rock Cafe due to a request from Jordan, my daughter. It turns out the Hard Rock was not very far from the hotel so we just walked over there. However, once again what should have been a simple walk was a bit more challenging due to construction and the never ending winding streets. We got there – mission accomplished.

We strolled around a bit and found a place for lunch. The place was OK but not great. We have been doing a fantastic job on breakfasts and dinners but our lunch choices have been pretty mediocre! We need to up our game. During lunch we decided to take advantage of the good weather (it is supposed to rain tomorrow) and got tickets for the local hop on/hop off bus to do a quick tour of the city. We regrouped back at our hotel and jumped on the bus which very conveniently had a stop right across the street from our hotel.

The ride was nice. I don’t know how these bus drivers navigate these busses through the streets of Porto but for us, it was nice to not have to walk up and down hills and find our way through a labyrinth of winding streets. We had seen the city from the water in the morning and it was fun to drive through it in the afternoon.

When we returned to the stop near our hotel, it was still light out so we took off walking again. We found an area with all kinds of shops and restaurants and it was buzzing with people. We walked around a while and found a little restaurant to grab a light dinner. We had our jackets and it was still warm enough that we were able to sit outside and watch the parade of people go by. It was great fun.

The train station was on the way back to our hotel so we ducked in quickly to check it out. The artwork is beautiful. It’s one of the prettiest train stations I think I’ve seen.

Porto is a great city. We said several times during the day that given a choice between Porto and Lisbon, Porto would win hands down. It has a great vibe and all of the little alleyways and ups and downs just add to the charm. I’m sure in the summer, it is much more crowded due to the large number of tourists. However, right now, it has been a fantastic place to visit. We will see what tomorrow brings. We have rain coats so – let the adventure continue.

We headed up the coast to Porto today but since we had lots of time we decided to swing by the town of Figueira da Foz on the way. It was a nice beach town and it was worth the quick detour.

Today’s excursion was primarily on the freeways here. It was pretty painless once we figured out the toll system. We did have to stop for gas once and put about 9 gallons of gas in the car at a cost of about $70. Yes, gas is expensive here which is why you don’t see tons of large cars. Our little Kia gets great mileage. We have been here a week, driven all over creation and this was the first time we had to fill up.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, people here drive fast and tailgating just seems to be a way of life. However, on the plus side, you rarely see cars just cruising along in the left hand lane on the freeway. People pass and move back into the right lane. I don’t know if it’s a law but people just don’t seem to stay in the left lane. And if you do, you can bet that it won’t be very long, regardless of how fast you are going, before you will look in your rear view mirror and see somebody right on your butt.

The good news is that we found our hotel in Porto. The bad news is that it was interesting finding a place to park!! We initially parked up the street from the hotel (a Hilton hotel nonetheless) and went to check in and figure out where the parking garage was. It was a VERY interesting exercise to get our luggage back to the hotel and find the parking garage. We will not be driving again here until it is time to leave. Porto is definitely not an easy place to drive (or park!). However, after that little adventure we got settled in to our room.

We went out for a little stroll to check out the area. Our hotel is just a little ways from the Luis I bridge which is a landmark here in Porto. We walked down onto the bridge just in time for sunset.

When we got back to the hotel, we asked them for a dinner recommendation and they made reservations for us at a nearby restaurant for 7 p.m. The desk agent told us it was a 5 minute walk. Google said it was an 8 minute walk. About 6:45 we headed off to the restaurant and thus began yet another adventure for the day! Neither the desk clerk nor Google maps mentioned that the short walk entailed descending over 100 stairs through a rabbit warren of winding little alleyways. For two people with bad knees it was quite the ‘short little walk’!

We eventually emerged from the winding alleys and descending stairways to find our restaurant. The food was worth it. It was a charming place and the food was delicious. We did, however, opt to take a cab back to the hotel once we asked the restaurant staff directions to a ‘real’ street.

We are very much looking forward to exploring Porto more tomorrow. It is a charming place – as long as you account for all of the hills and understand a ‘5 minute walk’ might not translate exactly as you expect! The adventure continues.

It was raining cats and dogs when we got up this morning so we had to alter our plans a bit. In addition, Barb needed to go to a pharmacy to see if they could fill one of her prescriptions because she realized she did not have enough of the medication to make it until she got home. After breakfast, we headed off to a little town near here where we knew there was a pharmacy.

One of the pharmacists spoke very good English and she explained to Barb that she needed the prescription from her doctor. To make a long story short, Barb pulled up the prescription on the CVS website, took a picture of it on her phone and emailed it to this little local pharmacy. That was good enough for the pharmacist but she said they wouldn’t have the medicine until about 5 o’clock this afternoon. We said that was fine. The pharmacist said that we had to pay in advance which we were happy to do. And this is one reason a number of retired people are moving out of the United States to places like Portugal. The cost to Barb here was $10 whereas she pays $144 for the same thing in the US!!!

