2 Weeks in the North of Portugal (September 2020)

Background of our 2 weeks in the North of Portugal

After months of working from home and new discoveries in our own neighbourhood (and a little further), we were super happy that we could finally exchange the Belgian hiking trails for the Portuguese ones. It should have been the Icelandic ones, but who cares? Flexibility was needed given the situation so we should already be happy that we were able to get away for a while. It was necessary for recharging the batteries, so 2 weeks in the North of Portugal was a blessing.

Apparently they were just as strict there as they were in our own country. They even went a step further, the hospitality industry had developed a logo to show that sufficient corona measures had been implemented!

The preparations for our trip were a bit hectic because Iceland had already been fully planned and re-planned after the rescheduled flights. And then, due to the long quarantine period, we finally had to cancel the holiday as a whole.

We did not have many alternatives since the entire Europe was ‘orange’ or ‘red’. The only place where it seemed to be under control was the Northern part of Portugal. So we hoped that for the next 2 weeks, it would remain like that.

Our programme

The program had to be put together very quickly and that was not so easy since normally I spent months on it ! I had not yet read a lot about Portugal, except Lisbon, but that city was ‘orange’ and not an option as holiday destination for the moment. 

On our to-do list were certainly some outdoor activities like discovering the different cities and hiking in the vineyards. Also the culture segment would certainly not be forgotten, because the country was filled with churches. In addition, we also wanted to enjoy the Portuguese food and participate in a porto or vino verde tasting.

Our itinerary ?

We were going to travel counter clock-wise by car starting from the Porto airport. Our destinations? Ílhavo & Costa Nova, Aveiro, Coimbra, Schist Villages, Manteigas, Lamego, Douro & Pinhão, Amarante , Braga, Guimaraes and Porto. The Instagram photos of those places looked amazing! Let’s hope that we would not be disappointed.

The holiday can begin… continue reading…

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