ROADTRIP IN PORTUGAL WITH KIDS

Portugal has been my dream destination for a while. On and off for over a year I read blog posts about Portugal, I spoke with people who lived there and who traveled there, I saved images with the places that were making my heart skip a beat.

TRANSPORTATION:

I knew I want to do a roadtrip there but I was not sure how to do it and where to go. Inspired by Mikuta’s travel, the initial idea was to rent a vintage RV and explore the country on wheels, staying in the wild. There are few RV rental companies that found, but only one renting those picture-perfect vintage VW trucks – Siesta Campers. Alas, the rental price for the end of summer was too steep (around $200/day) and there were too many limitations (the vintage RVs could be only driven in Algarve, and in bigger cities it was more convenient and financially reasonable to stay at hotels and Airbnbs) so we decided against this idea and rent a regular car with a pick-up in Lisbon and drop-off in Porto – 2 cities where we wanted to spend a little more days.

Our car rental of choice in Europe is SIXT: Brand new cars, excellent 24/7 English-speaking service, new age-appropriate carseats, unbeatable prices (This is not sponsored! We just truly love the company and prefer it to other well-known car rentals) We did have a little accident – or let’s call it an adventure – with the car, and thanks to SIXT it was resolved so smoothly, so we will never look for another car rental again. (Please read on the story in the chapter about Costa Nova below)

HOW TO PLAN THE ROUTE:

Closer to the time of the trip my husband and I started consolidating all the sporadic recommendations and dream places into one place. I found that the most convenient way to do so was to create lists of Favorites on Google Maps but marking all the places we want to see and saving them. This way, when we would be on the road driving from one place to another, the saved location would pop-up and remind us about themselves. And surely they did! In fact, thanks to this system we didn’t miss the beautiful Aveiro when we were heading to Costa Nova – otherwise, it was not on the initial list I made, but when we were on the road I saw a heart sign nearby and we made a detour to check it out. It was so worth it!

So 23 places were saved on the Google map but 10 days of our trip wouldn’t be enough even for half of the list. Starting in Lisbon and finishing our road trip in Porto, we needed to make our picks, and having Favorites on the Google maps made it easy to make the route. I simply looked at the map and traced a few dots that were leading us from Lisbon to Porto, with consideration of the days we have available. It was clear that we wouldn’t be able to make it to the South, but we did have a pretty exciting route around the North, including Portugal inland. So here is our road trip itinerary in the order of stops:

• Lisbon
• Praya do Guincho
• Cascais
• Sintra 
• Praya Grande
• Cabo da Roca
• Sintra 
• Sao do Martinho da Porto
• Praya Foz do Arelho
• Obidos
• Coimbra
• Aveiro
• Praya do Costa Nova
• Porto 

Here is the link to my Google Maps list: https://www.google.com/maps/@/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!11m1!2sL7lWW4DX_FVNUNJp-nVe-itI4RjAOw

WHAT TO BRING:

Since Portugal is relatively small the time on the road from one place to another doesn’t take longer than 2 hours. Which is ideal when you travel with kids. Just bring water and some snacks, prepare a playlist for the road (Tip: pre-download all your music because the reception is spotty), bring comfy shoes and a windbreaker. And your camera – cause there is a lot of beauty to photograph on the way!

KIDS-FRIENDLY TIPS FOR THE ROAD:

I was very worried that watching Portuguese scenery out of the car window for 10 days wouldn’t be particularly exciting for my 4-year-old. So we tried to find a balance – as always – between what would be exciting to see for us, parents, and for our little guy. Here are a few travel tips for parents of young children doing a roadtrip together:

• Wherever we were going, a stop at the beach for some play in the sand was always a good idea. In this way, a beach was a substitute to a playground we wouldn’t find on the road.
• We were planning shorter drives in the morning and longer ones in the afternoon so that Leonardo could nap in the car.
• Pre-downloaded kids music and/or kids audiobooks for the road – work like a charm!
• Book with stickers or a drawing pad with crayons were our best road trip friends. In fact, we came back from the trip with a notepad full of Leonardo’s sketches that made the best souvenirs for all of us.
• When we knew that we were heading for a day-long of excursions around a historic sight, I was making up a story for Leonardo to get him interested – to could be an imaginary fairy-tale-like story, or a treasure hunt of some sort. The main idea is to engage the little ones in what they will see so they don’t feel bored.

