Our final stop in this wonderful journey is Portugal where we have spent over 2 1/2 weeks. Lisbon and Porto, we have seen, so now we are going to explore the middle of the country before ending in our happy place, Lagos. Since we are covering so much mileage, we rented a car and both of us drove and there was no fighting or yelling!
Our journey is starting in the northern city of Braga, which is not a large tourist destination as it is only 40 minutes north east of Porto. If we had thought we saw a lot of churches in Vilnius, we had no idea about the number of churches in Braga.
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Old Town Braga
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Unlike Porto and Lisbon, which were very hilly Braga was very comfortable to walk in. The temperature was comfortable as in most cities in Portugal the summers days are very hot but the evenings are quite comfortable. We joined a free walking tour of Braga and just to give you a sense of the number of tourists in the city there was only one couple from Germany who joined us in the tour when normally these tours have over 40 people.
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Jardin de Santa Barbara
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Avenida da Liberdade
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We stayed in a lovely Airbnb right off the main pedestrian street and had a gorgeous view of the city from our terrace. Although we had a kitchen and made it a point to eat breakfast and lunch in the apartment, dinner meant one thing - Piri Piri Chicken. I was determined to try as many as I could across the country in this trip. These restaurants are often called Churrasquerias and are neighborhood places that are most popular for take out among locals. The best ones are those in local neighborhoods. Restaurante Churrasqueria da Angolana was top notch and even M who doesn’t love chicken had a great meal.
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| Churrasqueria da Angolana |
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Pizza in Braga, good but no FTD
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One of the most well known sites of is the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte just outside the city. Tour buses usually bring tourists up the mountain straight to the statue, but if you are adventurous like us, you will climb the many steps to the top.
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Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte
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While in Braga we ventured to some towns near by, including Barcelos, which has one of the largest farmer's market in Portugal and Guimarães, an older historic town, about 30 minutes from Braga.
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Castle at Guimarães
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Barcelos Market
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After our time in Braga, we headed south for a short stop in Coimbra, which is a big university town. We didn’t have time here to eat Piri Piri chicken, but did enjoy a quick stop for gelato before getting back on the road to head to Évora for the night before arriving to our final destination of Lagos.
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Pedestrian Street in Coimbra
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While Évora is an ancient city with old Roman architecture, it is especially know for the Chapel of Bones, skulls and bones in all shapes and forms adorn the wall. At the entrance of this chapel, a poem welcomes the visitors and awaits the arrival of YOUR bones.
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Outside the Chapel of Bones (looks so innocent)
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Shock in the Chapel of Bones
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A skeleton in the Chapel of Bones surrounded by BONES!
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Lagos was a 4 hour drive from Évora and it turns out that on our route, 35 minutes before arriving in Lagos was where Piri Piri chicken was first made. There are two competing restaurants which both claim to have the best chicken in the country and the one we went to was Ramires. The menu is simple and that there is no menu and all of these restaurants serve the same: Piri Piri chicken spicy or regular, a plate of fries and salad all for a price of 13-15 Euros. The chicken at Ramires was good but not the best in this trip, however their tomato salad was reason enough to go back and visit.
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Churrasqueria Ramires
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We had finally arrived in Lagos and our routine was going to be pretty simple. Wake up in the morning, have coffee on our terrace, take a nice power walk through the hills of the town, go to the beach for a few hours, come back to our apartment for lunch, go to the pool for a few more hours, chill in the apartment and then make dinner at the apartment or find a restaurant in the area to indulge in (preferably those that serve Piri Piri chicken). This we did mostly on repeat for two weeks and it was glorious!
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Sun bathing - Meia Praia
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Catching the waves in the Atlantic
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Ladies at the Pool
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Burying Baba, a spectacle that local kiddos came to see
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Baba, unfortunately had to go out of town during our trip so he didn’t get a chance to enjoy as much beach time as the three of us. I tested. I put my international driving skills to the test and drove us around for the five days he was gone. We mostly cooked dinners in our apartment but on the night before he returned we drove 30 minutes to the nearby town of Portimão for dinner. We were craving Indian food and had been disappointed by a restaurant that we had eaten at close to our apartment in Lagos and were hoping that bigger city of Portimão might deliver. When we arrived to Swagat Tandoori Indian Restaurant, it looked like a hole in the wall with bars on the windows and only six tables with no one else dining inside. We had experienced similar situations in other restaurants and we actually had a feeling it was a good sign that this was going to be delicious. Similar to pizza I have had Indian food in almost almost every country that I’ve been able to order it and outside of Aladdin on Brick Lane, this was the BEST Indian food we ever had. It was so good in fact that when O celebrated her birthday three days later and Baba was back from his trip. we made the drive again to Portimão to the restaurant.
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BEST Indian Food - Swagat Tandoori
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In fact, Portimão actually served up the best Piri Piri chicken we had in Portugal at Churrasqueira Guerreiro.
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Ready to eat some Piri Piri
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Chrurrasqueria Guerriro
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As always, when we leave Portugal, it’s so hard to come home (especially for me). The people, the weather, the culture, the landscape and of course the food (and much more) make it such wonderful vacation. Until next time…
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