On Tour in Portugal!

Stacey and Max picked up the car, a Renault Cleo, and then me. They were early! We were heading over the bridge and down to the coast.  Our first stop was Sesimbra, a village right on the seafront, with a lovely beach and a fort. We found a café open and ordered a coffee to warm us up. While Stacey and Max headed off to buy stamps for her postcards, I ran down to the beach to test how cold the Atlantic Ocean was. (not very cold)

Stacey took over driving while I tried to navigate. Not very well, I’m afraid. Stacey wanted to drive through the national park, which I assumed was the part marked in green. We skirted the national park, drove through Setabul and wound up at a caravan park on the beach, where I asked the caretaker the whereabouts of a toilet. The coffee was having a deleterious effect on me.  He pointed to a little restaurant on the other side of the parking lot. There were dozens of workmen there drinking, but I did see one couple eating, so suggested we eat there. Max wanted us to try “chocos”, (cuttlefish) and this was their specialty. We were served three HUGE plates of it with chips and a HUGE jug of wine, which was free, but delicious! What a cheap, yummy meal!

We headed to Evora where I wanted to see the Chapel of Bones, which we eventually found. We’d been driving all around it and missed it because the cathedral right next door was undergoing renovation and had scaffolding and masking all around it. We did easily find the Temple of Diana and the Palace, but didn’t venture in. We were heading to Elvas for the night, and needed to get moving! Amazingly, we didn’t have trouble finding the Hotel D. Luis, and were surprised to find an old Roman aqueduct right across the road! What a view!

After freshening up, we headed to a restaurant close-by I had found on googlemaps. We never did find it, but after walking the maze of cobbled streets of the old town, we found one to fulfill out hunger and quench out thirst. It was after 10pm by now: a long time since the “chocos” at the beach. On our search for the elusive restaurant, we found a park filled with orange and lemon trees, with park benches on rollers and a circular track, so they could be moved around to chase the sun in winter or find the shade in summer. None of us had ever seen anything like it anywhere in the world! Amazing!

Dinner was delicious. Max picked out the local specialties and Stacey and I devoured them. (see photos of Elvas) Stacey’s favourite was the pork and mussels, which dates back to Roman times. We drank two bottles of Borba, but sadly they didn’t have any pudding.  Not that we could have fitted it in anyway.

We (accidentally) found a shortcut back to the hotel and agreed to meet at 8.30am in the breakfast room. Stacey and Max have their own room and I have a triple room all to myself. I don’t know how that happened- I was supposed to have a single. I was asleep as soon my head touched the pillow. This is starting to be a habit! I slept in and didn’t make it down to breakfast until 8.45am. I needn’t have worried because Max and Stacey had really slept in. I woke them at 9.30- well, they are doing all the driving! We set off in search of the Forte de Nossa Senhora da Graça; the star fort that we had specifically come to Elvas to see. I was devastated it was undergoing renovation and we were not allowed in at all, even though I explained I had come THOUSANDS of miles from Australia just to see it. The workmen said the Forte de Santa Luzia on the south side of town was open, so we had to settle for second best. Actually it was very impressive; foggy and exceptionally cold. Max stayed with the car and kept the engine running to maintain some heat in the vehicle while Stacey and I explored. We were almost frozen stiff by the time we reached the car and were glad of Max’s decision to keep the car warm! It took a while for us to thaw out.

We took the scenic route to Castelo Branco, driving past olive groves and cork trees. I had never seen cork trees before and was amazed at the variety of goods they make from cork. Shoes, handbags, anything you can name, including corkboards and wine corks! We were planning to stop for lunch here, but forged on to Covilha, where we grabbed a bite to eat in a café.

Stacey decided we’d take the scenic route again (she was driving): this time OVER the mountains- well, let’s say, I didn’t know Portugal HAD mountains this high, with so many granite monoliths rising high above the surrounding plains. The views were spectacular to say the least. My photos don’t do it justice, but I occupied myself taking photos with Stacey’s camera to take my mind off the steep, curving road. And what goes up, must come down and come down we did- Stacey using the gears as much as possible to slow us down and Max commenting from the back seat that the brakes were going to fail if she used them too much, as if I’m not enough of a nervous Nellie already! From the top, we saw a beautiful lake half frozen! WOW!

