By Justin Aufdermauer
Executive Director
Just seven months from now, the Chamber will be taking a few dozen people to explore the beauty and culture of Portugal. And we’d love for you to join us.
Registration for our third international trip opened on Friday, and those who register within the first 30 days will receive $100 off their trip. You can register at www.tillamook.grouptoursite.com or by calling 617-619-1170 and either mentioning my name or our tour number: 70131970.
There is a $450 deposit due at registration to secure your spot, and you’ll find several payment options available to make it easy and affordable. You can even set up a monthly automatic payment plan to conclude before we depart on our trip. The total cost for the excursion starts at right around $3,500 with airfare, however there are options to extend your trip for an additional cost or purchase the travel package without airfare.
The 10 day trip includes hand picked hotels, guided tours from local experts and plenty of time to explore on your own in each of the four cities we will be traveling to. We’ll arrive in Porto and after getting settled into your hotel, you can take some time to venture out on your own before that night’s welcome dinner.
The next day we’ll venture on a sightseeing tour of Porto with a local guide – including the medieval Old World Ribeira District and the picturesque Douro Riverfront. We’ll get to see first hand the city’s many iconic architectural structures including the Baroque-style Clerigos Tower.
After you’ve experienced the local guided trip, our next day in Porto is yours to do with as you wish; go explore new areas or go back and spend more time in a spot that piqued your interest the day before. Try a new restaurant or enjoy a glass of wine (or port) on the Riverfront.
On our fifth day in Portugal, we’ll head south to explore Coimbra on a guided walking tour of the city’s chapel and the country’s very first university. Then you’ll have an evening to yourself to explore Evora. The next day will include a sightseeing tour of Evora, one of Europe’s oldest inhabited cities. We’ll pass by the remains of a Roman temple, take a tour of a cork factory and take a stroll through the Chapel of Bones.
As the tour progresses, we will stop by the seafaring towns of Lagos and Sagres and enjoy the white-sanded beaches and stunning views of the sea from the Sagrass Fortress. We will also tour Lisbon, Portugal’s capital city, with several stops along the way including museums and monasteries that honor and depict the city’s maritime heritage. There’s actually so much to see and do in Lisbon that we’ve built in an entire day to go exploring by yourself before we head home.
If you hadn’t noticed, this trip is built with a lot of time to explore by yourself, creating a balance of guided tours and exploration days so you can spend time on your own without feeling like you’re missing out on another aspect of the trip. As always, there are options to add additional excursions for an extra cost – like dinner and a show in Lisbon, or or a float along the third longest river on the Iberian Peninsula that passes underneath some of the most iconic Old-World bridges in existence.
We’ll also be hosting an informational gathering to provide travel details and answer questions later this month. Stay tuned and we’ll announce the time and location of that meeting when it’s locked down.
If you have questions, we’d love to talk to you more about this trip and send you some additional information. Call the Chamber office at 503-842-7525.