THE ROADTRIP DIARY:

We spent 3 days in Lisbon and in Porto respectively, so I made two separate posts about each city, which you can read HERE (about Lisbon) and HERE (about Porto). All places we visited around Portugal were very unique and different from each other, and we enjoyed them all but if I need to pick top three I would say: Cabo da Roca, Obidos, & Port, because these places literally took my breath away. The beaches that we enjoyed the most were Praya Foz do Arelho (a unique place the splits beach in two parts – the classic Portuguese ocean and cliffs side and a calm bay overlooking the town) & Praya do Costa Nova (the brightly colored stripy houses of this beach town are so unique!) Now more about each and one of them below!

SINTRA

Sintra is a romantic destination where kings and queens used to reside, and it has a lot to see. We saw the colorful castle on top of the mountain from afar. Charming as it is, it looked like a backdrop for a fairytale with noble knights and a dragon living nearby. Palacio da Pena, the moors castle, the gardens, the convent… Alas, the herds of tourists and midday heat didn’t let us see all the places we wanted to see, so Sintra stays on the list of places to come back to.

Sights:

• Palacio da Pena – at the top of the hill, used to be the royal family’s summer palace
• Castelo dos Mouros – medieval fortress, good uphill hike with a great view
• Palacio da Vila – this is in the town center and very close by you can get the famous “travesseiros” which are delicious gila pumpkin and almond pastries at the shop – “Piriquita”.
• Quinta da Regaleira – freemasonry estate with follies and a well of knowledge.
• Convento dos Capuchos – the best-kept secret amidst the dense forests and giant granite boulders of the Serra da Sintra National Park. The monastery was constructed to have minimal impact of natural surroundings and this simplistic design was far removed from the opulence and grandeur of Sintra. We were the only people exploring the moss-covered monastery with tiny rooms. The ceiling and benches were covered with cork that makes it feel cosy and [literally] warm inside the stone walls. We had a lovely picnic inside one of these “rooms” and kept going, refreshed and enamored with the place.

Travel tips:

• there are few free parking areas close to each sight of attraction, so don’t get discouraged if you can’t find parking right away
• to avoid long entry lines get your  tickets online 

Restaurants in Sintra:

• Cantinho de Sao Pedro, family owned traditional food
  
  

PRAYA GRANDE

The beaches of Portugal – a unique experience indeed. No matter how hot it is under the sun, the shadow side will always feel the icey cold of the wind, and the water literally makes your bones ache.  This is the first time I have ever seen the collapsible wind wall (the most common – and the most necessary – beach accessory here, together with beach chairs and umbrellas) All the days that we went to the beach the weather report was showing 30C, and most of the times I kept my denim jacket on, and never went to swim. (“Common, you are Russian!” comment didn’t convince me neither) Leo was a different story – every time at the beach he was fearlessly jumping into the cold waves and seemed like the water temperature didn’t bother him a bit.

CABO DA ROCA

The most western point of Europe. Its grandeur literally took my breath away and made me realize that maaaaaay be I am secretly afraid of heights 

Travel tips:

• Bring windbreakers and sweaters – the wind is very strong and chilly
• Wear comfy shoes to be able to do the hike
• There are no fences (like you would see in US) so walking along the cliff is at your own risk – watch your kids closely
• Bring snacks/drinks for a picnic (the only cafe nearby is not always open)

OBIDOS (pronounces as “Obidosh”)

• Castle of Obidos
• Buddha Eden
• Foz do Arelho beach

Little inland town surrounded by the castle walls. We fell in love with it while walking the maze of its cobbled streets. Every corner was picture-perfect, or may be it was the effect of the ginja wine with the cherry on the bottom of a tiny ceramic cup.