At last and with the help of our GPS, we found the town of Sao Pedro do Sul, and without too much trouble, out hotel the Hotel Rural Villa do Banho. The lady who greeted us was so lovely and helpful so when she offered us dinner for 12 euro for 3 courses including wine, we had no hesitation in accepting. The dinner was delicious. Onion soup, followed by pork chops, and a delicious dessert in a 5 star setting- real crystal and silverware! We were sharing a quadruple room here, actually two lovely tooms with the bathroom in between. I loved the antique wooden furniture- you just wouldn’t see furniture like this in Australia in any hotel! I slept soundly in my comfy single bed, despite several visits to the bathroom during the night.

It was not enough to stop me eating a delicious breakfast though, after which Stacey and I headed across the street to the Queen Amelia Baths. They’ve been taking advantage of the thermally heated water here since 1894. The water massage was great on our sore spots, but it only lasts for 15 minutes. We had 2 sessions before reluctantly climbing out to get dressed. We’re off to Porto via the Doura Valley, but it took us almost an hour to navigate out of Sao Pedro do Sul.. The GPS was no help at all. It was taking us an extremely scenic route. Finally Stacey used the map and her sense of direction to head us towards Porto. Max drove all the way. We stopped to get petrol and I bought us iced coffees and a packet of chips as I was starting to get a bit peckish. The iced coffee settled my stomach, but had the reverse effect on Stacey. As soon as we reached our airbnb by the beach, she lay down and feel fast asleep. When she woke, she had full-blown gastric. No dinner for her! Max cooked a delicious dinner of meat wrapped round bacon and chorizo, in a delicious sauce with rice and rocket. And of course, the obligatory bottle of red.

It was decided I sleep with Stacey as I had already had the dreaded lurgy, but Max hadn’t.  Poor Max had to sleep on a camp bed in the cold, while Stacey and I kept each other warm with the help of a hot water bottle. I had the worst night’s sleep, waking up every hour, and Stacey got less than I did, as she spent half the night in the bathroom. We both woke up tired and worn out, but we only have one day in Porto so we’re going to make the best of it.

The Lello Bookshop was on my must-do list, but first more practical matters.  We dropped Stacey off at the Laundromat to dry our clothes; I had washed them all in Sofia’s machine, but there was limited drying space, while Max and I went to look for Europcar. We actually found Renault, but by this stage, we just wanted Europcar, so we returned to our airbnb and asked Sofia where the nearest Europcar office was, and how to get there. So off to the Airport we go, collecting Stacey and the dry clothes on the way.

We let Max do all the talking, but the end result was we were given another car, and a bigger one into the bargain. The Renault Clio we had been given in Lisbon was overdue for a service, needed fluids changed and the brakes were worn down as well. Coming down the mountain was fun-not! This one was a two-tone Renault Capitur; orange and beige.

After dropping Max off for a rest, we headed out to the Lello Bookshop. I don’t know whether it was because my expectations were so high, but I was a little disappointed. We sat down in the little coffee shop and I ordered an apple cinnamon tea. Stacey thought she’d better stick to water. Photos were not allowed except between 9 and 10am, but I did sneak one of the stained-glass ceiling.

After retrieving our car from the parking garage nearby, we headed to the place on the map called Historic Spot, and there we found old city walls, and the Luiz I bridge; pedestrians and trams on the top level, and cars on the lower. We walked across the high part of the bridge, listening to the squawks of the seagulls and watching the sun set over the horizon. Portugal sure has some beautiful sunsets!

It was almost dark by the time we reached our car parked on a footpath near the police precinct, but everyone else was parked on the footpath too, so it must have been fine. Stacey wanted to see Casa do Musica, so we tried to navigate our way there. We did manage to locate it, but not before driving (very slowly) all the way down a pedestrian mall. I did say, “Turn left here” but obviously she didn’t!

