Advertisement
Published: October 15th 2007
Edit Blog Post
The Douro Valley
Not quite as we imagined, but beautiful none the less. Bom Dia Bo & Dud,
Apart from obrigado (thank you) - this is the full extent of my Portuguese, and I’m not sure that the people understand even then what I am saying. Any road up, where were we? Thank goodness I keep a diary or I think we would have forgotten more than we remember.
Before leaving Porto we decided that an outing was in order to follow the route of the Douro River - the Douro Valley is where the grapes are grown for the Port and Wine of the region. Again it was one of those ‘this is not what we expected’ experiences. We had a vision of mile upon mile of hand constructed, terraced vines - to infinity and beyond. No, not at all, the river valley is very steep, and the terraces are there, but filled with infinite community - homes, schools, churches, bars. There were small pockets of vines but not at all what we expected. The view is spectacular and the road is horrendous, hardly surprising then that there is a river ferry service into Porto. We eventually found an auto route to speed our way home and talk turned to moving on
Cascais
The bay at Cascais - excellent sea side with a first rate train service into Lisbon. Lots of money around this area. to Lisbon.
So, on Wednesday we moved to about 12 miles to the west of Lisbon, a sea side site just outside Cascais; and joy of joys, we have a pitch with a view of the mountains and the sea. Cascais is a rather lovely town and would appear to be extremely popular with the American traveller and also lots of Spanish - it also has a rather nice line in ice cream.
We’ve just had one outing into Lisbon this week - I think several may be in order. We visited an area called Belem - it was a Bank Holiday here and the place was heaving. Today we have seen some of the visitor attractions that we’ve only seen on TV or in magazines. The Torre de Belem is a castle built out into the sea and is very picturesque; a little further on from this is a spectacular monument to the Portuguese military who have lost their lives while in service. Again we were in the right place at the right time and we were able to watch the changing of the guard - nothing like Buck House but done with great solemnity and no
Torre de Belem
A picturesque castle built out into the estuary. timing what so ever.
Our favourite monument was the Padrao Dos Descobrimentos - this fabulous sculpture was first erected in 1940 for the world exhibition and then finally completed in 1960 to mark the 500th anniversary of Prince Henry the Navigator (he’s the one out front holding the boat). The monument is much bigger and detailed than we expected; we were able to go to the top and have a bird’s eye view of the Tagus River and surrounding area. Lunch was followed by the speciality of the region Pasteis De Belem - custard tarts in flaky pastry - I can’t describe these, delicious does not do them justice.
To end our week we went to the west end of Europe. The Cabo De Roca is the most westerly point in Europe - it was another sunshine and blue sky day and quite perfect; but, we can see this point from our camp site and first thing during the morning and from about 6 p.m. the whole area disappears in cloud. We were talking to a Dutch guy who lived and worked in the area for 2 years - he said that the winters were horrendous. You’ve only
Monument to Portugese Servicemen & Women
This amazing monument commemorates the lives of the men & women who have given their lives in service of the country. The wall in the background lists them all. The changing of the guard was a real bonus. got to look at some of the trees to see what he means - they are very interesting, some are almost horizontal.
Not too far away, just outside the town of Sintra we visited Quinta de Regaleira - this has to be seen to be believed. The property was built between 1904-1910 by an Italian scenery designer and architect, Luigi Manini - he was a genius - the house on its own would be delight enough but the design has been continued into the garden and caves, water features, temples and a church have been constructed. We were absolutely kerred by the end of the day and all for €5 each - bargain!
Writing about it all is almost as exhausting as doing it - time for a tincture I think!
love & hugs & kisses
H & H
P.S. I forgot to tell you about the Santiago de Compostela and the washing …… we’ve been very lucky because all the sites we’ve stayed on have had both washing machines and dryers at very reasonable prices. However, at Santiago de etc. reception told me that the facility was closed but they could do my washing for
Padrao Dos Descobrimentos
We didn't know that the explorers of Portugal had discovered so much of the world before everyone else. The monument is a wonderful tribute and a fine work of art. me - €6 for 7kg washed and dried - I was most definitely having some of that; and the job as they say was a good one. Until, some days later .. Howard woke me up in the early hours shuffling about the caravan and sniffing like a bloodhound. He said that there was a strange smell and he thought it might be gas - so he turned the gas taps off. When we settled down again I said I thought I could smell something, but not gas more like the fluid we use in the chemical toilet. Howard got out of bed to investigate and with him went the smell. The t-shirt he was sleeping in had been laundered at the camp site - I’ve no idea what they’d use as fabric conditioner, daren’t ask …. hand washing can be a very laborious task!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 16; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0429s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb