Portugal Blog

There’s no better feeling than getting away from the hustle and bustle and having a few days of pure relaxation to end your vacation. It’s actually a strategy of mine, whenever possible. We ended our vacation in the coastal town of Lagos. The only plans we had here were to do a catamaran tour with drinks and snacks and another of the grottos in the area.

We took the train to Lagos, as we did for every new city we visited in Portugal. There are other international trips where we didn’t do this, and I will say I definitely prefer taking the train between cities. It’s much less hassle than going through the airport and doing the whole security bit. Plus, the train seats are more comfortable and you’ll have better views. I would suggest upgrading to a first class seat, if financially feasible. It’s usually not much more for the upgrade and you’ll have a more comfortable seat with more legroom.

We checked into our hotel, Hotel Marina Rio, and put down all of our luggage. It was lunch time, so we headed to the main square which is only around a 5 minute walk if you take a right out of the hotel front door. We walked a little further up pass all of the crowds and decided to try out Restaurante Casa do Prego. We had a few things, but the best things on the menu are the panini style sandwiches and the sangria…….OMG. Don’t come here and not try the sangrias. Go ahead and get both the red and white! You’re welcome.

On the walk to lunch, we noticed a little Thai massage spot, Nuad Thai Massage Therapy. We stopped in to get a brochure and decided we needed to make our way here later today. So after letting our food digest, we headed back over to get massages. If you’ve never had a Thai massage before, make sure you understand that a Thai massage can entail much more than a massage you’re used to getting in America. It could involve stretching your body and sometimes having the masseuse walk on your back. If you don’t want this, don’t ask for a traditional Thai massage. I’m not sure if the staff didn’t understand what I asked for, but I asked for a head, neck, and shoulder massage but received a full body massage. No complaints from me. It was devine! My friend booked a traditional Thai massage and hearing her rendition of the man straddling her like a horse and proceeding to walk on her back still makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Before coming here, I heard people rave about the piri piri chicken. So this was our mission for dinner. Mullen’s had great reviews, so we decided to give it a try. We took an Uber over. It was giving medieval dive bar vibes. I ordered the piri piri chicken and my friend ordered something different just in case we didn’t like the chicken. This piri piri chicken was amazing and didn’t disappoint. It was very well seasoned and tender. I typically only eat dark meat on chicken when it’s wings, but I ate all parts of this chicken. It was just that good! And the chips (Americans call them fries) were super good too. Ask for extra dressing for the side salad though. It was a bit dry. If you want to try piri piri chicken, I’d definitely recommend Mullen’s.

The next day we had 2 boat tours booked with BlueFleet. The first one was a 4 hour catamaran tour that started at 9:45am. We met some new friends from Jersey and had an amazing time. The food and drinks just kept flowing the whole time! The views were beautiful. One thing to note for early June is the water will not be warm enough to swim in. Some people, including my friend Ayesha, decide to take the brave cold plunge. She jumped in and swam back immediately. LOL This tour was all about the vibes though. If you have a fun group, you’ll have a great time on this tour. We had 3 hours before our grotto tour would start, so we went and grabbed some appetizers to pass the time and then headed back to the BlueFleet office in the train station for our next tour. The grotto tour will be on a smaller boat so that you can go in and out of the different grottos. Being in a grotto and seeing the rock formations with some of the clearest blue water I’ve ever seen, along with the sun shining into the grottos was one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever experienced. I really can’t put it into words. It just felt like something out of a movie. Head to my IG @fortravelfanaticsonly to see the reel of this magical place.

We headed back to Lisbon to stay one night at the Sheraton Lisboa Hotel & Spa only to catch our flight back home the next morning. We didn’t get to experience much at this hotel since we were only there for the night. However, I can tell you that it had an amazing spa area. I honestly wished we would’ve stayed here instead of where we actually stayed in Lisbon. The only negative is this didn’t seem to be as good of a location as where we stayed before. But if you don’t mind taking Ubers most places you go while visiting, we loved this hotel.

With that, it was time to head back home. I had an extremely early flight around 6am. It was not easy to find where I should go to check in for my flight. The signs are not the most user-friendly. Luckily, I was able to find someone that spoke English and found where the Iberia check-in desk was. The agents didn’t even come to the check-in desk until 30 minutes or so before it was time for our flight to board. The line was really long! Oh goodie, yet another issue with Iberia’s customer service. Ugh, I was so over this airline at this point! But I made it home safely with less hiccups than I experienced on my departure flights.

Portugal was everything we hoped it would be and more. Each of these cities offered something different. Porto was relaxed, low-key, and beautiful. Lisbon was lively, offered lots in the way of nightlife, and was full of history. Lagos was beach town vibes. The food was great everywhere! I prefer a more laid back atmosphere, so Porto and Lagos were more my speed. But Lisbon has so much to offer and shouldn’t be missed.