Bubbles on the beach near Sintra

 We arrived in Sintra on the 22nd January. However our plans were thwarted again by the weather.  Pena  Palace and other local buildings were closed due to the recent high winds that had brought down over 2000 trees in the area. So after waiting in a traffic jam for yet another tree to be cut up and taken off the road we headed out for the coastal towns of Cascais and Estoril.  The seascape was fabulous with pounding waves.  Due to the weather we headed for a campsite on the outskirts of Cascais.  This turned out to be a lovely spot set alongside some sand dunes and being relatively sheltered.  However Mike and I could not resist walking down to the beach where we were battered by the wind and blasted by sand from the dunes.  The waves were really crashing on to the beach and producing masses of foam so that the beach looked like a bubble bath.  I had never seen anything like it. It was really exhilarating and Mike enjoyed kicking bubbles of foam at me.   We returned to the van for supper and to wonder what the weather would throw at us next.



The wind died down in the night and we actually woke to see the sun (to be short-lived). We had heard that the palace at Sintra was re opening today so we took the scenic route past the most westerly point of Portugal (note not south westerly) at Cabo da Roca and across country to Sintra.  I have to hand it to Mike - the drive included narrow roads with hair pin bends plus fallen trees and over hanging branches.  All were negotiated with great skill.  Men were hard at work at Pena Palace cutting up the trees but the gardens were considered too unsafe although we could go into the building.  Pena Palace is a real fairy tale castle with numerous turrets, walkways and hidden places.

 It must have been a great place for the Royal children to play.  We spent most of the morning there before moving back down the narrow roads to head back in the direction of Lisbon. Our route south was to take us over the Pont April 25th bridge.  This is a huge suspension bridge that crosses the river Tejo.  We also had to fill up with diesel, gas and food so it was late afternoon as we left Lisbon with much of the driving down to Odeceixe done in the dark. Our overnight stay was a large car park overlooking the sea.  It was now quite wild again but there were no trees so we felt reasonably safe.  There was another British van there and the couple invited us in for a glass of wine and to share our travelling stories.

Fatima to Lisbon

20th January Fatima

We awoke the following morning glad that we had not parked near any trees.  There was a real scene of destruction around us.

A large percentage of the tall fir trees had either blown over or had their tops blown out but the Basilica had escaped unscathed.  Fatima is an important catholic pilgrimage centre 'a status deriving from 6 apparitions of the Virgin Mary.  On May 13th 1917 three children who were looking after their parent's sheep when they saw 'a lady brighter than any sun' sitting in the branches of a tree.  The vision returned on the thirteenth day of the next five months, culminating in the so called miracle of the sun on October 13th when a swirling ball of fire cured life long illnesses.' The basilica is capable of holding crowds of up to 100,000 people. Two of the children who witnessed the apparition died in the Eropean flu epidemic of 1919-20 and are buried in the church.  Mike and I wandered around trying to understand the devotion of some there.  For example in the pouring rain a young mother carrying her baby made her way on her knees across the basilica.  Mike wondered if the child she was carrying was ill.  I do find it difficult to understand but it was an interesting place to visit.

We left Fatima after coffee and headed for Batalha.  The wind had died down but there were still trees on the roads and it had started raining again. There is one building worth seeing at Batalha.  The Mosteiro de Santa Maria de Vitoria.  It was built in 1388 and is a splendid building although the winds of last night had succeeded in bringing down some on the roof ornamentation.  There was also a small street market here where i bought a carrybag full of watercress for 1.50 euros.  I did not want that much but it appeared to be the smallest quantity.  Watercress soup and salad coming up!

Again due to the weather we decided to drive straight to Belem, Lisbon.  Belem is an attractive suburb of Lisbon and offered suitable overnight parking.  We had a short walk in the evening and were able to get into the chapel of the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos which was a beautiful building and contained the tomb of the explorer Vasco da Gama.