After we left the little pharmacy in Ferrel where the pharmacist had been so helpful, we decided to drive over to the old fishing village of Peniche. It is a surfing mecca and was a nice, charming place. It was still raining but we were able to drive around a bit. We did stop along the coast to admire the rock formations and the surf.

After leaving Peniche, we headed for Obidos, which is an old walled city. It is quite famous here and a big tourist attraction in the summer. Fortunately, for us, the rain and time of year greatly thinned out the crowds. It was a charming little place with all kinds of shops and restaurants. You can still see the old walls and all of the streets (using the term loosely) and alleyways are paved with cobblestones. And just a word to the wise, it is not flat, so if you ever come here, wear good shoes with gripping soles.

After Obidos we found our way back to the hotel to chill out for a couple of hours before we head back to Ferrel to pick up Barb’s prescription. We’re getting quite used to the roads so it will be an easy drive.

We are driving a compact SUV, a Kia Kauai, and it is a good car for here. It is a standard transmission which is true of many of the rental cars here. You can get automatics but they are more expensive. As far as driving here – if you don’t like round-abouts, don’t drive here because they are everywhere. If you don’t like little, narrow, winding roads, don’t drive here. The freeways are good for making time between places, but once you exit the freeways, you are back in the land of round-abouts and narrow, winding roads. People here do drive fast and they often tailgate- it’s just the way it is here. All of that said, with Google maps and a little patience, it’s pretty easy to get around. The adventure continues as we head north to Porto tomorrow.

Today was another interesting day here in Portugal. We met with a realtor this morning and had a very interesting discussion. He showed us one property that we liked immediately that is actually in a golf resort similar to the one we are currently staying in and came away with many more questions than answers. There were many advantages to the property he showed us and made us think that there might be a different option to facilitate the move over here – when we decide to pull the trigger.

One of the challenges in securing a long term stay visa here, which is required prior to getting your residency permit, is that you have to show that you have a long term lease (1 year) or own a place in country as part of your application submittal. The catch is that you have to be out of Portugal (back in the US for us) to submit the application for the long term stay visa. Many people end up leasing places that they are unable to occupy for several months while this process plays out.

They used to accept Airbnbs and things like that, but they are getting much more picky. We have read many accounts of people who tried to circumvent the system by doing something they thought was very clever only to find that their visa applications have been turned down. This whole process of lining up an accommodation BEFORE you can submit your application from your home country is certainly one of the more challenging aspects of this whole process.

After we finished with the realtor, we drove to Caldas da Rainha which is only about 30 minutes from where we are staying to check it out when the shops were open and the town was alive since yesterday was a holiday. We went to the fruit market and walked around a bit. They have a lot of ceramics here and we saw some beautiful things.

A very unique thing about Caldas da Rainha that is a bit strange and/or shocking to some is that many of the ceramic shops have ceramic phalluses for sale, known locally as “louca falica” . They seem to be everywhere. There are also pastries in this same shape. How this originated seems to be somewhat of a mystery but it is something that Caldas da Rainha is known for! It is not to cater to the tourist trade as this has been going on since the 1800’s! Feel free to Google it – I’m not making it up! Welcome to Caldas da Rainha, Portugal.

After we left Caldas, we wanted to check out a little town about 20 minutes away but down by the coast. The town Foz de Arelho was another town like Nazare that we found quite charming. We didn’t spend a lot of time there but it looked like the kind of place we’re looking for.

We decided to take the adventurous route back to our hotel so we picked the really squiggly route on Google maps and took off on another one of Mr. Toad’s wild rides. It took us about 45 minutes to get back to the hotel but it was great fun and we saw some interesting homes and countryside. How did the world get along before GPS came along??

Tomorrow is our last day here in the Silver Coast region before we head further north to Porto Friday morning. We intend to go spend some time in Obidos tomorrow which is only about thirty minutes from here. Obidos is an old walled city and a major tourist attraction in the summer. Hopefully, it won’t be too crowded tomorrow. The adventure continues.

November 1st is a holiday in Portugal (All Saints Day) so some things were closed. We decided since the weather was supposed to be pretty nice and given that it was a holiday, we would head up the coast to Nazare which is less than an hour away. Nazare is the site where big wave surfers come from around the world to challenge themselves on monster waves – some of the largest in the world. A German surfer broke the world record here in May by surfing a wave 86 feet tall.

Now that we’re getting the hang of navigating the backroads of Portugal, it was a pretty smooth drive up to Nazare. It is a very nice town with broad sandy beaches and occasional monster waves rolling in from October through March. We walked around the main beach area for a while and then on the way back to the car, we stopped to look at the listings in the windows of several real estate offices. We were fairly encouraged by what we saw. It seemed like nice places are still affordable and the town of Nazare has a nice little vibe to it.

