# Pastel de Nata: 0, # Distance Walked: 0 km, Time Taken: 0 hours
Soon I'll be off on my next holiday. First stop Portugal for a month of sightseeing and hiking. I'll be visiting Porto, Sintra, Lisbon and Evora as well as hiking the Alentejo and Algarve coasts. This jaunt will be followed by 2 weeks in Bologna at the same Italian language school I went to in 2023, Academya Lingua. I enjoyed the school so much last time I figured a repeat visit would be a good idea. As well as the 4 hours of group classes every morning, I'll be doing an hour of one-on-one conversation classes every afternoon. Wish me luck.
In addition to learning Italian, I've been trying to learn a little Portuguese before the holiday. I focused on important words like "please" (por favor) and "thank you" (obrigada) and "I would like a Portuguese custard tart please" (queria um pastel de nata por favor). These tasty morsels are called pastel de nata locally, or pasteis de nata in the plural - because Portuguese. Each bakery in each city has their own version. I will perform a detailed scientific sampling study of this important food item.
In order to still fit into my clothes while I'm conducting this important scientific study, I'll be spending 12 days hiking the Rota Vicentina around the south-west coast of Portugal. I'm doing Walk #5 with Vicentina Travel, so I start in Santiago do Cacém and finish in Sagres. The first 3 days are part of the Historical Way while the remainder is the Fisherman's Trail. Unfortunately, I don't much like eating fish or shellfish. Perhaps Portugal may not have been the best choice of holiday destination.
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