Let's be honest here. . .the Iberian Peninsula is the BEST Peninsula. I was worried that, given how much we love Spain, that Portugal would be a let down, but it is not. . .The history is amazing, but it is really the culture, food, and wine that is incredible. We will definitely come back to Portugal.
The Portuguese language is verbally incomprehensible. There are notes of Spanish, Eastern European, Jewish, German, and, well, that's enough. The funny thing is, Carol is quite capable of figuring out what many Portuguese signs say because of her mastery of Spanish, but she has no idea how to pronounce most of the words! Me? I'm terrible with foreign languages, so I'm a stranger in a strange land.
Portuguese food is quite good, although I still prefer Spanish food (sorry Marta!). I also still prefer Spanish wine, but I've yet to have a bad bottle of Portuguese red, white, or vino verde (green wine). I guess Port is an acquired taste, and I've yet to acquire that taste. Honestly, I've given up on Port, but there are so good reds that it's no big deal.
"Sometimes it's heaven, and sometimes it's hell, and sometimes I don't even know." The classic Waylon Jennings lyrics apply to driving in Portugal. The heaven are the highways. There are no potholes, there's not much traffic (at least in November). The hell is driving in small towns and winding country roads with blind turns. We've driven through small gates, around blind turns, through streets so narrow that we had to pull in the side view mirrors.
The "best" is when the GPS sends you the wrong way down a narrow one way street and then you have reverse drive your way out without scraping the walls. So far so good, but I undoubtedly just jinxed myself.
That is the reason I bought the extra rental car insurance. It's a fee I'm happy to pay, so if I bang up the car (haven't yet, but there's still time!) I don't have to pay for it.
At one point, driving from Capo do Roca to Sintra, I rounded a corner to see four cars ahead of me, with a bus coming the other way. The bus driver was out, making hand motions telling us all to back up. So I drove backwards in reverse (Editor's Note: There is no other way to drive backwards! Writer: I'm still suffering from the experience, gimme a break!) up a hill with a stone wall on the passenger side trying to sucker the car into scraping it. After the lengthy standoff, the bus was able to barely make it by. And this wasn't a tourist bus, but a regular area mass transit bus.
Did I mention the octopus here is amazing? Had the largest one I've ever eaten on Tuesday in Sintra, and it was delicious.
Anyhow, more riffs in a few days. . .but overall, Portugal is a great place to visit, and I would recommend NOT just doing the typical Lisbon, Porto, Duoro river cruise (not that there is anything wrong with that!).
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