Diary for the period 30 June - 18 July
30 June - Aveiro
It was a very cloudy grey day when we woke up this morning so we decided to have an internet day.
Finding the internet café in Porto was rather difficult so we arrived there with frayed tempers. After a beer we were feeling a lot better and so started with the update. Once again it took longer than expected - three hours this time.
Not terribly much else happened!
1 July - Aveiro
Our first stop today was at a café for breakfast of coffee and an enormous Chelsea bun. We had come into town early so that we could be in time for a boat trip.
The boat was beautiful - a traditional wooden vessel with hand-painted
flowers on it. It was a long cruise taking us through hidden lagoons
and pools. We saw many fishermen with strange techniques and equipment.
The boat stopped at Saő Jacinto where we had a chance to get some refreshments.
The trip back was quite strange as we passed through an industrial area with old rusty half-sunken ships along the way. It had become unbelievably hot so we headed back to camp for lunch.
Later in the afternoon we headed down to the beach to laze about and play some tennis.
2 July - Aveiro
John went into town today to collect the new starter motor and buy some brake pads for the bike so it was a morning of cleaning for me back at camp.
After he'd fitted the new starter and brake pads it was already mid-afternoon so we set of for the beach again.
3 July - Aveiro
Today we woke up to grey skies and so set off on the bike for a
trip to Viseu. John chose a very interesting winding road for us
to travel on. It was an excellent ride with lots of scenery.
En-route we stopped at a viewpoint where we climbed a little
hill. At the top the views were awesome.
Once in Viseu we did the usual tourist office and coffee routine before deciding to walk around the old town. We walked through cobbled and sometime steep streets to the church and feeling rather exhausted in the heat decided to look for a lunch spot.
We found a ´snack-bar´ for lunch. In Portugal these are strange affairs with only a couple of dishes available. John just ordered one of each dish. What arrived was a bit scary! John's was OK, a lamb chop, chips and rice. I had a deep friend flounder (including the head) and some ominous looking rice. The reason I say this is that looking through the Portuguese phrase book we'd seen that one of the Portuguese specialities was rice cooked in bird's blood. This was a reddish coloured rice! I was too scared to try it but in the end it turned out to be tomato.
After that we took another interesting route home. We stopped for coffee along the way because it had started raining. After the rain subsided we set off again but managed to take a wrong turn and ended up on a mountain road in thick cloud with hardly any visibility.
After a while we realised that we were on the wrong road, turned around (back through the fog again!) and found our way home.
4 July - Nazaré
We woke up today to very gloomy weather - cold, grey and very wet. It had started raining during the night and, of course, all the washing was on the line. We had decided to move on anyway and had a hearty breakfast of bacon butties and chocolate croissants while waiting for the rain to stop.
The rain subsided after a while so we packed up and left. After a short and easy drive we found our campsite and setup camp - We've become experts now.
Next we headed into town for a look around. We found a bar and set about our favourite pastime: drinking beer and watching people go by.
5 July - Nazaré
We started out a bit late this morning as after the run and breakfast it started raining. After an hour or so we set off into town.
The town is split into two sections, one next to the beach and another
at the top of a cliff. We took the incline railway to the upper part.
It was very pretty up there with gorgeous views. We walked out to the
fort at the end of the cliffs. On the way back, walking along the
road this time, we saw a huge flattened dead snake that had obviously
lived in the bush that we'd been walking through earlier! It was quite
a hilly walk back to the town so we stopped for a beer to cool down
before returning to "lower Nazaré".
Back at camp we changed into beach gear and set off to find a deserted beach. We didn't find one but did pass through small rural villages which was very nice. We ended up back at Nazaré beach where we found a spot to nap for a while.
6 July - Nazaré
Our 1st destination today was the caves at Mirade Aire. They were very beautiful and interesting although the coloured fountains and music at the bottom was a bit over the top!
Next we drove to Leira to see the castle. Most of it was in ruins
although some had been restored and was now clearly used for functions.
We found the highest point from where we enjoyed views over the town.