We arrived back at our airbnb but couldn’t find a park so I hopped out to mind one across the street while Stacey drove the block. Well, half an hour later, she returned, after my saving her several spots, but people just drove in regardless of my standing there, and I just jumped out of the way. Obviously, saving spots here is not the done thing! She eventually parked just around the corner, after driving all over Porto I think!

We heated up last night’s leftovers, and Stacey managed to eat something at last. We went to bed and Max went out to socialise and speak Portuguese with the locals. We were off next day to Luso, so wanted to get an early start, but first Stacey wanted to go to the Case do Musica. She had in fact a whole tour planned and Max and I went along for the ride.

We caught the tail end of a concert at the Casa do Musica, while Stacey was buying some unusual jewellery made of paper. The concert was well attended and the crowd poured out, just as she decided what colours she wanted. We fell in with the crowd, and exited the huge building from a large staircase that’s obviously opened for mass exits.

We managed to navigate to the same footpath we had parked on yesterday, but this time we caught the funicular down to the lower level of Luis I bridge, walked across to the Port-making area and had lunch in a restaurant where the bar was a little fishing vessel called Micha. Super cute. Lunch took forever! I ordered the francesinha, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the one I’d eaten in Lisbon, even though the recipe originated here in Porto. Stacey bought tickets for the cable car, and was given tickets for a free port tasting. We found the cellar, tried some white port, and headed back to the cable car. What a fantastic view of a beautiful city- so beautiful Stacey is thinking about moving here! I’d just like to come back and spend more time here- a day and a half is just not enough!

It was almost 5 by the time we left Porto. Luckily, Luso and the magnificent Hotel Palace do Bussaco is only an hour away, but it was pitch dark when we arrived so we couldn’t see any of the beautiful forests that surround it.

I had high expectations of this place (I’ve had a photo of it as my background for the past 12 months!) and it did not disappoint.  In fact, it was all I imagined and more! (just see photos!) We opted out of dinner (it was expensive and we’d had such a late lunch), but thought we’d try their own wine. They have every year from 2002 onwards. We opted for the 2007 at 6 euro a glass, but it was worth every cent. So smooth and rich!  I’m not good with words to describe wine.

I would have liked another glass, but was starting to feel tired and a little squeamish, so retired to my palatial room with plans to wash my hair. I srated to feel nauseous so skipped the hair-washing but Ishowered, put on the bathrobe, and lay down. It wasn’t long before I was back in the bathroom. I won’t go into the gory details, but I was up until after 3am. I kept thinking there couldn’t possibly be anything left, and there wasn’t, but I kept vomiting. I tried to have a sip of water, but no, it would not stay down. I eventually feel asleep from pure exhaustion and woke up miserable because I was going to have to miss out on the champagne breakfast I had been looking forward to for so long. Stacey popped in on her way to breakfast to find me looking like death warmed up, and informed me Max had suffered a similar fate as mine. We must have both caught it from Stacey at about the same time. I’m sure she enjoyed the breakfast on our behalf and didn’t even have champagne as she didn’t have me to share it with, which was a small comfort.

She went off hiking the forest paths, while Max and I tried to stay alive! I managed to drag myself out of bed and into the shower, but washing my hair was out of the question. I dressed and went back to bed and dozed the morning away. I was too ill to even play my scrabble games!

Stacey roused me after midday and it was after 1 before we got going. She drove to a couple of places she had walked to with views right out to the ocean, but I couldn’t summon the energy to get out of the car, but I was managing to sip water now so I wouldn’t dehydrate. With a couple of navigational errors, we drove to Tomar, the site of the first Templar monastery, as well as the place commemorating the Jewish name changing when the King decided Jews could change their names or flee the country. Many chose names of animals- Max’s surname, Coelho means “rabbit” for example. I sat in a bar and drank a 7-up and ate a big bread roll while Max and Stacey explored the town. At 5 when the bar closed, we drove up to the monastery with views for miles and miles, filled up with petrol, and headed to our next airbnb near Sintra. Once again it was pitch black when we arrived so even though we knew the exact address, we had trouble locating the number. It was in a dead end street and were surprised that a car that had been following us for the past few kilometres had followed us into this dead-end street. As we were driving slowly trying to look for number 13, Stacey pulled over to let it pass- there still wasn’t enough room so she reversed a little and side swiped the wall in the process. Luckily, she took out the extra insurance!

