Four of us, Rae, Glen, Brenda and I, started this trip in Porto, on through the Douro Valley, Coimbra and then into Spain….back into the Portugal, the Algarve, where our group grew to a total of twelve people – two of R & Gs kids, spouses and two grandkids and our friends, Jill and Larry. 

Fri May 31

Brenda and I were off!  Air Canada flight was on time….no issues going thru US customs in Vancouver or security.

This part is a little long winded but I have never, in all my travels, experienced anything like this airport…..seriously!!  It was just one thing after another…..

Arrived in Newark, NJ at just about 5PM (2PM Vanc time) with a 5 hour layover before our flight to Porto…..ah sigh.  This was our best option for that day…..10+hrs going through Toronto or Montreal.  Got a bit of a look at NY city across the river…..very nice sunny day.  Newark airport is a gong show!!  Chaos….no other way to describe it.  And apparently this was a good day!  We arrived at terminal A and had to take the “airtrain” to terminal C.  Very unhelpful airport staff and poor signage but we just followed the crowd to find the airtrain.  Terminal C has absolutely nothing, other than ticket sales, in it until you get thru security….not even washrooms that I could see.  Thought I’d head outside for a bit of a walk and some “fresh” air before going thru security but was not pleasant unfortunately.  Lots of traffic, very busy place, so much horn honking, people yelling, traffic guys yelling and you could really smell the pollution.

Security was quite organized…..mostly by one man running the queuing for the various lines…..yelling a lot.  Nice enough people but just not enough of them.  On to our gate to sit for 4+ hours….more chaos because of gate changes, cancellations and one gate person making announcements over the gate person next door!   Was interesting to watch…..some people were getting extremely angry, others were just taking it all in stride.  People at our gate were at the wrong gate…..they must have missed the gate change announcement!  Went and grabbed something for dinner….kind of a neat concept for a food area called “Global Market”.  Many different kinds of food places….you pick the restaurant counter you want and do your own ordering on a screen then wait…..and wait for your food.  Many mixed up orders, lost orders, orders not picked up….confusion over receipt numbers etc. Once you get your food you can grab a drink, chips or whatever else from the centre miscellaneous kiosks and go thru the self serve checkout, half of which were out of order (I could only see 6 checkouts to start with, so down to 3 by the time I got thru.)  I had a Chicken Philly Cheesesteak…..they forgot the cheese!

9:20PM….1/2 hour before departure….they announce our flight had been delayed until 10:20.  Too much traffic and it’s taking a while to tow the plan to our gate…….which was changed to 74 from 75.  Still people from whatever flight was originally on 74 trying to find out where they should go and some of our people still at gate 75, which just to complicate things, was now another United flight to Porto but leaving an hour after ours!!  The guy at gate 75 (other Porto flight) made an announcement that that flight would be delayed until 3AM…..people at our gate got confused and went to the bar!! Others were quite angry and went up to the desk to talk to the gal…..who had to explain to them that it was NOT our flight at gate 74 but the one at gate 75 that was delayed until 3AM!!  Most of the people at gate 75 just lost it at that point as that flight had been delayed a number of times already.  Why would United (it was a codeshare with Air Canada) have two flights to Porto, Portugal leaving within an hour of each other in the first place???   Our flight was delayed yet again to 10:50…..still waiting for the plane…..after a while the whole thing got a bit comical!   The worst airport EVER!!  And we only saw a little bit of it!!  Will avoid this airport at all costs in the future!

Flight finally left just after 11PM (was not complaining considering all the cancellations etc…..could have been a lot worse than just an hour or so late!!)……served dinner and drinks and even managed to get a bit of sleep in.  Breakie an hour before we landed in Porto.  All and all the flight itself, once we got on it,  was great!

Sat June 1

Flying into Porto was beautiful!  Bright and sunny and the view of Porto with all the coloured building and red tiled roofs, the river, bridges, beaches etc. very nice.

Arrived just after 10:30…..one hour late.  Driver was a little late too but showed up which was the main thing. (25E for about a 20 minute drive….same price for 4 people).  On the drive in you can’t help but noticed all the tile….many of the old building have been renovated and modernized on the inside but they’ve managed to keep the old facades with all the lovely tile work.  11:30AM….called Sofia to let her know that we were at the apartment so she could let the cleaning lady know to let us in.    The apartment, Casa do Passeio (Airbnb) is on Rua Francisco da Rocha, so a pretty good location.  Dropped our bags (check in was after 3) and went to the little bar/café (Café El Reys) up the street for a drink and some lunch and to wait for Rae and Glen (coming from London).  Sent Rae a message to let her know it was OK to drop bags and where Brenda and I were.  Ordered a 1/2 litre of sangria = 3E .  She gave us a full litre by mistake but still only would take 3E!  Great start! Very nice view from the Parque das Virtudes across the street.

