I have been blessed to travel a lot this year, with stops through Europe and South Africa and even a week’s vacation in Kruger National Park. The most planning and excitement, though, went into my second vacation, my 40th birthday celebration trip to Portugal!
Part 1: 10/21-24 - The Fisherman’s Route
I’ve always wanted to do a distance hike, but I’ve never been motivated to carry everything on my back into the wilderness, much less drag my friends out there. So, I decided to celebrate this milestone birthday with a section of Portugal’s town-to-town Rota Vicentina, known as The Fisherman’s Route.
The official route goes north to south, but I found a Home Exchange in the northernmost town so decided to reverse the direction and end in Porto Covo. This meant on our first day, Nathan and I met three of our best friends from Seattle at a London layover, flew together to Lisbon, and traveled 2.5 hours south in a van to the start of our hike. We spent our first night in a very rural hotel with dinner and breakfast featuring herbs and veggies from their own garden. We also enjoyed meeting the herd of farm animals.
The very full breakfast buffet got us all the way through our first day of hiking. Though it was foggy, the temperature was perfect. We could still see the dramatic rock formations, and we got to learn all about them from our geologist friend. The other days cleared up more, for distance views of the incredible coastline.
The next night was spent in a very basic hotel in a tiny town with just one restaurant. We didn't think much of the food, but it was plentiful, and so was breakfast again. This prepped us for our shortest and warmest hiking day. Luckiy, the trail dipped down to the beach several times and my friend and I missed no chance to jump in the water.
The hike ended with a short ferry crossing over the Mira river and into the largest town among our stops, Vila Nova de Milfuentes. There were sunburns and blisters, and we didn’t have much energy to explore this one, but our hotel had a lovely patio and even lovlier hostess. No English, but we understood “todas includas” as she showed us all the fruit, beer, wine, liqueurs, and homemade chocolate cake. When she learned it was my birthday, she insisted on packaging the rest of the cake up to go, and giving me the recipe too.
Our final day hiking was definitely the most difficult. The majority was over deep sand dunes or beach, so going was slow. Luckily that host had also sent us off with sandwiches and beverages for our beach stops. One of our group opted to ride in the cab with our luggage to the final destination, Porto Covo. The rest of us were sure happy to see the cute whitewashed town come into view, so we could meet up with her, as well as the last two of my party who arrived by bus from Lisbon!
Part 2: 10/24-31 - Porto Covo birthday festivities
The home exchange was a three-storey, four-bedroom house just a five minute walk to the beach. Really, from a dozen different beaches, from the tiny protected coves where we could swim in calmer waters, to the vast Praia Grande with its beach bar and surfable waves. We had fun exploring each one, often finding one to ourselves for the afternoon.
After all the hiking it was nice to relax, but I still wanted to finish my trail. The Fisherman’s Route begins not in Porto Covo, but slightly north at the Praia de Sao Torpes. The five of us who started the hike wanted to finish it, and we did that last, shortest, and honestly least beautiful leg, ending at a beach bar and catching a cab home.
Another day, the whole group took a cab to a local winery. The tasting experience was very hands on, with the fourth-generation winemaker and her son, who will eventually take over, giving us the full backstory of their transition from traditional to fully natural and sustainable winemaking. They fed us well too, with tapas and, upon learning why we were there, my second birthday cake.
Two of our group had to fly out on my birthday, but the celebration continued. The rest of us went back to the riverside town we had previously been too tired to explore. We rented standup paddleboards and explored the river, followed by lunch and yet another birthday cake. I got one more on our last night, too. The ‘offical’ brithday cake I requested was a big stack of Portugal’s most famous dessert, Pastel de Nata, egg custard tarts.
The food wasn’t all sweet. This is called the Fisherman’s Route for a reason, and we got to indulge in lots of perfectly grilled white fish, rich seafood stews, and light shellfish or octopus salads. Even when we cooked at home, it was freshly caught from the fish market in town.
Part 3: 10/31-11/4 - Lisbon
Two more of the group had to fly home on 11/1. I had the house for two more days, but the weather was turning and we were beached out, so decided to go spend Halloween in the big city.
It had been six years since Nathan and I visited Lisbon itself. I remembered it as a very pretty city, covered in blue tile and scenic viewpoints. It was fun sharing it wigh our travel buddies, and the last three of us covered many miles on foot.
We still had to get another glimpse at that glorious coastling though, spending a day in the nearby beachtown of Cascais.
Built on hills, traversed by cable cars, destoryed by an earthquake, and with a bridge just like San Francisco’s and a short trek to the dramatic coast - Lisbon is easy to envision it as home.
It isn’t home, though. What is? After six months in this time zone, I can’t say the US feels that way, but we are on our way back there. Next stop, Miami!