February 6, 2026
Hi,
Look at that – we’ve entered a new year already! I hope all is well with you. Sorry I didn’t post anything about New Year’s Eve or any of the other holidays in December. Everything went fine for us; I just didn’t get out to anywhere worth posting about. But that has now changed. Debbie and Flo came to visit us last week. They flew over from the USA to spend a few days with us here in Portugal. I was so happy to see them; we had a great time.
Let me elaborate.
It was wonderful to catch up on all the gossip from state-side. Additionally, it was fun to get out and see the sights in Portugal, despite the devastation from Storm Kristin. We luckily were in an area not hard-hit by the storm. We retained electricity and water service, despite having brown outs during the night. But since the storm hit hard at 3am on Wednesday morning, we didn’t notice that until the next day. Storm Kristin was loud, with wind speeds reaching 200kph and with torrential rains, but our house stood firm and we came out of it unscathed. Others in surrounding villages and towns, sadly, cannot say the same.
Without understanding the extent of the damage sustained by others, we hopped in the van and drove north (where the storm was felt, but not as strongly as it was south of us). Our first day was scheduled so that we could visit the town of Lamego and see the sights there, before heading on to Quinta Santa Eufémia for a tour of the winery and a wine tasting.
Lamego is a beautiful town near the Douro River, east of Porto. Our first stop was at the Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (35RM+M8 Lamego). This Catholic Church is the shining star in Lamego, located on a hill looking down over the town. There is a wide staircase that leads from the town up to the chapel, consisting of 686 steps (or so I am told; I did not count them). Due to the rain that day, we did not get a lot of pictures of the steps, but I do recommend that you take a look at the online pictures. They are gorgeous. The church is also magnificent, and easier to walk around.
We had high hopes of seeing the castle in Lamego (35XR+MF Lamego), but the rain did not relent, so we opted to enjoy lunch at a local restaurant and head on to the winery.
Lamego is located in the Douro River zone known for expansive terraces of vineyards spotted with centuries old wineries. Quinta Santa Eufémia is one of these. The quinta has been in the same family’s hands for hundreds of years. Through blights and changing regulations, the family found ways and the will to continue, ensuring us the chance to taste the fruits of their labor. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of wine, but the setup and the facility was interesting, and I have it on good authority from the others that the wine was superb and well worth the visit. Our tour guide, Teresa, was extremely friendly and helpful, and as one of the current generation co-owners (she, her sister, and brother) had boundless knowledge of the family and the workings. As noted, I enjoyed the tour and tasting and the warm welcome we received at the quinta.
On Thursday, the rain was still coming down. Not as bad as it had previously, but enough that we put off seeing castles to instead go to the city of Porto to visit Livraria Lello (49WP+Q3 Porto ) and Palácio da Bolsa (49RM+HP Porto).
Livraria Lello is a lovely bookshop with a world-famous staircase and carved-wooden shelves and ceilings. It is an awesomely beautiful shop wedged between other shops on a street in the old town of Porto. However, it is very famous, making it very crowded. But, hey, it was still fun. Would I have preferred to browse shelves without bumping into a hundred other folks who were out on a Thursday afternoon in late January (not tourist season) on a rainy day? Yes. Still, I say the pictures are worth the suffering.
Chris picked up several books, two of which had been written by Portuguese authors. Authors who had their likenesses on the walls of the bookstore. They are pictured below, with Chris.
Palácio da Bolsa is also a famous landmark in Porto, but as a palace, it has the room to handle tour groups of substantial size. We followed our guide through many rooms of beauty and history without being hampered by the other tourists. The tour was well done, giving us plenty of history facts, while also giving us plenty of time to stop and take in our surroundings.
Friday found us at Castelo de Santa Maria da Feira (WFC4+8X Santa Maria da Feira). Chris, the girls, and I have been here before, but we couldn’t resist going back to show Debbie and Flo the castle. It is a fine example of period fortresses, and is in great condition. There is so much to see and do at this castle. We spent so much time exploring everything, and the weather was agreeable.
We also had time to stop by Bussaco Palace Hotel (9JGM+9X Luso). This grand building and landscaped gardens are always a hit. The sky was overcast, lending a bit of grimness to the pictures, but the rain held off for the entire visit so that we could wander at our leisure.
On the last day of our holiday, we headed south of Coimbra to take in the roman ruins and a couple of castles. This is when we realized how destructive the storm had been. We had been staying north of our house thus far, but heading south (even just 30km) made a big difference.
Our first stop was south of Coimbra at Ruínas de Conímbriga (3GX5+CM Condeixa-a-Velha). The ruins seemed to be in good shape. However, trees on the property had been blown over, and I expect that the electricity was out because there were no staff members present and the museum was closed. This didn’t stop us or any of the other visitors from walking around the grounds, but it did stop us from seeing everything because many parts of the ruins were blocked off (for safety reasons, presumably). Nonetheless, what we did see was intriguing, and we will return when the site is fully opened.
Next stop was at Castelo de Penela (2JJ5+FW Penela). We ran into the same problem here. We could walk around the castle, but the gates were shut and we could not get inside. The damage from the storm strikes again. We did find an open restaurant to get lunch. Amazing food. The best we’ve had in quite some time. Highly recommend Varandas do Castelo (2JH4+QR Penela).
We found the same results at Castelo de Pombal (W97G+J2 Pombal). This grand fortress was also closed. The storm had blown off one of its castle doors and trees surrounding the castle were uprooted. It was clear that even with already having had three days since the storm that the clean-up would take much, much longer.
So, it was less than optimal that Debbie and Flo’s vacation to Portugal was met with closed doors. But they did not stop them from enjoying their time here. Yes, it would have been better for them if they could have gotten inside the roman ruins and castles, but being upset about that did not seem important when the lives of others touched by the horrendous storm were hit so much harder. Homes were lost, property was destroyed, towns were flooded and lives were taken by Storm Kristin. We have much to be thankful for having come out of the storm as we did.
Nola