portugal

This 22-day-long, cross-country journey started along the southern coast of Portugal, going north through the country, then into northern Spain, southwestern France, the Loire Valley, finally ending in Paris.

The southern coast of Portugal is tiny but rich in history. It has a cliffside fortress sitting at the very southwestern tip of Iberian Peninsula that held military control of both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean;

 

a harbor city that was once the hub of Portugal's maritime exploration (and the first slave market) to Western Africa during the Age of Discovery.

 

Yet all is as quiet and peaceful now – except for the tourist crowd – as some old time fishing village along the coast where many international retirees come to reside.

Upon reaching Lisbon, the capital and the largest city of the country, we did a half-day walking tour of the city with a local guide, 

but stayed the night at a coastal resort town 30 minutes west of the city.

From there we ventured to the westernmost point of the European continent on the Atlantic coast,

and a mountainous national park dotted with grand mansions, old palaces, and a Moorish Castle snaking along winding hilltops like a mini Great Wall of China.

Porto is the second largest city of Portugal in northern Portugal, where we had the most fun in the country. We walked the city and learned the interesting stories and architecture of a one-meter wide house wedged between two old churches;

visited a "World's Most Beautiful Bookstore" that claims to have given inspiration to J. K. Rawling of vision of the fictional boarding school for young wizards and witches in her Harry Potter stories;

cruised the Douro River under six bridges, one of them built by Gustave Eiffel ten years before he did the famous tower in Paris;

wine-tasted at a wine cellar and learned how right aging process makes good Port wine that can only come from this specific region;

 

dined at seaside restaurants watching the sunset on the river and the ocean.

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