R & G arrived just before 1, dropped their bags and joined Brenda and I.  Ordered some snacky things (cod balls, empanadas and baguettes) for lunch and another litre of sangria.  Down to meet Sofia at 3.  Great lady, gave us lots of info and a tour of the apartment…..left us with some tawny port!  R & I went off in search of some basic groceries…..up hills, down hills finally had to go back for the map and off again.  Gal at the little market told us about a great bakery just down the street for bread.  What fantastic buildings!!  Lots of tile work, bright colours, wrought iron….and laundry!  I love it!  Streets are impeccably clean, neat and tidy.

Unloaded our goodies and sat around, semi-unpacked and got organized before heading out for dinner around 7:30.  Found a very little hole in the wall place with about 6 tables on Rua de Belmonte (kind of a main road).  When we sat down she immediately brought us a bowl of the garlickiest olives ever (so good!) and cod fritters….salad and grilled sardines for dinner….very good (except for the bones!), a bottle of vinho verde and a beer for Glen.  All for a total of 40E. Our first great meal in Portugual!  Home just after 9:30 and to bed!  Very tired after a couple days or one very long day, however you look at it, of traveling through 8 time zones.

Sun June 2

Up at 1:30AM.  Took a Benadryl and slept til 9!  Definitely needed the sleep.

A couple of cups of coffee and some pastry and out the door to explore.  Warm and sunny.  Walked down to the riverfront….so, so nice.  Can see all the port lodges across the river.  A couple of river cruise ships tied up.  Lots of stalls selling cork stuff….wallets, purses, hats, postcards, pens….apparently there is a lot of cork oaks in Portugal!  Tried to set up a tuk tuk tour for later, but no can do, so booked for tomorrow afternoon.  The waterfront on the Porto side is incredibly picturesque.  Beautiful buildings, with the tile facades, incredibly decorative and intricate wrought iron railings, brightly painted doors and shutters, all jumbled together climbing up and clinging to the hillside….and of course, the laundry!

 

A couple of very narrow and very steep roads to take you back up to the historic center.  Nice little market set up along the river front.  Bought Steve and Di a tea towel.  None of the stuff being sold was made in China….what a great thing.  Not even the knick knacky souvenir things.  Most of the stuff was made locally but mostly all at least “made in Portugal”.  Really pretty tea towels, tablecloths and runners, sweaters and cork stuff galore!

Lots of riverboat tours…15E per hour etc.  There are also smaller boats that just simply take you across the river.  The Pont de Luis l bridge, that takes you across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia (all the Port lodges), is at the end of the river walk.  Lunch at one of the little touristy waterfront cafes….more expensive, so so food and wine, but worth it just for the views and people watching.  After lunch we took the handy funicular to the top of the hill.  R & G went to the train station to see the tile work. Brenda and I walked across the bridge. The top deck of the bridge is for the tramline and pedestrians only.  Stunning views that you just cannot capture with a camera.

Back across the bridge to have a look at the cathedral…..was 5E to go in.  Passed on that and just took in a bit more of the view from the plaza up there.   Met R & G for a coffee fix at a café, where we were entertained by a magician, across from the Estacao Sao Bento.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Bento_railway_station .  The tile work represents various periods of Portugals history.  Very nice.  Took a bit of a walk up to Praca da Liberdade and then down to Rua das Flores, a very nice pedestrian street. R & G went ahead home and B and I mostly window shopped.  A few vendors on the street….bought a great water colour of Porto for 10E.  Lots of shops, none of which were open, possibly because it was Sunday or just siesta, which is strictly adhered to here by most businesses!  Don’t expect to be able to buy anything between 1-5 any day of the week.  We did find a little market (Adega ?) that seemed to stay open so good for essentials like wine!  This area is about a 10 – 15 minute walk from home…..great historic centre for walking, even with all the hills.

