Week 8
Week 8: Southern Iberian Peninsula
when
24.11.19 - 1.12.19
where
Evora, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal
The Algarve, Portugal
Antequera, Spain
Grenada, Spain
what
Week 8 was action packed. We headed south from Coimbra to Evora to check out the ancient roman ruins and the adorable town. One day was all it needed and we arrived in Lisbon before lunch Monday. We parked up on the south side of the river so our first glimpse was quite dramatic as we took the ferry across right into the heart of the old city. Slowly criss-crossing up and over the many hills of the city, we headed to it’s highest and most dramatic viewpoint, Castello de St Jorge. Luckily for us, it had been raining before we arrived so the tourists were only just emerging out of their Airbnb’s and hotels meaning we got the Castello almost to ourselves for a little while. By the time we had taken too many photos and the busloads of people too unfit to walk up the hill started arriving we decided to head into the city for a wine (surprising for us I know). We grabbed an early dinner at Casa De India which despite its name serves only traditional home style Portuguese meals before heading back for an early night.
Our second day in Lisbon started a little miserably. The weather took a turn for the worst and because we insist on walking everywhere, we were both completely drenched through to our underwear before 10am. This lead to a series of mishaps including walking to a market in the rain that was closed due to the rain, trying to find somewhere to get dry but everywhere being full and buying cheap jeans to wear the rest of the day and night but not being able to find anywhere to get changed into them. Thankfully though, the sun returned in all its glory in the early afternoon and we still got to tick off a few points of interest before we started our tapas trail before an evening concert at the Collesea do Recreio. We picked up tickets online a couple of days before to see Vampire Weekend (Pat is a massive fanboy). The tickets were so cheap in comparison to ticket prices in Australia, and the Collesea do Recreio was meant to be a stunning building in its own right. Much to our delight, when we arrived it turned out the only tickets left that went for cheap were private gallery balcony seats - which provided us 2 fantastic hours of music and a sweeping view of the theatre.
We headed to the Algarve the next day after deciding we were getting a little city fatigued and spent the next few days crawling along the coast towards Spain from Faro. We ate cheap seafood, walked around free castles and monuments, camped in the most picturesque spots and swam in the sea. Feeling refreshed, we thought we would head to Seville, only a short drive from the border of Portugal. After our slow and peaceful days on the Algarve, we were in shock of the dense population, pollution and purported break ins and thefts involving camper vans as we arrived in Seville. After chatting with some other people in motorhomes and feeling generally unsafe, we got back on the road and headed west for Antequera, a relatively unknown village between Seville and Grenada, making our relatively short drive a longer one but one we are so glad now we made. Driving into Antequera was breathtaking with geological landscape that is otherworldly. The town itself feels authentic and local, the few tourists we came across were domestic and the price of everything was much more palatable to the bigger cities. You can read our guide to visiting here. We arrived in time to walk up to Alcazaba, a huge fort looming over the city. Entrance was a pittance and the ticket office let us know that we had the entire compound to ourselves for sunset as no other visitors had been in for a couple of hours. After a magical view across the plains and city, we headed down to try the gastronomic wonders of the city. The town was packed with people, young and old, out shopping and headed for tapas. We hopped from bar to bar drinking the house wine’s and eating ourselves half to death on tapas.
Our week wrapped up in Grenada which was all that it is hyped up to be. Stunning, cultural, delicious in all senses - suffice to say we did what we do best in this city, walked a lot, ate well and drank plenty. You can read more about our time in Granada here and here. Finishing the week with a visit to the UNESCO Alhambra Palace was something special indeed, especially as we were then able to watch the sun set behind it from the San Nicolas Mirador across town.
Pit
Grim morning in the pouring rain in Lisbon
Peak
Pat - Fort to ourselves in Antequera
Carlie - Swimming in Sea on the Algarve