After a final look at Lisbon from the viewing area at the Christ monument, we headed south to the small community of Azeitão. Soares Periquito had seen my name in Overlander’s Handbook I had contributed to and had been following our blogs for over a year. He had repeatedly invited us to visit when we […]

I guess there’s no rest for the weary tourist. Our campsite on the dock near the Belém Ferry Terminal was only a few blocks from the National Carriage Museum. Our friend, Rod Hall, the notorious Class 4 Off-Road and now Production Class Race Driver, had recommended it. The Carriage Museum was an astounding collection of […]

Leaving Cabo da Roca, we headed west to Lisbon, the Capital of Portugal. With a population of 580,000, this City has endured numerous Kings & Rulers battling it out over whose God or Prophet or Savior was the best. The kings were raking in the gold and other treasures from the many Portuguese colonies around […]

So here we are at the most western point in continental Europe and in fact, the most western point of the Eurasian landmass. If you have been following our blogs for the last few months, you know that we have shipped our expedition camper and truck, The Turtle V, to Europe, and we have wandered […]

Just as we were leaving Óbidos a few days earlier, Monika briefly met Patrick Cipriano, a young Portuguese who had been born in Switzerland. He was a tour guide and stopped his van, telling his clients he just had to take a picture of our truck. After our restless night in Sintra, he found us […]

Waking up in Sintra we looked out the window to find out there was an antique motorcycle show in progress. Since Gary used to ride a motorcycle, (Kawasaki 350 Avenger and Honda 750), we couldn’t resist taking a few pictures. The Motorcycle Club of Sintra is the oldest in Portugal, and this is their 29th […]

Everyone insisted we had to see Sintra and the magnificent Pena National Palace along with the Moorish Castle.
In the 19th century Sintra became the first center of European Romantic architecture thanks to King Ferdinand II who turned a ruined monastery into a castle and park.

First occupied by the Romans but abandoned in the 5th century, in 713 the Moors established a fortification on this mountain. In 1148, Obidos was retaken by the first King of Portugal, Alfonso Henriques, and it was one of the last battles in the final stage of the conquest of the Extremadura region. King Alfonso […]

During our short stay at Praia da Vagueira we had the opportunity to watch the fishermen who still use traditional methods to set their nets.

Heading south out of Porto, we had heard that the town of Aveiro was a nice place to visit. Because of its many canals, people call it the “Venice of Portugal”. Like many towns in Portugal, parking is a problem, and in this case, we couldn’t have found a spot if we had been driving […]