Unspoilt picture postcard villages with serene, sheltered beaches. Lots of smooth, flat beaches – but it’s the glorious beaches nestling beneath cliffs of stunning beauty which takes you to Nazare, Santa Cruz, Peniche, Offshore Berlanga. 

In Nazare they dance the “Vira” o the beach and you’ll find fishermen in knee length plaid trousers with women in full skirts and seven petticoats, mending nets. 

Aveiro is criss-crossed by canals grandly embroidered with art nouveau houses and spanned by hump backed bridges.  Here in colorfully painted moliceiro boats seaweed is gathered in the vast saltwater lagoon.  Vista Alegre, world famous for its porcelain since 1824.  Elegant thermal spa towns, Luso and Curia, fashionable for ages.  Bucaco palace, former hunting palace of the kings of Portugal, admist 250 acres of centuries old forest planted by barefoot Carmelitan monks in 1630. 

Coimbra’s exact origins lie buried in prehistoric times, but the café on Praca do Comercio is on a Roman circus and Moorish domination did start in 711.  Coimbra University, steeped in centuries of history, where students in black capes still partake in the Burning of the Ribbons each May.  Fatima is a place of pilgrimage from all over the world. 

Batalha is famous for its opulent monastery with flying buttresses, gargoyles, pinnacles and the intricate stonework of its cloisters.  Alcobaca, renowned for glassware and ceramics, is where the tombs of passionate lovers lie in a 12cent. Monastery.  Medieval Obidos, completely walled and fortressed, has narrow streets of brightly white washed houses.  The Bombarral Wine Festival is held each year in a region famous for its wines.   

Price per person sharing in a twin/double room:

Ex JNB    ZAR 20 650.00

Ex DUR   ZAR 21 380.00

Ex CPT    ZAR 21 600.00

Valid from 1 March - 19 March 2008

Includes:

Return Flights  on Iberia 

Airport taxes

1 night at the Holiday Inn - Lisbon 4* with breakfast

6 nights coach tour - accommodation in 3* hotels (breakfasts and dinners)

Excludes:

Meals not specified

All items of a personal nature

Any and all services not mentioned in inclusions

Itinerary:

Day 1 -

From Lisbon travel northward to Óbidos, a medieval symbol of narrow streets surrounded by walls.

Further on, the fishing port of Nazaré. Architectural landmarks, the Monasteries of Batalha and Alcobaça reflect the faith that brings thousands of pilgrims to Fátima. Leiria - dinner and overnight stay.

Day 2 -

A return to the days of the Roman occupation with a visit to Conímbriga.

Coimbra invites us to discover its old traditions and University. Enjoy the exuberance of the forest of Buçaco and Aveiro - city of canals.

Porto - dinner and overnight stay.

Day 3 -

Porto the 2nd city of Portugal and world heritage by UNESCO - a living amphitheatre inviting us to make a morning visit to discover the riverside area, old houses, palaces, churches that history has made eternal and Port wine, known worldwide.

Afternoon free.

Porto - dinner and overnight stay.

Day 4 -

Minho, the northest province of Portugal. Guimarães, birthplace of the nation - stop at Colina Sagrada - castle and Palace of Duques of Bragança.

Braga, city of archbishops and the country’s religious capital with the oldest cathedral of Portugal and the sanctuary of Bom Jesus de Braga with its monumental barroque staircase. Luxuariant greenery surrounds us passing by Barcelos, the town of the legend of the rooster.

Porto - Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 5 -

Through a landscape speckled with granite houses with wooden or wroght-iron balconies, we enter the Port Wine region - the Douro Valley - by way of Amarante and Vila Real. In the mountainous hinterland lies.

Viseu - a city of warriors and painters.

Urgeiriça - dinner and overnight stay.

Day 6 -

Drive to the heart of Portugal. The beauty of the Estrela Mountain Range, the highest point of the country, a world of shepherds and their flocks, famous for its cheese, snow and harsh, irregular landscape.

Castelo Branco, with its lovely gardens and staircase of the kings.

Beautiful Castelo de Vide, proud of its Jewish quarter of whitewashed houses.

Castelo de Vide - dinner and overnight stay.

Day 7 -

Southward, hills and extensive green and gold plains alternate, among which we find Estremoz and its marble quarries.

Évora, a living museum of tradition and history, handicrafts and gastronomy. Return to Lisbon.

PLEASE NOTE:

All prices are per person sharing twin accommodation

Valid on period specified - rates for other periods available on request.

Subject to airfare increases/exchange rate fluctuations and availability