Viana do Castelo

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July 7th 2023

Published: July 15th 2023

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alikim

Umbrellas

We arrived in Portugal, without any fanfare, no passport control and not even a sign saying ‘welcome to Portugal’, but there was a warm welcome at our campsite. With a short walk over the dunes to a fabulous, very windy beach we were astounded by the number of kite and wind surfers in the water, the colours, the tricks and criss-crossing it was incredible they didn’t get knotted together! We had inadvertently chosen a kite surfer’s paradise, Praia do Cabedelo.

A short hop on a ferry from our beach location and we were in the bustling town of Viana do Castelo. A medieval centre with lots of small shops and restaurants, houses and other buildings are decorated with some beautiful tiles. Just behind the station is a 100 year old funicular railway that takes you up to the Temple of Santa Luzia and one of the ‘best views in the world’, I would say it was certainly worth the trip, and a wonderful view, but they may have sightly over rated their claim! Back down in the town and we picked a lovely little café to have lunch, the ‘Cod de something’ was incredible! Certainly a lovely town at the

Viana do Castella

mouth of the river Lima.

After a couple of nights we left behind the wet suit clad crowd and headed for the Douro wine making valley. Having been given a bit of a ‘bum -steer’ by another traveller we thought we had registered Django on the Portuguese toll site, which should enable us to travel on their toll roads. We duly went through the VV sign and happily went on our way, but oh dear! At the next pay booth there was a comical sight of me trying to explain in English, to someone on the end of a help intercom, that we had registered - but the machine wanted a ticket. They were having none of my desperate explanations, and without a ticket charged us a fine of 48 euro. Subsequently we have found out foreign motorists have to pick up a ticket where there is one, and where there isn’t the camper will be picked up on the automatic toll system… simple as mud, I still can’t find out which motorways this applies to!

A little tarnished form our motorway experience we apprehensively made our way to Vila Real to kick off our tour of the