 

 The following morning (21st Jan) we were pleased to find the sun was shining as we wished to explore Lisbon.  The van was in a relatively safe place so we caught the train which 4 stops later took us into the centre of Lisbon.  To see the sights of Lisbon you need to go uphill.  This can be done on foot, by tram or using some of their elevators.  We set off on foot with our first stop being the Elevator de Santa Justa and from there we took an uphill cobbled path to the castle. it was lovely to walking around in the sun after all the rain we had had recently.  from the castle we continued walking until we arrived at the No.28 tram stop which was supposed to be a good experience and gets good reviews in the guide books.  It was quite fun but not that special although it was made more interesting by two youths who held onto the outside of the tram for a free ride.  In parts the tram goes so close to shop windows and parked vehicles I was worried that these guys would seriously hurt themselves but they seemed very unconcerned.  By the time we had got off the tram and walked backed down into the Baixa area of Lisbon we were both quite hungry so we treated ourselves to lunch and a glass of wine/beer before heading back.  By now it was overcast and it led to another wild night and we did not sleep well.  But I got up and walked/jogged for 30 minutes along the Tejo estuary and found a small outdoor gym which was fun to use.

After breakfast Mike and I walked down to the Torre of Belem which is  key landmark of Lisbon.  It is an interesting building and has been described as a chess piece - it does look rather like the castle.  We had to dodge the very heavy showers but there was some sun too.  On the way back we took time to admire a small group of Sanderlings which were expert at dodging the waves as they looked for food and then it was on to Sintra.

 

Wet and windy weather devastates Portugal but we're still smiling

16th to19th January

The lovely clear weather that welcomed us into Portugal has gone. Wednesday was a very wet drive as we approached Porto and our campsite which was south of the River Douro in Vila de Gaia.  Vila de Gaia is famous for the Port houses most of which we were familiar with as the large majority are British owned and include names such as Grahams, Cockburns, Taylors, Dowes etc. Vila de Gaia (or at least our campsite) is on the atlantic coast and on our arrival we were pleased that there was a break in the clouds for us to get some fresh air on the sea front.  The following day in the drizzle we got our bikes off the van and prepared to cycle back towards Porto.  There was a lovely cycle path which took you along the coast and the river estuary beside a nature reserve.  I interrupted our cycle ride to enter one of the hides and in a few minutes saw herons, a spoonbill, a kingfisher, egret and a multitude of ducks and gulls. 

Mike was very keen to visit one of the Port caves and we chose to go to Grahams. It turned out to be an enjoyable visit which we shared with a young Dutch couple. The tour ended with a tasting of 3 ports: a reserve, a tawny and a LBV.  We also tried a couple of different white ports but the rubys were preferred.  We bought a 2007 (a good vintage by all accounts) LBV to drink on our travels.

It was now pouring with rain but we decided to keep gonig and explore parts of Porto.  To enter the town we cycled over the Pont Louis bridge which can be cycled at two levels.  We did both; the higher level was very high and windy and because of the weather did not give us great views but it was quite fun to do. We only managed another hour touring around Porto before we called it a day and headed back, soaked through, to our campsite.

Friday it was still raining so we took a direct route to Coimbra.  Our overnight stop was adjacent to the river Mondego.  The river looked very brown and high but I was slightly reassured by the tourist information man who told me that it had not flooded for 40-50 years.  The night was very wild with the wind shaking the van and every time we woke we were looking out of the window to check the water levels.  Coimbra is a very old University town.  The university was established in the 1100's and for many years was the only university in Portugal.  Today it still has a thriving student population.  despite the continual rain Mike and I walked around the university buildings, the old town and the botanical gardens.  However the highlight of our trip to Coimbra was an evening of Fado music. Coimbra has its own version of Fado. It is more rooted in academia and although there are the traditional love serenades it is also a large part of their graduation festival and has been used to support student protests. Our recital consisted of a tenor, a Portuguese guitarist (bit like a mandolin sound) and a classical guitarist.  It was an interesting evening and the musicians were very talented and we ended up buying one of their CDs to listen to as we travelled across Portugal.  Guess what, it was still raining as we left the recital and headed back for the van.