Travel-tips:

• Start at the castle and once doen exploring it, take an exit to the narrow coble-stine streets of the town. Stroll back and forth, get lost, do ginja wine tasting.
• Depending on the weather, after you are done exploring the town – or may be before if it’s a hot summer midday – head to the local beach, Praya Foz do Arelho. It’s a very vast beach with two sides:  To one side of the large sandy strip is the Atlantic Ocean, to the other side are the tranquil waters of the Óbidos Lagoon. The warm salty waters of the lagoon are ideal for kids and a variety of watersports, they are even said to have therapeutic properties. On the seaward side of the beach the water is considerably colder and the waves can be much bigger. This is a fairly popular surf spot and the waves can get pretty good here.

COIMBRA

• Igreja de Santa Cruz
• Porta de Barbacã
• Bibleoteca Joanina
• Portugal dos pequenitios

Coimbra is an inland city with a beautiful river-front, and it’s famous for its University, with most of the local population being students. There is a lot to see but we were there only half day, and a very hot summer day too. So we did a short walking tour: Igreja de Santa Cruz, Porta de Barbacã, Bibleoteca Joanina, and ended up at Portugal dos pequenitios – a realistic miniature of the country with the cutest examples of architecture, as if something coming from the pages of Alice in Wonderland or adventures of Gulliver. Leo dubbed it “the city of my life” as he was excitedly running around it and trying every little house, from the royal palace and castle to a coal mine and windmill.

As for the city of Coimbra itself, our favorite was the view of the city on the hillside from the other side of the river – from afar it did look like a perfect miniature. 

AVEIRO

The Portuguese Venice with channels and gondolas. It was an unusual sight, especially with all the famous Art Deco and Art Nouveau architecture around. Perfect little town to spend an afternoon before or after the beach (which is only 10min drive from there)

Travel tips:

• there is a nice playground right on the main plaza close to the channels 
• if you make it to Aveiro for sightseeing don’t miss Costa Nova beach which deserves a separate post (to be continued) 

COSTA NOVA

This was a dream come true, literally. First time I saw this charming stripey beach town in one of my friend’s Stories on Instagram about a year ago. Needless to say, I fell in love with the place and made it my must-see destination. Surprisingly, I never heard about it from anybody else and when I was mentioning it the locals they just shrugged – most of them never heard of Costa Nova.

There was a little obstacle – or let’s call it an adventure – on the way to make this dream come true, of course. We decided to come to Costa Nova for a late afternoon on a road trip from Coimbra, and on the way there we made a pit stop for gas. Without paying much attention to the signs in Portuguese we put a full tank of “gasaleo” instead of a default gasoline. 7 minutes before reaching the beach our car stopped working. Our car rental sent us a towing truck and a taxi to take us to Porto to replace the car. 5 hours later we were back to Coimbra, without seeing Costa Nova. So the next morning we tried again. And it was so worth it!

The story behind the colorful stripes goes as follows: according to the old Brazilian sailor/fishermen tradition these beach houses were painted with horizontal stripes for families with more income, and vertical stripes for families with less income. We barely saw any horizontal stripes in town.. But not matter the orientation, the colorful patterns were even more charming than I imagined them. Costa Nova beach amidst the white dunes was also charming, and we spent an afternoon there building sand castles and lazing under the late August sun.

Travel tips:

• bring your beachwear and food for a picnic
• the most picturesque houses are located on the main road on the opposite side from the beach, and on a smaller street parallel to it (just one behind the main road)

Ten days in Portugal flew by but they left a mark in our hearts and lots of beautiful memories. We still have so many places to see, and South of the country is in my mind – doing it in RV next time would  be fun, don’t you think?