Arriving in Portugal 🇵🇹

We left northern Spain with some mixed emotions- excitement at what the next part of our adventure might bring, but also some slight sadness and unease. We’ve really enjoyed spending time in Spain, feel that we have definitely gained confidence in speaking Spanish, and feel a sense of familiarity and comfortableness. Heading into Portugal brings with it unfamiliarity and new challenges, but that’s all part of the big travel experience 😃

One of the first things we noticed on approaching Portugal was the distinct lack of other traffic on the road heading the same way - in fact there wasn’t any! As we passed over the border, again just a sign saying welcome to Portugal 🇵🇹) the road surface became potholed (just like in UK!) - this was a direct contrast to smooth road surfaces in Spain. We also noticed much poorer internet connection 😯 The poorer neighbours? Time will tell….

But perhaps the thing that surprised us the most was that Portugal occupies a different time zone to Spain - how weird is that, particularly given that Spain and Portugal occupy the same Iberian peninsula!  We weren’t aware of that, and got really confused when we arrived an hour earlier than when we had set off 🤣 So Portugal doesn’t follow the GMT+1 time adopted by much of Central Europe, it is the same time zone as in the UK 👍 Perhaps everyone else knows this 🤣

Headed for Peneda Geres National Park, on the border with Spain - the only National Park in Portugal. This is an amazing ecosystem of both fauna and flora, and appears to be quite undiscovered- and it’s beautiful 🤩 

 

The campsite was on the western edge of the Park. Although totally adequate, and with modern facilities, there was a kind of faded, rather jaded feel to it. Not sure if this was because it was November, or whether this is just how it usually is. Things did seem very cheap around here, and if fact one evening we had some tapas type food in the camp bar (very good actually), and the total bill, including 2 glasses of wine (large) and 2 beers came to €22! When we queried that we thought we had been undercharged, they just smiled and said the drinks were on the house! 😃

Cheese board as part of the Tapas

View from the campsite

Great swimming for Rubes

Weather was very mixed, but spent a couple of days exploring - the Park is actually so vast that it would really take a couple of weeks to do it justice, but we did manage a few highlights.

Vines are grown everywhere, and similarly to northern Spain, tend to be grown on an individual small scale. Each house seems to have its own vines.

Even the really tiny houses have their own vines

We were keen to explore the small village of Saojo, and their well preserved grain stores - known as espigueiros. They are totally amazing, every household has their own, and totally essential to keep their winter grain stores dry. 

Multiple espigueiros on the hill

Komoot took us on a fabulous walk throughout the countryside around Soaja. The area is famous for numerous natural bathing pools (too cold to swim ATM). People seem really proud of their homes and surroundings.

Stand off between Rubes and local goat 🤣

Stopped off to visit the well preserved Lindoso Castle. Built in the Middle Ages, and overlooking Spain -built to defend Portugal’s borders.

Main gate and drawbridge

Outside the castle was a lovely market stall selling all locally produces goodies. We opted for the pumpkin jam and a bag of olives.

Local producer

We weren't disappointed with our picnic lunch, and neither was Rubes by the look of it 🤣

Another hidden wonder was this old abandoned Manor House which we had read about, but which wasn’t actually on the map. We diverted to try and find it and explore - was all quite spooky inside 😃  Not sure on what the history is here, but obviously abandoned a long time ago! Too much of a renovation job for Dave though 🤣

Abandoned Manor House

Felt quite spooky!

Leaving Peneda Geres we headed to Porto. OMG, what a stressful journey 🫣 The motorway was busy, many lanes, filtering off every two minutes, and the satnav struggling to keep up 🤨 Once there the fun really began - the attendant refused to let us park the van in the place we had planned close to the apartment; then we almost got tangled up in a parking scam, but as usual, Dave managed to sniff this scam out quite quickly - and we diverted - otherwise I think we would have come back to finding the van clamped! The streets are so narrow with cobblestones, so not great for driving vans around (unless you are a local and used to it 😊). Anyway, to cut a (really) long story short, a very kind man approached us and told us where we could park (where he actually stores his autocaravanna) - I really don’t know how Dave managed to manoeuvre the van into the tight space, but with a lot of guidance from the owner (who was also very helpful and kind), we managed to park up! I think we were both shaking by the time all this was over, and definitely in need of a drink 🍷🍺 🤣

Fortunately the apartment we are staying in is lovely - built into the old castle walls, and think it may have originally been part of the old Manor House stables. It is amazingly situated, right by the Dom Luis 1 bridge, and overlooking the Douro and the old Port houses opposite. 

Rubes settling into the Porto apartment 😉 
The original Manor stables of the Bishop's Palace

Dom Luis 1 Bridge across the Douro - from our front garden

Old Port Houses opposite our apartment

Totally exhausted now and off to bed - booked onto a walking tour in the morning to explore the city and learn about its history 😃