Day 43 - England in Spain

We really liked Chiclana de la Frontera and the three of us felt we could easily have spent a few days there. There weren't any high rise buildings hogging the sun, or thousands of tourists. The beach front had a sprinkling of cafes, a wide walking path and a lovely beach. Just a nice amount of people were around and it was hard to pack up and leave after coffee on the lawn in front of our hotel.

On our way to Gibraltar we stopped at the seaside town of Algeciras for lunch where K & Sue thought they had ordered a fish to share but a large seafood platter arrived instead, of course they had no choice but to scoff the lot. Sue was going to stay with friends in Spain just on the other side of Gibraltar so we shared a last drink at a cafe on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Mediterranean before dropping her off, then driving to La Linea de la Concepcion on the Spanish side of the border with Gibraltar. 

The Rock of Gibraltar is large and imposing and the border is a narrow strip of land at the start of the peninsula. We had to drop the rental car off at Gibraltar airport, there was a slight glance at our passports by the border guard then we were waved straight through. After leaving the car we walked across the airport tarmac until we arrived at the first marina area in Gibraltar. Everything was in English and money was in pounds, it also seemed that all of the the tourists were British, which makes sense as Gibraltar is a British territory. 

Day 42 - Flamingo no show

There was some distance to cover today as we left Portimao for our first stop at Rio Famoso. This natural park and lakes is a stopover for migrating birds who have left Africa on their way to Europe. We hoped to see flamingos on our one hour walk but they must have heard we were coming and gone out for the morning. However, we did see lots of very interesting one claw crabs and a mill shed that worked using the power of the sea through tides - renewable energy at it's best.

We then crossed the border into Spain and drove to Seville. We had a bit of trouble finding a park since it was Sunday and a festival was on, so there were lots of people around. We then had trouble finding the Alcazar and ended up stumbling onto the impressive Plaza de España. Last time we were there we had it all to ourselves but this time there were masses of tourists. It was also the hottest day we had experienced for a while so we were relieved when we finally found the Alcazar, only to find there was a huge queue. We joined the others in the hot sun just as a man came over and told all of us that from where he stood all people after that point wouldn't be admitted. There were many disappointed tourists, some who begged him to be allowed in. However, while we were standing there deciding what to do next lots of new people came and joined the line, so we just rejoined it, and bought tickets and entered.

By the time we returned to the car it was 6pm and we still had an hour and a half to get to our beachfront hotel at La Chiclana de la Frontera, making it just before the staff closed up for the night. The drive was worth it as we had a great spot on the promenade and were able to see a great sunset with the fort of Cadiz in the distance.

Day 41 - Roman around

On leaving Lisbon we travelled over one of the longest bridges we have ever seen. We drove to Evora, an ancient medieval walled city with a Roman temple and of course masses of souvenir shops and tourists. 

From there it was south to the coast stopping at Beja for lunch. Travelling through this part of Portugal it was obvious the farmers must be desperate for rain to come as it was very dry with no pasture.

We arrived on the south west coast at Ponta da Piedade which consists of lots of rock formations, cliffs, grottos and caves. We were surprised that there wasn't a boardwalk or any barriers especially as the tourists were standing very close to crumbling cliff faces. 

We drove through Lagos and on to our overnight stop at Portimao. We were only a couple of minutes walk from the beach where we finished our day with drinks overlooking the water, followed by a nice dinner of grilled fish.

Day 40 - Retracing our steps

A casual day today wandering the streets of Lisbon. We headed off from our apartment in a different direction, and found that we were following the path of the number 28 tram that we had taken yesterday.

We followed the signs up to the miradors with cafes and nice views over the harbour, spoiled only slightly by one of those pesky cruise ships that seem to be getting more common as time passes. 

Day 39 - Quiet down, amigos

A nice 30 minute walk from our Airbnb through the streets of Lisbon brought us to the Camoe Monument which was the meeting point for the walking tour. We were split up into groups first by language and then by size. It was very difficult to hear as there were groups of uni students singing at the top of the voices - something to do with the beginning of the uni year - and lots of traffic. Throughout the walking tour we also had to contend with the Spanish group who are loud at the best of times but now the the tour guide had a microphone as well, something they didn't really need.

After the tour we walked along the foreshore to the Time Out market hall which was basically an over crowded tourist food court. Deciding against paying the tourist premium we found a nice small cafe where S and K ordered caipirinhas, and M tried the local Arroz de Pato (Duck Rice) for lunch. 

We then joined the ridiculously long queue for the number 28 tram, a tourist tram route through many neighborhoods of Lisbon. The final tram stop was in front of the cemetery where we found ourselves a possible hour's walk from where we wanted to be, so after calling a very cheap Uber we were dropped off at the Topo Martim Moniz rooftop bar where more caipirinhas were consumed as we enjoyed the view. 

Day 38 - Climbing the walls

We walked along the beach promenade in Nazare in to find somewhere for breakfast before checking out of our apartment and driving on to Caldas da Rainha, where we visited the ceramic museum in an old mansion over three floors. 

Then it was on to Obidos to visit the very touristy walled city where we walked the walls before having lunch.

From there we headed towards Sintra, a city in the mountains outside Lisbon where the Portugese nobility used to spend the hotter months. We walked up to the mirador so we could see some of the famous castles in the area.  

We drove the coastal route from Sintra into Lisbon via the Avenal Diana Spencer (no idea why they thought they should name a Portugese road after her) and checked in to our Airbnb not far from the Lisbon city centre for the next three nights.

