The trip was great! Well planned in every res...
Portugal | Dec 25 - Jan 4, 2020

A
Allyson A.
Scarsdale, NY | Reviewed on Jan 14, 2020

The trip was great! Well planned in every respect. It made sense to stay in only 3 places and not move around every day. All 3 hotels were great - we especially loved Casa Balthazar, everything about it. We enjoyed all three cities. The excursions to the port distillery could have been done in an hour at most, they didn't have much to show or explain, it was mostly tasting the 3 different ports. The trip to the fishing village was nice but not much to see - lunch was good, but it didn't need 1/2 day. I loved the walk around the University at Coimbra, learning about the culture of the place, and we arranged to hear good Fado there and had probably our best meal of the whole trip at No Tacho.
W e loved visiting Alviera and to Costa Nova on the trip between Porto and Coimbra, those were great stops. Between Coimbra and Lisbon we stopped at Tamor on the advice of people we met along the way, but it was closed. We went to Nazare, which was fun - the surfers and the ladies in their 7 skirts, and to Fatima as well. All the guides were good, they have done their homework and are well informed - our favorite was Tiago in Lisbon, took us to see lots of things one wouldn't ordinarily notice and was very personable. We learned a lot of history, ate a lot of great food and drank great wine, did a lot of walking (it seemed to be all up, rarely down), had amazing weather. It also made a big difference that most of the people, the younger ones at least, spoke English. Altogether a wonderful trip! Thank you!
Allyson and Bruce

Local specialist: Sam Lister
Sam
Sam Lister
Local specialist in Sevilla, Spain | Replied on Jan 15, 2020

Hi Allyson!
Thank you so much for your detailed feedback and for sharing so many great photos!!! We're really glad you guys had a good time and were able to celebrate Christmas and New Year in style!!! I agree with you, it's incredible how you always seem to be going uphill in the big Portuguese cities!!

Un abrazo fuerte,
Sam