...end of May...

Porto

Dav and I managed to grab a lift down to Portugal with Ben and Lauren as they had hired a car and were picking Lauren’s parents up from the airport in Porto. Their plan was to check out some of Portugal with Lauren’s folks, and then head back up to Santiago at the end of the month in preparation for their wedding in early June.



So, after saying goodbye to Ben and Lauren at the airport while they waited for the flight to land, Dav and I caught a bus into Porto. There we went to a few hostels looking for a place to stay for the night. Completely shocked at the E19 they wanted to charge us each (for a hostel!), we instead found a fancy three star hotel, with complementary breakfast, for only E6 more... So with our bags finally off our backs and still many hours of sunlight left in the day, we set off to explore Porto.



Our first stop was the shop across the road from the hotel as Dav’s sole purpose of coming to Portugal was to eat some of their famous char-grilled chicken. It was really tasty - worth the trip!



I found Porto to be such a lovely city. The old town is really gorgeous, with many building fronts tiled with distinctive blue and while tiles, and the sea of orange tiled rooves was just so unlike anything we have back home. We walked down to the river and had a little picnic watching people walk by, sipping on a little bottle of white port - very fitting we thought!



The next morning, after a fancy night’s sleep and after stuffing ourselves at breakfast, we set out to explore Porto some more. We swung past the Stockbrokers Palace and San Fransisco Church on the way back down to the river, where we went on a cruise of the river. It was quite funny actually as there were only about 10 people on the boat when we boarded, and then about two minutes before the boat was due to leave about 60 ten year olds all scrambled on board, obviously on a school excursion of some sort... The faces of everyone else on board just dropped as we all found ourselves crammed in between bunches of kids - not quite the pleasant, peaceful cruise of the river we all had in mind! Although it worked out really well as the actual boat cruise was not very interesting, and nowhere near as interesting as watching the kids interact... Oh the pains of being ten years old and wearing the wrong outfits, or giggling in a group as the boys did something funny... very amusing!



After the boat cruise we went to Croft’s port cellar for a tour, which also included a couple of tastings. Although port is now also made in Australia and America, it obviously came from Portugal originally, and specifically Porto, and so sampling some of their speciality was an obvious must for any visit! I found the tour really interesting, especially learning how they make it and what differentiates different varieties. The typical port sweetness, which I love, is due to brandy being added on day three after the crushing which kills the yeast, and so therefore a lot of the original grape sugars remain. Another interesting fact is that every couple of years when they have an exceptional batch, they actual prefer to crush the grapes by foot as opposed to using the standard mechanical crushing apparatus. This method actually leaves a lot more grape pulp, adding to the flavour of the port. Interesting!



From the port cellar we got slightly geographically dislocated, ending up in the main shopping precinct... an accident I swear! After making our way through the crowds, we swung via the hotel to collect our backpacks, and head off to the train station to make our way out of Porto, towards our next destination of Guimares.

Guimares

Arriving into Guimares about 5.30pm, we made our way to the info centre where we got a list of accommodation, including a camping ground just outside of town that we needed a cable car to take us to... It didn’t make much sense until we stopped looking at the 2D map and looked up so see the Penna mountain range right next to town! So a quick stop for supplies, then on to the cable car for our lift up the hill. The whole top of the hill was a national park of some sort, with really lovely walking paths in amongst the green woods, granite outcrops and massive mossy boulders. It was really beautiful and unexpected, with the lovely shade a welcome break from the hot sun beating down on us.



Walking on to the campground, we were stopped by a group of eight middle-aged Portugese men having a picnic in the park, insistent we join them for a bite to eat and some wine. We stayed for about half an hour, making as much conversation as we could between us in a common amount of Spanish (ie not very much) and the little English they knew. They we super lovely, feeding us bacalou (dried cod), bread and wine, and then insisting we took a little package away with us, consisting of more leftover food and drinks. What a lovely introduction to Portugal!



The guy at the camping ground was also really lovely, giving us a brief history of Portugal and the importance of Guimares in the history of the nation. Apparently before the formation of Portugal as a country, the whole area was under the rule of Spain, with the Moors (from Morocco) inhabiting the bottom section of the country. There as some fight between a guy and his dad, and then Alfonso (not sure if this was the son or the dad, I think it was more likely the son) proclaimed independence with Portugal becoming a new nation, with official independence even granted by the Pope. During this time they (the Portugese) only occupied northern Portugal, and so reclaimed the southern land by ousting the Moors. This all ties in with Guimares as Alfonso, who also then became the first king of Portugal was (probably) born here and (definitely) baptised here. The small chapel in which he was baptised, which still exists today, has several elaborately engraved tombstones paving the floor of ‘noble warriors who fought alongside Alfonso at the founding of the nation’.



Back to the camping ground, the guy also showed us pictures of the park taken in January this year with a thick layer of snow covering the ground. Apparently the weather is quite crazy up here, with the temperature hitting 29 degrees within a week of the snow storm!



The next morning we were up early and took the cable car down to explore the town. We made our way through the old town and up to the castle on the hill. We got to climb up in the castle tower which, while being a little scary, gave great views of the town below. We also checked out the chapel in which Alfonso was baptised, before heading back up to camp. Unfortunately the cable car was broken so we had to catch a bus, but on the positive, this took us through some unexplored areas on the way back up to the top of the hill.



