This past year was quite a year. We thought we’d share what we considered to be some of the bests in 2023.
Well, as you well know, 2023 was a big year for us. We sold everything and moved across the Atlantic Ocean to Serra D’El Rei Portugal and began all new lives!
Community makes the move easier
Moving to Portugal (or anywhere new) is often tough but even tougher when you don’t know anyone, speak the language, or have any idea what you are doing. We have been so lucky this year to find our people.
The cafe across the street from us, A Serrana is the best watering hole in town. We have spent so much time there (and so much money). But we have met our friends Meg and Geoff from Scotland as well as Joelen and her boys from America. They have become a great support group as well as good drinking buddies.
We’ve also met many locals, luckily who speak some English and have helped us so much. Natalie owns Casa Lusa Home, where we bought many new items for our kitchen and bedroom. She also hooked me up with my Portuguese tutor. Her husband, Cesar was the one that helped us volunteer at festas this past August.
There are also our wonderful landlords, Mafalda and João who have set us up in a great place and helped with books, Portuguese, restaurants and all sorts of things to help us get our lives started.
Highlights of 2023
While living in Portugal we traveled to Scotland, the Algarve, Florence, Paris, and Zagreb.
Our trip to Scotland was a trip to dip our toes out of the EU for a short time. We were there only for 3 days, but we definitely want to go again. We loved the Mary’s Kings Close tour, walking the Royal Mile and trying the whisky! We also met Knocke and Alan for the first time and became instant friends!
We took a week out of the summer to spend it with Carrie in the Algarve. We stayed in Faro but drove to several different villages. We are looking forward to exploring more down there.
We loved meeting up with our friends in Florence for five days and then in Paris for a short weekend. Paris was so short, I didn’t even do a blog post on it. But Florence was an amazing trip! We loved visiting the Duomo and The Uffizi.
It was so great to see our friends since we moved away. We met Laura and Renee in Florence, Mac and Vicki in Paris, Lori in Porto, and Rick and Filomena in Nazaré. In addition to Carrie, Eli and Sheila also came visit.
Best of 2023
Best City: Zagreb–hands down, so easy to walk, fun markets, just a neat overall city that I would love to visit again. Walkable, great food, great drinks, so much culture. It was a truly amazing city.
Best Tour: Wine tour in Tuscany, Florence. I just love a good wine tour because there is wine. It was also great to get out of Florence and see some scenery and another village.
Best places in Portugal we have been to in 2023:
Benagil Caves in the Algarve were really cool. The boat ride out was lovely but long and you really only get to see the cave for a few minutes. But you also get to see the Algarve from the water and it is beautiful!
Quinta de Regaleira in Sintra was somewhat of a surprise this year. Eli had wanted to see two places in Sintra on his visit in December and we just fell in love with this place. The house is nice and all (not much to see in it, in my opinion) but the grounds are what you want to see. Exploring the many paths, climbing the towers and descending down the well make for a very adventurous day!
Best Beach–We love Foz do Alrelho –great beach bar for lunch, and when there are not a million people in Portugal, there is good parking. August is not the time to go there, but every other time has been great.
Reflections
We have no doubt had the best year ever and are eternally grateful for every opportunity and everyone that is part of our lives.
Ready for 2024!
What should we do next year?
To start the year, we are going to explore more in Portugal. There is just so much we have not done yet such as Cascais, Évora and Albufeira in the Algarve, the mountains (we’re not quite sure where yet), and revisit cities such as Aveiro, Porto, and the Douro valley.
We also want to do more wine tastings here because there is just so much wine…and olive oil. We haven’t really dove into that vat yet.
But we also get so excited about Europe when we see cheap plane tickets. We have several people coming to Spain this summer so we know we will go there, specifically Madrid and Barcelona. We will leave room for all the exploring!
By the end of next year, we will want to explore more Christmas markets and maybe even venture into Finland and Lapland to see Santa’s Village!
Who knows what 2024 has in store for us but we know it will be amazing! We will keep you posted on all the good stuff! Make sure you like and follow us on all of our social media and check out our YouTube Channel!! It also has our podcast listed. Hope to see you soon!
Shelley is a full time traveler, blogger and podcaster currently living in Portugal with her wife, 2 dogs and a cat. She is a former history teacher originally from Winston-Salem, NC but wanted to see what life was like abroad. Now she travels all over Portugal and Europe writing about what she sees and does and tells you all kinds of fun stories on the podcast at Wandering Works for Us.