10 Best Portugal Experiences Best known for its preserved medieval towns and wild coastline, Portugal has been making a cultural resurgence in recent years. Suddenly, the country once stuck in hundreds of years of history is hip again! c3039282.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud/homepage/portugalsswine.jpg 1. See Megaliths Under the Stars For nearly 290 nights a year, the skies around Lake Alqueva in the Alentejo region are an astronomers dream: clear, dark and with little light pollution to interfere with stargazing. Thats why the area was declared the worlds first Starlight Tourism Destination by UNESCO. 2. Go Palace Hopping in Sintra When you visit the mountain town of Sintra outside of Lisbon, you can understand why royals chose it as their retreat of choice. The locale is lush and breezy, with sweeping views of the countryside. In addition to the remnants of the Castle of the Moors, several palaces pepper the landscape. Your first stop must be the whimsical and pastel-painted Pena National Palace, which was the summer residence of the monarchs during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Queluz National Palace was the retreat of a playboy duke who married his niece. The Monserrate Palace has Moghul-inspired design, whereas the Quinta da Regaleira feels like a Disney fairy tale. 3. Sample Pastries Both Bizarre and Sweet The Portuguese have a sweet tooth -- a really big one. The country is known for more than 200 pastries, many of them rich, custardy and flaky. The most famous are the pasteis de Belem -- two-bite custard tarts topped with cinnamon that originated at a centuries-old monastery in the city of the same name. The Lisbon bakery Antiga Confeitaria de Belem (also known simply as Pasteis de Belem) is reputed to be the sole vendor of the original recipe, selling upwards of 50,000 of them on a Sunday alone. Its not to be confused with the pastel de nata, a delicious imitator. 4. Take a Graffiti Tour Urban art critics have recently taken notice of Lisbon, recognizing it as one of the best cities in the world to view street art. From massive commissioned murals with political themes to highly detailed illegal graffiti on abandoned buildings, Lisbons street art has become so popular that guided tours are available. Street Art Graffiti Tour promotes two-hour guided walks in central Lisbon. 5. Dive with Blue Sharks The Azores are an archipelago consisting of nine islands a few hours off the coast of mainland Europe. The sea here is bathed by warm currents from the Gulf Stream, which attract a variety of marine life to feed in its nutrient-rich waters, including several species of sharks. The islands are one of the few places in the world where you can dive with blue sharks. Cages arent necessary because blue sharks arent interested in humans -- just small prey like fish and squid. Cetacean Watching and Original Diving are two companies that take you to dive with sharks at the most popular spot, called Condor Seamount; this locale is equally accessible from the islands of Faial and Pico. If you want to swim with the biggest fish in the sea, the whale shark, head to the island of Santa Maria with an operator like Haliotis Santa Maria. 6. Sleep in a Chocolate Factory The conversion of a century-old chocolate factory into a themed boutique hotel has turned a port town in the northernmost corner of Portugal into the countys newest and coolest destination. Viana do Castelo is home to the four-star Hotel Fabrica do Chocolate, which opened in summer 2014. With brickwork shaped like chocolate bars, cocoa-scented air in the lobby and 18 themed guestrooms -- including a Willy Wonka room -- the former Avianense chocolate factory also includes an interactive museum and a restaurant that infuses cocoa into nearly every dish. Bath products smell like truffles, and theres even a chocolate fountain at breakfast. 7. Buy Cool Cork Souvenirs Portugals premier expert -- cork -- has burgeoned in trendiness in recent years, thanks to its environmental sustainability. (The cork oak is the only tree that can regenerate its bark.) Once used for just wine bottles, its now harvested for furniture, shoes, belts, hats, handbags, even umbrellas! The Lisbon shops CORK & CO (in Bairro Alto) and Pelcor Lisboa (in the Baixa neighborhood) specialize in all things cork. 8. Swim in Lava Pools Madeira isnt your typical beach island. The waters edge is lined with twisting and turning lava rocks carved by the sea, and the volcanic sand is black, not beige. There are several such beaches, including Seixals Laje Beach and Ribeira da Janela Beach. Porto Moniz, meanwhile, is famous for its natural pools carved by the surf. You have to pay a nominal fee to enjoy them, and they can get crowded in the summer, but theyre pleasurable and relaxing ways to enjoy the ocean without the crash of waves. There are two groups of pools: the western group is more artificial with plenty of facilities like restaurants and shops; the eastern group is more natural. Access the pools on an easy-to-walk promenade from the harbor. 9. Go on a Dinosaur Walking Tour Long before surfers and beachgoers descended upon the pristine shores of the town of Lourinha, dinosaurs sunbathed here. Well, perhaps not sunbathed, but the region was a favored haunt for Upper Jurassic dinos some 150 million years ago. In fact, one of the largest nests of dinosaur eggs ever discovered -- some containing petrified embryos -- was found here in 1993. 10. Create Your Own Wine Dont own enough land to fulfill your dream of being a vintner? At the Quinta de Catralvos vineyard in the region of Azeitao, you can impersonate one for the afternoon. As a guest, youll not only learn about winemaking and grape varietals, but youll also get the opportunity to create your own blend. You can bottle, cork and label your unique creation and take it home with you. But first, spend time exploring the pretty, 61-acre eco-farm.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 17:48:47 +0000
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