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Published: July 23rd 2023
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We leave our perfectly located, but postage sized car park late in the afternoon intended to park around the bay, in Canidelo, but it is a popular resort and the two campsites were full. We headed south for 30 minutes to the Municipal Campsite at Espinho, another average looking campsite, at least it had a pool. The campsite was a poor reflection of the town of Esphino. It had a wide modern promenade with many cafes. For the sporty people, a sign that displayed the towns name - was also a climbing wall. There were many beach volleyball courts and a large open air swimming pool, with 3 high diving boards that look like 3, 5,and eight metres. I’ve dived of high boards but what scared the bejesus out of me, was from the 5mtr to the 8 mtr it seemed little wider than a normal staircase, and no handrails! Surf was up and many surfers were taking to waves, to rough for swimming, hence the swimming pool.
A brief stop along the way, we put our heads into Aveiro on the edge of the Ria, a shallow lagoon, described as the Venice of Portugal, owing to the small amount
of canals that go around the town. The traditional seaweed harvesting boats now take tourists on a trips around the town. I don’t know if there was a festival on but there was a band of instrumentalists wandering the town. Stopping occasionally while the leader summoned up his surrounded audience to applause on a point of his baton. The band were made up of all ages who struck up a tune, although to my ears consisted only of only three notes. It was all good fun though.
Heading further down the coast, we aim for Nazare which has claimed fame in recent years for it’s large waves, caused in part by the sub-sea terrain off this part of the coastline. Experienced surfers flock to this part of Nazare, just by the lighthouse, to experience these extraordinary waves. There is a surfing museum inside the lighthouse with pictures of some of surfers in action.
Nazare must have been built on sand, as our next campsite was full of the stuff, and we were warned we could get stuck in it. Unusually for a campsite like this, there was no bus to take us down to beachfront that was a
Gelatomania
Kim's all time favourite place 30 min walk away. With such a lovely evening and view of the sunset we thought we’d treat ourselves to a nice meal out. Note to self: when somebody gives you drink and sides you hadn’t ordered, confirm with them that it is gratis, on the house-this is not Greece. Still, it was a lovely meal and cheaper than we would get back home, and its difficult to argue about it when you’ve eaten it!
On a better note, on leaving the restaurant we came across Gelatamania where you can buy ice cream, sundaes and many variations-crepes, waffles, knickerbocker glories (not sure how that translates into Portuguese?). I have a sweet tooth so I veered toward the crepe covered in caramel with biscuit crumb with a dollop of ice cream on top- lovely. The other amazing thing is there was so many staff possibly about thirty. Ali's mango sorbet came to the table seconds after ordering. Technology is wonderful!
Leaving Nazare, a 10 minute ride away was the Monastery of Alcobaca, a stark but amazing building with its cloisters, cavernous refectory and Church. The monastery housed as many as 900 monks. One of scandals was as the guidebook
says Monks set about in the kitchens in a festival of gormandising!
We head now for the capital of Portugal, Lisbon.
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