Portugal

Sintra west of Lisbon is a land of romantic castles, princess palaces and quintas. Sintra makes a nice day out when in Lisbon as driving from the Portuguese capital only takes half an hour. Or why not take the train and explore the palaces of Sintra by bus? I will tell you how. In cooperation with: Sintra Tourism Office The Sintra Hills is where ...

Curral das Freiras, the Valley of the Nuns, is a hidden valley in the mountains north of Funchal, Madeira. You can easily visit this stunning valley by car from Funchal, it’s just a half and hour’s drive.  The nuns found the place in 1566 and lived there in isolation. The only connection to the outer world was a winding footpath ...

This post will show you day trip from Lisbon to Belem. You can just use the Lisbon tram 15. We took tram 15 from Lisbon and spent a day learning about Portugal’s most important national monuments and the country’s great explorers.  In Belem you can step 500 years back in time, to Portugal’s Golden Age. At that time Vasco da ...

This post will show you how to tour Lisbon on tram 28. Tram 28 brings you up and down Lisbon hills to the most historic parts of the city. As most Lisbon sights are along the tram 28 route it is the best way to explore Lisbon, the sunny capital of Portugal. Lisbon, the warmest capital of Europe, is a ...

This post will show you a drive through the green island of Madeira as we are making a Santana day trip from Funchal. We will first take the steep road up to Monte and visit Monte Palace Tropical Gardens from where we will continue to the top of Madeira, Pico de Arieiro, 1818 m.  Pico de Arieiro is a fantastic ...

This post will show you a road trip to Western Madeira along good Madeira roads and through many tunnels. Madeira’s west is very much worth visiting. It’s a dramatic area with high sea cliffs and terraced banana plantations on mountainsides. West Madeira is a less touristic area and has always been hard to reach – until the new Via Rapida ...

With this post I will show you the flower city of Funchal, Madeira. We will walk around the charming colonial city and I will show you all main Funchal sights.  Funchal, Madeira has a fantastic setting, facing the Atlantic Ocean and backed by mountains. The climate is mild and it’s lush and green all year round. The city’s historic centre ...