It was getting close to lunch time so we set off for the village of
Saő Pedro de Möel. The village was very pretty and clean. We spent
some time at a café enjoying a beer and then went in search of the
famous Portuguese prego. It was OK but not as good as mine
:-)
7 July - Sesimbra
Today we set off for somewhere south of Lisbon. The drive was fine although it was terribly hot. Our only problems came after Setubal - we got a bit lost and then once in Sesimbra took another wrong turn while trying to find the campsite and ended up on a very steep road. We got to one very steep corner and that was it - the car just couldn't cope anymore and wouldn't go up the hill. After stalling a few times John managed to turn around (good job we had the new starter motor).
We eventually found the campsite although this was also at the top of
a hill with a steep windy road. John had to really motor it round the
corners to keep the van moving.
After setting up camp we took a scenic drive and ended up at Capo Espichel on a cliff next to a lighthouse. Stunning! We eventually found ourselves at a beach near a a place called Corva. We had a swim and then relaxed a while in the sun.
We first noticed the time at 7pm, I couldn't believe that we were still sun-tanning at that time in the evening! We hadn't had lunch and so decided to head straight home for dinner.
8 July - Sesimbra
Another hot morning so we set of to Lisbon wearing only shorts and T-shirts. Finding the tourist office in Lisbon was a nightmare - no signs directing you at all.
After coffee and studying the map we took a walking tour around the Baixa region which took us to the river. There was a viewpoint there where you could just make out the bridge and the huge statue of Christ. Unfortunately it was very hazy so the views weren't as good as they could have been.
We stopped for lunch at a little café where we had, to be polite, an unusual lunch! Three meatballs, which I am certain were boiled on a bed of very pale sauce-less spaghetti.
We then tried to find the internet café but the one listed in out guide no longer seemed to exist. Instead a walk back to the bike and beer on the way.
Shopping was a bit more difficult than usual - the town had lots of little shops so we had to try and find a butcher, baker and grocer (no not candlestick maker).
9 July - Quartiera
Today, a long drive down to the Algarve. We decided not to stay
at either Faro or Lagos as we'd read that they were large tourist
resorts and we wanted something quieter. We opted for a place
close to Faro - Quartiera.
We got there quite late and so headed into town for a cocktail. It
was wonderful so we sat there for ages watching people go by...
For the first time in ages it was warm enough to spend the evening sat outside and we got to use our gas lamp for the first time.
10 July - Quartiera
Close to a beach again we started off with a long run. Feeling
invigorated we set off for Loule.
We'd read that the chimneys there were something to get excited about. We walked around the rather busy town but failed to find any chimneys of note. Out of town, on our way to Tavira, we did notice some interesting ones though.
Tavira is a very pretty town with few tourists. We stopped for lunch and a walk. We decided that we must return someday.
11 July - Quartiera
It was a sunny day so we set off west to find an interesting beach. We
looked around Albufeira but the weather turned grim - foggy and cold.
We stopped for a coffee overlooking the beach and then headed back to
Quartiera for a Dutch-style shwarma!
After the lunch the weather improved so we went in search of a beach again. We randomly took a long dusty road and found a busy beach. It turned out to be the same beach that we had run to in the morning! We stopped for a while and played some backgammon.
12 July - Quartiera
Today we decided to head to the western most point of the Algarve. We passed
through Lagos and Sagres. We stopped at the western most point where there
was a lighthouse and some very impressive cliffs. After admiring the cliffs
we headed back into Sagres where we picked a cat infested cafe for a coffee break.
Leaving Sagres we noticed a huge white building with a road leading to it so decided to go and have a look. It turned out to be an old fort set on top of more amazing cliffs with awesome views. There was a also a chapel and a few cannons.
We then decided to search for a coastal village where we could have lunch. Salema was where we ended up for a very Italian lunch....
Heading home was a nightmare with all the traffic around Lagoa, we felt very fortunate to be on a bike!
13 July - Quartiera
We had a wonderful day today. Starting off at Ohaő we took a drive through the village which was really pretty with lots of hidden alleyways and a beautiful church. After our morning coffee break I managed to drag John through the market. It was wonderful only there were some extremely gory looking things!
We then went in search of a small mountain which we'd read gave awesome views of the village. We never did find the hill but had a wonderful ride through tiny rural villages and dusty, potholed roads - it was brilliant.
