Portugal
For summer vacation this year the destination was Portugal: one week on the coast and one week in Lisbon. I’ve only been to Portugal once before, almost 20 years ago. I liked it then and I like it still. It strikes the right balance of being clean, safe, livable and interesting for visitors. There are no massive hoards of tourists, the food is simple but good, with lots of seafood, and the local wines are excellent. I’m not an expert on Portuguese culture after two weeks, but everybody was friendly and helpful enough, and very much matter-of-fact, which is something I appreciate.
I brought my Fujifilm XE4, along with the XF16mmf1.4, XF23mmf1.4, XF16-55 and XF50-140. The XF16-55 is a great walkaround lens, if a tad large for the XE4. I recently tried the XF16-80, and I previously owned the XF18-55, and I can now honestly say that the XF16-55 is by far my favorite one.
On the coast
The first week we stayed near Sao Martinho do Porto, a small sea-side town with a nice beach. A bit further north is Nazaré, with an even nicer beach, and famed for its massive waves. I can recommend both towns. They are resort towns but almost all the visitors are locals.
Inland there was a big heatwave with forest fires and everything, but on the coast it was a nice 20-25 °C. Lucky for us.
There are other interesting places close by, such as Batalha, Peniche, and Óbidos, which are all worth a visit. Further north is Figueira da Foz, a bustling city of industry and tourism. In between there is the rugged Atlantic coast, which must be magnificent in a good winter storm.
Lisbon
After our time on the coast we went to Lisbon, where we stayed another week. The heatwave was over by then, although we did have a couple of very warm days in the city.
Lisbon is a bit more touristy, but still in a good, old-fashioned way, with cobbled streets and old trams and tuk-tuks transporting the tourists around. It’s all built on hills, and we stayed in Bairro Alto (Upper District) at the very top, on the third floor of an old building, so there was a lot of ascending and descending!
It’s not an expensive city, with good public transport, and very walkable. There’s loads of things for the visitor to experience, and also possible to take the train to Cascais and Sintra for a day trip. Definitely worth a visit.
