The best meal we had in Melides was the roast chicken we bought from the butcher on the town square. Nearby, we had a tasty oceanside lunch at Lagoa O Mar on the Melides b each, where the Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato (clams in garlic, olive oil and white-wine sauce) and fresh grilled sardines were particularly good.

But it is the setting itself that is unrivaled. Our rental was about 15 minutes outside of Melides, and just two blocks from what is, without question, the most extraordinary stretch of beach I have seen anywhere in the world, called Praia da Galé. Yes, that is a superlative that is tough to defend. Let me try.

You walk down a long pathway toward the vast expanse of the Atlantic. Then you climb down a precarious set of stairs built into the sandstone cliff, before you reach the beach. On the way, you pass a dazzling collection of reddish, weathered sandstones, which look like abstract sculptures. These formations, around five million years old, reach 130 feet into the sky, sitting atop a carpet of wild yellow chorão das praias flowers.

Finally, on sea level, as you turn in both directions, as far as you can see, there is nothing but a vast empty reach of beach and the occasional fisherman with a pole planted in the sand, or a sprinkling of families with beach umbrellas. So few people frequent parts of this beach that the sand is crusty, and your feet break through as you take each step.