Saturday was a bad day for Portugal. The weather was really wild and there were very high winds accompanying the rain.  Faro airport lost its roof and at Sintra where we planned to visit in a few days time over 2000 trees came down.  However we needed to move on ( I still wasn't sure about the river) so whether we were intrepid or foolish travellers we set off for Tomar.  Tomar is famous for its monastery which was home for the Knights of the Templar in the 12th century. Along our drive we saw many fallen trees although the roads were fairly clear and there were lots of floods.  We wondered how the vines and olive trees coped with this amount of water - it must be very unusual conditions for these crops. However when we arrived in Tomar we found that the impressive building was closed along with much of the town.  Everywhere was very quiet and we can only assume that all had left to 'batten down the hatches'.  There was not much else we could do but to continue our journey to Fatima.  We managed to dodge all the fallen trees but were quite relieved to arrive in Fatima as it was getting dark to find a large area devoted to motor homes where we could park without the risk of a tree falling on us overnight.

Arriving in Portugal and the Duoro Valley

Sunday 13^th January  Spectacular journey from Spain to Portugal

 As we left Salamanca the road went through some very pretty countryside but as we neared the border the scenery was spectacular.  We were both quite unprepared for the beautiful mountains that border the two countries.  To enter Portugal we had to drop down into a deep gorge to cross a large hydrodam on the River Duoro that was the border between the two countries.  We then spent the next few miles climbing up through beautiful wooded mountains to our destination for the night Freixo de de Espada a Cinta.  This mountain town is at the far end of the port producing region which we intended to explore over the next couple of days.  Once again our stop was at a free aire (including electricity) in a large communal space at the top of the town and once again we were the only people using these facilities.  Perhaps everyone else visits in the summer months.  Mike and I went for a walk in the evening and it was then that we realised that Portugal is one hour behind Spanish time.  I wonder how long this would have gone unnoticed if we had not seen a large clock tower on our walk.

14^th and 15^th January The Alto Duoro region

Today was all about the scenery.  The drive from Freixo de Espada a Cinta to Peso da Regua was stunning.  We meandered slowly up and down mountain gorges where every inch of the mountainside was terraced to support mainly vineyards but also olive trees. I was not surprised to read later that this region is a Unesco World Heritage site.  It was a fantastic drive and we were really pleased how our van coped with the steep gradients and narrow roads. Well done driver Mike!  We arrived in Peso da Regua in the late afternoon.  It was not a particularly interesting down but it was set on the banks of the Duoro and would make a good overnight stop.

On the following morning we set off again on a very windy, twisty uphill route where again the hillsides were filled with vines.  We drove up to Vila Real where we planned to visit Palacio Mateus, a port wine estate (although red and white wine are also made here ).  (Please note that this place has very little connection with the plonk known as Mateus Rose - some years ago the producers of Mateus Rose asked to use a photograph of the house for their bottles for either a modest one off payment or a royalty fee per bottle of wine. 

 The family went for the one-off payment and must have been kicking themselves since.)The house was a baroque splendour that had been owned by the Mateus family for centuries. We arrived around noon and were informed that the next guided tour of the house was at 2.30pm.  So we visited the gardens, which were rather formal in nature being dominated by box hedges and knot gardens. After wandering around for an hour we went back to the van for a soup and salad lunch and then back to the house.  We were the only two present for this tour although the guide informed us that in the summer months they have 500 visitors a day with 4-5 wine tours each hour.  We felt rather privileged to have her undivided attention as she guided us around the house.  The house was quite grand inside but you could imagine it being a family home.  It was full of artefacts from Brazil, India, Spain etc reflecting the importance of the family in the 16^th to the 18^th Centuries in Portugese Society.  After the tour of the house and Chapel we were taken to the winery where they make their port and wines and we sampled a young white wine.  It had been a very interesting visit and we have a bottle of 2004 port to sample in the future.

