Where to Stay: Hotel AS Lisbon; Honest Hotel Seville
Where to Eat: Restaurante Inefável in Barcelos, Varela Churrasqueria in Pontevedra, Pasteis de Belem in Lisbon, Billy Brunch in Seville
What to See: colorful statues in Barcelos; the car-free town center of Pontevedra; Tropical Botanic Garden in Lisbon; ceramic museum in the Triana neighborhood of Seville
Day 15: On the road from Porto to Pontevedra with a delicious stop in Barcelos
Getting from Porto to Galicia by car is under two hours, so we had time to kill. We were staying with a friend in Pontevedra and not meeting till the late afternoon. Scott named three potential towns in Portugal to visit, and the rooster-themed Barcelos made it my pick. We were not disappointed.
Barcelos has colorful statues, many of roosters, but not only.
Upon arriving by car, we walked by the river. Northern Portugal has a lot of these small towns with waterfront. It’s so charming.
Then we walked to the town center to look for a place to eat and saw a street ad for a café off the beaten path. Restaurante Inefável is a place I would travel to. It’s so charming inside, and the menu offered three choices of entrée that each came with rice, salad and a drink – 8 Euros each! I had the whole fish which was served with roasted potatoes, carrots and long string beans. Scott had the chicken empanada, which was roasted chicken atop mashed potatoes, almost like a Spanish shepherd pie.
We then walked around Barcelos, stopping at Igrejo do Bom Jesus do Cruz, a small but ornate church that is free to visit. Definitely stop in to admire the tiles and carvings.
We rambled up and down streets with restaurants and shops. Of course, we stopped for more pastries. We split three pastries and two drinks for 7 Euros total. That’s not even one dessert back in the States. We picked five pastries to bring to my friend, and that was 5 Euros!
Our final stop was to see Igreja Matriz de Santa Maria Maior, the church where Barcelos got its rooster theme. It’s a fascinating story, which you can read on Portugal Online.
The drive from Barcelos to Pontevedra took under two hours, but we lose an additional hour due to the time difference between Spain and Portugal. No matter – people eat late in both countries, so we had time to explore car-free Pontevedra, before a nice dinner at Varela Churrasqueria, a relatively new restaurant opened in a former manufacturing facility and run by a Michelin-starred chef.
Day 16: Pontevedra
The day was drizzly, but we were still able to tour the beach areas by car. Our host mentioned that locals say Galicia was made by God resting his hand on the earth. If you look at a map of Galicia, it does seem like the different water inlets that make up the Pontevedra coast are fingers!
We attended Sunday mass at Co-Cathedral de Santa Maria.
We then walked the car-free town center by day.
Lunch was a homemade chicken and pork paella by our generous hosts.
Evening was a drive to Santiago de Compostela, the endpoint for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. We arrived when it was already getting dark, so we were only able to see the cathedral and walk around a few streets. It’s definitely a town worth a longer return visit.
Day 17: On the road from Pontevedra to Lisbon
Lisbon is about five hours from Pontevedra. Roads are terrific, but tolls are higher in Northern Spain and Portugal than other places we drove. We parked the car in a garage for our stay in Lisbon since we wouldn’t need it to navigate the city. Our hotel, the Hotel AS Lisbon, has a metro station and bus right in front, a large park and many shops and restaurants nearby. After unpacking we hopped on the metro to get to the waterfront and see Lisbon at night.
Day 18: Lisbon
Scott went running early and was able to see Lisbon at daybreak. This central stretch of green is where many buses intersect (much like Columbus Circle bordering Central Park in NYC).
Our dedicated full day in Lisbon was unscheduled. We bought a 24-hour unlimited bus and metro pass and planned to hop on and off. We started with a metro ride to the neighborhood where a friend has a condo. She’s selling, so who knows?
It’s a nice residential area and with Lisbon’s fantastic public transit convenient to everything. Then we headed to Pasteis De Nata, a café rated as having the best pastel de nata, my favorite Portuguese pastry.
This café did not disappoint. There are sweet and savory choices, an open kitchen where you can see the pastries, and lots of seating. We had seven items and three drinks, and the total was just under $20!
After gorging, we worked a little bit of the extra calories off with a visit to the Tropical Botanical Garden in Lisbon.
This small but mighty garden had our favorite plants – the prickly pear cactus!
There were also peacocks roaming all over the property.
After walking the garden, we rode the bus along the waterfront for siesta at our hotel.
Lisbon comes alive at night, so I’m sure the main sites were bustling. But we were tired and didn’t feel like jumping on the metro or waiting for the bus. Our hotel is walkable to many restaurants and shops, so we wandered around till we got to Sheriffs Restaurant, a steakhouse with a buffet that allowed us to try different things. My favorites were the twice baked potato, fried bananas (really anything fried, as the onion rings, French fries and yucca were also tasty), sausage and chicken legs.
Day 19: On the road from Lisbon to Seville
The drive from Lisbon to Seville is about five hours, and one of the first things we noted on arrival was the orange trees. Scott and I love fruit trees, so this was a real treat. We arrived mid-afternoon and passed the Plaza de Armas, a transportation hub that also has stores and hosts events. A film festival was running while we were there.
We checked into The Honest Hotel, which is a short walk to the main neighborhoods we planned to visit. Our first stop was exploring the streets near us and getting some tapas. Then I opted to stay in for the evening, while Scott explored Seville at night.
Day 20: Nov 14 Seville
We started our full day in Seville, birthplace of flamenco dancing, with breakfast at Billy Brunch, a café near our hotel that really leans into their duck mascot. The sugar packets bear the mascot. They even give out duck stickers (I took two).
Given how many pastries we have been eating, I opted for the superfoods omelet (essentially kale and spinach), served with a side salad and rustic bread. I also had a hot matcha tea. Scott got his usual scrambled eggs, sausage, and iced tea. We did have pastries later, but at least we started out the day pretty good!
Our first stop was crossing the Isabel Bridge into the Triana neighborhood. This old area of Seville was the home of ceramic making in Seville, though the factories are now closed. We visited the ceramic museum and learned more than we would ever need about how the gorgeous tile and pottery are mad.
There is also a fresh food market where vendors sell fruit, vegetables, meat and other goodies. There is ample seating if you want to get a drink or snack.
We then walked to the Seville Cathedral. We stayed outside, preferring to skip the lines and just walk around. There is enough to see, and we like getting our steps. History buffs should enter, however, as Christopher Columbus is buried there.
We also saw the Royal Palace grounds – more orange trees!
After an afternoon siesta – Scott napped, and I watched movies (Dampyr and Players, horror and rom com respectively) – we headed back out to walk the many car-free streets in the town center.
We went to a tabloa (essentially a bar) for drinks and a flamenco show. This was a place recommended by our hotel and featured in several lists of “best places to watch flamenco”. On a future trip, I would opt for an actual show. At this place, the 7:30p set started over an hour late, lasted about 20 minutes and featured just one guitarist, one singer and one dancer, not dressed in the typical bright Flamenco costume.
However, we ended the night with a bright spot. The car-free streets make Seville easy to walk around at night. There are so many cafes where you can duck in for drinks, tapas or a full meal. We opted for three tapas at one place, and then finished with churros with chocolate sauce.
Up next: three days in Madrid
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