Dinner tonight at “Intrigo”.  https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g189180-d12514591-Reviews-Intrigo-Porto_Porto_District_Northern_Portugal.html  Rae found the place this morning….their sign says they have the best view in Porto.   They also had a ton of stairs to go down, and back up,  but definitely did not disappoint with the view.  Overlooks some of the red tile roofs, the river and the bridges, and the port lodges across the way.  Lots of boats on the river including a couple of the river cruise ships and a terrific sunset to boot.  Dinner was excellent!  Our server was great…..good service and a great sense of humour to go with it.  R and I had the bacalhau in phyllo, which came with a little potato terrine topped with a “slow cooked egg”……was excellent!  Brenda had a salad and huge prawns, Glen had lamb chops, both also excellent.  A bottle of rose and ONE bread pudding dessert to share.  Total bill 85E.  Everything was delicious and the views made it all that much better.

Great day.  A bit cooler, but still nice and sunny and warm enough.

Mon June 3

Slow start this morning.  A couple of cups of really strong coffee helped get going!  Mosquitos!!  Thought I’d leave the French door open to get some fresh air….argh.  Woke up itching like crazy.  Won’t do that again.

Out just after 9 to go up the street to “The Hungry Biker”.  Glen had read about it in Lonely Planet and wanted give it a try.  Did not disappoint!  Busy place….had to wait about 15 minutes for a table.  Great menu with lots of variety.  Had the French toast with fruit, honey and yogurt…..very good.  That plus a coffee = 7E.   https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g189180-d12450600-Reviews-Hungry_biker-Porto_Porto_District_Northern_Portugal.html

Mercado do Bolhao is a must see…….except that there was nothing to see!!  How disappointing…..the old historical building was in rather rough shape and is undergoing extensive renovations.   https://localporto.com/porto-markets-mercado-do-bolhao/  This was one thing we were really looking forward too….oh well.  On a temporary basis they’ve set up in the basement of a new mall a couple blocks away….just not the same thing, eventhough it’s all strictly food products down there.  Some good stuff though but not the ambiance that we like with the old market buildings.  Not all the vendors either but a good selection of each of the types of products they sell in the market…..lots meat and cheese vendors, beautiful produce and of course fish and seafood!  Fish that looked so good.  Prawns…..big prawns, small prawns and HUGE prawns and/or things that looked like prawns (types of crayfish/lagostins/gambas)…some almost as big as lobsters.  A lot of squid and assorted other shellfish, grouper looking things, sardine and of course…..a Portugese staple, bacalhau…the dried salted cod!

Bought a few things and headed back down to the river, with a ride down the funicular, to go to Nova de Gaia for a port lodge tour and tasting.

Calem…..nice little museum to go thru first for about a 1/2 hour then the tour through the winery.    Great tour.  Very interesting info about the making of the vats (big and small), how many years they use them (75-150yrs at which point they are sold off to whisky and scotch makers because of the flavor that the barrels have absorbed over the years).  Also the bit about the Douro river flooding….because the vats/barrels are water tight, if the river floods to the point of the winery, they will actually float so no damage or diluation of the port……apparently this has happened a number of times over the last century or so.  Explained the different kinds of port:  white, rose, ruby and tawny.  Vintage port will only last 3 days after opening , the white, rose and ruby 4 months and the tawny, up to one year (lucky I didn’t chuck that bottle I opened back in April….although she did say to not keep it in the fridge!). Tasted the white (who knew there was white port!), the tawny and the ruby.  All were good but my preference is the tawny.

The port lodges were located on this side of the river because of better exposure to the sun and easier to control the temps required for fermentation and ageing.  I recognized a few of the names…..Dows, Taylore, Fonseca, Graham and Sandeman.

Very different on this side of the river….not nearly as pretty but the views across the river back to Porto are terrific.   Lots of cafes and restaurants and the best thing are the boats bobbing along the wall that were used to transport the barrels down the river.

Tuk tuk tour was lots of fun.  13E per person for just over and hour but we covered a lot of territory!  I honestly can’t remember where we went, other than across the river to Jardin do Morro and the monestary, which is now a military base….lovely and beautiful views of Porto.  Up and down so many streets and some that were no more than alleyways…..she was chatting the entire time but unfortunately couldn’t always hear her due to the traffic noise.  She did tell us about the train station and how it used to be a church……the city needed the location for the train station so they make a deal with the church that they would wait until the last nun died, which took 8 years.  For the price, this is a really good way to see a lot of the city, which would be quite difficult on foot because of all the hills.  Very colourful, fun place just about everywhere we went.

