Welcome to Portugal

We have spent a few days in the Duoro river valley (including Villa Real and Porto) and other areas of Portugal and really enjoyed our time here. 

During our travels in Portugal we found a number of very pleasant villages and town centres.

Our van and (empty) service centre in Portugal (Photo135) Sorry cant get this photo to upload

The road into Portugal from Verin in Spain is now a high standard motorway, divided carriageway with limited access and service centres just like the Hume Freeway in NSW/Vic at home. All it needs is a bit more traffic! It is definitely not like the old road of thirty odd years ago that Gary remembers.

Villa Real old town (Photo 143)

So the first town we saw in any detail when we got off the motorway was Villa Real in the Duoro river valley. This city is a mixture of an old town centre with modern add-ons like the ever-present hyper market shopping centre and petrol stations on the outskirts of the city.  From our campsite in Villa Real we were able to walk to the centre of town and the fresh food market. 

Porto from bridge (Photo 226)

Porto is the second city of Portugal after Lisbon and it is a beautiful city at the river mouth. It is built on the hills with a funicular in one part from the river level to the upper town.  We made a couple of trips on this funicular (1 euro per person per trip). We visited the Tram Museum after riding on the vintage tram.   On the Sunday afternoon all the cafes and public spaces were pre-occupied with the local football team Porto (blue and white jumpers) playing.  We found a quiet café without any footy fans and had a snack for dinner.

Photo of tower at Porto, (photo 2209)

On the first day in Porto we met some English people at the campsite who suggested we walk up the tower in order to get a good view of Port. It was quite some walk but well worth it for the views.

Bridge at Porto with metro train (Photo 216)

After we had left Porto, we travelled down Portugal towards Evora. When the campsite we were looking for was no longer in use in one town, the local volunteer firefighters suggested another campsite. This led us to discover a beautiful village called Castelo de Vide. We walked into town from the campsite, quite a strenuous walk with some fine views along the way.

Walking track from campground with cork trees (Photo 2227 )

Whilst in Castelo de Vide a kindly local family took our photo with the village in the background, just proving we are both still alive and well. (Photo 243)

Typical Electric wiring (Photo 2241)

This photo gives you some idea of the electric wiring in the township which is typical of the Spain/Portugal area.

Typical street in Castelo de Vide township (Photo 250)

All too soon the itinerary showed we needed to move on, so it was good bye to the villages of Portugal and on to the cheaper fuel and big birds (possibly cranes) of Spain, but more about Spain in another blog, soon.