Portugal: Summer 2022
This summer I had the amazing opportunity to spend 10 days in Portugal (with an 18 hour layover in Madrid!). It seems like the whole world went to Portugal in 2022, but this was still my first time so I am finally getting around to documenting some of the highlights of our itinerary!
We spent most of our time between Lisbon and Porto with occasional day trips from these two cities. I am not exaggerating when I say I fell in love with Lisboa, enough that I think I told most of my friends I want to move there and meant it about 70% seriously (still do). I’ve been to Europe a handful of times, but this was my first time as a young adult traveling with friends. It was tricky finding time to fit this trip in between clinical rotations, and even harder to find a travel buddy. I almost decided to go alone, but instead one of my close friends from high school joined me. We had a great time, but I think that this experience has given me the confidence to attempt a solo international trip (potentially spring/summer 2024).
Lisbon highpoints:
Day Trip to Sintra
Sintra is a quick train ride away and home to many castles. For anyone interested in history, castles, and myths, this is definitely worth the trip. We rode tuk-tuks up and down the mountain that the castles are located on and each one was so different! My favorite was Quinta da Regaleira, or the initiation well. According to legend, these wells were used for ceremonial purposes, including Tarot initiation sites.
Bairro Alto & Nightlife
A lot of people told me that Libson was a small, sleepy city during the summer since students are away. I guess if that’s true I wouldn’t know any different, but that was not my experience whatsoever!
One thing I love about the nightlife is how half the fun is congregating in the streets; definitely not a common phenomenon in Chicago! We went to a variety of bars and even made it to one of the beach clubs located along the water.
Viewpoints
There are honestly so many, and all of them will come up on any travel website. My two favorites were Miradouro das Portos do Sol and Miradouro de Santa Luzia.
Porto highlights
Selina Hostel
In Porto we stayed in a hostel that came highly recommended by both friends and travel blogs. Selina is a hostel chain with locations all over the world and is known for being a little more upscale but also more social. Since we wanted to meet people, we decided this could be a fun experiment for our time in Porto, and I am SO GLAD we did. We made some amazing friends from Germany, London, Vancouver, Israel, Los Angeles, and more. We might have only spent a few days together, but I still keep in touch with them and there is some discussion of another summer Portugal trip in the next few years! Definitely hoping to manifest that one. I always forget that no matter how different people’s backgrounds, ages, and experiences can be from your own, you will still always meet people with the same spirit of restlessness and desire to see and do more when you travel. The lovely ladies below are some of the people who have recently reminded me of that.
Day Drip to Douro Valley
Douro Valley is the Napa of Portugal. And being the amateur vino that I am, of course we had to make the time for a day trip! We booked a tour which took us in a small group of 6 in a minivan to three different vineyards. It was an early start but extremely worth it! The second stop was at the beautiful valley shown below. One of their bottles of red won an award in 2022, so being the gullible shopper that I am I of course had to bring back a bottle of that. My travel companion and I also bought a bottle of rosé to take along with us on the boat trip across the Douro River that we took after this vineyard stop! Our boat ended up having a fun group from Chicago as well; nothing better than small-world run ins and being on the water on a hot day!
The final vineyard we stopped at is where we also had lunch and concluded with a port wine tasting in the port cellars. Port wine is very heavy and usually meant to be served poured over a rich chocolate cake, not the type of thing you down by the glass.
A random fact that I don’t think many people know about me: I am a huge history nerd. I have been since the day I stepped foot in high school AP European History; that is still my favorite class to this day. So on our way out, my travel buddy and I, being equally dorky when it comes to European history, got a quick picture with a Magellan mural and ended up emailing it to our high school history teacher.
Anything along the water, especially at sunset
On our first day in Porto we had a great lunch at a restaurant situated at a high point along the river. Even the seagulls must think the food is great there since one swooped down onto me at our table when the main course came out!
Each evening in Porto we spent walking along the river, both on the south bank in Vila Nova de Gaia as well as the north bank of Porto. There are some beautiful points to look out at the water from, and many people bring bottles of wine to relax and watch the sun go down as well.
I consider myself somewhat of a romantic, so I am a sucker for anything sunset-related, especially when it’s along the water. I don’t think anyone can put into words that feeling when the temperature is perfect, the sun is going down, and you feel totally at peace. The closest I can get is a few pictures from these moments.
Porto sunsets truly were magical. If I look at this picture enough, I can almost feel the summer breeze and hear the guitarists singing again.