When deciding to travel the world, you’ll find most travelling guides to be family or couple oriented. Unfortunately, this leaves a single traveller at a disadvantage. In order to rectify this recurrent mistake, here is a short and simple overview of a place you should visit as a solo female traveller. Lisbon, the largest and one of the most beautiful cities in Portugal, is one of the best places to visit on your own. Here are a few reasons … [Read more...]
Portugal from the South to the North
Good things come in small packages, and that’s certainly true of Portugal. With a range of affordable deals available, you can enjoy any number of facets if you book a trip to this hidden gem of Europe. Choose to explore its variety of different landscapes, venture into its vast history, or sample some of the freshest of catches from its deep waters; whatever you pick, you’re in for a treat. Navigating Around the North When considering … [Read more...]
Portugal – 14 reasons to go
Why visit Portugal? Before I went to Portugal, the reasons were: 1. To listen to fado. I had fallen in love with Mariza, famous and beautiful singer of the plaintive Portuguese folk song called fado 2. To live cheaply. Portugal in 2009 was one of the cheapest places in Western Europe-important when you travel with Kiwi dollars 3.To see what is next door to Spain. I was walking the Camino to Santiago de … [Read more...]
All Saints Day in Porto
We are staying in a fabulous apartment beside the river, opposite dozens of port merchants and under one of the spectacular bridges across the Douro River. We could not be more central. Ceridwyn found the apartment (and others we have used on this trip) on Owners Direct - Fernando met us and guided us here - it is not on Google maps, this area of the city is too old, and it is not really on a street, but on the river. A bottle of Port and a … [Read more...]
Our Lady of Fatima and Caves – looking beneath the surface
Today we are off on a pilgrimage - Ceridwyn and I are keen to see Fatima. This international focus of pilgrimage is just down the road from Tomar where we are staying. Danielle is not so keen and The Lonely Planet is downright scathing about tacky religious souvenirs I am here as an observer of the phenomenon that is Fatima. A welcome sign invites us to enter as pilgrims and despite myself, I am soon drawn in to the sense of holy in the place. … [Read more...]
Tomar – the Knights Templar
What an extraordinary building the Knights Templar have left behind here in Tomar. Castelo Templ rio and Convento da ordem de Cristo de Tomar - or the Convent of Christ, Straight out of history - red crosses on the tunics, swords at their sides, the stamp of horses feet - you can feel what it might have been like here at the height of their power. … [Read more...]
Off to Portugal and Evora
From NZ, Spain and Portugal are distant mysterious and far off lands, and here we are simply driving from Spain to Portugal - just like that. We are here, the border does not even have a stop or guard, we barely notice that we have arrived in another fantastic country which is Portugal. What it must be like to live in the UK or Europe and have these places on your doorstep, just an hour or two's flight away. Evora has everything - megalithic … [Read more...]
