Hola Amigos (in Spain again)

Friday 3rd July

Hola Amigos

First things first eh! A photo of our Grandson Kielan,(and Brooke of course). Brooke will have to get used to being a Mum and Kielan getting all the attention first haha!!
Zambujeira do Mar where we left you last time was a beautiful little village – the camping ground was about 2km from the beach and centro urbo (centre of town). We biked in there a couple of times to have a look around. To get into the town you had to bike through some sandy areas surrounded by trees – you should have seen Rae bike fast – she was scared there were snakes!! To be fair there was a dead one on the road.
From Zambujeira do Mar we drove round Lisbon and stayed in Sao Martinho do Porto – this town had a huge nearly enclosed bay – we had ridden our bikes down the hill from the camping ground (which meant riding back up) to the town – unfortunately it was really really windy so we didn’t stay long in the town – it would have been lovely if there hadn’t been as much wind.
From Sao Martinho do Porto we stopped at a lovely village called Obidos – which the town itself was a wedding gift to a Portuguese King’s new wife – beats a new toaster! This little town is also a fortified town completely enclosed with castle like walls – we climbed around the walls which we wouldn’t have been able to do in NZ – OSH would have closed it down, it was really narrow but had the magnificent views over the village and surrounding areas.

We then went to Figueira Da Foz where the camping ground was right on the beach – the beach reminded us of Brighton (ChCh) with the sand dunes, cold water and surf beach. We experienced a tropical downpour here – well Brent did – he ran to back to the camper to close all the windows and vents whilst Rae stayed in the bar catching up on some e-mails.
The following day we drove about 150km – this took us at least 3 ½ hours – the roads in Portugal would have to be the worst we have ever experienced – pot hole after pot hole. The roads aren’t as bad as the drivers though – there is only one word to describe them and that is CRAZY! We have since been told they have the worst road accident and death rate in Europe! If this is true it wouldn’t surprise us. It is great – they can create a third lane in the middle of a narrow two lane road!! They will overtake on a blind corner then in 100 metres they will turn off? We nearly had a souvenir of a Portuguese man on the front of the camper – we were driving through a small village probably doing 40km when this old fellow 80 odd just stepped out right in front of us – no hesitation from him at all. We were also driving into another village when Brent had slowed right down as it was narrow and there was a small truck coming towards us and he was not slowing down– next thing we heard a big bang and the screeching of brakes – the truck had a head on with the car two behind us - we ran back down the road and whilst the car was a real mess thankfully everyone was OK.
We spent the day in Porto – once again we did the Hop On Hop Off bus tour – even one of the bus drivers we had on a scenic trip of the city that you would expect to be at a slow pace had everyone holding on so they didn’t slip off their seats!
We both really enjoyed Porto – a beautiful old town that has a river running through it with a stunning old bridge that you drive over to get into the town – and of course it is well known for being the producer of Port. We tried and purchased some white port which neither one of us had tried before – very nice, a little bit like a late harvest or sticky wine.
From Porto we followed the Rio Douro (river) to Sao Joao Da Pesqueira (inland) . This is a little town right in the middle of the grape growing region. The scenery driving here was just stunning – with little villages on the river’s edge, even a church built on a rock -top, no other way to describe it really. The Portuguese built in crazy places, goes with their driving skills we guess!!. We don’t think they are use to tourists in this town – we were the only ones staying in the camping ground which could hold about 50 campers – we were also the only ones in a local restaurant which also had tables set up for about 50 people – the lady in the restaurant didn’t have any menus printed and didn’t speak any English – she ended up bringing us out the raw meat and fish to our table for us to decide what to have. We thought it was hilarious but I am sure she got the last laugh – as it turned out to be quite expensive.
The following day we continued our drive through the grape growing region – they grow grapes on just about sheer rock faces and then they step the areas up using schist stone – lots and lots of work.
After this we drove back into Spain – and whilst we have spent a few weeks here already we haven’t really spent any time inland – wow – what awesome views we have had – in the south it was desert like – now it is really green with the most magnificent mountains – we spent last night in Lago De Sanabria – the camping ground went right down to a lake – being 1000 metres above sea level we thought the lake would be freezing but it was surprisingly warm.
We are now in Riano – I am typing this overlooking a glorious lake which is surrounded with mountains – there are eagles soaring overhead and lots of other big birds flying around – there has also a been a baby wild black pig wondering around (hope that it’s parents aren’t around) – the town is just below us but a very steep bike ride up so not sure if we are that keen to head that way tonight.

Hasta Luego Amigos