re: Just returned from Spain / Portugal

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The Moorish castle was cool as well, but i would have had a heart attack if my two kids were with me on that. You can walk anywhere you want there, and there were several places where you're walking on these steps that were only big enough for one person, yet there's people going up and down those steps, and the sides are barely even knee high, and if you go over them, you die. There's no way someone hasn't accidently died there goign over the edge.

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The castle was great, but it did feel a a little unsafe. My wife was freaking when we were walking on those narrows sections with the kids.

What is it your looking for out of this trip?

Beaches? Historical cities? Good food? Mountainous/foresty nature?

And how long can you spare for the trip?

I think it’s great you’ve seen so many places per trip, but as if often recommended taking a bit more time per stop (minimum 2 full days for smaller spots and minimum 4 full days for more time consuming stops), more often than not - will make the experience much more relaxing, enjoyable and rewarding.

I mentioned Lake Garda in another post ITT, I just came back from there and I think it really has a lot to offer, I think it’s a great place to base yourself out of for a solid 4-7 full days.

If you want an extended itinerary to work with taking some of your mentioned stops in mind - i.e. Slovenia (where I’m headed to myself for the first time in 2 week’s time) you could do something like:

- Fly into Venice (1 night/full day)
- Head to Lake Garda and stay yourself there for 4+ days, my advice would be to base yourself in either Garda town or Malceisine - from there you can enjoy the lake shore beachy vibes, visit other charming lakeside towns (Limone sul Garda; Riva del Garda; Sirmione); visit surrounding wine regions (Valpolicella, Soave, Franciacorta, Bardolino); day-trip to Verona; take the kiddos to the lake’s amusement or waterparks - Garda Land & Caneva World
- Head to Slovenia - on the way stop in Trieste (day trip); head to Piran on the Slovenian coast for a day/night enjoy the Slovenian seaside and the city’s well-preserved Venetian architecture.
- from Piran stop at the Škocjan caves and Predjama castle before settling in Ljubljana, Lake Bohinj or Bled areas, enjoy the nature and scenery of the Triglav national park before headed to Ljubljana for a day or two and flying out of there.

The other alternative I propose would he the same post-Garda (Trieste + Slovenia) but instead start in Pula & Rovinj in Croatia and allocate time to see a little bit more of Slovenia.

Both of these itineraries easily fill up 2 whole weeks if done at a semi-leisurely pace

I'd fly through Lisbon. The range of things you can do and see there are far beyond what Porto offers. Like a lot of travelers, I'd say Portugal is my favorite country...that includes the Azores.

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Like more and more of Europe, younger people in Portugal can speak very good English. I was told that they start English classes in the 4th grade. Older people speak French as thier 2nd language.

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They also have many channels in english on tv, unlike other bigger countries.
That's what the guys i was with in portugal said was the most helpful way to learn english, watching shows and movies in english with portuguese subtitles, to go along with learning in school.