Jumé Irmscher

I planned our trip across Portugal with certain objectives in mind. First, there’s Lisbon and as I’ve already explained in my previous blog, any city that survived the hardships that she did and still comes out swinging, is worth a visit in my book. Then there’s Sintra, home to my bucket list house, then Tomar that boasts with some pretty impressive history with the Knight’s Templar, then on to Coimbra to see the oldest university in Portugal, as well as the rumored inspiration for the Hogwarts uniforms. Then there’s Porto for some, well…port. Followed by stunning nature in Serra de Estrela, and finally to Algarve for some sun and surf.  Culture, food, nature, history, and intrigue – the key ingredients for any winning holiday recipe. Sintra - Castles Galore! My bucket list is quite extensive. I have a large appetite when it comes to seeing beautiful places and experiencing interesting cultures. I have also been very blessed to have checked quite a few things on my list. One...

I am first to admit that I didn’t know much of Portugal before traveling there. I knew the language was brutal, they have yummy port, one of their emblems is a colorful rooster (and also the logo of Nando’s, two completely unrelated matters), and that one of my bucket list experiences hailed from there. Like many European countries, Portugal has quite a checkered past. The thing that shocked me so much was they had a dictator until not too long ago. Naturally, this peaked my interest in what Portugal had to endure to go from being a slave to many to experiencing modern dictatorship and yet also be one of the founding members of NATO. This country deserved some investigating.  I’ll make this story brief because it can be quite confusing, especially seeing as there were so many rulers in play. Many believe Lisbon was founded 400 years before the Roman era. First, there were the Celts setting up shop in Portugal and getting comfortable, and once Romanization occurred, the Rom...