Early in the morning, we took the AP train at 7:45 to Coimbra which took around one hour. Coimbra….why I picked Coimbra? All because of the famous University of Coimbra library, one of the oldest and most beautiful library in the world. The long distance high-speed train actually terminated at Coimbra-B station which located a… Read More Porto Day Trip to Coimbra and Aveiro
After three wonderful days in Sintra, we headed to Porto which became our favorite Portuguese city! I booked train ticket from Lisboa Oriente to Porto Campanha in exactly 60 days in advanced which saved me 40% at Portugal’s rail website: https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/ With the 40% discount, it was not a significant difference between first class and 2nd class train so… Read More Arriving to the Charming Porto
The palaces and castles in Sintra were a shocking surprise architecturally but lacked one thing – the grand, huge palaces with hundreds of rooms. How could we visited all those palaces and castles in Sintra and not make a trip to THE national palace – Palace of Queluz? Palace of Queluz is just a short train ride… Read More Sintra to Queluz and Cascais Day Trip
Living in the real life fairy tale town of Sintra started with a royal healthy breakfast in the grand ballroom of Seteais Palace Hotel. Not to mention that there were only 4 guests having breakfast in such a big room, a couple in the table next to us and us. Not surprised since we were the first ones… Read More Sintra – The Fairy Tale Town Part 2
Sintra, how did I missed this real life fairy tale town all these years? The first fairy tale castle I visited was Neuschwanstein Castle which known to be the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle. When I was searching for fairy tale castle, a colorful castle that stand high on the mountain above the clouds looked surreal, is this a… Read More Sintra – The Fairy Tale Town
We had a free day in Lisbon to make a day trip and usually it would an easy choice: Sintra. But we were going to stay 3 nights in Sintra after Lisbon, our choices were: Tomar (the beautiful Convento de Cristo), Obidos (a picturesque walled town but read that it too touristy), and Cascais (a… Read More Obidos – a Queen’s Town
Morning started with a first bite of Pastel de nata (Portuguese egg tart) in the luxurious ballroom with hanging chandeliers. Breakfast was included with our rate which was the norm for many Portuguese hotels so it was great because I always think breakfast is the biggest headache meal of the day – limited places that are… Read More Lisbon – Sights and Foods
I survived 8 months without a real vacation, I can’t believe it, yes I did survived! Our annual summer trip to Europe’s first stop was Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. My first impression of Portugal: not crowded with tourists because our SATA now Azore Airlines Airbus 330 plane was probably 30% full! It wasn’t the peak… Read More Lisbon – Cheap and Fresh Seafood
We just got back from our Europe 2016 trip – Portugal and Malta exactly one week ago! It will take me time to go through the photos, edit them, and then write the trip reports so bare with me 🙂 But I know many of you have been desperately waiting (just kidding) for the latest… Read More Intro to Portugal
One of my blog readers, Gina, asked: What clothes and shoes do you travel with? Are there any particular brands or fabrics that you recommend? How do you organize your things in your luggage? Do you have any tips for maximizing space?. That was my issues during my travel vacation. It was good timing since… Read More All About Packing
