The kids both liked some of the Portugal soccer gear, but Connor didn’t find anything he liked enough to buy. Paige bought a white sweatshirt with the Portugal national team logo. The girls were also excited to fill some bags in the candy shop and we ended up spending way more on candy than we expected, as the price was by weight. Lunch was at a little cafe, and we shared some croissants and the best açaí bowl ever. Connor loved it, and wanted to go back for more.
We met the rest of our adventurers in the lobby at 5pm, and we started our evening together with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. We moved inside eventually and after a brief introduction from our guides, we went around and introduced ourselves. I embarrassed the entire family by volunteering Paige to go first. Connor has introduced ourselves family in the past, and I was excited that Paige finally agreed to do it. She did a great job standing up, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear, and we are proud of her for being brave. After Paige went first, we set the precedent and the rest of the families were introduced by the kids, which I thought was cute. There were a lot of families with older kids on the trip, and Paige was actually the youngest girl and there was only one boy younger than her.
Sunday, July 7th, was our first full day of our tour. We got up relatively early and met with our group at 8:50 in the lobby after breakfast. We took a walking tour through Porto, looking at the train station and the Church of São Francisco.
We rode Tuk Tuks around the town during the tour, and it was a beautiful and cool day, perfect for the open sided vehicles.
We stopped for a visit to the Livraria Lello bookstore and our ticket also included some mini-books.
We stopped for lunch at Brasão Coliseu where we tried the Francesinha sandwich, which was a big French toast sandwich, topped with an egg, stuffed with steak, sausage, and ham; and smothered in cheese and sauce. It didn’t seem like most people liked the sandwich, I liked the bread and cheese, but I didn’t eat much of the meat or the egg.
After lunch, we rode the bus for the first time through downtown to the Porto bridge climb: Arrábida Bridge. It was a 17 story climb up, and wasn’t actually too scary on the ascent as you went up a wide concrete staircase. At the top, we had a picturesque view of the city, and we celebrated with some Port wine before heading back down. The descent was actually more terrifying as you couldn’t help but stare down to the water below.
In the evening, Paige and I went with the group for a port wine tour and tasting, and dinner at Graham’s. Andrea and Connor were tired and decided to go for pizza instead, on their own.
Monday, July 8th, we were up early for a bus ride out to the Douro Valley to kayak the Douro River. The kayaking was pleasant and the river was placid, and the water was cool. We paddled down the river and then back. The views of the valley and the bridges were wonderful.
After lunch, we moved to some tables to learn about cork and then to do an art project with cork, a wooden board, and glue guns. Connor followed the directions fairly closely, and the rest of us did a few alterations as we started gluing the cork to the board. Paige put a 3D PV in the corner of hers, and I combined with Andrea to make ours together.
We headed back to the hotel on the bus, and the evening was free for us to do as we wished. Connor and Andrea went back to the cafe we’d been to previously to get the açaí bowl again. Paige and I went to McDonald’s, to try some Portuguese style Micky D’s. Paige got nuggets with potato sauce and a McFlurry with Kit Kats. I tried a fancy burger that was not on the US menu, it was ok.
Tuesday, July 9th, we took a 3 hour bus ride to Lisbon. We boarded a catamaran and sailed up and down the Lisbon Waterfront while we enjoyed lunch. It was a little cool and windy, but the food was good and we had some excellent views of the bridge, tower, and monument.
After the boat, we did a brief tour of the tower, monument, and maritime museum.
In the evening we went to the hotel to check in, and we were fairly tired. We had dinner reservations at the hotel restaurant, but we didn’t feel like getting dressed up after we washed up. Andrea had the bright idea to see if we could swap our dinner reservations for room service, and our ABD guide Rebekah managed to work it out for us. Connor had a big burger, Paige had pasta, and Andrea and I had club sandwiches. We watched the Spain vs France Euro Cup game and had a wonderful and chill evening.
Wednesday, July 10th, we had a full day in Lisbon. We started with a steep ascent to the St. George castle, and took a tour of the area. The castle had a panoramic view of the city, and there were many peacocks wandering around the area.
We drove to the art district for lunch and had pig cheeks and salad for lunch. In the art district, a local artist talked to us about street art, and then we had some time to shop.
