Life in a Van Along the Portuguese Coast

So as we carry on our little van life adventure here in Portugal our goal is to hit Lisbon within the next two days but we finally hit the beautiful coast. So for now let you let us show you your morning routine. I haven't had coffee yet so that is that's first things first before we hit the road. Also we're doing this with my parents they have their van there too. We really should do these the night before it would make our mornings easier but we don't we're not like that so first up dishes before breakfast. Then we get to do a little bit of cleaning. Now coffee. At my parents place. Thanks for having us for breakfast. You're welcome. Waking up in these little villages along the Portuguese coast is just the best and that's going to be the plan today. We're going to drive along the coast to go see more villages including a place where they have some of the largest highest and most intense waves in the entire world and of course probably a little bit of wine because well Portugal. So we just started our drive along the coast and we didn't even make it five minutes and we have already pulled over because this is a windy road on the edge of a cliff which is the beach down down down down the cliff and it is absolutely stunning already. Five minutes in it's gonna be a great day. My parents are doing a little photo shoot on the side of the road. Come on guys. Oh no it's filling. You guys team Monster or team Red Bull? Let us know. Every so often I do like a good sugar free ride at the best. So you're going on the low season. Tracy's trying to translate the parking machine. It's not working no it's it gives me my money back every time. No but it's cool. We did it we got our parking ticket yay not ticket but like the receipt thing. So welcome to Nazaré a small town on the Portuguese coast only about 10,000 people live here and according to history this was one of the place that was providing people with shelter against vikings. Oh interesting. That's pretty Other fun fact though this is where some of like the largest surf waves in the world are. Yeah sadly it seems pretty calm today I'm very disappointed because we are in the season for the big waves. Our campsite seemed to have more waves than this but anyway we'll see what we get yeah and lunch too we'll get lunch. So we are having lunch at Infusion Restaurante on a very like touristy street it's a very touristy place like Nazaré is really for tourists and a lot of people not a lot of people living here but we're right by the ocean it's very nice but the two things that you know when a restaurant is for tourists there's like seven different languages on the menu and there's images everywhere oh and the third one there's somebody like waiting on the side of the street like come to my restaurant come to my restaurant. Anyway I'm sure it's gonna be good anyway but probably much more expensive than it should be. Very very nice lunch just a bit expensive like costed 111 euros it's not that crazy for four people with everything we have but compared to other restaurant that we've been it's definitely on the higher side. Really really really good food I am so excited they have some sort of like cable cars that goes all the way up the hill we just missed it it's gonna be back in 10 minutes but it's been closed for over like nine or ten months but now it's open we were here to take a cab and then I saw people in it and I got real excited Tracy Tracy Tracy Tracy Tracy Tracy that was worth two euro fifty for sure welcome to the top of Nazaré. Now we're gonna walk to the fort and see if we get any kind of lucky with some crazy waves I don't know I don't know apparently it's on the other side that we didn't see earlier so who knows. Correction to what I said earlier it's not one of the biggest waves in the world it is the biggest waves in the world at least according to that sign but again I don't know Tracy I don't think there's gonna be waves but maybe maybe I'm not sure what that statue is supposed to represent but I can tell you it's what nightmares are made of. Hey it's right here so it was once very populated by deer and then this someone was hunting and on a foggy 12th century morning he isolated himself from his companions while he was chasing a deer that fell off the cliff on the verge of the fall then that cried out for help of our lady of Nazaré the horse sticked its rear legs on top of the cliff immediately saving his life That was a long story. That's only half of it I tried to shorten it up give you the cliff notes version. It's basically because this place is all about deers and surfers so here's a deer a surfer with a deer like a deer head yeah. Oh they're definitely big waves but not the biggest waves in the world we're just inside the season so I think we missed out on that. So the reason why they have the largest waves in the entire world it's due to an underground canyon that was actually created due to an earthquake a very long time ago. That is quite beautiful. I don't know if you can truly see through the screen like how high we are but we are very very high and the waves are actually coming to this height as crazy as it sounds during the wave season or whatever you want to call it and people are actually surfing on those waves but they have to have like jet skis and boats following them because if they fall they need to be rescued super quick before they hit the rock so it's uh that's