Portugal 18 - Braganca, a castle, a frenchman cocking his leg up, le chien and the walnuts

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I think it maybe feels as if this has not been one of our better holidays. So many things seem to have gone wrong. The weather for the first few days was unkind and Glenn has been unwell. Having said that there have been some wonderful things. Leon with its wall paintings and treasures in its museum, the Atlantic at Cabo, the pretty little Spanish town of Trujillo , the meal we ate there. We loved Bom Jesus and found Braganca with its lovely aire. Glenn has thought perhaps next year we may do something different and travel less but by Christmas he will have forgotten what he feels like. The Atlas, the camperstop book and the ACSI guide will be out and he will be planning again. I think a little like having a baby the pain is soon forgotten and you are left with just the good memories . Yes we have had good, bad and indifferent places to spend the night. We have been at odds with French speed cameras and have worried about our Portuguese Peage tag. All in all though it is better here than being at home and certainly a million times better than being at work.

Our plan next was to travel the short distance from Braga to Braganca and stay overnight on the little aire under the castle walls. That was the plan but first we needed to top up the fridge and top up the diesel . E LeClerc came to the rescue and we did both . Diesel at 1 euro and 6 cents the cheapest of our trip so far. The roads were pretty much bland with little colour in them. The fields were full of just cork oak trees with their barks cut off and with some kind of unidentifiable crop. Green leaved with brown seed heads . I know the major crop of the area is tobacco but I was unsure if this was it.

We arrived at our stop and found the aire easily. Well you would when there were many motorhomes already parked up. The town had kindly provided a large area given over for motorhomers set on terraces . The first and second were full. We drove to the lower levels and the next two were full. This just left the bottom and penultimate level . Out of the corner of my eye spotted a space big enough for Suzy right up at the end . After a bit of tooing and froing between the walls we got Suzy set up. No electricity we had to rely on our solar panel and batteries . Water and waste available but we needed neither of those. We parked next to a cheery elderly french gentleman and his wife . Bonjour he shouted , soleil bon and then gabbled on to us in French. Glenn managed a little school boy french and we resorted to the internation language of motorhomers mime . He pointed up to the castle - chateau he said - museo guerre - Ok understood that so we headed up the path passing all the trees which were taking on their Autumn tints of pink and crimson. We saw big fat lizards who blended in to the stone paths and stone walls apart from the flashes of iridescent blue on their flanks . They must be the biggest lizards we have ever seen.

The castle walls blend in beautifully as they protect the keep and the old town. We entered the castle and paid our 1 euro pension admission and 2 euro for others . Inside we saw cannon from early battles and machine guns from the second world war. War memorials peppered with the names of dead Portuguese. The gate of the sun was a perfect entrance to the whole complex.

Braganca was important as it was the capital of the Tras-os-Montes region, one of the least explored areas in the country. The castle is majestic with its medieval citadel on top of a hill still contained within near perfect walls. The citadel is all the more striking by its isolated location in this mountainous area. It was first established by the Celts and the Romans who fortified it . It is important in the history of the country because in 1441 Dom Juao I established the duchy of Braganca in order to keep direct control on the region. At this time the newly established duchy were the constant reminders to the potential Spanish invaders that this was Portuguese land. The House of Braganca soon became one of the wealthiest and most powerful families. After 60 years of Spanish rule, in 1640 the eighth Duke of Braganca reluctantly took the Portuguese throne as Joao IV and the power base was moved to nearby Guimaraes. Which castle did I prefer ? Having seen both today I think Braganca more interesting and architectually prettier. The castle is predominantly 13th century and in fairly good state of repair. Around it are shops, cafes where we sat and drank freshly squeezed orange juice. The main keep called the Torre de Menagem was used to house the museum of the war.

This was restored in 1928 and had a collection of memoriabiliar from the wars that Portugal had been involved in. Armour on one floor, guns and swords on the next level and military clothing higher up. It was not a huge museum but it reminded me of one in Perigeux a bit jumbled but full of interesting stuff .

We called into the church which was not that interesting but we spent a euro which when inserted in the box lit up 10 candles electronically.

Having seen all that there was to see we walked back to our sosta and Suzy. I realised that there were walnuts in the trees and some had fallen to the ground. Being a lover of nuts of any kind I didnt need much excuse to put them on the ground under my shoes and crack them. They tasted lovely and all the better for being free. Later that afternoon a neighbour called round and shook the tree and collected the fallen walnuts in his carrier bag. A young lady then came round and handed us her card advertising her restaurant. What a good idea to come round and tout for trade from the passing motorhome fraternity.

Later on our french neighbour came back and pointed to the nuts . He cocked his leg up over them and gestured shouting le chien. le chien. Now whether he meant dont eat them as the dog has done a pee on them or whether he was joking I couldnt tell but I rubbed my tum and laughed with him.

At night the dogs did start to bark in the distance . The lights came on illuminating the walls of the citadel and the keep of the castle . What a lovely romantic place to camp up at . How nice to get a view like this for free.

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Photos

Braganca
Now that is a fairy tale castle