We finally found it and were welcomed by Marianne, a lovely woman originally from Denmark, who lived in England for 20 years before discovering Portugal. She travelled round in a van for 2 years before settling here. She adopted two dogs, Lucky and Bobby on her travels, or should I say they adopted her. She also has a lovely cat named Sasha, who took to me straight away. Cats love me- what can I say?

Max and Stacey headed down to the local café for a bite to eat, but I still wasn’t feeling 100% so I sat talking to Marianne, mostly about cats and dogs! Her sister had a dog-minding business in Denmark. She has a maximum of 4 dogs, same as Keeley, but on New Year’s Eve, she had 10. People left their dogs with her to avoid the noise of the fireworks in the city.

Marianne made me a cup of tea, so by the time Max and Stacey came home with a bowl of soup for me, I just couldn’t eat it. The cup of tea had filled me up- my stomach must have shrunk.

Booby is now curled up beside me on the lounge while the rest of the house is sleeping. It’s a cosy little house with low ceilings and a pot-belly fire to keep the lounge warm at night. I am staring to get hungry now, so I might look for that bowl of soup!

It was our last day in Portugal, and we had a lot to fit in! More by chance than anything else, we started at the Pena Palace at the top of the hill, which, in hindsight, was not the best plan, because we then had to walk back to the Moor’s Castle, because it was a one-way road. This was the original fortified castle and they’ve done great things with it.  I was particularly impressed with the cyclamen gardens, rows and rows of every colour you can name and such depth of colour! The beautiful, healthy cyclamens started me wondering how mine were faring at home.

After that walk, we drove down to the National Palace in the centre of Sintra but only managed to gain entrance into the gardens, which were well laid out and the hedges perfectly trimmed. Stacey wanted to see the Teatro Visuale, which we eventually found only to find it had closed 7 years ago! The pitfalls of an old guidebook! So we headed back to the Palace with Stacey talking shots of the artwork along the way.

The Palace was in the centre of town so Stacey did a little souvenir shopping, while I bought a triple gelato. I didn’t get away with eating it all though- Stacey found me and helped me eat it. I probably wouldn’t have been able to get through it all anyway- it was HUGE! It’s just what I was craving! This time we headed for the right entrance of the Palace, and were immediately stunned by the beautiful ceilings, the first one was swans, then magpies, then blazons, even a mermaid ceiling as a wardrobe for the king. I wished I had a wardrobe that size with or without the mermaids!

It was almost closing when I exited with Stacey nowhere in sight. I chatted to the guy on the door about the history of the Palace and how it fitted into Sintra’s timeline. So many places here to see, but apparently, we had seen the major three, so were pretty pleased with ourselves.

We headed back to our cosy airbnb overlooking the Capa do Roca, the most westerly point in Europe,  to find Marianne entertaining  a visitor, a lovely girl from Estonia, so I chatted to her for a while Stacey got changed into her new Casa do Musica paper jewellery, and we headed out to dinner. Max had located a likely place with good food a hundred metres up the road, so we walked there on his recommendation.

On entering, Stacey and I were both really disappointed as it was just a local bar that served food, but we very soon changed our minds when we tasted the food- the best pork we’ve had so far! After having a beer, Stacey and Max shared a jug of red wine with dinner while I settled for a pineapple and lemon juice (weird taste- sweet and sour at the same time!) I just can’t bring myself to drink wine just yet. Give me time! I didn’t refuse the dessert though- it’s that Portuguese dessert they call pudding but it’s just delicious baked custard! And the total of our sumptuous meal? 17 euro! 

For those of you who haven’t visited Portugal yet, you must put it on your bucket list. The people are helpful and friendly, no town or city is like any other, there’s so much rich history, and the landscape is simply amazing!  My only problem is, now that I’ve had a little taste of it, I want more! 10 days was just not enough!