She dropped us on Rua das Flores, which until a few years ago was quite a rundown area with most shops closed…..I think she said it was a city beautification initiative that got it back up and running turning it into a pedestrian only street and enticing shops to move there and fix up the ones that were there.  A real mix of everything on it…..the usual shoe and clothing stores but some nice artisan shops as well….and of course port stores.  Stopped at a café for coffee and pastel de nata….a must have when in Portugal!  Decadant custard tarts with an interesting history  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastel_de_nata

Picked up some goodies on the way home for dinner in tonight.  Stopped at the Argentinian empanada place, El Argento https://www.yelp.com/biz/el-argento-porto  Had walked by there everyday and it smelled wonderful!  The gal in the shop warmed them up for us and then carefully wrapped them up individually, then put them in a box, which she then tied up with string……it took as long to wrap them as it did to heat them but done with so much care!  Definitely took pride in the food they prepared and presented.  The empanadas, bruschetta, goat cheese and some wine…..great dinner.

Fun, busy day.  Finished packing up tonight…..so sad really to be leaving Porto.  Definitely could have used one more day to explore at bit more.  We did an incredible amount of walking, up and down.

Tues June 4

Up early, out for breakfast and back before 9:30 for our driver.  Found this incredible little place around the corner yesterday and thought we’d try it for breakfast…..fantastic!  Capela 51-The Coffee Spot  https://capela51thecoffeespot.business.site/  Bacon (real bacon!) scrambled eggs, fried mushrooms and toast for 6.50E  Excellent!

The very cloudy morning turned into a very rainy morning…..luckily the worst of it happened while we were having breakfast.  Had pretty much stopped on the walk back.

Drive was there right at 9:30.  To the airport (25E) and grabbed the Avis shuttle.  Took about an hour to get the car……they got a bigger one for us after they seen our luggage!  An Opel something or other.  Great car, lots of room for the luggage in the hatch and tons on legroom for those sitting in the back seat.  We also paid extra for the GPS and the toll transponder……around another 150E.  Last rental car we had in Italy had a GPS in it as opposed to having to get a separate one…..but better to have it I guess.

No problems getting on the highway and find our way to the Douro Valley, even managed to be in the right lane for the electronic tolls!  Stopped after 45 minutes or so for coffee and to find a more scenic route off the main highway enroute to our quinta near Peso da Regua

Beautiful drive through the hills…..terraced vineyards, lovely old houses, mostly white or stone but all with red tile roofs.  The clouds had pretty much cleared so even lovelier with the sun shining.  The road was quite narrow, dry stone walls on one side and hill or rock on the other….very curvy.  Up and up we climbed and finally got a glimpse of the river way below….even lovelier.  Lots of olive trees, lemons and oranges…..you could smell the citrus!  Hadn’t taken even 2 hours to get this far so lots of time to kill….or so we thought…..stopped for lunch at a great place called Sical (?) in Mesao Frio, not too far from our destination.  Great little place that had a “plat du dia” (or whatever it is in Portuguese).  First came the bread, some ham and a salad.  The plat was 2 huge (each!), and very delicious, breaded pork cutlets  and a big pot of a bean and rice dish that was also very good.  After lunch he brought out a bottle of tawny port and poured us each a glass and left the bottle!  He also brought a big bowl of huge, juicy cherries…..and coffee.  Total bill for 4 of us 26.10E!

On to Quinta De Marrocos……the very long way around.  Tried putting the address in the GPS but because it’s so rural it’s not really an address, so off we drove through some very lovely little hamlets and towns…..following the directions that seemed to take us around in circles…..at least they were different circles!  Realized we were quite a ways passed where the quinta should have been.  We did not have the option of putting in the name of the place in the GPS, it wanted an actual address or at least the name of the town…..and the coordinates that were in the email didn’t work either so we finally just did a google maps search of the quinta on Rae’s phone and up it came, no problem!!   A couple hours of driving the twisty, curvy, narrow roads but the fantastic views in every direction made up for that lost time.  I drove so it also gave me a chance to get used to the car…..clutch to 1st gear ratio was interesting….thank goodness these cars do not roll back like the one I learned how to drive on!!

