Portugal

We spent our final evening in Frankfurt at the annual Spring Dippemess – a fair that dates back to the 14th century, celebrating its 679th Anniversary this year!. Each ride or attraction had its own entry fee (between 4 and 8 Euro) so the kids had to make decisions about what rides they most wanted to do – and thankfully Logan was a willing buddy for the crazy ones that Lucas wanted to do!

Next stop…Portugal! Due to the 2 weeks we added to our time in Scandinavia, we were left with 4.5 weeks in Southwestern Europe. It still sounds like a lot of time, but it changed our (loose) plans for Portugal quite considerably as most of the 2 weeks would have been there and we didn’t want to be constantly on the move. We had planned to do a number of multi-day hikes but instead chose to base ourselves firstly in Lisbon and then in Lagos.

Lisbon is beautiful! For a bit of fun we decided to do an online “Discovery Walk” of the historic neighbourhoods – a self-guided walk that requires you to answer 15 riddles to unlock a story about each area you arrive at. It absolutely tipped down just after we had started, our first real rain for ages, so we hunkered down in a cafe until the worst of it passed and then headed out.

Due to the rain, the streets were mostly empty but we absolutely loved winding our way through the narrow, cobbled lanes and gorgeous tiled buildings, noticing so many quirky touches as we solved the next riddle and read the story about the area. We walked up and down steep stairs and alleyways, through a tunnel, around a castle, and even went down a glass elevator (the Santa Justa Elevator that connects the suburbs high on the hill with those on the streets below).

There were many beautiful ‘miradouro’ (viewpoints) and we stopped often for cute stores, pretty flowers and tiles, and interesting street art. We certainly didn’t win any accolades for how fast we completed the walk (we ranked 54th out 103 teams that have ever played), and it was dark by the time we finished, but it was a wonderful way to explore the neighbourhoods.

We spent a day in Sintra – once a summer retreat for Portuguese royalty and nobility and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Due to its UNESCO label, no further development is allowed so the many palaces and historic sites are still surrounded by lush forest and beautiful views.

We spent most of our time at the gardens of Quinta da Regaleira – a property that has had many owners. One of these owners employed an Italian architect who helped him to create a “bewildering place where he could collect symbols that reflected his interests and ideologies” (particularly alchemy and masonry). The result is a garden filled with caves, wells, lookouts, secret pathways and gardens – an easy place to get lost! We had such a delightful time taking pathways that lead to unexpected discoveries!

So many turrets and hidey-holes!

There were waterfalls, carvings, spirals…everywhere you looked!

In the late afternoon, we visited the gardens of Pena Palace. Despite Quinta da Regaleira and Pena Palace being really close to each other (as the crow flies), the palace is high on a hill, so instead of walking up through the forest, we treated ourselves to an Uber to get there. There is no direct road so the drive was a good 30 minutes – during which our Uber driver chatted non-stop, using Google Translate when necessary. We appreciated his company and the stories he told us about the area. Once at the palace, we climbed up to a viewpoint at the top of the gardens for a wonderful view of the palace and enjoyed being away from the crowds.

The sun was setting when we left the top to head back for the train. As we made our way down through the forest, past other historic features and some lovely climbing rocks, we all felt very content.

Our last full day in Lisbon took us all over the city as we visited (or revisited) sights we wanted to see. Travelling is so fascinating in that what interests one person holds no interest for another. When we saw queues of more than 2 hours long for some of the city’s highlights, we were glad that we all have pretty similar tastes for where and how we want to spend our time (definitely NOT in a 2 hour queue!).

A few of Castelo de Sao Jorge’s 50 resident peacocks!

We decided to spend the remainder of our time in Portugal in the south, basing ourselves near Lagos. This was one of the areas we were going to do some hiking but instead settled on some day walks and lots of beach time.

Ponta da Piedade was a really pretty beach with interesting rock formations. We got there late in the afternoon and the light from the setting sun made the rocks glow.

Praia da Figueira was so beautiful! It was a wee bit of a walk from the carpark so there was plenty of space for the few people who were there. The rocks were fun to climb and the kids had fun making sandpiles to leap into.

The kids decided the water was too cold to go swimming but the water was just too inviting so they were soon in their togs and chasing waves!

Another day we hiked for a few kilometres along the cliff top amongst the sand dunes and flowers. It smelt so delicious, like sweet Indian spices, and the views were absolutely spectacular – we even saw a nesting stork!

We then made our way carefully down the cliff to get to Praia do Medo da Fonte Santa. It was worth the adventure as the beach was deserted, perfect for a little skinny-dipping! The waves were so strong as they crashed towards the shore and then almost as strong as they sucked you back out to sea. The kids made a giant “sand spa” and I was lucky enough to receive a sandy foot spa!

The wind was howling one day so we took the opportunity to visit a few of the local villages and points of interest. As mainland Europe’s most south-western point, Farol do Cabo de São Vicente (Cape St. Vincent) was considered “the edge of the Earth” by the Romans. For us, it reminded us of a windy day in Wellington!

Praia da Arrifana (written by Logan)

Lucas had wanted to do a surf lesson sine Costa Rica and the rolling waves of the Portuguese coast offered a great opportunity. A restaurant owner in Lisbon took the time to show us some webcam images of what he described as “the best beach in the universe”. With this advice in mind, we set off one day shortly after sunrise for a 40 minute drive to Praia da Arrifana. I drove and Keryn and Google found a 20 km shortcut through a gravel backroad that had the kids in hysterical laughter as we bounced from pothole to car-eating pothole!

Arriving at the beach, we found the non-descript house our surf school operated from and were sized for wetsuits and boards. A 10 minute walk down to the beach and we were on the sand by 9:20am, just as low tide opened every inch of the bay as our playground. Our instructor dug flags into the sand, marking out territory, before starting our lesson with an introduction to himself (his name was Manuel but everyone called him Manu), the history of surf (the traditional way Polynesians navigated using ocean currents and the rolling waves), and surfing (the sport that has grown and spread across the world like a virus). Next we spent some time stretching, meditating, contemplating the waves and sharing our gratitude with the beach and the planet.

Manu then talked us through a few of the basics before we hit the water. Lucas was standing on his second wave and it wasn’t too long before I caught one as well.

For the next three hours it was walk out, wait, catch one in, walk back to Manu for advice and fine tuning, then out to catch the next wave. A couple of times Manu suggested we slow down as we were catching twice the waves of most students and wouldn’t be able to keep it up. I admit being knackered at the end, but neither of us slowed down!

During the course of the morning, the beach changed from a deserted swath of open sand to rows of flags competing for space as more surf schools joined the hardy kiwis who were first in the water. Just after 12:30, I caught a primo wave all the way in and was happy to call it a day. Lucas stayed for another 10-15 sets before joining me on the beach. I’m no pro-surfer but it was a great experience to share with Lucas. We both had a blast and learnt a new skill together.

Lucas swapped his surfboard to a more familiar bodyboard and spent the afternoon in the waves too.

Meanwhile, Zara had made some new friends, Olivia and Isabella, two delightful sisters on holiday from England. The girls had such a lovely time playing in the rock pools, painting rocks and chasing waves that we made plans to meet them at another beach the next day.

Our final full day in Portugal was spent at Praia do Amado and was such a lovely end to our time there. Logan spent the day taking photos of surfers in the water and wildlife all around, Lucas spent the day bodyboarding, Zara spent the day playing with Olivia and Isabella, and I spent the day chatting with our new friends and reading my book.

It had been a blissful, chilled, slow-paced week at the beach and, in hindsight, just what we had all needed!