lunes, 15 de agosto de 2011

PORTUGAL: AROUND LISBOA, ALGARVE AND ALENTEJO

After visiting Portugal (Algarve and Alentejo) and Lisboa this summer, I would like to show some pictures of the fantastic days we spent in this country. I really liked Portugal and Lisboa.

We arrived by plane to Lisboa and we hired a car at the airport. After five days visiting beautiful places in Estremadura, Algarve and Alentejo, we came back to Lisboa to spend the last four days of our trip in Portugal.

Next, I show you what I visited each day:



Day 1
  • Tomar - Convento de Cristo
  • Mosteiros de Batalha and Alcobaça
  • Óbidos
Day 2 - Alentejo
  • Peniche - Cabo Carvoeiro
  • Évora
Day 3 - Algarve
  • Lagos - Ponta da Piedade, Praia do Camilo, Praia Dona Ana
  • Sagres - Cabo Sao Vicente
Day 4 - Algarve
  • Portimao - Praia da Rocha, Praia Tres Castelos
  • Albufeira, Faro and Silves
Day 5 - Alentejo
  • Mértola and Beja
Day 6 - Lisboa
  • Baixa, Chiado, Castelo Sao Jorge, Miradouros Alfama
Day 7 - Lisboa
  • Belém
  • Miradouros Barrio Alto
Day 8 - Lisboa - Sintra
  • Palacio and Parque da Pena, Palacio Nacional de Sintra
Day 9 - Lisboa
  • Cacilhas, Cristo Rei, Chiado

and, now, the pictures (clicking on the next link, the ones of Lisboa):


Day 1


Convent of Christ in Tomar
I really liked the Convent of Christ in Tomar


Mosteiro de Batalha in Portugal
The impressive main facade of the Mosteiro de Batalha


Mosteiro de Alcobaça in Portugal
Main façade of the Mosteiro de Alcobaça 


The beautiful medieval village of Óbidos in Portugal 
The really beautiful medieval village of Óbidos from the walls. Behind the white houses you can see the castle


Day 2

Cliffs in Cabo Carvoeiro in Portugal
Cliffs in Cabo Carvoeiro, next to Peniche, are quite interesting. From here you can also see the Berlenga islands


With this black Renault Mégane we drove 1500 km on the road in Portugal

 
Roman Temple in Évora
Roman Temple in Évora, a town which preseves its medieval walls and the aqueduct. I really liked its cobbled and narrow streets and its white houses


Day 3

Algarve beaches from Ponta da Piedade in Lagos
 From Ponta da Piedade in Lagos the views of the turquoise and clear water of the Algarve beaches were fantastic


Praia do Camilo in Algarve
Praia do Camilo, probably the beach of the Algarve I like the most
 

Dona Ana beach in the Algarve
Another beautiful beach in the Algarve is Dona Ana, also located in Lagos near Praia do Camilo


Sagres fortress in Algarve
In the evening we went to Sagres. Behind this wild beach, the Sagres fortress appear. It was truly windy


Cabo San Vicente from Sagres in Portugal
From Sagres we could see cliffs like this one and the one of Cabo San Vicente in the background, where we went afterwards to enjoy a nice sunset. However, we couldn't see it because, there, it was cloudy


  Day 4


Oleandro Country Club apartments in Algarve
Here we had our apartment, in Oleandro Country Club (Albufeira)



Oleandro Country Club apartments in Portugal
Another view of the apartments in Oleandro Country Club


Praia dos Tres Castelos in Portimao
Praia dos Tres Castelos in Portimao. This beach isn't as beautiful as the ones of Lagos

  
Street of the old quarter of Albufeira in Algarve
A typical street of the old quarter of Albufeira


Walls of Faro in Portugal
This small park next to the walls of Faro was the only place I liked of this town, together with the Cathedral Square. It was a pity that we couldn't enjoy the views from the bell-tower of the cathedral (we arrived a bit late), because I have read they were beautiful


Medieval village of Silves in Portugal
In the evening we drove to Silves, where there was a medieval fair. The village is really nice but it was really crowded because of the fair


Gothic cathedral of Silves in Portugal
Gothic cathedral of Silves




 Day 5



Medieval village of Mértola in Alentejo
Our first stop after leaving the Algarve was Mértola, a beautiful medieval village of white houses located on top of a hill and next to the Guadiana river. In this picture, the church, which was a mosque during the arab past of this village. It was monday and all was closed. It was a pity that we couldn't visit the church


Castle and white houses of Mértola in Alentejo
Overview of Mértola from a near viewpoint, where you can see the castle and the city walls


Potage a la Alentejana
In Mértola I enjoyed the portuguese cuisine with this "Potage a la Alentejana" in the restaurant Alengarve (Avenida Aureliano Mira Fernandes, 20)


Castle of Beja in Portugal
After visiting Mértola we arrived at Beja, where we spent the afternoon visiting its really well preserved castle
  

During the nine days I spent this summer in Portugal I have seen more beautiful places than I expected: beautiful medieval villages, impressive monasteries and castles, fantastic beaches and great cities visiting:





A year after visiting Portugal, we have been in Valença do Minho, this time in the far north of the country. Valença do Minho was our starting point of The Portuguese Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago Portugués) we did in August 2012.


Other great cities and countries I have visited are:

Besides, you can visit more beautiful places in Spain located near Portugal:


2 comentarios:

Villa Specialists dijo...

Your itinerary is perfectly planned. No wonder you got a whole dose of fun on your Algarve vacation.

Frank dijo...

First of all thanks for your comment. Yes, you are right. I really enjoyed the days I spent in Algarve. The beaches are truly beautiful.