Blogs from Northern, Portugal, Europe - page 20

Having received an invitation to attend Smart Travel 14 in Northeast Portugal is an honour, and I'm thrilled to be in the lovely city of Braganca with my generous hosts. Portugal is a country steeped in tradition with world class architecture, culture, gastronomy and wine, and the Northeast is home to the world famous port wine. There's so much on offer in this region the Portugese may just have a chance of civilising me! Everything travellers love about Western Europe is right here in the friendly Northeast, and my worldly hosts have left quite an impression. i suppose that's to be expected, as the Portugese ruled half the world during the height of the Portugese empire. So here I am, ensconced in Braganca and Mirandela for the duration of the event, and grateful for the opportunity. ... read more

The photos below tell the story well enough!... read more

Clarissa Tomtom let us down again as we tried to get away from the coastal area and on to the road East. It seemed to take an age to get through the little, all cobbled, roads of Estela and onto the main road we had been looking for. We found the road eventually which was not the route Bob had originally planned but had had to change as we were starting from a point lower down the coast because of our change of campsite. We were supposed to follow a picturesque route along the river but the route we took had few points of interest. We were to pass the medieval city of Guimaraes. We’ve been there before in 1995 on our honeymoon so I thought it might be nice to drive through or at least ... read more

Today a really easy drive. Bob asked, as we were packing up, if I wanted to hang around for a while as it was a bit early given it would take us less than an hour to get to the next site. Ha ha ha. The campsite we were aiming for was just on the other side of the river mouth across from Viano do Castelo. The idea being that we would spend a couple of nights here and visit the town. Best laid plans and all that. We arrived in Viano do Castelo and all was well. Looked to be a very nice place for our visit the next day. All we had to do was find the bridge to get us across the river to our campsite. That was easier said than done. Clarissa ... read more

WE ATE THE STANDARD BREAKFAST, THEN GRABBED OUR GEAR AND DROVE TO THE COA MUSEUM FOR OUR 4-WHEEL TOUR. THE BUILDING IS WELL OUT OF TOWN, LIKE 2 KILOMETERS AND VERY STRANGE IN DESIGN. THEY DID HAVE A CAFE/RESTAURANT, BUT IT WAS EMPTY IN THE MORNING AND WE'D JUST HAD COFFEE, SO WE CHECKED IN FOR OUR TOUR. WE ENDED UP GETTING A PRIVATE TOUR OF JUST MANOLI AND I, WITH AN ENGLISH-SPEAKING FEMALE GUIDE. SHE DROVE OUT OF TOWN IN OUR 4-WHEEL VEHICLE, THEN TURNED OFF ONTO THE ROAD FROM HELL. WE ARRIVED AT THE SECURITY CHECKPOINT AND PARKED THE JEEP. AFTER CHECKING IN, OUR GUIDE TOOK US TO THREE DIFFERENT ROCK PAINTING SITES. THE GUIDE EXPLAINED THERE WERE THREE WAYS THEY 'CARVED' IN THE ROCK, SOMETHING LIKE GOUGING, CHIPPING, AND SCRATCHING. ALL BUT THE ... read more