Hi! I'm planning to go to Portugal in September and would appreciate any and all info. re: must see/do, what to avoid, weather, Globus service, etc. I am looking at either the 12 (?) day grand tour of Portugal or the 9 (?) day Portuguese Splendor, where travellers stay at the magnificent-sounding Queluz Palace. Please advise! Thank you in advance for your help!

I just got back from the Portugal in Depth tour. I had a really wonderful time and quite enjoyed the country. The weather for me was pretty warm as it was 28-30 C most days. It rained only one day while in Oporto and a couple short showers down in the Algarve. One lasting impression I think that I will have is all of flowers, it seems like I saw and smelled these everywhere that I went.

I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. I thought service throughout was quite good and was very satisfied with the whole experience with the exception of the travel days. I took the airfare through Globus and after talking with other travellers, most did much better booking on their own.

Sherri

I was to Portugal two years ago. I loved that country. I was traveling on my own. I stayed in Estoril. Sintra is a must see. It is a bit north to Estoril. You will need at least one day. Make sure to go into the caves in one of the Sintra gardens, you will be surprized (must have a flashlight). . This place looks like heaven. I made several trips to other places including Mafra, Alcobaca, Batalha and Fatima, to see old cathedrals and monasteries. But after seeing a couple of them, they all started looking the same. I heard good things about Evora and the southern shore of Portugal, but never had a chance to visit them. A dissapointment was an old fishing village (forgot the name) just to the north of Sintra, which all tour guides recommended to see. Nothing special, a tourist trap. The sea wasn't even in the proximity of the place. May be, there was a sea in the distant past, and the residents of that village where fishermen. But now, they are all in the travel industry: small shops and restaurants (couldn't find a good one). . Skip it.

Sherri, can you tell me which optionals you thought were worthwhile on the Portugal in Depth Tour (I'm going on it in a few weeks); I did find the list of optionals on a Globus website. Also, do you have any restaurant recommendations? Thanks, from Romi.

Romi,

We were only offered 4 Optionals.

The first was a trip to Sintra with a lunch stop in Cascais. Lunch was on our own, be very careful where you stop for lunch. The place we ate at was very slow and it ended up that we had very little time to look around. Sintra was wonderful and probably one of my favorites on the trip as a whole. We toured Sintra Palace and then had some free time to walk around on our own. The guide we had for this trip was amazing and a wealth of knowledge.

The second was the Fado evening. We went to Luso's for dinner and the Fado style entertainment. The food served was good and there were about 5 different singers and 8 dancers. They would alternate between the singers and the dancers. Food wise we were served a Vegetable soup with Cabbage and Beans, chicken, fried potatoes, peas, carrots and mushrooms and for desert a sorbet over pineapple. Everyone on the tour really seemed to enjoy this.

The third was a boat ride in Oporto followed by dinner. I love any type of a boat ride so I especially enjoyed this optional. The boat we were on was for our group alone. They served us glasses of Port after boarding and we sailed up and down the River Duoro seeing the 7 bridges of Oporto and were taken out far enough so that we could see the waves rolling in from the ocean. Dinner followed at a little family restaurant very near where our boat docked. We had choices here and I ended up with the Seafood Rice. It was good, not spectacular but different from anything I have had before. Another option was grilled Salmon which I was told was fabulous. The restaurant was tiny and we barely fit our group of 32 inside. Very entertaining evening and everyone was very happy upon leaving. In other words lots of very good wine was served.

The fourth was a fish dinner in the Algarve. Of the four, this would probably be the one I would have bypassed if I had to. It seemed a lot of money for just dinner, but I am glad I went. It was the last night the group was together, the restaurant was very good and I even took pictures of the food as I was sure no one back home would believe that I ate grilled sardines. If you don't take this there are several restaurants near the hotel down by the Marina.

You have a good time in front of you.

Enjoy!
Sherri

Sherri, thank you so much for your detailed reply on the optionals.

From Romi