Covid has been a wild roller coaster ride for over 16 months now. Portugal has experienced numbers on both ends of the spectrum. Right now, the case numbers are rapidly climbing again in spite of the aggressive vaccination rate. Restrictions are being added. For areas with higher numbers (including Porto), one of the most controversial new rules is that on Friday nights, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, restaurants can only allow fully vaccinated or just-tested guests indoors . So, if you don’t have your EU vaccination certificate, your options are to go out only on weekdays, find outside seating, or take the test. Already stressed and stretched restaurant workers now have to also be police at the door checking certificates or supervising on-the-spot tests. In addition, hotels and tourist accommodations throughout the country can only accept guests that have the certificate or current test results.

Fortunately, these rules did not go into affect until after we returned from our two most-recent trips. By the end of this week, we will both have our EU vaccination certificates and should be able to travel a bit more freely. Our last trips were: 1) 5 days driving between Porto and north of Lisbon ending in Coimbra for a concert by Andrea Bocelli.  2) 8 days driving around the Galicia region of Spain. (The northwest corner of Spain just north of the border with Portugal.) Here are some photos from the trips.