We had planned to do some more exploring of the region but the cloud was low and at times it was quite foggy. Mike was getting tired and we decided to take the fast route to our night time stop. This turned out to be an expensive mistake as we ended up on a toll road without a ticket and had to pay 44 euros to get off it.  I was very fed up as we had literally only travelled about 3k on the toll road!

Madrid to Toledo and Salamanca

Friday 11th January

We spent most of Friday at the campsite in Madrid. I took advantage of the free wifi and finished the marking I had for Keele. Mike did the laundry (but the machine broke down), cleaned and set up the van for future travel and various other useful jobs. We filled up with diesel and LPG, did a final tour of the city taking in the bull ring (2nd largest after Mexico City) and headed out for Toledo.  The drive down was uninspiring urban sprawl and commercial areas but arriving in Toledo as the light faded was impressive.  We arrived at the one of the old gates adjoining the ancient wall. It was all lit up and looked lovely.  We found some street parking close by, had supper and then went for an evening walk around the city. Most of the streets were narrow and cobbled and it was easy to get disorientated in the dark but we enjoyed walking around yet another beautiful Spanish city full of wonderful buildings.  The cathedral especially was quite awesome. We settled down to sleep around 11.30pm but it was quite noisy on the street to about 1am so we had a short night as we wanted to be off the street before we had to pay parking charges.

Saturday 12th January

We left Toledo and were soon in beautiful countryside.  We had purposely chosen the scenic route to Salamanca which took you over the Sierra de Gardos range. We had coffee in our van at Mombeltran, a small mountain village outside of Arenas de san pedro. Our layby stop was right opposite a castle which pleased Mike and then we continued upwards stopping for lunch outside of Navacepeda de T. It was a beautiful drive and apart from the highest point when we were in the clouds we had good visibility.  We arrived at an aire in El Encinar which was about 10k outside of Salamanca.  All of the motorhome spaces were taken up by cars as there was a local football match being played on the pitch alongside the car park but once the match was over we had the whole place to ourselves.  We decided to have an evening 'reccie' of Salamanca so drive in.  The weather had turned colder and by the time we got home it was raining heavily and was very windy.  It was probably good that we were now out of the mountains.

Sunday 13th January

Following our exploration last night we decided that we would visit the university buildings.  The University has been a recognised seat of learning for many centuries.  I was surprised to find out that Christopher Colombus had come here to lecture about his travels.  The University was arranged around a cloister with lecture theatres for different subjects lying off this rectangle. Some of the rooms contained pews and desks that were hundreds of years old.  They looked very uncomfortable and I cannot imagine modern students putting up with those conditions. 



The University also contained a very ornate chapel and a stunning library with manuscripts from as far back as the 11th century.  It was interesting to see some that had sections cut out by the Jesuits as they did not agree with what was written. Once we had visited the building we went back outside to study the portal of the building to try to find the frog which is hidden in the plaster frieze. Even knowing it was sitting on top of a skull did not help me.  We walked back to Plaza Mayor, a very grand square but still has the ubiquitous McDonalds which we went into to skype Mille.  We then again topped up the van with fuel, failed to find a launderette (but not desperate yet) and took the road to Portugal.

Pamplona to Madrid

Tuesday 8^th January: Hendaye – Pamplona – Soria

We were up promptly at 7.30am, had breakfast, got the van ready for the next stage and then drove down to the sea front for another look at this pretty resort.  We set the sat nav for Pamplona which took us on a very scenic route through the Atlantic Pyrenees. We arrived in Pamplona mid-morning.  This town is famous for the annual ‘running of the bulls’ when bulls are let loose and foolish people try to outrun them with the inevitable casualties.  The town is situated high above the river gorge and gives good views but we also loved the narrow streets fronted  by tall buildings.  This was a very different stop from our last one in France.

