Euroadventure 2025

Hello and welcome to my weekly-(ish) travelogue! Stefan and I are spending the months of October and November abroad. This section is a recap of our first week vacationing in Portugal

Week 1: Portugal

We left Seattle on Saturday, October 4th to kick off the Euroadventure 2025 with a one-week vacation in Portugal. The plan was to spend the first three days in Lisbon, then take a train to spend the remainder of the week in Porto.

Overall impressions

While we enjoyed both Lisbon and Porto, we preferred the less dense, slightly calmer Porto vibes! Both cities are gorgeous, but Lisbon felt much more chaotic and tourist-heavy. Porto felt like a more glamorous and exotic Portland: a charming city right on the water with plenty of bridges, hip eateries, beautiful architecture, and fun places to shop. Walking around and taking in in the beauty of the cities was our favorite thing to do.

Highlights

Duoro Valley wine country

I booked a guided tour to the Duoro valley last minute via Living Tours on Tripadvisor. Weary at first, having no experience with Tripadvisor, I was pleasantly surprised: the tour was amazing! It had just the right amount of activity, relaxation, and novelty. It included a four course lunch with wine pairings, a visit to two wineries in the Duoro valley, a long leisurely boat ride along the Duoro river, and a stop in Amarente, a charming town with a beautiful church. The wine tastings were so-so but not terrible (and probably ill-advised for me–see bullet #2 in “Lowlights”– but cold be damned, I was determined to drink port wine on a terrace).

The Food

Our experience of Portuguese food was mixed. Seafood, meat, potatoes, and olive oil form the base of the Portuguese food pyramid; vegetables are non-existent save for lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and onion drizzled with oil. Tinned fish is everywhere and Stefan was in heaven, coming back with seven different kinds. They are also not big on spices–salt is the sole seasoning. And sauces are not really a thing. Sandwiches were served sans condiments and lettuce, consisting of just meat and/or cheese between two halves of a large roll. Most of it was delicious, but by the end of the week, I was craving some fiber.

My favorite foods were cod (all forms), the pastel de nata (an egg-custard pastry–heavily hyped), and a pork sandwich called a bifana. For a seafood lover, I’m sure Portugal is paradise. But having to crack open prawns and eat a lightly-pickled (read: nearly raw) sardine was not as thrilling for me as it was for Stefan. I did try caviar, uni (sea urchin), and a gooseneck barnacle for the first time (and learned that while they are tastier than a lightly vinegared sardine, they are also not my favorite).

Beautiful Tiles!

Decorative tiles are all over the buildings in Portugal. They even have a national tile museum . I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way for it, but if you have some time to kill, its fun.

McDonald’s Imperial 🇺🇲🇻🇮

Apparently Porto has the most beautiful McDonald’s ever. We accidentally stumbled on it and, while I’m normally not a fast-food person, I was very excited to eat something that was not a sardine. I insisted on an afternoon chicken McNuggets snack. The menu also had other fun items, like the Greek Tzaziki McChicken and the Bifana (sadly sold out!!! 😭)

Lowlights

• Lodging troubles: Our apartment in Lisbon was a nightmare to get into (the instructions were confusing and the keypad lock on the door was faulty). We used an Airbnb-like service called LovelyStay that rents out homes. Though the LovelyStay folks were pretty responsive over WhatsApp, their instructions could have been better. It would have been nice to not spend an hour trying to find the right apartment and get inside.
• Getting sick: I came down with a nasty cold on Monday and spent most of my time in Portugal walking around like a zombie, drugged up on cold meds. Despite multiple nights of cough-disrupted sleep, though, I rallied, waking early to seize the fading day (and my own fading life). Sleep-deprived adrenaline-fueled exploration seems to be my lot in Europe.
• Not planning for the trains: We naively assumed catching a train from Lisbon to Porto would be easy. We were wrong. While a fast train from Lisbon to Porto is about three hours, if you don't plan for it, you have to take a slower train that takes about six hours. Nearly all of Wednesday was spent either waiting for a train, or on a train. While the trains were on time, I wish we had not waited till the last minute to purchase tickets.