The Algarve - 15th to 18th of July 2010

A four hour bus south to the south coast of Portugal, a region known as the Algarve. Famous for its beaches, its mass tourism and the planeloads of Brits that invade every summer, its certainly worthy of its reputation. But once we´d accepted that this isn´t vintage Portugal, we still had plenty of fun hitting the beaches and bars. We stayed in the town of Albufeira, mainly because of its transport links and its awesome beach where we had a great afternoon after another exciting bus ride.

But our tourism hadn´t been put on hold, and so we hit the road again the following day for a day trip west, first stop Faro. We had a good tip that Faro wasn´t much, and we´d agree, essentially just the airport gateway to the region and a little harbour. We only stopped for an hour or so in Faro before heading further west to Tavira, much less touristy and home to a cute little river and fishing community. We spent the afternoon across the bay at a very long beach after a 20 minute ferry.Once we got back to Albufeira and dolled up, we hit the bars, safe in the knowledge that we could have the luxury of a little sleep in the following day.

Day 3 in the Algarve was spent in Lagos, an hour train west from Albufeira. Its another mass tourist town, but it does have some nice walls, a pretty harbour and a cute little fort guarding a little beach that is probably one of our favourites. We had a great afternoon sheltering from the sun under the cliffs before getting the last train back "home".

We've been extremely lucky with our accomodation on tour so far, an excellent location in Madrid, a fancy as apartment in Salmanca, a cool restaurant in our hostel in Santiago, but definitely the best view we've had was from our little room above the beach at Albufeira. An excellent spot for some cheese, crackers, and a few beverages after our days in the sun.

Evora - 14th to 15th of July 2010

Inland we went, for a few hours by bus to Evora. Another walled city, another afternoon wandering the streets before reading our books in the sun, another couple of drinks on a terrace overlooking the countryside. Isn't life tough?

Lisbon - 12th to 14th of July 2010

We've been setting the alarm clock and racing out the door early every morning to grab an early train or bus, and the bus south to Lisbon was the tour record (to date) of 7.45am. Too early really, but with a trip of 5 1/2 hours in front of us, it had to be done.

By the time we finally got to Lisbon, we really just wanted to sleep, but with time being ever crucial, we hit the streets. Luckily there were sights aplenty to keep our eyes busy, first up a trip up to the Castelo de Sao Jorge which overlooks Lisbon and really impressed us, via another super-cute tram. Back into town via the maze (or "warren" if you like...) of medieval streets in the oldest part of town, through the newer centre of town, and out on the train to the suburb of Belem west of the city for a kebab in the park. Another great day in Portugal (well, the afternoon anyway).

Day two in Lisbon wasn't spent in Lisbon. We day-tripped it out for 45 minutes west of the city, to a lovely little tourist town called Sintra. Situated on a hill it has a great view over the forested hills and out to the sea. It also has an awesome castle situated on a hilltop with some awesome walls, one of the best we've visited.

Another 45 minute journey south from Sintra to Estoril. Warren thought it was only famous for its race track which is popular with bikies, but it also has a nice little sandy beach. Luckily for us the sun came out in the afternoon in time for a few hours in the sun. The Altlantic Ocean is still freezing, so only one short dip for Warren.

Peso da Regua - 11th and 12th of July 2010

Portugal seems to be the land of the blue painted tile, an illustrious title. They are everywhere, as exterior cladding on buildings, as interior decoration, and as far as the eye can see. This is Porto train station, where, after saying goodbye to Warren's sister Angie, the two of us got a 2 hour train east, to Pesa da Regua.

The train took us along side the Douro River, in a region surprisingly called the Douro Valley. It's full-on port country with vines lining every inch of available space, so with nothing else to do we popped along to a local winery for a little tour, some port tasting, and a superb lunch of "Steak de Portugeusa". Clearly we needed a little snooze after such a tough day, which we did before getting up for the world cup final in a beatiful spot right on the river, a rather timid affair compared to the rowdiness of the semi final win in Leon, Spain. This is Portugal after all...

Porto - 10th to 11th of July 2010

Taking a much needed break from Spanish sangria and tapas (!), we made a break for Portugal for a week or so. 3 hours due south took us to Porto, a city that didn't immediately strike us, but by the time we had climbed the tower (apparently the tallest in Portugal), taken a rediculously cute tram out to its beach on the atlantic coast and spent some time on its waterfront next to the River Duoro we realised that it's actually very pretty in its own way. We had a great meal on the southbank of the river overlooking the tumbling mass of houses of the city on its northern shores.