Today we’re headed to Portugal, and it’s a great opportunity for me to go through some old photos. Portugal is a place that sparks good times.

The first time I visited Portugal was back in 2013 with Joe and our friend Emma. We drank our way around Porto’s port houses before setting out on a road trip along the Douro valley. 

Of the port houses we tried, my picks would be Calem, Taylor’s and Croft. It’s hard to go wrong though, especially with a tawny. When in Porto we also witnessed Portugal’s bizarre student tradition of praxe. All of the students were parading around town covered in Coke cans.

After leaving Porto we drove East along the winding Douro valley. You very quickly feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere. We found a tiny village paradise somewhere outside of Vila Nova de Foz Côa. It was the kind of place where elderly people would stop and stare intently at you as you drove past in a car they didn’t recognise. It’s a truly special part of the world. Our cottage had a resident cat, who was completely vicious. 

We then headed south via Serra da Estrela, mainland Portugal’s tallest mountain and eventually the medieval university town of Coimbra.

We ended up in Sintra and Lisbon. The coastline around Lisbon is possibly the most dramatic of anywhere I’ve ever visited. In fact, to this day, my article about Praia da Ursa is still this blog’s most-read article.

We’ve been back to Portugal since, both with my parents and with friends from Cambridge. Portugal has never failed to disappoint, even with 40mph winds and torrential rain.

Now I really feel like a glass of tawny and a Pastéis de Nata.