JOANIE & GREG'S excellent ADVENTURES IN SPAIN, PORTUGAL & IRELAND - 2023
JOANIE & GREG'S excellent ADVENTURES IN SPAIN, PORTUGAL & IRELAND - 2023
Embedded Files
Joanie and I planned to take this trip in September of 2020, but a worldwide Pandemic got in the way. So now, almost three years later, we are finally embarking on our journey to Spain and Portugal. Our itinerary will be taking us to...
New York
Madrid
Toledo
Cordoba
Malaga & Estepona
Lisbon, Cascais & Sintra
Coimbra
Porto
And because of bad weather, we cancelled the Azore Islands, and instead, we went to...
Ireland!
The highlights and best memories of our 26 day adventure will be chronicled on this page.
NEW YORK CITY - 5/13 & 5/14/2023
The funniest story was from the picture of me with the cops. I asked them if I can take their picture (just because I couldn't believe how heavily armed they were), and then one of them said "only if you're in it with us". After the photo, the cop on my right said, "Have a great vacation". And I said to him, facetiously, "How do you know I'm on vacation?" And he answered back, right away, "Because you're so nice!" We both laughed quite a bit. Classic New York!
23 hours in n.y.c.
23 hours in n.y.c.
We don't like taking 14 hour plane flights, so on the way to Spain we stopped in New York for a day and a night. We visited the 911 Memorial and Museum, and made a visit to the One World Observatory, on the 102 floor of the "Freedom Tower". We then took an Uber across the Brooklyn Bridge, had a slice & a local brew, and took the ferry back to Manhattan. And then tomorrow... Spain!
MADRID - 5/15 & 5/16/2023
hola madrid!
hola madrid!
Arrived around 8am after a fairly sleepless red-eye flight. Just stayed in the neighborhood of our Airbnb today, napping and the like, although Joanie did some further exploring. But today, on Tuesday the 16th, we explored Madrid on our first Hop On Hop Off bus of our vacation. Plus about 20,000 steps each. Madrid has some really beautiful architecture. I also left my "veganism" at home in the States. You know, when in Madrid!
TOLEDO - 5/17/2023
TOLEDO DAY TRIP
TOLEDO DAY TRIP
We took a 30 minute high-speed train from Madrid to Toledo, and right away, we were impressed. What a beautiful old town - straight out of the Middle Ages. These photos don't really do this place justice; the sense of going back in time is hard to capture. It was really quite magical.
CORDOBA - 5/18/2023
quick stop in cordoba
quick stop in cordoba
The next day we said goodbye to Madrid and boarded a train to Estepona. However, on the way, we stopped for about 3 hours in Cordoba, and took in a couple of the top spots; namely the Roman Bridge and the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. The Mosque-Cathedral was an incredible but somewhat bizarre monument to competing religions.
ESTEPONA - 5/18 - 5/23/2023
R&R IN ESTEPONA
We arrived at our Airbnb in Estepona via an hour long Uber drive from Malaga. We were going to rent a car in Malaga but it was pouring when we arrived, so we waited out the storm a bit but decided to let a driver experienced with the Spanish roads take us "home". The next day we awoke at our awesome Airbnb, with incredible views of a beautiful day.
Since we were going to have 5 days in this small, Costa del Sol town, we did rent a car. This enabled us to get groceries and make the short drive, multiple times, into the beautiful Old Town of Estepona, where the flower-strewn, narrow streets call to you to get lost as you wander about. The car also enabled us to visit two of Spain's famous White Villages. One day we went to the town of Casares, and a couple of days later we visited the beautiful village of Mijas. It was a very relaxing 5 days on the Costa del Sol.
THE HILL TOWNS OF CASCARES & MIJAS, IN SOUTHERN SPAIN - 5/18 - 5/23/2023
The first White Town we went to was Casares. We had a GPS challenge getting there, in our 6 speed manual transmission car, but once there, awesome!
On our last day before we left for Portugal, we stopped in at Mijas, an evening prettier town than Casares.
LISBON IN A DAY - 5/23 - 5/24/2023
LISBON IN A DAY
After a short afternoon flight, we arrived in Lisbon under rainy skies. We took an Uber to our hotel in the center of the city, and then walked the neighborhood and found a nice place to eat. The next day we took a whirlwind Hop On Hop Off but tour of Lisbon. We actually didn't get off until near the end, when we arrived down by the Tagus River. We found Lisbon both beautiful and aged; after all, Portugal until recently had been Europe's poorest country for many years.
CASCAIS - 5/24 - 5/27/2023
Cascais is pronounced Kesh-kies. Hard to pronounce (Portuguese is weird), but Cascais is another beautiful seaside town. Here we spent three days in a gorgeous boutique hotel just outside of town. The first day, we simply did more street-strolling and enjoyed a variety of food and drink. The next day, Joanie got her hair done by a curly-haired Portuguese stylist and I played 9 holes of golf with three gentlemen from Sweden. On our third day, we ventured inland, up a very windy road to the town of Sintra, to explore two of its iconic castles. First was the colorful yet audacious Palace of Pena which began in the Middle Ages as a chapel. Then we hiked through the sprawling Castle of the Moors, which was built during the 8th and 9th centuries. Both are truly amazing compounds.
A DAY IN SINTRA - 5/26/2023
PORTO - 5/27 - 6/1/2023
PASTEL & PORT IN PORTO
Hello Porto! Despite a cloudy arrival, we could already see that Porto would have a lot to offer. Our first full day was also a cloudy one, so we mostly engaged in some R&R. (This is when I also started to have an issue with my toe.) But we did venture out for dinner and a better peak of this beautiful city.
The next day was a mix of sun and clouds and we ventured out on another Hop On Hop Off bus. Its a great way to get an overview of a city, and we got that on this tour. We soon realized that Porto is all about the Old Town and its river waterfront. On our third day, sunshine and puffy clouds! It was a great day for a cruise down the Douro River, and just hanging out in town. We ended the day tasting a little port and enjoying Portugal's famous dessert, Pastel de Nata.
Our last day in Porto was the most beautiful day of them all! We just strolled around, enjoying the Porto vibes and beauty. It was a great way to wrap up Porto and Portugal. Then tomorrow - we're off to Ireland!
IRELAND - 6/1 - 6/6/2023
SUNNY IRELAND
Wow, Dublin rocks! After checking in, we paid a visit to the world famous Temple Bar, and man that was fun! That night I already deemed Ireland as my favorite place on our trip! And we still had four more days of Ireland!
The next morning we took a 3 hour train ride from Dublin to Kinsale, a beautiful little seaside town in SW Ireland. And the weather forecast was right; we were able to enjoy incredibly beautiful and rare sunny days in Ireland. Even the locals were stoked! And beauty everywhere in Kinsale; in the town, on the bay, at the fort! I even got to enjoy the best fish & chips ever!
After a couple of days we headed back to Dublin, and the mandatory pilgrimage to Guinness. The tour was very tacky, but the view from the rooftop bar, along with a pint, was very memorable.
And finally, on our last day in Ireland, we spent most of the afternoon on a great Secrets of Dublin walking tour. And in the evening, we went on a Musical Pub Crawl that was a blast! A great way to wrap up another great trip!!!
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse