To Lisbon

Cottage in Marvão, Portugal 

After a brief sojourn in Spain we drove our motorhome back into Portugal, visiting the tiny hilltop town of Marvão. This beautiful medieval town has lovely whitewashed flower-decked cottages with red tiled roofs, overlooked by a large castle. It is a picture-postcard town.

Dating back to pre-historic times, Marvão’s strategic hilltop position gives it great views across the plains of the Serra de São Mamede and to the nearby Spanish border. 

This meant of course, that every invader wanted to own it, which lead to the building of a fortress castle.

After climbing up through the town’s steep stony streets, we reached the impressive Marvão Castle, perched at the top of a huge quartzite rock.

Marvão Castle and museum

Built in the 8th century, the castle still has a large underground cistern and some cannons pointing to Spain. Nearby is a 13th century church, with an interesting museum of archaeological finds and local artefacts.

After enjoying beautiful Marvão, we drove on, heading west and deeper into Portugal.

A very short time later, we reached Portalegre, a commercial town at the foot of the Sierra de Sao Mamede. We thought its old town was not looked after very well, so we didn't linger there.

Our next stop was Estremoz, one of the 3 “marble towns” (the other 2 are nearby but we didn't visit). After finding parking, we walked into town.

The marble Porta de Santa Catarina, Estremoz, Portugal

We entered Estremoz through the Porta de Santa Catarina, one of four, 17th century marble entrances.

The Estremoz area is so rich in marble that it is used in everyday surroundings such as the facades of buildings, doorsteps, window frames, pavement mosaics, and fountains. The marble quarries date back to Roman times, and it seems that only Carrara in Italy, exports more marble than Estremoz.

There is a castle at the top of the town which is now a hotel, but it was so hot that we decided not to make the climb up.

Leaving Estremoz, we drove west to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, found our campsite, and settled in for the night.

Marg in a Lisbon barrio

The next day, we took a bus from the campsite into Lisbon city. We travelled through many small streets and barrios (quarters) that were dirty, smelly, and full of graffiti…yet so atmospheric.

Then we arrived into the centre of this big city, and found that there are some amazing buildings, wide street and large monuments.

This character-filled city is at least 2700 years old, making it older than Rome. It sits on the famous Targus River, and was the departure point for some of Portugal’s greatest explorers.

With all that history behind it, we were looking forward to exploring here.

Leigh in Lisbon's Praça do Comércio with the Triumphal Arch behind

We started at the Praça do Comércio, right on the riverfront. This Praça is Lisbon’s main square, and its grandiose design seems to reflect the 18th century ambitions of Portugal’s great sea voyagers as they sailed from here to places like Brazil, India and South-East Asia.

Passing through the Praça’s Triumphal Arch, took us into Baixa, the central neighbourhood of Lisbon. There we found attractive boulevards, lovely and large Praça (plazas) with statues, plenty of green spaces, and the main shops and restaurants. It was very vibrant and attractive.

Lisbon has several miradouros, which are purpose-built viewpoints. We climbed to the Miradouro de Santa Luzia and were rewarded with fantastic views of the river, and Alfama, Lisbon's old town.

Marg at the Arch of São Jorge, entry to Castle São Jorge, Lisbon

Then we walked upwards for ages, to reach the Arch of São Jorge. Through this ancient arch, we eventually, reached the São Jorge Castle, situated on Lisbon’s highest hill of the same name.

The castle began as a fortress built in the 5th century. You could see its diverse history in the old stones and layout.

Heading down the hill, we found the intriguing Alfama area, nestled in the shadow of the Castle.

Alfama began as a fishing village in the Visigoth period, and it's now a maze of narrow and steep alleyways and skinny houses. We wandered around there for ages, enjoying the ambiance.

Pastel coloured shops, houses and restaurants, Lisbon

After that, we caught one of Lisbon’s quaint turn-of-the-century trams back down to the Baixa area and found a lovely street full of pastel coloured houses, shops and restaurants. We stopped for lunch there, and enjoyed a nice meal of rabbit (Leigh) and grilled fish (Marg).

During the day we also visited the stern-looking 12th century Lisbon cathedral. This is the oldest church in Lisbon, and excavations show that Roman, Arab and medieval civilizations have lived there. We also visited the Church of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of Portugal.

By the end of the day, we had seen markets, several churches and convents, museums, monuments, other neighbourhoods, and more.

The Manueline style Jerónimos Monastery (UNESCO), Lisbon 

The next day, we visited the very impressive 15th century Jerónimos Monastery. Built in the Manueline architectural style, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manueline is a very decorative architectural style that uses, for example, nautical, oceanic, botanical and other motives, aiming to celebrate Portugal as a great seafaring nation and its ‘Age of Exploration’.

Later, we visited the nearby Belém Tower (also Manueline style and UNESCO). It’s a 16th-century fortification that served as the departure point and ceremonial gateway for Portuguese explorers of old.

After a few days in Lisbon, we felt we’d seen some really interesting sights. It is a unique, vibrant, and very cosmopolitan city, and we really enjoyed it.

Campsite beach in Guincho, Portugal 

Staying in the Lisbon region, we drove west along the beautiful coastal area known as the Portuguese Riviera of Estoril and Cascais, to Guincho, where we found a campsite next to a stunning sandy beach.

Not surprisingly, it picked up the cold winds off the Atlantic Ocean. Brrr - it reminded us of the Wellington wind at home, and we were cold, which was not part of the plan. It was quite hard to acclimatise after the very hot temperatures we had recently been through. And to think that we thought we would enjoy the cooler temperatures on the coast!

The next day, we drove inland to Sintra, which looked like a beautiful place to explore.

Sintra, overlooked by the Moorish Castle atop the hill

Sintra is so full of historic, huge and palatial castles, medieval buildings, and fairy-tale palaces, that it a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Fortunately, we managed to find a parking spot for our motorhome, Vanni, just outside the old town, then walked in to explore.

We visited the 19th century Pena Palace and its colourful clock tower, turrets and dome; we found the 19th century Regaleira Estate very interesting with its mix of Gothic, Renaissance, and Manueline architecture; and we loved the pretty Monserrate Palace with its tropical garden. Sintra is overlooked by the 8th century Moorish Castle ruin, adding even more drama to this interesting town.

The Charming Town Hall in Sintra, Portugal

A favourite was the Sintra Town Hall. This small Manueline style construction is extravagant for a municipal building, but absolutely charming.

Then, lured by two large conical chimneys, we found the National Palace. This grandiose 14th century palace is a warren of amazingly decorated rooms. We loved those containing ancient azulejos tiles.

Later, we found ourselves a gorgeous little restaurant in a tiny hilly side-street, where we had lunch and a glass of the local wine. Just up the street was the café where the famous English Poet, Lord Byron wrote about Sintra.

Back at Vanni later, we were pleased not to have a parking ticket, as we had exceeded our time!

Marg in Ericeira, Portugal

Heading north, a short 30 minute drive put us in Ericeira, a pretty little fishing village on Portugal’s Atlantic coast. It is perched right on the cliff top, and its narrow streets wind down the hill, and are lined with white and blue or tiled buildings.

We parked Vanni in a backstreet above the village and walked down. We were lucky enough walk straight into the market and it was market day, so we brought some lovely fresh veggies.

Then we walked down to the beautiful beach. However, modern times seem to have brought in new, ordinary fishing boats instead of the attractive old ones we were expecting.

Leaving there, we drove further north along the coast seeing more beautiful beaches, before turning inland. Our next stop will be in Óbidos, in the Centro region of Portugal.

This blog describes part of our 6 month campervan trip around western Europe, which began in Prague in April.