Hiking and Walking in Portugal

The second time we visited Portugal we again did many hikes and lots of walking. Some highlights were Paiva Walkways and the Seven Hanging Valleys hike. My favorite part about Paiva Walkways was that the hike was right next to a river. I loved that because after we got all sweaty and hot and tired, there were certain points where we could hop in the water and cool down. The water was pretty chilly but it felt really nice. On the Seven Hanging Valleys hike, we hiked ten miles, which also included 100 flights of stairs!! Our legs were pretty tired by the end, but it was a great hike. The hike was very high up in the air relative to the sea level, and it was right by the shiny glistening ocean. We were hiking on cliffs, and below us were people jumping off slightly hallowed out areas of the cliff, maybe 15-20 feet above the water. It looked very fun, but sometimes pretty painful. Aside from hiking, we also took very long walks. One of the longest we did was in Lisbon, from our apartment to a very famous Portuguese bakery, called Pasteis de Belem (8.5 miles), which sold Pasteis de Natas. Pasteis de Natas are Portuguese egg tarts, which are dusted with powdered sugar and/or cinnamon on top. My favorite throughout all of Portugal were the ones in Belem. They were delicious! Those walks were just some highlights, although we did many more around cities, along the beach in Lagos, and to grocery stores!

Below: walking around the Belem district of Lisbon, enjoying the pasteis and visiting the tower

below: long walk back to our apartment and it was incredibly warm… Tate and Keegan would race ahead so they could rest for a bit before starting up again

below: more from Porto’s waterfront

below: Paiva Walkways was a hike we loved when we were in Portugal two summers ago — we were excited to hike it again this summer