My first trip to Portugal is only a very vague memory, because I was three years old at the time. More recently, I visited for a conference, hosted in Braga. I only spent a day doing tourism, so the country didn't have that much chance to make an impression on me; of note was the warm, sunny weather and quite a few beautiful churches.
I haven't yet tried to learn any Portuguese, and know little about it. If you know any Spanish, it'll be worth trying if English isn't getting you anywhere. I found English was patchily spoken, but don't recall any particular difficulties with the language barrier.
