We’d had such a lovely time when we last visited Portugal, pre-pandemic, I suggested a Portuguese railway jaunt to H. Our plan was less ambitious than our Central European holidays with just three stops and a flight either end, the first one to Porto. We’d visited the city back in September 2001, a strange time as I’m sure many readers will remember. The 2024 version is very different, smarter and more touristy, a mixed blessing for locals.
Much of the next few days was spent mooching about, some of it dodging rain in Porto’s many cafés. It’s a city 
which has even steeper hills than our hometown and many more of them. Lots of fabulous views to admire once we’d climbed them, though, plus houses clad in azulejos, the colourful tiles so typical of Portugal, sported by even the narrowest of one-up one-downs. Despite the city’s gentrification there are still lots of the ramshackle alleys I remember from our last visit.
It was such a lovely day when we visited Fundação de Serralves, Porto’s contemporary art museum, we decided to walk to it via the Jardims do Palacio Crystal. No crystal palace these days, but, surprisingly, several impressive chickens strutting about. Given the weather, we stuck to the museum’s sculpture park, ignoring the cringeworthy interpretations on offer, just looking and enjoying instead. More chickens running free at the slightly run down but nevertheless enjoyable botanical gardens which we visited on Saturday.
Our next stop was Coimbra, a beautiful hill town with lots of green space and cafés to hang out in. Once the country’s capital, it’s home to one of Europe’s oldest universities, brought into the modern world when the Marquês de Pombal chucked out the Jesuits in 1759 ushering in the Enlightenment. Much of our time in the city was spent loafing about apart from garden visits including one to the university’s botanical gardens, home to a hectare of 
bamboo known as a bambuzal, so densely planted you’d certainly be bamboozled if you foolishly wandered into it. We did rally ourselves on the rainiest day, visiting the Museum Machado de Castro with its magnificent Roman crypt, the university’s stupendous library (no photos allowed) and its pretty chapel lined with azulejos.
We chose a different lazing location the day before heading off to Lisbon, visiting Aveiro, a sweet little town with some pleasing Art Nouveau buildings plus a small network of canals which has earned it the tag ‘the Venice of Portugal’. A wee bit of an exaggeration but certainly worth a visit if you’re passing through the area.
Given I’ve been to Lisbon several times, it’s surprising I’d not already visited the city’s museum dedicated to azulejos. Housed in the Madre de Deus Convent, it’s divided into rooms arranged around elegant cloisters. Portugal’s love affair with tiles began with the Moors who conquered 
the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century, hence their abstract patterns given that representation of animals or humans was forbidden in Islamic art. Many of the early panels on display resembled meticulously designed carpets. Lots of blue and white in later
pieces, influenced by the Dutch, no slouches when it came to tile production, including a large panorama of Lisbon before the cataclysmic 1755 earthquake which all but destroyed the city and many lives with it. An excellent museum. We learnt a lot and had a very pleasant lunch in the azulejos-lined cafe.
Both of us were keen to revisit the Gulbenkian Museum, home to a collection assembled over many years and set in a beautifully calm green space. 
Calouste Gulbenkian was an Armenian British businessman and philanthropist who died in 1955, aged 86. Ranging from ancient Egyptian to twentieth-century century artefacts, some of his extensive collection is displayed in an elegant building overlooking the city which would give Oxford’s Ashmolean a run for its money. I much prefer the earlier works, which include some beautiful pieces from Persia, Turkey and Armenia although my favourite is an exquisitely simple Chinese jade bowl.
We spent our last day walking our socks off. Lisbon was looking gorgeous in the autumnal sun, pink silk floss trees in full showy bloom. Despite a couple of wet days early in the holiday, we’d enjoyed more sunshine in our two weeks in Portugal than in most of the UK’s summer. Trying not to think about winter now…
And the books? Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot was a great choice for last year’s October holiday so I decided to take The Latecomer to Portugal, a doorstopper that kept me going for well over half the trip. It follows a particularly dysfunctional family comprising triplets who can’t wait to get away from each other plus a fourth child born from the same set 
of IVF embryos 17 years later into a marriage on the brink of collapse. Phoebe does a brilliant job of sorting out her elder siblings in this cleverly plotted novel full of humour and warmth. I also enjoyed Francesca Giacco’s immersive Six Days in Rome about a young woman who decides to take the holiday she planned with her lover despite his abrupt ending of their relationship. Giacco’s descriptions of Rome and its food are particularly evocative.
