Have you found that the most memorable parts of a vacation are the surprises, unplanned excursions and serendipitous diversions that lead you to something unique? Sometimes unexpected themes emerge. We stumbled onto a few of these awesome adventures with cousin Elsa.

All You Can Eat: We have never been huge patrons of all you can eat establishments. Dried out food sitting for undetermined amounts of time that I am sharing with a multitude doesn’t really appeal. However, I fondly remember going to Bonanza Steakhouse in Brainerd, Minnesota in my youth and lining up for the seemingly endless salad bar (when the buffet is at a kid’s eye level it seems even more vast), that delicious chocolate mousse, and the soft serve ice cream machine. I have occasionally frequented a Chinese, Mongolian grill, or casino buffet. When we moved to Portugal it never occurred to me that there would be all you can eat buffets, they seemed so “American”. Since moving, we have definitely gone to more buffets than ever before in our lives.

Our Ukrainian friends love a good buffet and we quickly learned that it is next level here. Our first foray into an all you can eat restaurant in Portugal was at Wok Loulé and it wasn’t just Chinese, there is a massive sushi bar with multiple chefs working to replenish food, a Mongolian grill, salad bar, fried food, and almost anything else you might want to eat at one restaurant. This particular chain is so popular that they opened a Wok Faro just outside of Olhão and it is almost always busy (even on holidays like Easter). Options for big eaters don’t stop there. In Olhão there were multiple all you can eat sushi options and it is super fun – you fill out a card and they very quickly deliver freshly made orders. There are all you can eat grilled fish restaurants and of course the delectable all you can eat Brazilian meat extravaganza.

While Elsa was here, we had all you can eat sushi dinner at Chalet Sushi Olhão. If you aren’t a huge sushi fan, they also have Chinese, meat skewers, options for vegetarians, and even fries. We also had lunch at Migas Restaurante in Guimarães for all you can eat Brazilian style meat. There are about 9 different meat options for ravenous carnivores and they will keep delivering as much meat as you want to eat. The meal also includes couvert and sides. It is utterly delicious and Andrew and I have already eaten there twice, the first time was with our real estate agent and his wife on the day we decided to purchase our home in Urgezes.

Tip: Prices at most all you can eat restaurants are more expensive for dinner, and some are more expensive on the weekends or holidays. If you are looking for the cheapest option, go for lunch on a weekday.

Unique Unplanned Event: During the first couple of days of Elsa’s visit, we kept seeing posters plastered around Olhão advertising a circus. Elsa said she had never been, and even though our schedule was busy, we carved out time to attend the late night opener of Mirene Cardinali Circus. Boy, none of us could have predicted the spectacle we were to witness: scantily clad magicians/acrobats, crazy clowns that forced awkward audience participation, a rave worthy laser light show, and an endearing small dog show. I’m not sure Elsa will ever go to another circus after the Portugal version was burned into her neurons, but we had a lot to laugh about for the remainder of her visit. Also, the entire spectacle was in Portuguese, not English, and even Andrew and I had a difficult time understanding a lot of the dialogue through the loudspeaker.

Ayamonte, Spain: We took a quick ferry ride from Portugal to Spain so that Elsa could say that she had visited 2 countries while in Europe. We walked around town, went shopping, and had an amazing tapas lunch at Bar El Paladar. Although the restaurant was packed and there was a bit of a wait, it was well worth it. We ordered way too much food from the massive menu and everything was delectable (we approached the boundaries of all you can eat there).

Gelado Tastings: You can find a gelado shop almost anywhere, and we did our best to sample it all over Portugal – we ate gelado at least 6 times. In Tavira we went to Muxa Gata, it is consistently good and is a favorite of our friend Jorge. We had gelado at home after dining on Andrew’s homemade Italian red very meaty sauce. In Olhão we sampled gelado at São Gelados which is our personal favorite, partly because it is our neighbor’s business and Gelvi Gelado which is a popular choice near the waterfront. In Porto we ate at Movenpick, which was probably my least favorite on the list, and at Boutique do Gelado.

On a side note, on a warm afternoon in Ayamonte, Spain we had horchata and we all wished we had ordered gelado instead!

Special Request: We asked aunt Sharon to review our itinerary in case we had missed something Elsa would like to see while in Portugal. She suggested a trip to Cristo Rei in order to see a different perspective of Lisbon. Since we didn’t want to use a half day of our limited Lisbon time to exit the city and make our way to the viewpoint, we decided to split up a previously planned road trip from Olhão to Coimbra in order to fit it in. I’m appreciative of aunt Sharon’s suggestion, because the weather was beautiful, it was great to stretch our legs on the long car ride, and the views were magnificent.

Thanks to Elsa for being such a great sport and excellent company as we ping ponged all over Portugal!