Blogs from Central, Portugal, Europe - page 8

WE LEFT VILA NOVA DA FOZ COA SOON AFTER BREAKFAST, AND JUST BEFORE A GROUP OF BIKERS, AND HEADED TOWARDS MONSANTO. EVEN THE MAIN HIGHWAYS IN THIS REGION GOES UP AND DOWN, A LOT! WE STOPPED AT BELMONTE, SINCE IT WAS ALONG THE WAY, AND ALSO HAD ITS OWN CASTLE, PLUS ONE OF THE LARGEST JEWISH COMMUNITIES FROM NEAR MEDIEVAL TIMES. WE CLIMBED A LITTLE UP INTO TOWN AND FOUND A PARKING SPOT PRETTY CLOSE TO THE CASTLE, ALTHOUGH STILL BELOW IT A BIT. WE WOUND OUR WAY UP TO IT AND ENTERED THE MAIN PORTAL TO DISCOVER TWO THINGS. FIRST OF ALL, THERE WAS NO ENTRY FEE, AND SECONDLY, APPARENTLY THEY WERE SETTING UP FOR A FESTIVAL, POSSIBLY ANOTHER MEDIEVAL ONE. UNFORTUNATELY, THEY WERE JUST STARTING TO SET UP, SO THE FESTIVAL WAS EITHER GOING ... read more

We packed up, checked out of the hostel and took the Metro from Pracoes stop to the Red Line, then on to Lisboa Oriente where we needed to pick up our rental car. The metro leg went smoothly enough and we easily located the Avis rental car office. They we had reservations, but we asked if we could pick it up a bit later so we wouldn't be so rushed to get back here from our last stop in Portugal, Monsantos. The guy said sure, no problem, you can pick it up as late as 1pm. So, we walked through the station and did some supermarket browsing, then on down to the oceanside. They has some really cool buildings from Lisbon's Expo, along with an oceanarium and a casino. After we walked along the ocean a ... read more

Having had some terrible problems with the free internet on the siteI feel that I didnt do justice to Tolmar so here I intend to let the pictures tell the story .... read more

We left the site at Porto fairly early in the morning with the intention of travelling 2 hours to Conimbriga the largest and most extensively excavated Roman site in Portugal which was on the Roman road between Lisbon (Olisipo) and Braga. Originally there was a Celtic site here. On the way we saw trees burnt the evidence of large scale fires this summer. The roads were empty as we sailed through with our Via Verdi box. Eucalyptus trees and olive groves replaced the wheat fields we had encountered so far. The site was quite difficult to find. Our sat nav directed us through the narrow streets of the town. Just wide enough for Suzy until we came to the roadworks and the way through closed. The local policeman was directing traffic around the town and he ... read more

We arrived at Baiona, it has two marinas, the first was Deportivo de Baiona and the second was the Club De Yates. We chose the wrong marina and berthed in the Deportivo Baiona marina……. I dealt with the miserable disinterested member of staff who took my money and shuffled back to the boat. I then went to have a shower which was a grotty porto cabin with grotty showers. Later we happened to go past the luxurious new facilities at the Club de Yates (cheaper than Deportivo) and could only look and yearn past the 24 hour security at the restaurant and café. I will know next time. Baiona itself was lovely and overshadowed by a fort which you can wander round. – Andy Baiona was very nice indeed despite the initial anxiety of ... read more