Day 37 - Body parts going cheap

We left the man part of Aveiro and drove 14km to the the nearby Atlantic beach are of Costa Nova. The beach was lovely with soft sand but hidden from the town by sand dunes. Many of the houses in the area were decorated with stripes with bright colours and the fences were decorated with huge bows, some made by different coloured plastic bags.

Next stop was Coimbra, the original capital city of Portugal. The buildings and old town area had a lovely sense of antiquity. We walked up to to the university at the top of the hill with its grand old buildings overlooking the city.

Next stop after lunch stop was the town of Fatima, an important place for Catholic pilgrims because of their belief that the Virgin Mary appeared there in 1917. As it was later in the afternoon the sanctuary wasn't that busy and it didn't have the atmosphere of Lourdes but the huge size made up for it. The viewing area is so large that they have had 1.5 million pilgrims there at one time. The Chapel of the Apparitions attracts the very devout and there was a woman circling the outside perimeter on her knees as well as another elderly lady approaching the altar, also on her knees. It was possible to buy candles to burn as offerings, as well as wax models of body parts to help the devout with their prayers.

Our final destination was Nazare, the site of the world's largest waves, with the highest ever surfed at Nazare at 23.8m. The waves are so large because of the underground Nazare Canyon. We walked to the light house for a view of the beach, and from where we were standing up high we could see they they weren't at their biggest, just "regular" size waves today. Dinner was a lovely meal of freshly grilled fish at a nice restaurant opposite the town beach, a pleasant way to finish the day.

Day 36 - Up the river

Today we drove inland to Pinhao in the port wine grape growing region of Portugal, following the Douro River through terraced vineyards. It was a beautiful day and it got steadily warmer as we headed away from the coast.

After a short stop for a coffee in Peso de Regua where there were larger cruise boats waiting to pick up passengers for their Douro cruises, we made it to Pinhao. We were a little lost when we arrived as we couldn't see any obvious signs pointing to where we could get a boat trip, but after asking around we were pointed in the right direction.

We booked one of the short 45 minute cruises for 2:30pm, so had time to enjoy a nice lunch overlooking the river. The boat trip was quite pleasant, it was a short trip up the river past more vineyards.

After the boat ride we drove to Aveiro on the coast south of Lisbon, where we checked in to a great, modern apartment that overlooked one of the canals that ran through town. A quick wander through the streets was followed by dinner, where the waiter couldn't quite understand why we didn't want him to turn the soccer on while we were having our dinner!

Day 35 - Any port in a storm

A slower start this morning as we headed into Porto, then dropped in to a chocolate shop to give us a kick start to the day. 

After we walked back down to the river along to the Luis bridge where we took the lower level to cross the river to the Gaia side. 

This side of the river is the traditional port (as in port wine) side as it faces the north, meaning the weather is better for aging the port. We took a guided tour of Calem cellars where we saw the huge port barrels and learnt about the different varieties of port, culminating in a tasting. 

From there we walked up the steep hill to walk back across the river via the Luis bridge's top level, which had wonderful views. 

As we walked the streets to find a tapas place to finish off the day we again walked past the famed Harry Potter book shop where there were no long queues so we could peek inside to see the famed bookshop from the doorway. As with all popular tourist attractions it's best to turn up at the end of the day when the crowds have already left.

Day 34 - We'll cross that bridge when we come to it

We had booked a 10am walking tour of Porto and the train station was just outside our apartment which made it easy. We met the walking tour at bishops statue. Our walking guide was very entertaining filling us in on history and stories in a very millennial way. He took us past the bookshop where J.K.Rowling wrote the beginning of Harry Potter Philosophers Stone. The interior of the bookshop with it's intricate staircase coupled with the unusual robes that the local university students wore were a large inspiration for the books. The charge for entering the bookshop was 5 euro and the length of the queue was incredible, so we did not enter.

The sun was out and it was a beautiful day so we took the guide's recommendation to try a Porto Tonico over lunch looking over the Douro river. We then joined an hour's boat trip past the six bridges. Porto is a real mixture of way too many tourists clogging up the streets but if you glance up there are elderly people sitting on their balconys and neighbours washing hanging next door. It's unusual for locals to still be living in such a tourist hot spot, I wonder how much longer they have? 

We caught the train back to our apartment so we could collect our car to drive to Ponte de Lima to meet Jessica and Ricardo for dinner. We parked near the river and walked over the medieval/Roman bridge before Ricardo took us on a personalised walking tour of the pretty town. 

We saw the statue of the Roman General on one side of the river and all the soldiers lined up on the other. Ricardo told us the story of how the Roman soldiers refused to cross the river as they believed a fable that once they crossed it they would lose all of their past memories, so the General crossed the river and called them one at a time by name to prove he still had his memory.

Our dinner was huge, Mike and Ricardo shared half a pig (really just a pork knuckle) while Sue and K shared a massive fish. On our way back to our car there was a large group celebrating a local festival. Ricardo explained to us that it was a harvest celebration and a way for old people to teach the young the harvesting traditions. The music was lively as they danced a traditional dance that looked pretty easy but Jessica assured us that she had tried it and it wasn't as easy as it looked. There was a large tray at the back of a tractor full of slashed corn stalks, the older women were grabbing the stalks, ripping off the corn cobs and throwing them into a basket - all in time with the music.