Portugal Recap

None of us had been to Portugal until this trip. I know many friends who have been there before but did not honestly give a lot of attention to visiting Portugal until we were planning this trip. Coming off a more typical working lifestyle leaving Canada, arriving in Portugal first feels like you are just coming into “vacation mode” at […]

Douro Driving Day

It’s already the end of July, which means it is time to say goodbye to Tabuado, Portugal, and continue on to our next destination: Oria, Spain.  We are taking our time to get there over a few days since we aren’t due to arrive there until August 2. After a morning spent packing up and saying our goodbyes, we stopped into […]

Home Sweet Home: Tabuado, Portugal

We have spent five weeks in this glorious little town.  It’s been such a perfect place to begin our journey, decompress, and spend time together.  Our home is so spacious; we can be together or have space to ourselves. Our home has three levels so we get our own level for our bedroom, ensuite, and balcony.  The girls get to […]

Trust the Penny

In preparation for our transition to Spain, Jon spent a 14-hour “planes, trains, and automobiles” day to Madrid and back on July 28 to get a vehicle for the next leg of our family journey through Spain. Having a vehicle for the past week was a nice change from all of the walking and gave us the ability to explore […]

Porto, Part 2

We did another long, full-day trip to Porto yesterday.  We were up at 7 and out the door as fast as we could get two 7-year-olds to move, and we didn’t get home until 11:30 p.m.  We wanted to make the most of Porto, and did we ever! We started off at the main 12th-century cathedral, which was gorgeous.  There […]

Paddleboarding in the Douro Valley

Today, we dug into our adventurous side and booked a paddleboard outing with a guide in the Douro Valley. For those who aren’t aware, the Douro River is the famous waterway connecting inland Portugal to Porto and the Atlantic Ocean and it is gorgeous! We were very fortunate to have an amazing guide, Pedro from Enjoy Douro to lead us […]

The Mountain Is So High, It Reaches to the Sky

We heard a song at Waldorf this year that the Grade One class sang at an assembly that is just too perfect for where we are staying in Portugal.  And yes, we sing the song regularly while we hike the mountains!  Everywhere we look around us, there are mountains.  And they are indeed so high they reach the sky.  Yes, […]

Romanesque Amarante

After a couple of lazy days around Tabuado, we woke up feeling a bit restless this morning, so we decided to try something new. While we still need to do many of the typical chores from back home – groceries, laundry, cooking, etc. – it is nice to have the flexibility to follow where the day or the mood takes […]

Always Trust the Locals: Portugal Edition

For well over a decade, we have always clung to one specific mantra while travelling.  Always trust the locals.  And today was no different! We have heard nothing but amazing reviews about the local restaurant here in Tabuado, Ze Ligeiro.  Don’t even try to pronounce it, I guarantee you won’t be able to! After a couple of very active days, […]

Mountain Mornings and Portuguese Grilling

While our Canadian friends and family were sleeping, we continued with the hiking theme this Sunday morning and headed northeast through Casal Godinho for a hike up the nearby mountain to start our day. One common theme everywhere seemed to be large boulders. Of course, the girls climbed a few of them as Micheka and I cautiously watched but thankfully […]