Portugal: Round II

When a good girlfriend from San Francisco said: Hey Mere! You wanna come meet me in Lisbon for a couple days?! I couldn't help but jump on the opportunity to get some high quality girl-time, the chance to hit up a new beach, and visit Lisbon again. And since I was flying in/out of Porto (3 hours north of Lisbon), I'd see another part of country I've heard a ton of great things about. 

Collage of azueljos, decorative tiles that blanket Portuguese houses and buildings

A change of pace in Portugal...

Elliot finished his first stressful term of business school on Friday, March 25, and I returned from Copenhagen on the same day. On Saturday, we left Rotterdam for a short holiday to Portugal. After such a hard winter (with snow!) I was really looking forward to some high quality beach time...not to mention some fresh fish, sun, and a new culture!

We got ridiculously cheap flights in and out of Faro, a small city in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. We stayed at a very basic, but clean and adequate (and included breakfast!) hotel called Algarve Sol. We arrived pretty late in the evening, but managed to get a good feel of the small historic city center and some tasty food at Dos Irmãos, a great restaurant with a lovely patio out back. We also managed to book a train for the following morning to Lisboa, as well as another night at the hotel for our return journey.

Dos Irmaos cod and potatoes

After a quick breakfast we made our 9am train and in about 3 hours were in Lisbon. Smooth ride and only 20€! Great views of the sunny countryside and .50€ espresso in the dining car! Loving this country already.

Comboios de Portugal (the train)