Central Portugal: Porto Novo to Lisbon

When Harri tried to recharge the iPad in our hotel room last night, the device had overheated and subsequently refused to switch back on. He’d used online mapping continually on this trip and had carefully plotted our route from Porto Novo to … Continued

Central Portugal: Exploring Coimbra

For some reason – and I’m struggling to remember what it was now – I didn’t include Coimbra on the list of places I wanted to visit on our hiking trip around Central Portugal. With hindsight, it seems unimaginable that this university town midway between … Continued

Central Portugal: Lousã to just outside Coimbra

It was raining heavily as we made our way down the Palácio da Lousã‘s grand staircase, the wooded hills shrouded in low-lying mist. This was not good, not good at all. The thought of another drenching encouraged me to sink back under our … Continued

Central Portugal: Castanheira de Pera to Lousã

Over breakfast we discovered just how cheap property is in Castanheira de Pera. Our waiter Rafael explained how old properties could be picked up for under 40,000 euros, with the average property renovation costing between 15-20,000 euros. Alternatively, if it was a brand … Continued