Portugal: Overview

Sintra region with Atlantic ocean beyond

Once upon a time, about twenty years ago, I put Portugal on a long list of places to visit. I'm not sure why. Many places land on The List because I want to experience the culture, food, or landscape firsthand. I just didn't know much about Portugal beyond the role it played in exploration, that the country is the world's largest cork producer, that it also produces wine, and that it is a member of the EU. One might be able to assume that Lisbon was a grand capital, but who knows? Perhaps the unknown was what piqued my interest the most. The idea of traveling with eyes and mind wide open to learn what one can was very appealing.

We arrived in Lisbon after a chaotic airport experience in Barcelona and an uneventful two-hour flight. Quite by accident and before we had to search the airport for them, we met Dorothy and Dion, who had arrived from Newark at roughly the same time as our arrival. We rented a Renault Grand Scenic--a 7-seat MPV (multi-purpose vehicle, Europe's sexier term for minivan), arranged all our luggage very, very artfully, and drove 20 minutes to Cascais. Driving in Portugal was fairly easy, or so my driver made it seem. For one, traffic flows on the right side of the road, just like in the U.S. With this in mind, I thought I would take day trips as often as possible, and I would be able to give John a break from all of the driving. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single automatic transmission to rent in Lisbon, and someone here never learned how to drive a manual (hangs head in shame). The motorways we traveled were well maintained and well marked so navigation was easy. Although I bought Michelin road maps, we almost exclusively used the map app that came installed on my iphone. Being able to see our position on the screen helped so much, especially when we were unable to read the ornate tile street signs set into walls at knee height.

Guincho Guest House and tiny side yard

Our rental was located in a suburb of Cascais, once a playground of royalty and now a suburb of Lisbon as urban sprawl here, too, has reeled in this former coastal respite. This former fishing village now supports over 200,000 residents. We went into Cascais almost every day to shop for groceries at the Jumbo hypermarket, then would quickly leave town to escape traffic and crowds. Perhaps this retreat was shortsighted on our part, since we missed out on seeing the charming harbor and the more historic area of town. Even though it was so, so close to where we were staying, I never got to see what made Cascais tick, and I'm okay with that.

Fig Alley

The Guincho Guest House was the newest rental we've ever booked, all fresh surfaces and clean appliances and IKEA everything. In fact, the subdivision in which it was located was still under development, or possibly abandoned as would be truer to the current economic reality in Portugal. The walled, tiny yard was planted over with some sort of ground cover that appeared as if it would never need mowing. The swimming pool, which had been a selling point, was not much bigger than a bathtub.

Bathtub pool

Daily I had to point out to the cousins that the pool wasn't deep even for dives, let alone cannonballs, which had the tendency to displace epic amounts of water. Still, the yard was pleasant and cool with several places with recliners and daybeds in which to seek shelter from the relentless Portuguese sun and listen to the adjacent barnyard sounds: Braying donkey, crowing rooster. Or so we imagined because we couldn't see over the wall.

Plein air bed

Olive tree

There were 16 of us on this trip. Besides our little family of four, there were John's brothers--Ben, wife Caroline, daughters Dodie and Scarlett; and Will, wife Helena, sons Bjorn and Bruce and daughter Sophia--mother Dorothy, and family friend Dion.

Cousins: Simon, Bjorn, Sophia (holding tooth she'd just lost)

Hearts lessons

darling Brucie, 2-1/2 years old

Then, toward the end of the trip, family friend James joined us. That made for a full house. In fact, we were a little short on bedrooms. We could have used 5 or 6 but had 4, including one that was full of cots and bunk beds and was mostly inhabited by the boy children, but also by James. Bless him. Trooper.

the Brothers Shepard (John, Ben, Will) and extra brother James

family dinner table

A typical day started with breakfast and coffee and lots of conversation, reading, and planning for the day. Then we might manage to get out the door for an activity or we might have more conversation, reading, and planning for dinner, at best.

best way to vacation: books and beer

Whenever we went out, our excursion culminated with a trip to the grocery store. The grocery store could, in and of itself, be a cultural event. I will write more on this subject later. Suffice to say, a group this large required a lot of food for proper meals and all the little meals in between. Meals have, over time, become an important place for us to come together for sustenance and connection.

The topography in this corner of Portugal was rugged. Guincho Beach, one of the best beaches in Portugal, was a 15 minute walk from our rental.

boardwalk to Guincho Beach--beware vipers

Most of the Portugal we saw was golden and hot looking, agricultural but not necessarily lush. Still it had a fair amount of healthy vegetation and some unusual trees.

Here are a few more random general observations about Portugal:

coloring books are popular here too

VW Up! Unavailable stateside

technicolor sunsets

We saw a nice cross-section of Portugal, but at the end of the day, I still don't know what makes the country tick. It seems to be a corner of Europe that remains overlooked. To whit, most of the tourists we encountered were speaking Portuguese, which we initially thought was Russian. Our cultural exchanges were almost exclusively conducted with restaurant servers who were scrambling to meet other diners' needs. I would like to return since there is still so much left to learn and see, but, for now we've had a good introduction.