In my Portugal guidebook I came across this place near Nazaré called Bacalhôa Buddha Eden, which intrigued me by its backstory. The garden came as a protest against the destruction of the Bamyan Giant Buddas in Afghanistan in 2001 by terrorists. The garden is the largest oriental garden in Europe and consists of large statutes including: Buddhas, pagodas, and terracotta statues. When driving up to the garden, we both thought it looked very out place in Portugal!
Read MoreOn Wednesday we drove to Coimbra, a riverside city and home to the oldest university in Portugal. Our initial plan was to spend a week in Coimbra; however, we decided to modify our itinerary a couple weeks ago. We have been wanting to go to the Azores Islands and decided to scrap our week in Coimbra in favor of going there instead. We still wanted to make a day-trip to Coimbra and luckily it is only an hour from where we are staying in Nazaré. It is one of the larger cities we have visited so far and has lots of historical sights.
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When initially planning our trip to Portugal, there were two towns near the Spanish boarder we wanted to visit, but were a bit far from where we were staying to do just as a day trip. To solve this, we decided to spend one night in both Elvas and Marvão.
Read MoreOn Saturday we left Évora for our next two stops. We have one night in Elvas and one night in Marvão. Before spending the evening in Elvas, we stopped at the Centro de Ciência do Café(Coffee Science Center) and the nearby winery Adega Mayor.
Read MoreThursday we drove to Vila Viçosa, another town in the Alentejo region of Portugal. The village is considered an "open-air museum" as it contains pretty plazas, a marble palace and a castle.
Read MoreWe have been staying in Évora for the last few days and will continue to be here until Saturday. Although we have been going for evening walks, we had not explored the town until Wednesday. Évora is one of Portugal's most beautifully preserved medieval towns with multiple churches, Roman ruins, and good restaurants.
Read MoreOn Tuesday we visited Herdade do Esporão, a winery located about 45 minutes from Évora. Most wineries in the region require advanced notice for their tours and tastings - you cannot just show up at anytime. We reserved the English-speaking tour of the facility with a tasting at the end. There were nine of us in the tour group including two couples traveling together from Colorado and another group of three from Holland. The tour-guide was very knowledgable and we learned a lot about the winery and how they produce their wines.
Read MoreOn Monday we headed to the small village of Estremoz, also situated on top of a hill and ringed by a protective stone wall. This region in Portugal is called the Alentejo and is known for its vineyards and olive groves - all of which line the roads and make for such pretty scenic drives.
Read MoreWe arrived in Évora on Sunday and on Monday we drove 45 minutes to the hilltop village of Monsaraz. Monsaraz is surrounding by olive groves and has amazing views of the Alqueva Dam. It is also one of the oldest places in southern Europe and certainly has a medieval feel including a castle, narrow-cobbled lanes and beautiful white-washed homes. This was one of Alex and my favorite stops so far while we have been in Portugal. It is just so picturesque.
Read MoreWe decided for our last full day in the Algarve we would head back to the west coast as the scenery is much more dramatic with jagged cliffs and pretty hiking trails. We decided to visit Praia da Bordeira. The weather was very interesting this morning as it was mostly cloudy. However, half the beach had some blue skies and the other half had an almost eerie feel due to low clouds and a hazy mist of sea spray. We were able to take a long walk on the beach and even found a small flounder fish in the shallows!! The waves were especially strong and there were several people taking surfing lessons on the beach.
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Yesterday we headed to Praia do Barril which is located a few miles from where we are staying in Tavira. The beach was once the location of a small tuna fishing community and now has a permanent collection of anchors, known as The Anchor Graveyard, to recognize the profession. There is a mile-long footpath to get to the beach; however, you can also take an adorable mini train. We ended up walking there and taking the train back!
Read MoreOn Thursday we took a break from the beach and headed north to the small village of Alcoutim which boarders the Guadiana River. When you look across the river, you are looking right at Spain and the mirror village of Sanlúcar de Guadiana. It was such a funny feeling to know we were standing in Portugal and looking out into Spain!! We spent the morning walking around the castle, church, and pretty cobblestone streets.
Read MoreOver the past week we have been monitoring the sea tide report to determine when the waves would be most calm. We kept seeing Tuesday would have very little waves, so earlier this week we headed back to Benagil Sea Cave.
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We arrived in Tavira on Sunday afternoon and checked into the Airbnb where we will be staying for the next two weeks. Tavira is an ancient Moorish town and has many historic buildings, churches and pretty plazas to explore.
Read MoreOn our last full day on the southwestern coast we drove to Praia das Furnas. Originally we were hoping to go to the neighboring beach, Praia de Blimunda e Baltasar. However, after driving up a rocky and narrow road, we found ourselves at the top of a cliff with no way to get down to the ocean! So we backtracked and parked at Praia das Furnas where we learned you could walk from one beach to the next through a hole in the cliff during low tide.
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