http://www.quintademarrocos.com/en/?/alojamento   Rachel met us, checked us in and showed us to our rooms.    Brenda’s and my room is very pretty….2 twin beds, antique with heavy wooden head and foot boards, very pretty cotton or linen bedspreads, antique wardrobes and dressers…..and lots of knick knacks.  Very clean and a good size which is the main thing!  Got settled in and then out to enjoy our welcome to Q de M  port and mini macaroons on the patio.  They had written our names on the glasses!!  Sat on the patio for an hour or so before our tour started.  A Viking River cruise ship went by as well as a smaller river cruise ship that looked more like the old port boats so probably one of those day cruises we want to do tomorrow out of Pinhao.  Chatted with a couple from Germany, who are here for only one night but have been all over Portugal on this vacation and absolutely love it.

Rachel came to get us for the tour. The 4 of us, the German couple and a couple from Portland, Oregon, so 8 altogether. There are 8 women that basically run the quinta….a couple of men help in the vineyards and with the equipment. Not clear if Rachel is family or not.  Some great history and information about the place.  Used to be a Franciscan monastery.  Was sold about 400yrs ago to a private family who still operate the place today.  Story has it that the name came from the poor people on the north side of the river thinking that the south side was Morocco, a better place to get work, so once they had crossed the river they thought they were there, not realizing that Morocco was really hundreds of miles away.  She explained how the terraced vineyards work, water being stored in the rock etc.  On to the cellar tour…not very big but they do have a bigger one somewhere else where most of their port is cellared.  As the barrels get older a little bit of the wine will seep out, which attracts ants, bees and other sweet loving insects, so they introduced spiders to keep them all under control, hence all the cobwebs on the vats and everywhere else in the cellar.

As in Porto, the vats/barrels are good for up to 150yrs at which point they’re sold off to Scotland for whiskey.  On to the tasting where she explained all the different ports they produce and the port control board rules and regulations they must follow.  White, rose, tawny, ruby and vintage.  I think we tasted 5.

Dinner was great (40E per person, paid in advance….a little steep but was fun and worth it) All traditional for this area.  To start, olives (real meaty, salty, delicious) , local olive oil and peasant breads…..served with the white port.  Next was a creamed zucchini soup, very good with our choice of white, rose or tawny.  Wine, we also had our choice of white, rose or red…..didn’t really matter which you chose because each group of 4 got one bottle of each and if became empty it was quickly replaced with another.  Second course, I guess, was “meatballs”…..2 small pieces of a local sausage with a piece of cheese stuffed between them, then breaded and deep fried…..soooo good…..served on a bed of stir fried veg……all absolutely delicious! Main or third or fourth course…..was the salt cod.  Baked in a tomato sauce with carmelized onions on top and served with shoestring type French fries.  Other than the bones in the fish everything as just incredible! All done to perfection with just the right amount of seasoning on all of it…..never once even lifted the salt shaker!  Dessert was a pear poached in port….yummy and the grand finale was a ruby port served with decadent chocolate truffles and a decaf espresso.  All of it was wonderful.

Chatted thru dinner with the couples from Germany and the US (only a little Trump talk).  Was after 10 by the time we finished.  Had to wander around a bit to work off some of the food before bed.

What a great day!  Driving today was really good.  All the roads, including the narrow curvy ones are in super condition…..even getting lost is good….another adventure because you just never know where you’ll end up or what exciting thing or place you may come across.

So far I have found nothing to not like in Portugal!

Wed June 5

Up at 5:30!  Had coffee and finished updating my journal, then a bit of a walk thru the vineyard before breakfast at 8.  Very pretty table and a good assortment of food at breakfast….cheese, meat, various breads to toast, sweet buns, apple and quince jelly (v. good), cereal, yogurt.  Portland people were there and gave us a tip about how to get to the waterfront in Pinhao and where to park.

Got to Pinhao just in time to catch the next boat trip.  20E for the two hour trip but really the one hour would have been enough….all the good stuff is near the beginning.  Very beautiful.  Many, many port producers….some I recognized (Dow, Graham etc).  Lots of terraces, dry stone walls (which are just amazing to me!!), olive trees and some incredibly beautiful quintas up on the hills.  The vines are all in perfect rows and lines and in some places to right up to the top of the hills or little mountains.  Passed a couple of the Douro river boat.  Weather was a bit iffy….a little chilly and windy.  Not too bad on the boat until we turned around to come back down the river.  Very chilly then….even a bit of rain.  You can see a number of small towns, villages, or hamlets way up at the top of the hills.  Vineyards everywhere in every direction.  We had a small sampling of port on the way back, which was kind of nice and warmed us up a bit.

