It was a short tour of Portugal, flying from London we landed in Lisbon where we started our travels. Lisbon is a really pretty city which was a lovely welcome to Europe, with loads of history and a great nightlife. The first night we arrived in Lisbon we were back in the hostel scene, the hostels in Lisbon are world renound so it was a pretty easy transition. Night one we thought we would attended the hostel dinner followed by the pub crawl, we only made it to pub two before heading back to bed -  hopefully we can do better next time! The next day we went on the free walking tour with a local Portuguese guide who showed us the sites of new town pointing out famous monuments, great eats and drinks and various things to see and do while in Lisbon. One of the things we thought sounded interesting was Fado, which is traditional Portuguese music that is full of emotion and expression and should be watched while in small bars drinking wine. That afternoon we made our way back to town where we found a wine tasting warehouse where we could sample different wines from all Portuguese wine regions.

That evening we went to a Fado bar for dinner where we were seated next to a really lovely American couple whom we spent the evening chatting with, at various intervals different singers come out into the tiny space in the back corner of the restaurant and sang a few songs. As this is happening everyone is quiet and only the music of the guitars and singers are heard to allow for the emotion of the song to come through in the singing. It was a really great night and a unique experience.

The next morning we attended another walking tour this time through old town where we saw the old hilly streets of Lisbon. With various viewpoints looking over the city and the river it was a really great morning seeing a different side of the city, our guide was great and we were given a real mix of social and cultural history. Once back at the hostel we packed our bags and made our way to the bus stop where we boarded the bus to Peniche, a small surfing town north of Lisbon.

Once at Peniche we realised our hostel was actually in another village called Ferrel, after locating a taxi we made our way to the village. The hostel was run by a young Portuguese couple who had converted their home so it was small and homely. The village around was really empty and the weather was terrible, after walking through the village we thought we had made a bit of a mistake in coming to Peniche. That evening we walked to the next village which was a bit more happening, where we had dinner before returning to the hostel for the night. We met a few fellow travellers at the hostel before retiring to bed. The next day the weather was no better and it was only 20deg so definitely not beach weather. Instead we had a really great day cycling the coast with some bikes we hired and found a great spot for lunch where we tried the famous Portuguese octopus, it didn’t disappoint.

We met a lovely French Canadian couple from Quebec at the hostel who joined us for dinner and drinks that night. We had a reasonably early night and with the hostel snorer from the night before no longer there we were able to get some sleep before our alarms woke us for an early bus to Porto.

After a four hour bus ride we arrived at Porto, famous for being the home of Port wine and riverside views. We checked into our hostel before setting out to explore the city. While roaming the streets we ran into Emma whose apartment we had stayed in in London, she joined us for lunch where we found a nice café on the old flower-merchant street. Emma invited us to join her boyfriend Russel and their friends for dinner that night. That night we walked not too far from our hostel to their apartment where we tried different Portuguese ports and wines before heading to the restaurant. The restaurant was not on our “backpacker” budget but with such amazing food, wine and company we couldn’t have asked for a better night.

The next day we hit up the hostel walking tour which we find is the best way to get the local knowhow. Two Portuguese guys took us on a long tour through the city before finishing at the riverside. We then headed across the bridge to the Port wine cellars and tasting rooms. Here we spent the afternoon sampling a few ports - they are not how I remember from sampling my Grandpas Ports that’s for sure! We found a great rooftop bar which overlooked Porto where we soaked up the sun and admired the view.

That night we retired to the hostel where we packed up our things as we were off to Spain the following morning, to the town of Vigo, north of Porto for a bit of R&R. We absolutely loved Portugal and will definitely come back one day.