FLEX FOOD . LIFE, Melbourne (2026)

29/09/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗴𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗜’𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 🇵🇹

We based ourselves in Albufeira because, on paper, it made sense. My sister had a wedding in Vilamoura, we needed to get back towards Faro, and I figured staying somewhere fairly central would make exploring easier.

What I didn’t appreciate was just how spread out the Algarve actually is 😂 We still ended up doing plenty of driving, so being “in the middle” didn’t really save us much at all.

Albufeira itself gave me a bit of a Surfers Paradise vibe, if you’re an Aussie you’ll know what I’m talking about! Not necessarily a bad thing, just not really 𝘰𝘶𝘳 thing.

𝙇𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙪𝙨. The coastline is obviously stunning, but I really liked the town itself too. It had a great vibe and I definitely wished we’d given ourselves more time there.

Loulé was another favourite for completely different reasons. We arrived early while everything was still quiet, then watched the town and market come to life.

Quarteira was great with the beach right off the promenade, and Vilamoura Marina was much nicer as an evening stop.

And food-wise? Portugal made things SO easy. Getting a decent serve of protein never really felt like something I had to think too hard about. There was still plenty of bread, pastries, port and dessert happening too, obviously 😂

I’d still hire a car. For what we wanted to see, having that flexibility was absolutely worth it.

I’d just do the planning in the opposite order next time: 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

Am I glad we went? Absolutely.

Would the Algarve be the first place I’d rush back to in Portugal? Probably not. Porto and Lisbon were much more my kind of Portugal, but I'm very glad we we got to experience this side of it too.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗴𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻?

21/09/2026

5 stops, 9 hours and of course we still had energy for dinner and late-night traditional Fado afterwards 😜

One of my favourite days out of Lisbon!

We booked a full-day tour through GetYourGuide with LaneTours taking in Cascais, Cabo da Roca, Sintra, Quinta da Regaleira and Pena Palace.

Having someone else organise the whole day was so good!

Our guide was incredible. Switching between Spanish and English ALL day, sharing so much history and somehow keeping the same passion and enthusiasm from the first stop to the last. I don't know how he did it!

We covered a LOT of ground, and while a few stops felt a little rushed, we still had enough time to enjoy each place without having to worry about transport, tickets or where we needed to be next.

Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira were incredible, and having a guide explain the history and symbolism made such a big difference in understanding where we were and what we were looking at.

Another thing I love about these tours is the people you meet along the way. I got chatting with a lovely Mexican girl who lives in Spain, and it's such an easy way to connect with people, especially if you're travelling solo.

Would I book an organised tour again? Absolutely!

If you're planning a trip to Lisbon and want to see more than just Sintra without spending your day figuring out the logistics, this is definitely one to consider.

Swipe through for our stops, a little history and a few tips from the day.

Save this one for your Portugal trip! 🇵🇹

10/09/2026

My sister is working as the makeup artist + content creator at a wedding here in Corfu, which basically means a VERY long 16-hour day, lots of time on her feet and no proper meal until the vendor dinner later on.

So naturally I appointed myself supermarket snack coordinator 😂

What I was looking for:
Protein: tuna, high-protein yoghurt/pudding and a protein bar so there are a few easy options she can grab quickly.

Carbs + fibre: fruit for easy energy, plus a bit of fibre rather than relying on bars and packaged snacks all day.

Hydration: Sodii electrolytes I brought from home because it’s warm here and she’ll be running around for hours.

And then a couple of things that are simply easy to throw in a bag and eat between jobs.

The supermarket was also a little nutrition adventure because a lot of the packaging wasn’t in English 😅
I could recognise quite a few things and work out whether they were worth grabbing from the nutrition panel, then used Yuka | Scan de produits on some of the others to help me check what I was actually looking at.

And yes, there were plenty of things with PROTEIN plastered across the front that weren’t necessarily the option I’d choose.

Sometimes it was barely much protein. Sometimes there was very little fibre. Sometimes it was basically mostly carbs/sugar with a protein halo slapped on the packet and a s**t load of additives and unnecessary fillers.

Nutrition choices make much more sense when you ask:

What do I actually need this food to do for me?

Would more supermarket “what I’d grab for…” posts be useful?

02/09/2026

Portugal continues to be wildly inconsiderate to my camera storage 😂

A cruisy little day trip to Aveiro + Costa Nova, about an hour south of Porto by train, with canals (and gondolas), tiled buildings, lunch at Zico snack bar and a LOT more photos of striped houses than I’ll ever be able to share! 🫣

We stopped for lunch at Zico, a very busy, no-frills snack bar/churrascaria. Quick, simple food and (like so much of Portugal) plenty of protein options!

We tried Aveiro’s famous ovos moles because when there’s a local specialty, obviously I need to know what all the fuss is about.

Turns out… we did not understand the fuss 🤨😂

Next stop, Costa Nova. It’s not far from Aveiro, but you’ll need a bus or Uber to get there.

And it is SO pretty.

Those ridiculously photogenic striped houses on one side, then the surf beach and boardwalk on the other.

Very different pace to Porto and such an easy, chilled-out day 🇵🇹

29/08/2026

If you’re heading to Porto, this is one thing I’d genuinely book towards the START of your trip.

I did Taste Porto - Food Tours Vintage Food Tour solo and spent almost four hours eating, drinking and learning my way around the city with a small group and our passionate and knowledgeable guide, Rita.

And while the food was excellent, what made it worth doing early was everything that came with it:

The history. How the locals eat. Why certain foods come from particular regions. Little places I probably would have walked straight past. And a stack of recommendations for where to go afterwards.

Basically, all the useful intel you normally start collecting approximately two days before you leave 😂

The food was incredibly authentic: Portuguese cheeses, chouriço, regional breads, tinned fish at Bolhão Market, coffee and rabanada, the VERY good bifana… and of course Port with a few final Portuguese bites.

And those w**e pours were generous!

So generous that I started asking for smaller pours of the whites because I was saving valuable real estate for the Port 😜 Priorities.

We started at 10:30am and didn’t finish until after 2pm, never felt rushed and there was enough food that some of the final sweets came home with me for later.

Would I recommend it?

100%.

Especially at the beginning of your Porto stay and especially if you’re travelling solo. You’re immediately sitting around a table with people, conversation happens naturally and it’s such an easy way to get comfortable in a new city.

It’s €89 per person, which is roughly A$145 / US$103 at the moment, and for the guide, food, w**e, access and local knowledge, I thought it was absolutely worth it.

Not because you couldn’t find great food in Porto yourself.

You absolutely can.

But you wouldn’t get all the stories and context that came with it.

Save this one if Porto is on your list. 🇵🇹

Address

Melbourne, VIC

Website

https://www.flexfoodlife.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when FLEX FOOD . LIFE posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to FLEX FOOD . LIFE:

FLEX FOOD . LIFE

29/09/2026

21/09/2026

10/09/2026

02/09/2026

29/08/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request