Pinhao is a nice small town along the river.  We had parked right along the river but couldn’t find an path or access to get up to the town, so we drove up to it but could not find a parking spot anywhere!!  Had hoped to have lunch and visit the train station, which has incredible tile work, but was not to be.  We kept driving up and up and up!!  The road got extremely narrow, still very nicely paved and in excellent condition, and continued climbing and climbing, going through some of the villages we’d seen from the boat.  Some very steep drop offs, with very few guard rails/walls……although because it was all terraces, if you did pop over you wouldn’t go too far down!!  Rae was driving and freaking out so we found a little town (Alejo ?) with a lookout, where we switched drivers.  The views were stunning/dazzling/gorgeous…..and breathtaking, as was the road!  Back down we went but decided to take the other fork in the road but that road was just as “breathtaking”!!  The road surface was great, no issues whatsoever but the road was even narrower in some places with more hairpin curves…..the good part about that was that you could see oncoming traffic quite aways ahead…..including the BUS!!  Found a spot at a curve with enough shoulder to pull over and wait for it to come by.  Poor Rae was just about beside herself…..we told her to just close her eyes and breathe.  We were way up at that point but just amazing the views and seeing the other side of the mountain, which was also covered in very well organized row after row of vines…..so pretty.

Came to the town of Sabrosa where we found a “tipici” restaurant so we had a late lunch.  Francesinha is the Portuguese version of Croque Monsieur…..well, not quite!  We’d seen people having it at other places and thought we’d give it a try.  It’s a piece of steak and some sausage between two pieces of bread that is covered in cheese, melted and then topped (or drowned in…) with a sauce of ketchup, whiskey and beer.  It was OK, certainly interesting mix ingredients and flavours, very rich and very filling…..having tried it, it’s very unlikely that I’ll try it again!  French fries were great!  That said, can’t complain really, including wine for Rae and I and coffees all around our total bill came to less than 40E.

Everywhere we’ve gone so far, the people have been so nice.  Very pleasant, helpful and kind…..regardless of how much English they speak and heaven knows how much Portuguese we speak….lots of fun with the phrase book and getting to know the proper pronunciation of words and also just some of the letters, for example if there is an “S” at the end of a word, it’s sounded as “SH”.  The road down from Sabrosa, was much better….wider, less curvy with a more gradual grade back down.

Stopped in Peso at the LIDL picked up goodies for a light dinner at the quinta.  The great thing about this place is that the main house has a big, old kitchen that guests are welcome to use.    After having a bit of a rest, I went into the kitchen to set up our picnic….had been hoping to have it out on the patio but the wind had picked up making it just a bit too chilly to really enjoy it out there.  Caesar, the owner came in while I was rooting through drawers looking for a corkscrew, and asked what I needed…..explained that we were having a picnic of sorts and I needed to open my wine.  What a charming man he was…..not only helped find the corkscrew but proceeded to get out a tablecloth and some better glasses, plates, cutlery etc.  I told him we’d picked up paper plates, which he poo pooed.  Said he’d just taken the train from Lisbon to spend a few days at the quinta.  He is the patriarch of the family and the one that is in charge of the quinta……he is in his 80’s.  Luckily he has children that are also involved and will take over the business eventually…..hoping to make it at least 500 years that it stays in the family!  I asked if he’d like to join us but he was just going to grab something quick because he had TV shows to watch!

Was close to 8 by the time we had dinner…..a couple different cheeses, Serrano ham, olives, buns/bread and a nice bottle of local red wine.  All good.

Long day but even with all the nail biting drives, a really good day.  Such a beautiful area.

Thurs June 6

Great breakfast again and on our way by 10ish.  A bit sunny this morning but not expected to stay …..rain in the forecast in Coimbra.  Easy peasy drive today, only a couple hours and all highway.  Stopped for coffee about 1/2 way.  The Portuguese autogrilles are not quite the big ones you see in Italy or France, but there are tons of them…..probably every 20 or so kms, which is nice.  Good food though and always pastel de nata and very clean washrooms……always soap and paper towels and clean floors!

So far Portugal has to be the cleanest place I have been…..clean washrooms in even the smallest restaurants/cafes, very clean streets, no garbage along the highways…just very neat and tidy everywhere.  Really impressive!

