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Traveling and Housesitting in Portugal – My Top Tips
Traveling and housesitting in Portugal is to be recommended according to one of our regular housesitters In fact Tiera loves the combination or traveling by train and on foot especially in Southern Europe. And in this article Tiera St Claire shares with us how easy she found traveling around Portugal after a housesit one year. Take a look at her experiences of traveling between housesits in Portugal.
Booking Travel Between Housesits
After housesitting in Madrid last year I had a week to myself and found it easy to travel across the border to Portugal. I was preparing for a petsit in Portugal but found I had a week to myself so decided that traveling and housesitting in Portugal was a good idea. And when I am not walking around I love traveling by train. It is so easy in Europe and mostly very affordable on the continent of Europe, especially in the South. I use the Omio app to book my travel in Europe. It’s a free app and is well connected to the countries trainline companies, especially in Spain and Portugal. Plus it is easy to use.
So leaving Madrid after one housesit I had this opportunity to travel for a week in Portugal. I booked my ticket from Madrid to Lisbon via Badajoz, a characterful town next to the Portuguese border. Through the Omio app I organised my trains so I could have a few hours to visit this fascinating and rather pretty town.
Getting off the train I found a Post Office nearby where for 5 Euros I could leave my suitcase for the day while I walked around. This is something to look for and the city centre Post Offices will often provide this service – Very handy!
I loved Lisbon as Tourist and Housesitter
It took a couple more train to get to Lisbon but the trip wasn’t expensive at all. And as I still had time before my housesit I booked to stay at a city centre Hostel called the Lost Inn. As a hostel it was well located, I like being in the city centre when I am touring. And though it was a classic dorm arrangement there were room dividers so some privacy was possible and it was pretty clean. So overall it served its purpose and I would go back. There were also lots of plug sockets for our convenience.
The city itself is hilly which I love, there is no greater pleasure for me than walking up and down the hills to enjoy the views from different parts of the city and to get a feel for the lie of the land. I discover new locations on my feet and senses. Walking is an absolute pleasure for me.
The streets are also laid out to accommodate the old fashioned and rather characterful trams, that go up and down the hills. So if walking is not your think the trams are pretty inexpensive, as are the taxis. Lisbon architecture is wonderful, the museums are diverse and full of interesting paintings and artefacts. So I found a lot to do in my short visit there.
A Fabulous Visit to Cascais
I had read about the coastal town of Cascais, once a favourite location for the King Luis I and his court, it still has a sense of decorative grandeur that it wears well. It’s only one hour from Lisbon by train and the ticket only costs 5 Euros. It really is worth a visit.
One of my highlights was visiting Fortaleza de N Senhora da Luz, the Citadel of Cascais. It was a lively area with lots going on, music playing, street cafes, arts and crafts on display, generally it’s a very attractive place to visit.
Another day trip from Lisbon took me to Sintra, again just one hour by train at a cost of only 5 Euros. This is a small town with a big reputation mainly because of the Castel, and the highly decorated municipal buildings. There were also Roman ruins to visit.
Albufeira proved another fascinating trip. It’s a coastal town in the Algarve region in the South, quite sleepy and has retained the character of the quite fishing village it has evolved from. Yet it had a lot to recommend it. It’s a resort town and doubtless very busy in season, but I was there slightly off season so it was easy to get around. The architecture hints at the Moorish history, but there is also a lot of modern construction evident as the town has grown.
Faro is Definitely Somewhere to Revisit
I could easily have spent more time in Faro, and definitely hope to return, perhaps when I next go traveling and housesitting in Portugal. This is one of the more characterful towns I visited on my trip, and I would definitely find time to revisit. The shops were varied and most were Portuguese, there is a fabulous Cathedral and my absolute favourite place was the Municipal Museum of Faro which exhibited a lot of the history of the town and the craft and manufacture.
In Faro there were so many museums and places of interest that I simply didn’t have time to visit them all. One place that was absolutely stunning was the the Museum ‘Palace of Tiles’ which showed the remarkable diverse and sophisticated range of Azulejo Tiles in a splendid setting.
While I was really impressed by the magnificent stairwell in the Municipal Museum of Faro (shown above) with elaborate Portuguese Azulejo work featuring baroque decorative elements I really would like to return and experience other places. Next time I’ll make a bee line for the Maritime Museum, the Four Senses Museum and the Cultural Arts Centre which is a beautiful Art Nouveau building that houses several artistic attractions.
Popping into Coimbra and Porto While Traveling and Housesitting in Portugal
During my two week full blown tourist break while traveling and housesitting in Portugal I managed to squeeze in visits to Coimbra and Porto, both regularly hit the Top 10 lists of places that travel bloggers highlight as places to visit.
Porto – Needs more time
I feel I could have spent more time in Porto, and next time I go traveling and housesitting in Portugal I most definitely will. The city is actually smaller than I anticipated, and you can feel the historic charm and some parts of the town have a vibrant culture such as down in the Port area.
The city’s crown jewel is the UNESCO World Heritage historic centre, where you can wander through narrow cobblestone streets lined with azulejo-tiled buildings and stumble upon hidden squares and ancient churches. I hear the food scene is also excellent so I should plan in a good meal next time I visit. Parts of Porto are very attractive and the whole city deserves more time. So next time I come I’ll spend more time discovering.
Coimbra – A charming hilly town
The city is built on hills along the Mondego River, with the historic centre sitting prominently on a hilltop. The famous and very beautiful University of Coimbra, one of the oldest universities in Europe, is located in the upper part of the city on Alta de Coimbra (Upper Coimbra), which requires climbing steep, narrow cobblestone streets to reach. I love climbing hills so this town appealed to me. There is great depth and history to the streets and it is also on the Camino de Santiago route which is another reason I like it.
There are distinct upper and lower areas of the city – the Baixa (lower town) near the river where you’ll find shopping areas and the train station, and the Alta (upper town) where the university and many historic buildings are located. The hilly terrain gives Coimbra its layered appearance and provides really scenic viewpoints over the surrounding valley and river.
A Sense of Freedom Crossing Borders
One of the wonderful experiences I have enjoyed when traveling and housesitting in Portugal is the ease with which I could cross the borders between Spain and Portugal. It gives you a great sense of unity and exploration. After Coimbra I crossed back into Spain to visit the town of Ourense, which is famous for its hot springs.
I did this on foot – I crossed from Portugal into Spain on my way from Tui to Ourense, walking across the Ponte Internacional Tui-Valença. This iron bridge, designed by Gustave Eiffel, spans the River Minho and directly connects the Portuguese town of Valença do Minho with Tui in Spain. The bridge accommodates cars, bikes, and pedestrians; it has pedestrian walkways on both sides and the border is marked on the bridge itself. There are no formal checkpoints, and you simply cross from one country to the other by walking.
It gives me a childlike thrill, a great sense of freedom to cross into a new country on foot. This is one of the great joys of traveling and housesitting in Portugal in fact in any country. It offers the freedom to travel on a fixed budget and to discover the world. For travellers planning their own Portuguese adventure beyond housesitting, platforms like BetterTrips can help uncover inspiring places to stay and explore throughout Portugal.
Tiera St Claire, author of this blog ‘Traveling and Housesitting in Portugal’, is one of our regular housesitters, a seasoned year round traveller and contributor to this blog. She is an expert on Human Design and loves travelling and teaching as she goes all around the world.
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FURTHER READING
On our blog we like to share useful articles, such as this one on traveling and housesitting in Portugal, for our members to learn more about housesitting from all aspects of home and pet care, and of course travel.
Housesitting while I travel in Spain – by a housesitter
Family housesitting – an active holiday in Spain
