Los otros Iberianos

by anna and david

Portugal, the slither of land blocked from the rest of Europe by Spain, having held out against Spanish dominance many times, is a land as diverse as any I have come across, amazing for a nation traversable within a week!

We got the fast train to Seville and hired a car there to spend 12 days making our way through Portugal from south to north, finishing back in Spain in Galicia.

First stop was a relaxing weekend in Carvoeiro, in the Algarve, with Phil and Graham, a couple of ex-LEK colleagues, Phil's sister and boyfriend, Jo and Alex, and two of their friends, Steph and Mats. The weather was HOT, the sky CLEAR, the pool awesomely close at the back of the house, the sea freezing, the BBQ sardines divine, and the nights long. We spent the weekend lazing, eating and drinking, the boys pulling a couple of all nighters in a row (aided by a few bottles of Bombay Sapphire and the final couple of days of the the Olympics - cracking weekend). It was a sensational weekend all round.

Seeing the others off back to London, we drove through the countryside of Alentejo to Evora, a country / university town where we stayed in an old manor, had a sensational meal of piripiri prawns, and steak with mushrooms and cream, and watched the sunset over a roman ruin with a beer. A recommended stop if you're ever in the area.

From Evora, we continued onto Lisbon where we stayed for a couple of days soaking up the city and recovering from the previous boozy weekend. A highlight was the old trams still operating at high speed through the narrow streets of the city, threatening the lives of citizens at every turn (my highlight of Lisboa this time). We caught one of these up to the castle for a sensational meal of Indo-Portuguese curry at a restaurant near there. I'm really looking forward to Goa now! On the way home, we stopped into a restaurant for a drink and to listen to the proprietor and another family member singing "fado" (a semi-operatic singsong loved by the Portuguese). This particular guy fancied himself as the portuguese Pavarotti I think. It was great, but we declined to buy the CD that he touted after the short show was over.

The next night we had an average meal but on the other side of the city (in the Bairro Alto) giving us the opportunity to walk back to our hotel via the upper town for a night time view from the other side. We came across some local night markets on the way down. I took the opportunity to buy some rings and brooches in a desperate attempt to make the same clothes I have been wearing over and over for months now, feel different. Lisbon is a beautiful city but somewhat sad as the grand buildings are now just a reminder of more prosperous times. A few months with a pressure hose, and it would be as stunning as Paris.

From Lisbon we went via the coast road and Europe's most westerly point, Cabo da Roca, where we picked up some cheese and chorizo from a truck on the side of the road whose proprietor insisted on giving us a tasting before purchasing. Our destination was Sintra, holiday town of the Portuguese royalty, and English literati, as far as I can discern. Sintra is really beautiful. The surrounding countryside is one of the nicest (without wine grape vines) I think I have been through anywhere, and we had a lovely time exploring the confectionary-like Palacio da Pena.

We spent the night in Coimbra, a university town in the Beira region between Lisbon and Porto. After a very average (read: bad) italian meal, we enjoyed the rest of the evening in (port) wine and song, watching a dance performance outside the church in the town square from Cafe Santa Cruz, that was once a chapel of the church, followed by some sensational fado at a bar (Bar Diligencia) deep into the alleys of the town. Here we watched a collection of men puff their chests and open their mouths to sing, in an apparent fight for the role of lead cockerel. It was quite funny to watch their passive-aggressive competitiveness, but really enjoyable to listen to, especially one sensational tenor who got our vote for alpha male (awesome way to spend the early hours of the morning).

We drove directly from Coimbra to Porto where we stayed in Castelo Santa Catarina, a residence built in grand style with lovely gardens. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite and I would recommend staying here (and paying more for the suite) for a really special experience. This contributed, but was only a small part of why we loved Porto. The architecture with winding cobble stone roads and tiled terraces was offset by the grand river and port houses across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia. Somewhat hungover from the previous night of fado, we took an open top bus tour to navigate the hilly city and to be able to see the magnificent houses without craning our necks or exerting ourselves too much.

We found a locals restaurant for dinner where we managed to communicate what we wanted with some useless english, a bit of spanish and lots of gestures. In the end we tried a regional specialty "francesinha", an artery clogging dish of steak, sausage and ham baked between two slices of bread covered in cheese, and in the house's own version, gravy. It looks awful and isn't something I would go looking for again, but I can see the appeal if done well .... especially if hungover ... (not so sure about that - not in my top 100 cures)

The day after, somewhat recovered, we visited Graham's port house, one of the many along the river, where we had a great "free" tour for just the two of us, with some info about the region and Graham's, and a tour of the cellars with a very enthusiastic guide who was genuinely into her port. We finished with a relaxed tasting while we sat looking out over the river across to Porto proper. Needless to say, we bought some samples as gifts and later consumption. We loved Porto.

From here we went upriver to the Douro Valley and the endless hills of vines that feed Porto's key industry. I could have stayed there for forever. It is so beautiful in every way. We kept driving until we hit Pinhao, the town at the furthest end of what is considered to be the Douro port producing region, where we found a hostal room with balcony with views of the valley. We had a glass of wine and read for a bit, soaking up the atmosphere before heading down to what appeared to be the only restaurant open in town, or at least the only one with people, where the restaurateur declined to provide a menu, instead telling us what we should have. We were easily led, and enjoyed a lovely, extremely cheap meal (welcoming glass of port, lamb, pork, salad, bread, red wine and coffee for two all for 20 euros). (Must see part of the world this region)

I was very reluctant to leave the Douro (me too), but, having planned to see some of Galicia on this trip, we packed ourselves back in our car and headed across Portugal's northern border into Spain. With only about 24 hours in the area, we headed straight up to A Coruna to have a brief look around. It was quite a nice place with the town dividing the port and beach areas. We had a cana to soak up the beach side atmosphere and had a little walk in the sand while David marvelled at the perfect positioning of a stadium built right across from the beach (from one side of the stand you could watch the waves come in if the game got dull - very impressive). We then headed back to Santiago de Compostela to find a room for the night, and to see why people would hike across Europe to get there.

We didn't manage to understand the pilgrim's thinking but we certainly saw a lot of them, who were as interesting as the town itself. As we walked through the town the next morning, we witnessed what seemed like hundreds of people with walking sticks, hiking packs and boots milling around, or settling in the church for the midday service. The church itself was worth marvelling at. I haven't been in one for a while but I'm pretty sure I've never seen one with so much gold, or with so many people in it, except at Christmas. The pews, and confessionals for that matter, were packed with a range of people from the old and conservative to the young and dreadlocked. It was worth seeing in itselt. Great little city but not sure I would walk across Spain for it?

We were more interested in visiting the food markets, a mix of permanent stalls and people who had obviously come in from the farm for the day to sell their basket of green beans. We got some great fruit, bread, cheese and ham for our train trip back to Madrid. The fresh raisin bread was very memorable.

We had a very easy, and great, train trip back to Madrid where we stayed for a day to visit the Indian embassy to submit our passports for our visas for our trip later in the year. We left them with our most valuable documents and an addressed envelope to send them to us in Barcelona and caught another train to Barcelona ... not such a great idea. I won't be in a hurry to catch a tourist class, nine and a half hour, overnight train ever again .... even if it is only 40 euros! ... but that's another story.

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