After our tour, we rode in Tuk Tuks through the horrible crowded and congested traffic to a picturesque overlook and then back to the hotel. We were tired, but after we washed up and rested briefly, we set back out for some shopping.
Paige was interested in shopping at the Brandy Melville store, and after looking at some of the nearby stores, we let her navigate to it. The route was not that long, but it was incredibly steep. We climbed up one hill that was as steep as a staircase, and had a little tram that people were paying to carry them up. At the store, Paige tried on a few things and ended up settling on some baggy and comfy sweatpants. We had already gotten her a few souvenirs, so she had to use her own money for it.
Andrea and Connor looked at a few stores, but didn’t find anything they liked. At the Louis Vuitton store, Paige found a cute wallet that went nicely with her handbag and she decided to spend all the rest of her personal savings to buy it.
For dinner, we decided to get room service again so we could watch England play against the Netherlands in the Euro Cup.
Thursday, July 11th, we got to sleep in and met at 10:30 to depart. We drove to the western most spot of continental Europe, but unfortunately a thick fog had rolled in, so the view was completely obscured. We rode the bus to our lunch spot and had a delicious meal, one of the best to that point of the trip. Connor had pork, Paige and I had veal, and Andrea tried the cod.
After lunch, it was time for our electric bike ride. The local bike guides had all of the bikes lined up, but otherwise they weren’t very well organized. It took a while to get our bikes and helmets adjusted, and to find someone to explain how the bikes worked. It was clear that there were a few people in our group that were not very competent bike riders, but they decided to keep us all together in one big slow moving group. The scenery was good, and we enjoyed being able to adjust the bike’s exercise level.
The scenery was nice, along the cliffs of the coast, however the ride was fairly boring and slow. It felt like the ride was at a little kid Disney ride speed. Specifically, Paige said it was like riding “It’s a Small World”. We wrapped up the ride fairly quickly and then we had ice cream and a little time to shop in Augusta’s home town of Cascais.
We decided to try some finger poses like the people did in the old Renaissance paintings, and then took some silly pics when Rebekah wandered over. We got a pic on the steps of a pretty building, where I left my sunglasses accidentally, and then I talked everyone in to holding me for a silly pic.
When everyone finished shopping, we boarded the bus and headed up the mountain in to the clouds to Pena Palace. With ABD, we had a special after hours exclusive visit to the palace, which meant there were no other guests there. It was disappointing that the clouds and foggy atmosphere completely obscured the view, but it did give it a creepy vibe. The tour was okay, and I personally found it a little slow moving and since we had our group of 40 trying to move together through the small rooms, it felt crowded and cramped. Apparently small and intimate rooms were all the craze when the palace was built, which isn’t ideal for a large tour group.
Friday, July 12th, we departed Lisbon and started the long drive to the south of Portugal. We started the day with a tile making demonstration and had an opportunity to paint our own tiles. I tried to paint Millie Mae, Andrea painted a rooster using a template provided, and both kids painted boats with different templates.
After tile making we switched places with the other half of the tour group to do cheese making and wine tasting. The kids helped to make a special Portuguese sheep milk cheese, and we tried a few different locally produced cheeses.
We continued our long bus ride to the south of Portugal and arrived at last at the Tivoli Carvoeiro Algarve Resort. We weren’t crazy about our rooms, but the view and was amazing and made the hotel worth the visit. Carvoeiro was our favorite stop of the trip and we had dinner out by the pool, overlooking the cliffs and the ocean.
Saturday, July 13th, we started the day with a hike along to coast to a beach nearby, where we donned life vests and set out for our cave tour adventure.
The boats took us inside and through many beautiful naturally formed caves, and we’ve never seen anything quite like it. Our group of 40 was split in to four separate boats, and there were many other tour boats and kayakers going in and out of the caves. We were scared a few times we’d crash against the rocks, or run over some kayakers, but our captain handled the waves and crowds deftly and there were no collisions.