an extreme sport for sure. Okay so it doesn't quite go as high as the fort it's kind of an optical illusion but still up to 86 feet tall which is insane. Now to go back up we're taking a little four by four because it's uh it's the best way to go back up you know you don't want to walk back up that hill So even though we did pay for parking that time slot finished 46 minutes ago so uh let's see if we get a ticket hopefully not. I was trying to get back to the van as soon as possible to avoid the ticket but Trace is like no we gotta do a detour because you saw a gelato place earlier. You're welcome to go and save the van and I'll just meet you there you don't blame me for this. Can I have one scoop of Kinder Bueno? I got the Kinder Bueno and it is a good choice. Good choice. Back to the van. Do we have tickets? Do we have a fine? I don't think so! Victory! I mean look at that ticket free windshield my favorite kind of windshield. Next up we are going to pick up our welcome package for where we're staying I think we're staying about 15 minutes past that so it's a little winery in something like that so let's go time to like back up this massive thing e-brake oh e-brake we've been forgetting the e-brake a lot it's on the it's on the opposite side it's really weird I got it I got it so here's the thing too on these streets Europe is hard to tell when it's van friendly sometimes you get down extremely small like cobblestone streets um so we're on one right now we're doing okay David is a good driver and this is why he's driving but it's a little stressful at times I'm not gonna lie for tonight we have to register in a wine shop like 10-15 minutes away from the actual campsite so so it's really cool because you get a lot for your money a lot of places where the wineries where you can stay with your van they actually charge you a certain amount but they also give you free bottles of wine technically so here we paid 38 euros to her van to stay for a night but they give you 37 euros worth of wine so it's only one euro to sleep basically it's a bit tight yeah got an extra three bottles of wine but we need to go to the grocery store hurry up don't leave your hands in there too long I know it's gonna start chopping again that machine is deadly let's go to our home for the night so on this vineyard basically there's no designated camping or parking spot they just told us anywhere in the vineyard you can just park and stay there for the night so basically like Tracy went on a little walking recce to see where we can actually put the two vans because don't want to block a road well this is it this is home for the night truly like in the middle of the vineyard like it's stunning we are staying in Quinta do Senguinal again booked through Portugal Easy Camp you pay 38 euro they give you three bottles of wine why not why not so the thing that's different about this place which I kind of really enjoy is they just give you the pin to their vineyard and you can park wherever you want in here so we've just kind of pulled off the main track so that tractors can still go through if they need to because we probably won't be out of here until like eight or nine tomorrow and yeah home for the night and a beautiful view view beautiful view while over the vineyards and drinking their wine so something we actually haven't tested out yet is the shower and I desperately need to wash this hair so that's what I'm going to test out now I'm trying to think because it's actually for once really hot in here we've been having the heat on because it's been a little bit cooler but I'm hot right now so I think we're going to open some of these I just need to figure out how to do it and I don't want to break it okay I think that works screen so we don't get buggies in here let's try this out so because that's where you hold the shower head you put that up there and then it's just like a wet bath so everything gets wet so I need to make sure I'm taking out what I need to obviously take out these towels and then I don't know we'll see see how it goes have to say that was actually glorious and I didn't even drain that much water we were at like two-thirds before I started and still registering at two-thirds so just have to be very water conscious but man that was worth it I'm sorry but like where else can you get a shower and you just come out to this beautiful view van life man you're you're getting me my mom is making supper and she just keeps saying that this is the most beautiful place she's ever made any food and I mean come on like kitchen is right there view is right there doesn't get much better than that thanks for having us over for supper time to go back home wishes right there well what a great and successful day it was just just portugal is beautiful like every time we drive along the coast the little towns the little restaurants like man and I would say van life gives a different perspective um so we booked everything through portugal easy camp well most everything we have and not sponsored but man they have pulled through like tonight in the vineyard the other night with the amazing wine tasting like just can't say enough good to be honest so now we're gonna go to bed and start this all over again in the morning good morning coffee is being brewed eggs are being cooked it's gonna be a good breakfast so if you're hypersensitive to rattles and noises I wouldn't say van life is for you but the couple that we do