We wanted to find the lookout where people go to watch the surfers when the big waves come rolling in. Thanks to Google maps we were able to once again undertake a mini version of Mr. Toad’s wild ride and climb up above Nazare to the overlook. Parking was a small challenge once we got there but we found a spot and walked out on the cliffs above Nazare. It was a spectacular view.

After we finished our tour of Nazare, we headed back to Caldas da Rainha even though we knew many things would be closed due to the holiday. However, one of our main objectives was to visit a large ’hypermercado’, I.e. a large Target kind of store. We found one and went in to see what kinds of things they had and what the prices were like. We were pleasantly surprised to find that a large percentage of the products we saw were less expensive or comparably priced to similar American products. We even found Skippy peanut butter!!! We found a little restaurant that was open and grabbed some lunch before heading back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Caldas da Rainha to see if we can get a better sense of the city when everything is open. In addition, we have a meeting with a local realtor in the morning to get a better understanding of both the long term rental and purchase markets in this area of the country. We still have a lot left to learn and explore but if we had to pick a place based upon where we have been so far, I think it would be the town of Nazare.

Yesterday was comprised of a number of adventures. We were due to pick up our rental car at the airport around noon. After another wonderful breakfast at our hotel in Lisbon, we checked out and the hotel arranged a cab to the airport. All was going well until we realized that I left the hotel with the keys in my pocket. They were real keys and the hotel called us and told us they needed them returned. I suppose we could have asked the cab driver to turn around but we were already half way to the airport so we decided to continue.

When we picked up our rental car we discussed whether it would be better to just pile the luggage in the car and take a cab back to the hotel with the keys or just go for it in the rental car. We decided on the latter and, GPS in hand, we headed into the monster known as Lisbon traffic. We made it to the hotel unscathed and then headed to our next destination which is a resort near the town of Obidos and Caldas da Rainha.

It was supposed to take about an hour to drive there, but I had my Google maps set to avoid toll roads ( I didn’t realize it!). We initially got on the freeway and were zipping along when the GPS told us to exit right before a toll booth. We then proceeded to head over hill and dale through the back roads of Portugal for the next hour and a half. It was an interesting way to go and the narrow, winding, up and down roads often reminded us of Mr. Toad’s wild ride at Disneyland. The good news is, we saw lots of beautiful country and thanks to GPS we never got ’really’ lost!

We eventually made it to the Marriott resort where we decided to camp for the next 3 nights. It is right on the ocean and is a beautiful property. So far, we are batting two for two on the hotels. The only down side is that there are not really any shops close by. There are three restaurants in the hotel but if you want to go somewhere else, it’s a bit of a drive.

We wanted to go to the grocery store and the pharmacy so we headed out once again on the back roads of Portugal. We found a small supermarket and pharmacy in a little town about 5 miles away. We got what we needed and found our way back to the hotel. It was quite a day exploring the back roads of Portugal but we got all settled in and are planning to spend the next three and a half days exploring the towns of Obidos and Caldas da Rainha in addition to talking to a realtor or two. The adventure continues.

Happy Halloween! It’s been a busy time since we arrived in the wee hours of Oct. 28th. We seem to be fairly well caught up on sleep and in the correct time zone now.

Yesterday the hotel arranged for us to go on a TukTuk tour of the city with, Pedro, the driver/guide. We left the hotel at 9 am on a bright sunny day and had a blast roaring around the city in the back seat of Pedro’s TukTuk. He pointed out a number of interesting sites and had all kinds of history and trivia to share. It was very clear that Pedro loves his city and enjoys sharing it with others.

After returning to the hotel, we decided to do a little exploring on our own so we grabbed a ride from ’Bolt’ (similar to Uber) and headed to one of the main squares here in Lisbon, the Praco do Comercio (forgive my lack of proper accents – I haven’t yet figured out to do that on my keyboard!) We walked around a while and headed up one of the main streets which was quite busy. I can only imagine how crowded it would be in the summer!! We ended up at the Rossio train station.

From there we decided to head to the Mercado da Ribeira which wasn’t too far away based upon the recommendation of my friend, Jay. (Thanks, Jay). It is a huge building that houses a food hall with many, many different types of food. We made one lap and then settled in on a place to grab some lunch. I had a pork dish and Barb had a beef sandwich. On the way out we grabbed a couple of eclairs from one of the shops and they were delicious – and rich, rich, rich!!

We grabbed another ride over to the LX Factory which is an area which has a lot of artists, craftsman, shops and restaurants. It was an interesting place to walk around and I did find a couple of treasures to take home.