We bought some bread and onions from the market and then got on our way again taking the fast route to Lograno (centre of the Rioja region) and then onto Soria. We stopped in Lograno for about an hour catching up with e mails (courtesy of Mc Donalds free wifi again) and then took the route on the N111.  This route was very dramatic in parts with impressive rock outcrops rising steeply along the road, we found a picnic area for lunch and were very pleasantly surprised to find the temperature had risen to 17C.  It had been -2C when we had arrived in Pamplona earlier that day. 

We had our first outdoor lunch of the year enjoying the sunshine – it was wonderful.  We arrived in Soria in the fading light.  It was a bigger town than we had expected but it was a useful stopover on our trip south.

Wednesday 9^th January: Soria - Segovia

It was a cold morning.  We were up early as we had parked near a sports centre for the night and wanted to get ourselves out of the way.  We left in the dark and as the skies lightened it became a very pleasant drive as the trees were covered in a hoar frost. We were travelling high and there were a few signs of snow but nothing to bother us and then as we came lower and travelled across the flatter land to Segovia it looked quite arid. 

Segovia has a warm feeling.  The town is built of a warm orange coloured stone and it nestles itself into the hillside. We arrived and parked immediately below a massive aqueduct which is a key feature of this town.  The aqueduct is over 800m long and is built of granite blocks without any cement or mortar. The aqueduct is supported by 166 arches and 120 pillars.  It is said that traffic and environmental factors are taking a toll on this structure but it looks stunning at the moment and I hope they are able to preserve it in its current form. 

Our parking spot only allowed us 2 hours so we set off around the city walls enjoying the buildings.  We passed a large cathedral and headed to the Alcazar (palace).  This turned out to be a fine building but we did not have time to explore it so we headed back to the van along another part of the city wall.  We moved the van and found an ideal parking place at the bottom of the town.  It meant we had an uphill walk back to the Alcazar but it was free and was suitable for stopping in overnight.  We had our lunch and then returned to the Alcazar which contained some beautifully decorated rooms and wonderful views across the gorge. It was raining heavily by the time we finished our tour so we went back to the van where I found I could get internet access so I did some marking for the next five hours.  

Thursday 10th January

The route from Segovia to Madrid was stunning.  We drove upwards from 1000m to 1860m over the Sierra de Guadarrama. The views were fantastic despite it being quite foggy at the top.  The route upwards was through beautiful forest and it must be lovely to walk here in the summer.  

We were unsure where to stay in Madrid.  Street parking would be impractical in a major city and we wanted some security for our bikes. After searching the internet we found a campsite on the outskirts of the town.  It had easy access to the metro and hence centre of Madrid. It was going to cost us about 20 euros but it seemed worth it for the peace of mind and lack of hassle.  We arrived at lunchtime, reception was closed but we were met by someone who would let us in if we gave in our passports.  He spoke no english and our spanish is severely limited but eventually we got in and parked up. We had a coffee  and then armed with guidebooks we walked to the metro and got a train to Opera in the centre of Madrid. We had marked the main places we wanted to see, so we wandered around before heading for the palace. We were fortunate  to find that on Thursday entry to the palace is free after 3pm for EU citizens. The downside was you had to have photographic ID.  Mike had his driving license with him but I had nothing. The lady at information informed me i would have to pay 10 euros but the nice male attendant let me in on my National Trust card!  The palace was truely sumptious - fit for many a Royal and we were glad that we had decided to go into this building rather than admiring from outside.  There was even a Royal Pharmacy which I really enjoyed visiting.  The Palace was the highlight of our tour around Madrid which we finished in a cafe with the Spanish favourite hot chocolate and churros.  The hot chocolate is really what it says it is - so thick that you can stand the biscuits in it.  We had wandered around for about six hours and my back was really aching.  We called in at a market for some milk and salad bits and then caught the metro back. We stopped at a bar before walking back to the campsite where with our beer we were served olives, a ham soup and what we can only describe as hot pork scratchings; all at no extra cost.  It had been a good day in Madrid.