~ Beautiful places of Barcelona and Catalonia

sábado, 20 de agosto de 2011

PORTUGAL: TOMAR, BATALHA, OBIDOS, ALCOBAÇA AND EVORA

The first two days we spent in Portugal we drove through Tomar, Batalha, Alcobaça, Óbidos, Cabo Carvoeiro and Évora. These villages and monuments are close to each other and located about 100 kilometers from Lisboa, so we could visit them without many hours of driving.

Just landed in Lisboa, we picked up our rental car (www.ealquilerdecoches.com) and started our journey to Tomar. We spent the first night in Caldas da Rainha, in Hotel Caldas Internacional.

Day 1

- Tomar

Templar Castle and Convent of Christ
Old Town

- Batalha Monastery

- Alcobaça Abbey

Day 2

-Cabo Carvoeiro

-Évora

Roman Temple
Cathedral
Old Town
Praça do Giraldo
Aqueduct

Day 1

Tomar

Templar Castle and Convent of Christ

Convent of Christ in Tomar

Inside the Templar Castle of Tomar in Portugal

Romanesque round church inside the Convent of Christ in Tomar

Manueline entrance to Convent of Christ in Tomar

Tomar Old Town

Church of San Joao Batista in the old town of Tomar

Old town of Tomar. From this street we saw the Templar Castle

Batalha Monastery

Batalha Monastery in Portugal is World Heritage by UNESCO

Doorway of Batalha Monastery in Portugal

Inside the church of Batalha Monastery in Portugal

Beautiful stained glass windows of the church of Batalha Monastery

Cloister of Batalha Monastery in Portugal

Highly decorated cloister of Batalha Monastery

Templar crosses in Batalha Monastery

Alcobaça Abbey

Alcobaça Abbey in Portugal

Church of Alcobaça Abbey in Portugal

Óbidos

Óbidos from the city walls

Typical white houses painted also with orange lines

I really liked the view of Óbidos from this place

Lovely corner in Óbidos

City walls of Óbidos

From Óbidos we drove to Caldas da Rainha where we spent our first night in Portugal.

Day 2

Cabo Carvoeiro

Lighthouse of Cabo Carvoeiro in Portugal

Évora

Roman Temple in Évora

Lovely park in front of the Roman Temple in Évora

The day in Évora was lovely, and hot too

Inside the cathedral of Évora

Typical street of the old town of Evora, with its white and orange houses

Praça do Giraldo in Évora

A closer view of Praça do Giraldo in Évora

Aqueduct in Évora

More beautiful places we visited in Portugal during this trip were:

A year after visiting Portugal, we came back to Portugal. We were 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.

Finally, other great cities and countries we have already visited are:

Barcelona

Berlin

New York and Washington

London

Dublin in Irleland

Istanbul in Turkey

Rome and The Vatican

Florence in Tuscany

Dubrovnik in Croatia

The Greek Islands and Athens

Bruges, Ghent and Brussels in Belgium

Helsinki and Lapland in Finland

Tallinn in Estonia

Tortuguero, Caribe, Arenal, Monteverde and San José in Costa Rica

Marrakech in Morocco

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

Sevilla
Cádiz and Costa de la Luz

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

I really liked the Convent of Christ in Tomar

The impressive main facade of the Mosteiro de Batalha

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, 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, 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, probably the beach of the Algarve I like the most

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

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. 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

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

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

Day 5

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

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

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:

The Greek Islands and Athens
Bruges, Ghent and Brussels in Belgium

Helsinki and Lapland in Finland

Tallinn in Estonia

Tortuguero, Caribe, Arenal, Monteverde and San José in Costa Rica

Marrakech in Morocco