Category: Portugal

Aveiro

Another town I picked based on the The 26 Most Stunning Coastal Towns in Portugal posting was Aveiro, a coastal town known for its canal boats.

After a bit of an adventure trying to determine which tracks our connecting train would depart from, we made it into town. There, next to the depot in Aveiro, stood a building decorated with those beautiful Portuguese blue tile murals.

With a little help from Google, we found our hotel located down a nearby side street.

After checking in, we found a small pizza place across the street for dinner — yes, another pizza in Portugal.

The next morning, we headed for the boats.

A number of different companies operate along the canals, with all charging about the same prices. We pretty much took the last one we found, bought tickets and hopped aboard for a one-hour cruise.

Unlike the gondolas of Venice, Aveiro’s canal boats hold more than a dozen people and they’re motor powered.

We sailed down canals in the older areas of town…

…cruised under arched walkway bridges…

…and into the modern area of Aveiro…

…where the foot bridge railings…

…were draped with love ribbons.

Other bridges displayed interesting artwork.

We stopped for lunch at a canal-side restaurant…

…where we discovered that our waitress was from the Cape Verde Islands. She was shocked to learn that I not only knew where those islands were located (off the coast of central Africa) and that I had actually visited there years ago.

Carefully following directions…

…we walked around town, passing old buildings that once served as salt warehouses…

…and nearby, a conveniently unlocked construction site sani-hut.

We wandered past outdoor art…

…and more outdoor art.

In the end, we passed by a small shop…

…where we learned that we were exactly where we needed to be.

We celebrated that truth that evening with glasses of 10-year-old tawny port at our hotel that night.

Sintra

From Aveiro, we took the highspeed train back to Lisbon, then caught a commuter train to the nearby town of Sintra where we would spend two nights.

With a little help from Google, we found our hotel off a side street close to the train station.

The room was nice in a Marriott sort of way.

What we really liked about the room was that it had an electrically heated clothes drying rack in the bathroom. The curse of going carry-on is that we pretty much needed to wash clothes every day.

Home of numerous castles, palaces, parks and street-side artwork that would be banned in Texas, Sintra was arguably the most beautiful city we visited in Portugal.

Because of Dianne’s knee, we decided not to hike up to the hilltop castles.

Instead, we would stick to the lower level attractions such as the Regaleira Palace and Gardens.

Unfortunately, this was Sunday, and the line of people waiting to get in stretched down the sidewalk for several blocks.

Not worth it, we concluded. Instead, we continued onward toward the Seteais Palace, which is now an upscale hotel.

Through the arch, an outdoor stairway led to a stone deck from which we enjoyed lofty views of the surrounding countryside.

Retreating back to town…

…we passed restaurants…

…gift shops…

…and a Superman-worthy phone booth.

After lunch, featuring a bowl of the best gazpacho I’ve had this side of Spain…

…we bought tickets to the Palacio Nacional de Sintra, which sits off the main square.

Inside, we found that Portugal’s residing royalty enjoyed beautiful garden landscaping…

…spacious rooms…

…roomy bedrooms…

…freestanding bathtubs…

…and ceilings with swans.

There was even a fully equipped kitchen where the queen could cook up delicious halftime snacks for the king and his buddies.

As we toured the national palace, I remembered those pertinent words from America’s great philosopher and poet, Tom Petty:

It’s good to be king, if just for a while
To be there in velvet, yeah, to give ’em a smile
It’s good to get high and never come down
It’s good to be king of your own little town

We had dinner downtown, returning to the hotel at dusk. We grabbed our bottle of 10-year-old port, got a pair of wine glasses from the desk clerk and retreated to the hotel patio for a Portuguese nightcap under the stars.

Yes, it’s good to be king, if just for a while.

Back Home Again

Monday morning, we packed up our bags, walked to the rail station and caught the next train back to Lisbon. From there, we took the subway to the airport and walked over to our final Portuguese hotel of the trip.

The hotel had a small restaurant and bar…

…where we could enjoy a final glass of Portuguese beer…

…and our last pizza in Portugal. (It was awful.)

The next morning, we wheeled our bags back to the airport and boarded our morning flight from Lisbon to Philadelphia…

…where once again we were pampered in business class.

Yes, it’s good to be king, if just for a while!

Unfortunately, since we cashed in nearly all of our frequent flyer miles on this trip, the next time we fly we’ll probably be dining on pretzels in far less comfortable surroundings.