Postcards from Spain and Portugal (part 1)
I can’t believe our trip already came and went! At the beginning of the year, I told Alex I wanted to go to Portugal for my 40th birthday and I’m so happy we made it happen. It was such a special trip and now that Knox is 3, I think he might remember some bits of this vacation! I decided to split this blog up into two parts since there’s so much to talk about.
Lets begin with our 10 hour layover in Madrid! We were really excited to have the chance to explore this city for a day. The weather was a gorgeous 70 degrees and we enjoyed some Spanish pizza and Vino at a sweet little restaurant across the street from Retiro Park. Then, we took a long stroll throughout the park and fed the ducks on the lake, did some people watching, and visited the Palacio De Cristal. Afterwards, we Ubered back to the Madrid airport and took the late flight to Lisbon where we rented a van for the drive down to the Algarve the next morning.
Pro tip for travel to Spain or Portugal: They really value their siesta time. It’s very difficult to find a restaurant serving food between 3-7pm!
Our first 4 days in Portugal was spent relaxing on the Algarve coast in a sweet little secluded village about 20 mins east of Lagos called Prainha. It had a couple small restaurants, a grocery store, 3 pools and a few playscapes for kids. Our favorite restaurant, Caniço, was nestled in the rock formation just below our neighborhood and you could take an elevator down to it with stairs below leading straight to the beach. It was such a dream! We walked everywhere and it felt a lot like what I would imagine Greece would feel like with white stucco houses, thatched terra-cotta rooftops and vibrant bougainvilleas climbing trellises on every corner. It was so quiet in this neighborhood, we hardly saw anyone and it felt like we had it all to ourselves! This was the Airbnb we stayed in and I highly recommend!
Here is a $55 credit for your first visit with Airbnb: https://abnb.me/e/XDJJTr8O60
The one day we ventured away from our cute little bubble in Alvor was to go see the famous Benagil Cave. This area was much more touristy and the beach had a bit grainier sand and what seemed to me a little less safe than what we’d experienced in Alvor. We really wanted Knox to see the cave but we learned that if you take a tour boat to see the cave, you can’t get off of the boat to go into the cave. So, the only way to walk around in there was to enter it by kayak or paddle-board and that was way too dangerous for a 3-year-old. We decided to take turns and while 2 of us stayed on the beach with Knox, 2 of us kayaked to the cave (my sister-in-laws came with us for the first week of our trip so that’s who I’m referring to;) 💛 I’m so happy they were there so we were all able to really enjoy it up close!
Benagil Cave, Algarve, Portugal
We made kayak reservations with Taruga rentals the night before. It was 30€ for an hour and that’s really all the time you need since Benagil cave is only a few meters from the beach. The only caveat is paddling between several tour boats and maneuvering through their huge rollers🌊 If you’re not comfortable on a kayak or paddle-board, I recommend going around 8am or just opt for a tour by boat to stay safe! It was pretty gnarly out there.
Some Knoxie highlights:
Although he’s been to the beach twice, he was still a little unsure of getting his feet in the sand. It took about a day, but he eventually warmed up to it and really enjoyed the waves hitting his legs and pushing his little firetruck in the sand. The water was a bit to cold for us but you could tell who the locals didn’t care. They were all swimming and enjoying it!
Knox’s experience with jetlag was a little more rough this go-around. We’ve never seen him quite so furious about going to bed. It took him about 3 nights to willingly walk to the bedroom for our nighttime routine. Also, now that we’re back home, we are going through a screen time detox to get him out of the habit. We’re taking all screens away for now and we’ll maybe bring it back from time to time in the future, but that date has yet to be determined;)
He absolutely loved walking around everywhere and luckily most of the places we visited were pedestrian friendly with very few cars! We really thought he would take afternoon naps in his stroller, but it only happened once in Lisbon! My guess is because the sidewalks there are so bumpy. Next time, we’re going to invest in a stroller that rides more smoothly on the rough roads.
Thanks for reading and leave a comment below if you have more questions about our travels! Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip!