have we just put some bags in them sometimes we put a bag there homemade fix it works it works great so we're just about to get going we're eventually heading to a serrera but we want to hit down more on the coast first so we're stopping on another little town first so europe and portugal is no exception they have a lot of uh tolls right the problem with this van is that it's the worst height you're too low for the high one and too high for the tall for the low one how much uh this one 215 but we didn't drive on this highway very long just doing a quick stop on the side of the road there's a beautiful viewpoint and like probably like 50 60 people surfing down there welcome to ericetta on the coast of portugal a small town of about 10 000 people on that 12 kilometer square we're about 45 kilometers from lisbon right now and what's special about this place about being on the ocean with a beautiful beach and very cute village with a bunch of restaurant well it is considered to be the surfing capital of europe so for us something that we love doing whenever we're in any european country honestly is having a car and driving around so because of that you get to experience these little tiny towns that the train or maybe the bus doesn't actually go to so on top of that having the van this time i am in love with van life maybe a little bit too much but i love that we can just wake up wherever we are driving through these little cute towns stop at a cafe go for a swim get back in the van keep on going it really makes you experience the european countries or any country much differently and talking about swimming we're gonna go do that right now we're gonna leave my parents a little cafe when they can have a drink and we're gonna go down to the ocean let's go put our bidding suit on i bet it's gonna be freezing i'm excited ready to go for a swim okay so i know this place looks like nice dreamy sunny with the beach and everything but it's only like 23 degrees with a little wind and this is the atlantic ocean so i think it's gonna be freezing yeah i think so too back home it's like you go down to the beautiful beach and then your your legs get numb because like it's probably like 55 to 60 degrees fahrenheit okay yeah we just like gotta commit to it there's a few people so maybe it's not that bad it's just it's gonna be cold everyone that i've seen when they touch the water they're like okay it's freezing i think it's colder than helipad oh geez oh that's that oh my okay ready are we just going not running but okay we're just going in this is this is a cold plunge oh my oh my god i'm going oh my oh this is like canada one two three okay okay yeah this is nice i love it the water is so cold and it doesn't fit like with our surrounding it's so sunny the beach is stunning the beautiful village and the water is like is under 60 for sure oh for sure in nova scotia there's a beach called crescent beach yeah which is like this crystal clear water but like man in all honesty i'm numb now so uh you can just stay in forever that's fine still feels freezing to me and just like that we swim in portugal it's actually really cool i was like oh yeah we swim in the atlantic on the other side i was like yeah literally on the other side because we're from basically our house is just very far that way very very far let's go let's go now that we are nice and refreshed we're gonna go join my parents on that little patio that they found with a beautiful view for some food for some drinks for some family time memories forever such good memories so something super popular here are like sardine which is like lightly fried but like you can see like it's a full sardine the face is right there and you're supposed to eat it all so we'll see dip in sauce head first it's pretty good this tastes like a fried fish yeah yeah that's actually really good especially with the sauce that's it that's enough tracing my mom removed the head it's not a real way you know it's not the real way you can't drive with those on no so now you're gonna drive not too far how far is it uh it's actually an hour it's only an hour away to sintra along the coast to go see a colorful palace something like that penna palace penna palace let's go these are actually really good let's go get out of this very tight parking spot that's the one thing about driving these vans they're not that big but you know they're much bigger than like a conventional car so like sometimes driving in those narrow street or right now like with these little walls everywhere and the cars parked it's a bit it's a bit tight but i'm sure if i can do it you can do can we just acknowledge that he like did that first try he got that i got that you got that okay so after some very narrow street we made it i found a parking on the side of the road but i'm using two parking spots i guess i can just pay for two parking spots maybe that's one there that's one there two there you go van life issue solved i think i paid for two parking spots so hopefully nobody's gonna say anything have a good day thank you so we just made it to penna palace one of the most popular i would say castle here in portugal and maybe even in europe for two main reasons first very unique look very colorful palace i think it's really pretty but also it's on top of a very very high mountain and the fact that people actually brought building material this high is very impressive so you can actually take this bus which