Once we hit our final cave, all of the boats motored out a couple of hundred yards from the cliffs so they could accelerate and speed back to the beach. That ride was exciting and it was nice and windy, cooling us off and giving us a more panoramic view of the coast. When we got near the beach, the captain did a hard 90 degree turn at speed, which leaned the boat hard over to starboard. Paige was in the right side of the boat and when it turned hard, she was inches off the water. A few people screamed, and it was a slick way to end the tour.
After wading back to shore and getting cleaned up, we were given the afternoon to ourselves. We got nachos, a rice bowl, and some chicken bites as a snack at a nearby restaurant. We did a bit of shopping and thought the shops in little town had some of the cuter clothes and knickknacks that we’d seen. Paige got a dress, a bracelet, and a braid in her hair. I got a Portugal sweatshirt, Andrea got a coaster and a mirror, and Connor didn’t find anything he liked.
We stopped for smoothies and then walked back to the hotel to relax before dinner. The dinner in the evening was our tour group’s farewell dinner, and we dressed up a little so we could snap some pics with the nice view, and with our guides. Alcohol was included for the dinner, and while we didn’t have any, the rest of the group enjoyed their fair share and ours as well, and probably a few other shares. The group got more loud and rowdy than we had ever seen at a farewell party, and it was funny to watch, if not a little embarrassing. One of the dad’s apologized to me after telling a dirty joke that wasn’t quite Disney appropriate. We didn’t really mind it, if anything, it was entertaining.
We said our farewells to our new friends, and there were certainly some nice families on our trip. There weren’t any that we got especially close with, but everyone was pleasant for the most part, and got along nicely.
Sunday, July 14th, we got to sleep in and then get packed up for our journey home. We had to do a balancing act to get our check luggage under Ryanair’s 20kg threshold and then took our van to the airport. Our flight to Dublin went smoothly, and we walked our luggage over to a hotel near the airport. We watched some Wimbledon finals and the Euro Cup final, before bed.
Monday, July 15th, was our long flight from Dublin to Charlotte. There were some lines at the airport that we didn’t expect, but thankfully we gave ourselves a lot of extra time. Note to self: don’t forget about the “US Customs Preclearance” that comes after the security screening and before the gate.
The seats were super comfortable, and we all had a relaxing flight back over the ocean. We had a three hour layover in Charlotte, and then our final short flight home.
Overall, the vacation was wonderful. We all enjoyed each other for the most part, spent priceless time together, and made some new family memories.
I asked everyone for some of their random thoughts that maybe I didn't capture perfectly in the chronologically written post, which are below. I've also included our up to date rankings for all of the Adventure by Disney vacations we've been on.
Connor
- Loved the castle tour, didn’t expect to enjoy it.
- Did not like the extra pre-nights in Dublin, too long of a vacation
- Liked the bike tour and being on an electric bike
- ABD ranks:
- Costa Rica
- Iceland
- Peru
- Wyoming
- Portugal
- Danube
- Arizona
- Disney and Hollywood
Paige
- Liked Portugal overall.
- Did not like standing around. Lots of disorganized time with the big group. Restaurants not efficient, meals took forever.
- Did not like the bike tour, went too slow
- ABD ranks:
- Costa Rica
- Disney and Hollywood
- Wyoming
- Peru
- Iceland
- Danube
- Portugal
- Arizona
Andrea
- Enjoyed the tile painting
- Liked the Porto tuk-tuk and bridge climb
- Cooking demo was bad. Only one guy to help with three groups. Not much to do and food was not great.
- Liked the boat ride in Lisbon and the food they provided. Neat going under the bridge and seeing the city from the water.
- ABD ranks:
- Costa Rica
- Tie: Danube, Iceland, Peru
- Disney and Hollywood
- Wyoming
- Canadian Rockies
- Portugal
- Arizona
Shawn
- Liked the reasonable start times, no super early mornings.
- Did not like the big group of 38 guests + 2 guides. Everything felt crowded because we brought the crowd.
- Enjoyed the urban areas, but the tours there were not as interesting as I'd expected. Seems like we enjoyed the last stop and the natural beauty there more than the cities.
- ABD ranks:
- Costa Rica
- Danube
- Iceland
- Disney and Hollywood
- Peru
- Wyoming
- Portugal
- Canadian Rockies
- Arizona
