PORTUGAL 2006

We spent the last two weeks of May 2006 traveling through Portugal, bookended by brief layovers in Paris.

In 2002 we spent two weeks in Spain and fell in love. This trip almost became another two-week jaunt through Spain but we decided to try the other part of the Iberian Peninsula instead and weren't disappointed.

We started in Lisbon and then took a train north to Porto, the country's second largest city. From there we picked up a car and drove north along the coast before making our way to Barcelos.

From Barcelos we headed east and south until we hit the Douro River. From the Douro River region we headed further south and west to Coimbra, and then on to the coast. We veered back across the country to explore Evora and the Alentejo region before returning to Lisbon and Sintra to end our trip.

Click on the location names below to see pictures and read more about the trip:

Lisbon
The nation's largest and most cosmopolitan city

Porto
The blue collar northern town known for port wine

Barcelos & Braga
A charming town with a huge Thursday market, and the country's most religious city

Gerês & the Douro River Valley
Beautiful green mountains bordering Spain and the region that supplies the world's grapes for port wine

Comibra
Portugal's oldest and most prestigious university

Nazaré and Óbidos
A gorgeous beach town and a medieval castle

Évora
A medieval city, megalith rock structures, and a chapel made of human bones

Alentejo
An assortment of medieval outposts protecting the country's arid eastern border with Spain

Sintra
Refuge of the medieval rich and a spectacular Moorish castle