At last I have sorted through our Portugal pictures and can write my report.

Portugal is a beautiful and warm-hearted country. The people there are amazing and really a pleasure to meet. The seafood is awesome and pastries are to die for. Their oranges taste like nothing I had in North Amereca: they are so juicy and rich in taste! And they grow on the trees in winter even on the streets - like our maple trees.
Traveling there in early spring is challenging becasue it can be quite rainy: we had some rain at least half of the days but there was just one completely rainy and gloomy day the rest were rain and some sun. On the other hand the crowds are non-existing and the prices are very budget friendly at this time.
All in all we had an amazing trip and a lot of fun and great memories!

I made a big mistake of not taking my own camera. I thought it would be enough for my hubby to have a camera. Unfortunately it is not easy to make pictures of street style if you have to ask somebody to take them: by the time you have his attention the person you were intersted in is gone!
I have not seen neither BF jeans nor slouchy trousers: no wonder our Rute's family had hard time adjusting to her BF jeans! Actually there was an almost total rule of skinnies.
Jeans were everywhere, both dark and faded: I did not see too many non-jeans trousers. To my dismay I have seen quite a few examples of leggings worn as pants.
Except some young girls in mini-skirts dresses and skirts were almost non-existing. Boots of all styles reigned supreme including tall boots.
One thing which jumped on me was the abcence of short hairstyles on women: majority of them wore their hair long, old and young both.

I was not very successful with shopping. First of all we did not have much time we wanted to spare from sightseeing. Secondly nothing really caught my eye in the stores. I made one purchase only - a nude oversized clutch (pic 1)which I still have to debut. I am warming out for the idea of a clutch and caught myself several times on holding a cross-body bag as a clutch.

The weather was cool and rainy at least half the time. Trench, straight leg jeans and combat boots were worn more than anything else. Turtelenecks and sweaters were the most useful tops. I also layered button down shirts under the sweater quite often.
My slouchy trousers were not worn oftem because I don't like them much with the boots and I had to wear boots a lot due to the rain. Surprisingly my dress got worn a lot because it played well with the boots.
Here are my lessongs learned on this trip:

1. Waterproof and comfortable footwear is a must and ideally more than 1 pair so you can switch daily. Now I am on the lookout to add a couple of pairs.
2. Waterproof trench with a removable liner is a godsend! I did not have to remove the liner at all but it is a nice feature - and makes the trench warmer.
3. I should take more warm clothes than I think I need if traveling in the shoulder season in the moderate climate.
4. Sleveless tops are pretty much useless in this season unless I travel to tropics. I would rather take some lightweight shirts or tops with long sleeves which can be scrunched if it is hot.
5. Having more than one blazer is a good idea. I really liked t have one leather blazer and one thin woolblazer - having them in different weights made dressing for different weather conditions easier.
6. Travel with one carryon per person for 2 weeks is comletely possible. We were so happy our bags were small when we had to lag them uphill on the steep cobblestoned streets! Wheels just don't work there - period. Also my hubby could carry both of them if required - he would not be able to do this with bigger bags.

This is what I packed- in the order of usage (see pictures 2- 9):

1. Trench - worn at least half of the trip (pic
2. Leather blazer and black tuxedo blazer - one of these was worn almost every day either layered under the trench or as a outer layer on warmer days
3. Straight leg dark wash jeans - were heavily used because of the rain
4. Slouchy trousers - were worn on the plane and when I was able to wear oxfords. In drier weather I would wear them more often.
5. Jersey stretch dress - worn at least 1/4 of the days.
6. Black and purple turtlenecks - worn a lot for warmth
7. Black and white striped sweater - the same
8. Gap cat BF shirt - I wore this one more than oher shirts, layered under blazers and striped sweater
9. Denim shirt - worn once
10.Black and white striped shirt - not worn at all: fabric was too thin for the weather.
11. Black sequin short sleeve top - worn once layered over a black t-neck
12. Grey and black striped long sleeve tee - worn once
13 Combat boots - worn the most
14 Flat oxfords - worn fair amount
15 Nude low heel Fidji pumps - worn once - too cold
16 3 scarves - one wool and 2 silk - worn almost daily
17 One white studded belt

I think it was all - not counting socks and underwear of course

Unfortunately my Steve Madden combat boots did not survive this trip: rain and steep cobbled streets were too much for them. I am looking for a waterproof replacement for them now. (pic 10)

And just a fun fact: do you know how monks battled obesity in the middle ages? In one of the monasteries they had a very narrow door through which they entered their refectory (dining room): those who could not squeeze through it had to fast until they could. See pic 11- I can definitely squeeze into it - whew!

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