It had been a long day of walking and both of our knees were telling us that it was time for a rest so we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel. Our guide the first day highly recommended staying away from cabs and using Uber or Bolt instead as the cabs have a reputation of sometimes ripping off foreigners. We used cabs a couple of times and didn’t have an problems but Uber and Bolt are a bit cheaper.

Transportation here is quite inexpensive but sometimes, even using Bolt and Uber, getting to your destination can be a bit challenging. The streets are so winding and narrow that finding your way around without GPS would be close to impossible. And even with GPS, our drivers ran into some challenges. All part of the adventure.

Today we will be leaving Lisbon and picking up our rental car to head north – first of Obidos and then on to Porto. I’m sure driving here will present its own set of challenges but if I can successful navigate the roads (on the ’wrong’ side) down in New Zealand for a month, I figure I’m game for this! The area around Obidos and Caldas da Rainha is an area that we have targeted as a possible place to live so we are looking forward to exploring the area.

I do have to give a shout out to our hotel here in Lisbon. It is called the Casa dell’Arte Club House and is more like a B&B than a hotel. The place is beautiful and the staff is outstanding. It is a little off the beaten track, which suits us just fine but when we return to Lisbon, we will stay here again.

Stay tuned for more adventures as we begin piloting our own car and head up the coast.

A lot has happened since I last posted on the 24th. Very early in the morning (6 am flight) I left Bozeman and flew to New York (via Minneapolis) where I crashed overnight on the couch at Francine’s (Jordan’s mom) apartment. My flight was due to leave at 10 pm the next night for London where I was supposed to meet up with Barb who was flying in from Phoenix. I continued to monitor both my flight and Barb’s flight throughout the day and, while mine appeared to be on time, it looked like Barb’s flight was going to be delayed to the point she would not make the connection.

There was a later British Airways flight that was supposed to leave London around 7:30 pm and arrive in Lisbon around 10:30 pm. We both rebooked on that flight. The good news is, I was able to meet up with Barb at Heathrow. The bad news is that our flight to Lisbon was delayed and we did not arrive in Lisbon until after midnight. We finally got to our hotel around 1:15 am and were throughly exhausted.

The hotel is really more like a B&B in that it only has three rooms! We did not know that when we booked it. It is a 250 year old building that used to be a private residence but a Turkish family bought it a few years ago, refurbished it and turned it into a B&B. It is a beautiful place. We couldn’t have gotten any luckier. The entire place is decorated throughout with traditional Portuguese blue painted tiles and beautiful artwork.

After finally getting a good nights sleep, we had arranged a walking tour of Lisbon for yesterday afternoon. We met up with our guide, Rodrigo, at a local landmark fountain and set off on an interesting and informative three hour walking tour. We saw a lot of interesting things including a magnificent church and what we were told is the oldest continuously functioning book store in the world. It was a lot of fun and Rodrigo was filled with all kinds of factoids and trivia about the city.

The one thing I will say about Lisbon is that it is definitely not flat. Anyone wishing to walk around the city should be prepared with good walking shoes with good tread. Most of the sidewalks and streets are cobblestone and when they get wet, they can be very slippery!! Be prepared for lots of uphills, downhills and stairs!!

After our walking tour, we were hungry since we hadn’t eaten anything since the wonderful breakfast they served at the hotel, so we started looking for a restaurant. We found a cozy little place and had a very nice dinner. Barb had fish (John Dory) and I had octopus and we shared a cheese board of local Portuguese cheeses. Everything was delicious.

This morning, we went out fairly early and had breakfast at a little local place nearby. Right across the street from our hotel, there was a flea market that stretched for several blocks so we wandered around there for a while.

Around noon, even though it was pouring rain, we headed to the train station to catch a train to Cascais which is right up the coast. After a 40 minute train ride (5 euros roundtrip) we arrived in Cascais. The rain had stopped and we started wandering around. Cascais is a beautiful coastal town with some nice beaches, a nice marina, and some nice restaurants and shops. I’m sure it gets very crazy during the summer tourist season.

The place has a very robust expat community but because it is such a beautiful place so close to Lisbon, prices have really increased over the last few years. We did go into one real estate agency and had a nice chat with the agent about long term rentals and property for sale. The good news is that Cascais is a beautiful place that has a really nice vibe to it. The bad news is that it is probably one of the more expensive place to live in the country. We knew that already so it wasn’t a big shock. But, we now have a real estate contact and will continue looking around the rest of the country in our travels.

Tomorrow we have arranged to take a tour around the city via ’tuk-tuk’, which in Asia are little three wheeled vehicles. We are looking forward to having the vehicle do some of the work on the hills. We are also looking forward to another day of exploring Lisbon before we begin our journey by rental car up the coast to Porto and then back down the middle of the country to the Algarve over the next couple of weeks.

I will hopefully get better at including some pictures in this blog but I’m still trying to learn to do this on my tablet!!