The countryside changed from vineyards and olive trees, to cork oak forests and became quite rugged, lots of rocky outcrops and walls.  A lot of big boulders!  About half way to Coimbra it changed to very grassy rolling plains with the cork oaks getting sparse….it reminded me of African savannah.  I was expecting to see more “ruins” along the way but only the odd tumbled down homestead or farm building.  Very few building are stone around here, unlike Italy and France, most are whitewashed or painted bright colours, all though with red tile roofs.  Very pretty drive.

The GPS got us right to the hotel….no issues.  https://www.tivolihotels.com/en/tivoli-coimbra?utm_campaign=local-gmb&utm_medium=organic_search&utm_source=google_gmb  Parked in the lot next door.  Went in to check-in and leave our luggage and to find out where we should park as we’d prepaid for it.  The gal at the desk took care of all of it us!  Took the keys to have the car moved into their “secured” underground lot and will have our bags in our rooms when their ready!  Great location, great hotel!  Grabbed some maps of the city and off we went to her recommendation for lunch, Sete, on the pedestrian only shopping street.  https://seterestaurante.wixsite.com/coimbra/menus  I had the mulligatawny soup and bread, the others had the salad with an egg on it, and coffees. All very good.  Great, friendly waitstaff.  Not terribly cheap but we were in a big city now so……50E for all of us.

The weather was not looking very promising…..had clouded over and got a bit chilly.  Wandered around the area for a bit, in and out of the cathedral and a few shops then towards the funicular to take us up to the university.  First though a stop in the local market hall…..half the vendors had closed for the day but still a few cheese and meat guys lurking.  Lots of great looking produce.  Not much left in the line of fish.  Love those markets!

The university (dating from 1300) in Coimbra is famous for it’s library.  http://visit.uc.pt/en/library/  There is also a Natural History Museum and a Science Museum that are included in the price of tickets……4.40E.  We were give our “tour” time of 4:30 so had more than an hour to kill…..in the rain!  A visit to the museums….to get out of the rain, which at that point had started to come down sideways…..both were great but the Natural History one was the best.  Small but packed with excellent exhibits, tons of taxidermy birds, animals, fish from explorations around the world back in the 1600’s.  Old lecture halls were beautiful as were the tons of oak display cabinets that everything was kept in.  Of note also…..this is where (also from Porto) Rowlings got her inspiration for the capes in the Harry Potters movies, along with some of the other décor.   https://www.campus.sg/portugals-harry-potter-connections/

In the main building they have a little coffee shop where we had tea and tried to dry out at bit…..no umbrella and very wet feet!

They only allow so many people into the library at a time….not a bad thing! (The Vatican Museum could take a lesson from them!)  First they give you information about the library and that you CANNOT take pictures on the 3rd floor, where all the good stuff is!!  The second floor is not very exciting, other than looking at 400+ year old first additions (wow)!  The third floor is really quite beautiful if you are into baroque and over the top architecture and décor.  The library is still in use today, with volumes being checked out on a regular basis…..the ceiling is as good as, if not even better than, the Sistine chapel!  Just WOW everywhere you look.  It’s divided into 3 different rooms, each just as elaborate as the other with ornate woodwork and heavy velvet curtains.  Floor to ceiling books, many from as far back as the 15th century. When you go in and out the doors are sealed to protect the ancient books from humidity and daylight etc. You’re allowed a 1/2 hour only!

Back out into the pouring rain!  Still blowing sideways and cold!!  Had big plans to wander around and cross the river but that just wasn’t going to happen.  How disappointing because Coimbra seemed to have a lot to offer…..oh well, next time!  A taxi was just dropping someone off so we grabbed it and just headed back to the hotel.  Taxi driver gave us a bit of a running tour as we went along, although you could hardly see out the windows for the rain.  Taxi from the university back to the hotel = 5E !  A real deal compared to home where $5 might get you 5 feet!

Still pretty miserable at 7 when we got together to go for dinner so decided to just stay in the bar at the hotel.  Had a quiche and a salad and a couple of glasses of wine, just under 10E. Was sort of “Portuguese fast food”, but really quite good.  By 8:30PM…..the clouds had cleared, sun was out….but we’d had it for the day.  Too bad.

Coimbra was hosting the World University Games and the Canadian team was staying at our hotel.

