So when he pushes it into fourth gear and rips down the off-road dirt trail to make sure you don’t “feel the bumps as much” or takes you up 45-degree climbs to reach coastal vistas, don’t say we didn’t warn you, all right?

Seriously, this was easily the most free-wheeling jeep tour I’ve ever experienced. It’s all thanks to Sandro Pombal of Sagres Discovery, who is a former driver for Mitsubishi’s regional rally team and who has since “settled down” to spend his days driving the trails along Portugal’s rocky, elevated south and west coastlines, an area that is, without question, still undiscovered by American tourists (which I’ll nag you about soon).