The next day was just spent at the campground, relaxing by the pool in the sun, playing cards and just generally recharging the batteries. Dav had a few quick dips in the pool, but with a water temperature of only 18 degrees I was more content to just watch! Later in the afternoon we went for a walk around the park, exploring the many paths and stairs in amongst the boulders, and enjoying our last afternoon in Guimares.



On the way to the bus station the next day, we stopped at a cafe to sample a ‘Francesinha’, a genuine Portugese cuisine. It was quite yummy, although not very vegetarian friendly being basically a toasted sandwich of sausage, steak, ham, and egg, which is then put in a baking dish, covered with cheese and a special sauce (tastes like a mix of tomato, barbeque and wostishire), then baked until the cheese melts. Dav and I shared one serving and that was enough... I could feel my cholesterol levels rising with each mouthful!



Then on to our bus to Braga.

Braga

Our camping ground at Braga was a real dump compared to our forest haven at Guimares - not very pretty, right next to a main road, backing on to a showground (which was hosting a bikie convention of some sort that night), and a fair old ugly walk from anywhere good. Plus the forecast for the night was for more rain... But we pulled our bottom lips in and after setting up our tent, walked back in to explore the town.



Once again the Old centre was the best area in town, with beautiful paved streets and gorgeous buildings. Typically Portugese from what we’ve seen, the streets were also adorned with monuments and fountains, and a perfectly-manicured central garden. On the walk home we stopped off at an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant for dinner where we absolutely stuffed ourselves for E6 each - great value!



Back at the campground, we were treated to high-tempo dance music blasting from the bikie convention next door until the wee hours in the morning... In the sleep-deprived state that we were in, it was actually quite funny. As soon as Dav happened to mention that the tempo beat was perhaps the most annoying sound, completely non-conducive to sleep, the music swapped to a bag pipe for a while, and then a marching drum band for another half hour or so, before again swapping back to the dance music... So bad it was funny.



The next day we headed back into town to explore some more. Our first stop was the museum which was quite interesting, focusing mainly on the strong Roman history in the area including a house ruin preserved underneath the museum building. From the museum, we checked out some Roman bath ruins which were alright but not as informative or as interesting as that which we visited in Bath, England. Our culture quota reached for the day, we returned to the Chinese restaurant for a late lunch (such good value!), before heading back to the caravan park.



No music overnight thankfully but we did wake to miserable drizzly weather - not much fun in a tent. Determined to move on out of Braga, we packed up the wet muddy tent in between showers, and with all our belongings in the world once again on our backs, we set off for the bus station. Poor Braga - quite a nice city but we just happened to be there wet and sleep-deprived, and so our opionion of the place was not too high.

Geres

Gorgeous! What a difference being out of the city makes. It sounds terrible but after Braga we were thinking of giving up on Portugal and heading back to Spain... The combination of bad weather, a few unhelpful Portugese and constant cities meant that we were not really enjoying Portugal as much as we had hoped, but as soon as we arrived in Geres, high up in the hills surrounded by lush trees and gorgeous streams, we were so glad we persisted. The campsite was equally spectacular and we were able to set up our tent in a great spot close to a stream.



After a great night’s sleep, the next day we set off on a hike up the hill to get better views of the national park in which Geres is situated. We did get some lovely views back down the valley towards the lake which made the walk up the hill worthwhile.



Back at the campground we got talking to an older French couple, Marie-Frances and Francois, who had spent the last five weeks touring around Portugal with their caravan. They were really lovely and invited us to go with them to explore the remains of a Roman road that ran from Braga in Portugal to Lugo in Spain. The best place to view the ruins was actually about 15km away in another region of the national park, meaning we had to cross the border into Spain. It was such a unique experience to cross a border and for it to not be a big deal ie not to have to catch an aeroplane or at least a big car trip.



There was not much of the road left to see, and the milestones they used to mark the distances, which had been grouped together, were very worn with time, but it was understandable being that they are about 2,000 years old... Finished with exploring, it was back into Portugal (no big deal) and back to our campsite.



The next day was a rather lazy one - a simple walk into town for lunch and then an afternoon spent reading by the stream. Dav had a dip in the flawless but freezing stream, lasting only a few minutes in the water but impressing the French couple somewhat with his crazy antics. It was a lovely last day in Geres, before heading back to Braga the next day.

Back in Braga...

... and back to the Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurant! Arriving into town on the bus about midday, our journey to the campsite once again took us past our favourite dining place in Portugal. Heading in for our third meal in a week, we got a few smiles from the staff, our faces becoming very familiar to them! Just to top off the enjoyment, they had an English movie playing with Portugese subtitles. So even though it starred Slyvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, and hence was not too high on the quality scale, it was such a novelty to watch a movie we could understand.



There was a Roman festival over the weekend and so for the rest of the afternoon we strolled around the streets, checking out the stalls and people dressed in togas, before returning to our campsite for the night.



The next day we once again killed some time wandering the streets before catching our bus back up to Santiago.

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