ADVENTURES, CHALLENGES, AND INSIGHTS OF A COUPLE IN EARLY RETIREMENT
After our stay in Porto, we felt compelled, COMPELLED!, to head up the Douro River to seek out the sources of all of the port wine we saw being aged in the warehouses in Gaia. We were not disappointed by the visit, neither by the Port, we tasted, nor the stunning views the Douro Valley affords.
We left some extra time in our schedule on our roving retirement tour of the Iberian peninsula. Neither of us had been to Galicia and our research told us that we should definitely visit Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia.
Our route north in Portugal finally took us to Porto. We have really been looking forward to seeing the Duoro River and Porto, in addition to learning about port wine. The Porto metro area is quite large but Porto is very approachable.
After looking at the map of Portugal, we decided that visiting Coimbra, between Lisbon and Porto, would be a good idea. Coimbra, another UNESCO site, has the oldest public university in Portugal, dating back to 1290. The university, first established in Lisbon, went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537.
Sintra is a popular day trip from Lisbon because of the cute downtown, the five palaces nearby, the panoramic scenery, and the easy rail connections. Since we have a car, we decided to take the 30-minute drive to Sintra from Lisbon and pick up a tour from there.