Fri June 7

Beautiful morning!  Off to Spain today.  No real problems getting out of Coimbra.  Longish drive today…..270km to Caceres.  A stop just to break up the drive to Andalucía.  Very different landscape as we headed inland.  Lots of cork oak forests and vineyards which turned to wheat or hay fields.  For the first hour or so saw lots of small towns, then fewer and fewer.  A lot more cattle and the odd herd of sheep.  Very strange rocks or boulders all over the place…….huge ones that look like they were dropped off by a glacier or something…..seen there weren’t any rocky mountain ranges around (not like yesterday….).  Looks very dry…more olive trees.  Many very orderly looking farms with everything planted in neat and tidy rows.

Stopped for lunch at “Olga’s” Restaurante somewhere just before we crossed the border into Spain.  It was a “plat du dia” place.   A big platter of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, pork hock bits, blood sausage (Yuck!) , chorizo, another sausage of some sort that was kind of the texture of corned beef and something that was in a sausage casing that was a mix of white-ish creamy stuff (was afraid it might be brains or ??) and more mushy stuff that looked and kind of tasted like yam…..very interesting to say the least!  Tried everything, even the blood sausage and still don’t like it…..texture thing I think.  It was all kind of weird…..cabbage and pork hock were the best.  I quite like “boiled dinners” but this one definitely left a lot to be desired, to me.  A group of 3 or 4 older local couples, who all seemed to know Olga well, were chowing through their platters and a table of workmen were downing platter after platter….no picking through it for them!  No booze, no dessert but we did get coffee…..I do think Olga may have ripped us off……15E per person, which was almost twice as much as we paid for our absolutely excellent plat du dia last week!!

Passed what used to be the Spanish border/customs building….all locked up tight now and rather run down.

Noticed a difference in the landscape almost immediately……much more cultivated in Spain, far less undeveloped land.  Much drier and many more orange trees.

Arrive in Caceres around 4:30.  Our hotel, Exe Agora, has underground parking which you use a lift/elevator to get to!  A bit tricky maneuvering the car into the narrow elevator off of the very narrow street but I did it!  A first for me using one of these things.  Down to P2.  Found a spot but barely fit as has been the case with most parking lots that we’ve come across.  Hotel is in a great location, just around the corner from Plaza Mejor and the historic walled city.

Plaza Mejor is huge surrounded by cafes and restaurants and some very interesting sculptures near the entrance…..one that represents monks from what looks like the inquisition….kind of creepy!  Got some info from the TI office and in to the walled city, which dates from the 12th century.  Many lovely narrow cobbled streets, lots of potted plants, some little cafes, a cathedral, church and a museum, which has the second most important cistern….Istanbul being the first.  Here, as in Portugal, you have to pay to go into churches, didn’t bother even though was only 2 or 3E.  Would have loved to see the cisterns but was getting late and a huge tour group had just arrived at the museum before us and didn’t want to spend valuable time standing in a long line up for tickets.  Part of the ramparts are open to the public (5E).  Great views from the towers.  A number of guys playing various instruments and singing…..great acoustics with in the walls with all the towers

Stopped for drinks at a bar in the plaza.  Glen had a beer and the waiter sold us on his “Vino Tintos”, which was basically a red wine spritzter with a twist of lemon….quite enjoyed it.  Found a strange tapas bar for dinner……rather modern, sort of a cafeteria style place.  If you ate INSIDE and ordered two glasses of wine you got something for free…..not exactly sure what though, if you ate outside you didn’t get anything for free?  Ordered the meat and cheese platter, which came with some really good crackers, and some French fries, which were more like pan fried potatoes and carmelized onions, covered in an aioli sauce…….was a large order and very, very good.  We then got some croquettes and olives, which we didn’t order so thought they might be our freebies.  Got the bill, which came to around 17E…..only one glass of wine each on the bill, so maybe it was the second glass of wine that was free???  Very confusing but was fun and quite tasty.  R & G went back to the hotel, Brenda and I went in search of a bank machine and to the park just down the street…..fun place too!  Friday night lots of people milling around, sitting on the benches, a very pretty antique merry-go-round and big playground area for the kiddies, some musicians etc.

Back to the hotel roof top terrace for a glass of wine…..great views!  Swallows by the 1000’s…..fascinating to watch them swooping and diving.  Had been quite pleasant all day but the wind came up and it cooled down quite a bit after it got dark.

………next on to Andalucía.