Travel Review: Luxury Tour of Portugal, Oporto, Sintra, Lisbon, Batalham, Coimbra, Obidos, Fado Show, Hiking, Wine Tasting

We spent a brief, but very memorable, 8 days exploring Portugal: Oporto, Duoro Valley, Lisbon, Sintra with a few stops in Coimbra, Batalha and Obidos.  Our travel team were awesome.  They were extremely friendly & truly appeared as if they loved their jobs and were excited to show their country to us.  (and in all honesty, EVERYONE in Portugal was extremely friendly- really a nice, nice people) They were punctual (never one late pick-up), responsive (returned or answered every query/ phone call promptly) and amenable to last minute changes (we decided to forgo a tour of Lisbon at the last minute to return to Sintra on one of the days for a hike as it was hot & crowded & we wanted to get off the beaten track a bit!).  Two of our guides were like walking encyclopedias.  Our guide had an enthusiasm about people and his country that is rare and wonderful.  He showed us the small towns of Coimbra, Balalha and Obidos and seeing them through his eyes made them some of our favorite stops.  Our other guide was calm & thorough and easy going- perfect for seeing Sintra and Lisbon.  Though we had a few VERY minor mishaps (lost reservations at a restaurant, no veggie option which we were told there would be at the Fado house)- these were more than made up by apologies and extras!  I would over-all I give our agent & her crew FIVE stars for a wonderful trip & introduction to Portugal and a lovely tailored service.