Back to books on Monday…
What a great trip. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome!. It was so welcome after a dismal summer that I kept hoping would improve.
What a fabulous trip. I’ve never been to that part of the world – on my travel list though!
I’m sure you’d love it, Kate, and you can easily nip over the border into Spain!
What a wonderful trip. We’ve been to Spain a lot recently and have learned Spanish, although Portuguese is not too dissimilar when you learn the changes (in to em, e.g. sin/sem, etc.).
We really enjoyed ourselves. I can make out basic written Portuguese but it sounds so different from Spanish when spoken. Always great to learn a language if you can.
I’ve never been to Portugal and would love to go—looks like you had brilliant weather mostly, and some good reading too! (I particularly love your description of the free-roaming chickens in the public gardens.)
I never got to the bottom of the chicken conundrum! We had such a good time. I’d recommend Portugal – the rain is the price of all that green loveliness – and the Portuguese are so courteous.
We are just back from South Portugal where the weather was not great, with three days of rain. Visited lovely Lagos and Faro. Our second trip to Portugal in two years as I am really getting to love it. Last year we flew in and out of Porto, and toured the western and northern coastline as far as Vigo in Spain. Beautiful old towns and cities, old architecture, reasonably priced food and drink, and friendly people added up to a fantastic trip. City of Braga was particularly memorable. I like your book recommendations for traveling. I read Elizabeth Strout’s book and the brilliant Women’s Prize winner Brotherless Night during my week away.
What a coincidence, although I’m sorry you had poor weather. We got ours over with in the first half of the holiday. It’s a lovely country, isn’t it? All that rain helps, of course! Thanks for the Brotherless Night recomendation. Adding it to my list.
Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, and you’re welcome!
That looks glorious! So jealous!!
It’s such a beautiful country. I’m going to live off those few weeks this winter, warding off the gloom!
Sounds like a great trip Susan and I love your pics. Jean Hanff Korelitz is such a good writer (and married to Northern Ireland’s own Paul Muldoon!) I must get round to The Latecomer
I didn’t know that! We loved it, Cathy. Pics are all down to H.
It must be so interesting to compare a visit from twenty-some years later. Glad to hear that you feel refreshed, and I love the idea that rail travel is an option (climate, etc.) Recently I spotted an Earthquake portal on Wikipedia and had to swerve hard to avoid going down that rabbithole; there’s so much to learn about historical responses to crises like this, I can see where that part of your tour would have been intriguing!
Thank you, Marcie. We’re lucky to have the time to travel by train. Some of our Central European trips have involved no flying at all. Much greener and pleasanter, too.
Portugal is a country I barely kniow, but your trip sounds as though it’s been a real success. Excellent! Back to the book-reading grind now …
We counted up how many times we’d been to Portugal when we were there and were amazed to find it was our tenth visit, thirteenth if you count Madeira. The washing pile is just about manageable now…
I went to Porto back in 2017 and found it surprisingly untouristy. I don’t know if it’s changed now – apparently you now have to queue to get into the famous bookshop! I also enjoyed the modern art museum and gardens, filled with roses when I went.
We passed that queue in the rain! There’s a supposed Harry Potter link played up by the owner, apparently. Did you see any chickens in parks?
No chickens, but we were (by accident) there for São João festival where people hit us with inflatable hammers!
Haha! One of the joys of travel.
That looks lovely, Susan. I’m glad you had a good trip. I’ve only been Lisbon, but Porto and your other stop-offs sound great!
Thanks, Jacqui. Lisbon’s still my favourite but I did enjoy the other two as well. As can imagine, we drank some delicious wine!