my parents are gonna do for three euros each to go all the way up to the palace or you can walk an unknown amount of time up a very steep hill to save three euros we'll see so this palace was built in the 1800s by king fernando ii of portugal and believe it or not this was only a summer residence quite stunning right the only negative thing about these kind of places it is packed with doors it's not even high season it's an insane amount of people so come come early come around so we just got out of the castle which was beautiful but here is yeah here is our thought about it tracy um so the palace is absolutely beautiful i would say unless you're really into like historic inside things or like furniture that type of thing i think just your 10 euro for the park would be sufficient because it's huge outside and it gives you access to go on top of the the palace and everything but you pay an additional 10 euros a person to go inside and see the different bedrooms and bathrooms and all these things so if you're really into it and the castle and everything yeah do it but otherwise just like the outside is just stunning you'll get some amazing photos and everything go to a little cafeteria you still have access to the shop so that's kind of our thoughts but now once again because we're not really used to like all these touristy spot um we underestimated how much time it was gonna take and our parking expired two minutes ago and we are very very far from it so if you don't have a ticket it's gonna be a miracle we'll be there in about a half hour fingers crossed from the top down we took that one girl that didn't drive any tuk-tuk train or old car or anything just a boring white van but okay now let's see if we have a ticket on our van hopefully not fingers crossed fingers crossed and no ticket yeah two and two we got lucky yesterday too so we just arrived to lisbon camping and bungalow it's a proper like an actual campsite kind of touristy we have neighbors hello neighbors they're not answering um but we're gonna be here for the night it's fully serviced so that's kind of nice there's a restaurant and everything but we have power there's a place to empty your gray water and our uh brown water if you know what i mean um yeah i mean tracy's getting the house ready we're gonna be cozy for the night i think it's right by the highway though so there's that okay see you later so we're gonna go explore a little bit well not really explore but apparently there's like a mini supermarket and yeah that way and a restaurant are you sure well according to the map it is okay we'll see we'll see what it's like we basically still have food like leftovers from the last couple of days but if we can add like a pizza for example or a pizza i really want pizza oh i'd love we're gonna we're gonna add that to our meal tonight pizza but we haven't had any yet so we found pizza but we have no way to cook it what's this well again no pizza but we got local beer and chorizo they did have pizza we just don't have an oven yeah yeah that's fine i really think that this tonight is kind of the essence of van life just you know eating like whatever is left in the fridge in a random camping in the middle of portugal not too far from actually but just you know being together eating together it's a good time so i know the van life looks all glamorous and beautiful there's one part that i've been dreading since we picked up those van at the beginning of the week and we're gonna go do that right now but first here are like here are a few thoughts yeah about van life in portugal i think first of all in general portugal travel or any european travel get out of the cities go see the countryside rent a car whatever way you do it i think it definitely adds to the experience and like having a car in europe is it's truly freedom yes it really is van life in portugal fantastic like personally i have nothing bad to say the only downside is the fact that it makes parking difficult but that we knew going into it in like the big cities but it's manageable like we can always like kind of find a solution and otherwise i mean like more wineries and less commercial part like campsite yeah i would go with that so again i mentioned it in the last video but park for night is a fantastic app that gives you like service stations gas stations free parking non-free parking everything you need to know and then for the wineries where we got the wine i booked through portugal easy camp yeah and yeah anyway my parents loved it like it's not necessarily their kind of travel no they truly enjoy the experience so take your parents van life thing like they're gonna love it yeah and otherwise like uh we booked these through uh indy camper we're not sponsored but we'll put their link down below if you ever uh want to book a cool van very good quality super cool vans easy to drive comfy to sleep in yeah and they're not just here in portugal they're like all over europe yeah they're in north america as well and everything so anyway check them out if you'd like uh and now what i've been dreading let's go okay we made it to uh the dump the first step is easy it's gray water that i can do don't worry that's not like poo water that's just the sink so it just goes there all the way to this here it's all contained thank god it is this is five days of number one and number two yeah got it tracy's just walking around with poo so until next time see you guys in lisbon