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After the delights of Porto and walking the Portuguese Camino, I knew I wanted MORE TIME in Portugal. The next walking adventure I planned in Portugal was the surprisingly perfect Rota Vicentina! In fact I have spent so much time documenting the Rota Vicentina on this blog that I have neglected my city visits to …
Snapshots of Provence: A Journey to The South of France I can’t remember when I first started wanting to visit Provence. It might have been in college when we watched La Gloire de Mon Pere in French class. Or maybe it was earlier, when my grandmother introduced me to Vincent Van Gogh through paintings of …
I’m returning to Porto in 2026 to walk a section of the Portuguese Camino with friends. I’m encouraging my friends to add on days to visit Porto before we start walking, so I’ve put this collection of photos together to serve as a list of recommendations for visiting this delightful city. It’s been four years …
Day 5 on the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Vila do Bispo to Cabo de San Vincente 14.5 km/9 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. We all woke up well-rested and happy for our final day on the trail. The breakfast at our guest house, Pure Fonte Velha in Vila …
Day 4 on the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Carrapateira to Vila do Bispo 16 km/9.6 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. On Day 4, we had a decision to make. The Rota Vicentina is a network of trails. Sometimes all the trails converge and there is only one trail, …
Day 3 on the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Arrifana to Carrapateira 20 km/12.4 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. Day 3 started with some happy faces because we had a beautiful breakfast at the Utopia Guest House and another day of sunshine! We walked a while to get …
Day 2 on the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Praia de Monte Clerigo to Arrifana 13 km/7 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. I woke up before everyone else on our second walking day. (It’s always an advantage not to have jet lag.) We didn’t need to get an …
Part Two of the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Odeceixe de Praia to Aljezur 20 km/12.5 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. As soon as I got home from walking about half the Rota Vicentina with my sister in January, I wrote to three of my friends who were …
Day 4 of the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Zambujeira do Mar to Odeceixe 18.5 km/11.4 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. Rain was predicted on our last day of walking the Rota Vicentina, but the host at Hostel Nature told us that it would not rain. He was …
Day 3 of the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Almogarve to Zambujeira do Mar 22 km/13.6 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. I woke up on our third day of walking the Rota Vicentina thinking we couldn’t possibly have ANOTHER day as gorgeous as the previous two. It was just …
Day 2 of the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Vila de Nova Milfontes to Almograve 15.5 km/9.6 miles You can find all of the Rota Vicentina posts here. After a substantial breakfast at our hostel in Vila de Nova Milfontes, we headed back out onto the coastal trail. We had a shorter day …
Day 1 of the Rota Vicentina The Fisherman’s Trail Porto Covo to Vila de Nova Milfontes 20 km/12.5 miles Anna and I arrived in Porto Covo in the dark on a bus from Lisbon to begin our journey on the Rota Vicentina. It was a chilly January evening and we wandered the streets to find …
Picking Blackberries I get so excited when I start to see berries on the trail. And it’s even more fun when I am walking with someone who shares my enthusiasm for picking them. This past summer, we found blueberries, blackberries and raspberries on the Via Alpina. And blackberries were absolutely everywhere along our summer hikes …
Something you might already know about me is that I like to travel light. It’s a point of pride for me to leave home for weeks at a time with only my trusty blue 24 liter backpack. Sometimes when I’m walking with a group, I find that supplemental things I carry – a first aid …
No One Feeds You Like The Swiss The Swiss Mountain Hut Breakfast might be my favorite Swiss Meal. A close cousin to German breakfast, the offerings are both predictable and plentiful. There will always be muesli, which is kind of like granola, but without any sweetener. A staple of the Swiss breakfast table, muesli …
Meet Me Under the Trees to Rest I am a total sucker for a big tree-lined pedestrian promenade. Whoever first had the idea to plant two gorgeous rows of trees to create a shaded walkway was a genius, as well as a visionary, because giant trees take a long time to grow. It’s like having …
The Drink at The End of A Walk When I look at my watch and see that it is past 4pm and I have been wiping the sweat from my face since the morning, I start hoping that the end of my walking day is in sight. I can almost taste the cold pint waiting …
Wisteria and Sunshine Wisteria and Tuscany just go together for me. Maybe it’s because I usually seem to visit Italy in the springtime, so many of my memories there are draped in the violet boughs. I love wisteria anywhere though, and I seek out its fragrant blossoms wherever it grows: behind the church in Arkansas, …
The Perfect Picnic Lunch We almost always pack a picnic lunch for our Saturday shenanigans in the hills. Tuna sandwiches are lovingly prepared and then stacked into tupperwares, or in a pinch, we will pick up boxed sandwiches in the shop on our way out to the countryside, taking part in the ubiquitous meal deal …
MINI WALKING STORIES Mini Walking Stories is a project I’m doing this month to catalog a fabulous year of walking. Every day during December, I’m going to choose one photo and invite you to come along with me for a few minutes on one of the walks I took in 2022. Read more stories here. …