Lunch was back in Olaő - Italian again I hate to admit. After lunch we took a ferry boat ride to an island off Olaő called Ilha da Avira. It was extremely pretty and we took a long walk through the village and past all the houses to find an almost deserted beach. Unfortunately it didn't last too long, but we still had a great time anyway and built a big boat sandcastle!
14 July - Quartiera
This morning John took his bike in to get a new tyre so I had a chance to catch up on a few chores. Later we walked down to the beach and lay there literally cooking... it was unbelievably hot today. We had a wonderful swim in the sea and then we hired a jet-ski. I was really scared at first, it felt like we were going incredibly fast and I won't even mention how scary the corners felt!!! We had a ball and finished off with an ice-cream.
Later that afternoon we headed back to our "local" for cocktails and then drove to Loule for dinner. We had a wonderful meal which arrived at our table in a huge copper wok-like thing. It contained prawns, clams peppers, chorizo and a mountain of onion. It certainly improved our opinion of Portuguese cuisine.
It was too hot to go home to bed so back to our local for more drinks!
15 July - Don Hermanus
It was a steaming hot day again but we didn't really know the meaning of this until we arrived in Seville.
It was a long hot drive back into Spain and by the time we'd set up camp we were literally pouring with sweat, so it wasn't long before we discovered the pool.
Later we went shopping and it was that hot that we had to have our visors closed because the wind burnt.
16 July - Don Hermanus
A day of exploring Seville - wow, what an amazing place.
We started off with morning coffee and then made our way to the cathedral - apparently the biggest in the world. Firstly we went up the tower which gave awesome views over Seville, including the bullring. We then wandered around the cathedral with old tiles, many paintings and ornate decor.
We left the cathedral and found our way to the Santa Cruz area - wow! It was absolutely stunning. Small cobbled streets lined with Jasmine and Bourganvilea leading to squares lines with elegant cafés and orange trees.
We came across the Alcazar on our wanderings and so decided to have a look around. It's and old palace variously used by Muslim and Christian royalty so it was built of many styles but seemed to have a more eastern feeling. Beautiful tiles adorn the walls and the windows are covered with beautifully carved wooden shutters. The garden was serene and also a mish-mash of styles.
As we came out of the palace we got accosted by a tout selling flamenco tickets. We let ourselves be sucked in and found out later that we'd bought tickets for the best flamenco spot in town.
After freshening up at camp we returned for a night on the town. We decided to start with tapas hopping. It was awesome walking through Santa Cruz again. We stopped at four different tapas bars, the second being the best with tortilla espanola and a tiny bread-roll with paté, ham and anchovy - strange but delicious.
At 11:30 our tapas hopping was finished and we went to the flamenco club for a brilliant two hours of amazing vibrant dancing.
It was after 1:30 by the time we left the show and went in search of coffee. We had been lead to believe that the streets would be buzzing at that time of the evening but most places seemed to be closed and things were quite dead.
Back at camp we had a port and eventually got to bed at 3:30. An excellent day.
17 July - Don Hermanus
Today we went in search of an internet café and this time found one quite painlessly. Unfortunately we'd only been there an hour when they closed so we didn't get too far with the diary update.
Our plans for the day were now a bit of a mess but in searching for another internet café found a lovely restaurant on the river bank with awesome views across the river to the old town. Here we had an excellent paella of prawns and clams. A leisurely lunch was a brilliant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the campsite swimming pool playing backgammon and writing postcards.
18 July - Don Hermanus
Our intinerary for today started with a horse drawn carriage ride through Seville. After morning coffee we boarded our coach and we were off for a blissful hour.
He lead us through the serene Parque Maria Luisa - a beautiful garden; Plaza Espańa - a stunning building with bridges over a stream and beautiful tiles displaying the regions of Spain.
We passed through Plaza Americas with two interesting looking museums and the university which had once been a tobacco factory.
Once the tour was over we walked back into Santa Cruz for sangria and a tapas lunch of mussels, croquettes, salami and tortilla.
After freshening up at camp we set off to the bullring. Unfortunately the bull-fights do not take places on Sundays in July so we just had a tour instead and got to take some photos of the ring.
There were some rather unusual parts to the bullring, for example an ornate chapel just before the doors where the matadors enter and a complete operating theatre just outside the exit.