Our first stop in Portugal was a place called Ricobayo, hadn´t planned to stop there but it had a lovely looking lake we could see from the motorway so we did a bit of offroad driving down to it and had a lovely lunch and a swim. There were a lot of fish in the lake, Justin now wants a fishing rod for the van.
Next was Braganca. Really liked this town. Walked around the historic area of town and to the city walls. Massive well intact stone walls that surround the historic part of the city. We walked around those for a while and Justin even went in a scary dungeon looking bit! The state of some of the houses people were living in was pretty interesting, would love to get a look inside some of those houses. Also had a look round a really inpressive cemetary, so much marble and beautiful headstones. Stayed in a free parking area for campers that was right by the walls which were nicely lit up at night.
The next town we stopped in was Braga, it had been raining all day but we thought we had outrun it in Braga. We headed up the hill to find the Bom Jesus church. Built in the late 1800s it has a massive amount of steps leading up through some forest and beautifully kept gardens. It was starting to rain so we headed back down. Not long after we were back at the van a thunderstorm hit. I have never seen rain like it in my life. The roads turned into rivers. On the way back down to the town we found a car in front of us that kept driving forward and back, forward and back. We thought they were nutters until the lady got out and explained what they were doing. The hill you drive down is really steep, but when you get to one part of it it is actually uphill but doesn´t look like it. You can prove it by putting the car in neutral and rolling "up" the hill. So then we looked like nutters doing it! When we got to the bottom of the hill there was a massive traffic jam. We pulled over and walked to see what was happening. The drains on a major tunnel road had blocked and it had filled up with water in the rain. People were tooting till the cows come home (not sure what they were trying to achieve) So we stayed parked up and cooked tea and waited it out. (Sometimes its great living in your vehicle).
From Braga we headed to Porto which we had really been looking forward to. It lived up to all our expectations and more.....wish we were still there.
Really cheap shopping and a lively shopping area. Awesome 2 storey open air market where old ladies are selling fruit and veges, flowers, baking, seafood and live poultry. I got some flowers from a lovely old lady, we talked for a while (me in English and her in Portugese) great fun.
Found a great park on the riverside to stay, could open the back doors and look over the river. Loads of men out fishing along the river, and hundreds of fish! The river looked like it was swimming there was so many! Needless to say they were catching a lot of fish.
Also went to the port wine museum and to a fancy bar that only sells port wine by the glass. They have couches and a lovely garden area for you to sit in and enjoy your port. The ones we tried were delicious. We bought some bottles from the supermarket later on that day which are also yum. Also had a lovely lunch in a really busy bar which had exceptionally good service I might add. From Porto we headed back to Spain (rather reluctantly) but we were going to meet up with Mish and Hannah and Markus and Anna who were near the Portugese border.
Next was Braganca. Really liked this town. Walked around the historic area of town and to the city walls. Massive well intact stone walls that surround the historic part of the city. We walked around those for a while and Justin even went in a scary dungeon looking bit! The state of some of the houses people were living in was pretty interesting, would love to get a look inside some of those houses. Also had a look round a really inpressive cemetary, so much marble and beautiful headstones. Stayed in a free parking area for campers that was right by the walls which were nicely lit up at night.
The next town we stopped in was Braga, it had been raining all day but we thought we had outrun it in Braga. We headed up the hill to find the Bom Jesus church. Built in the late 1800s it has a massive amount of steps leading up through some forest and beautifully kept gardens. It was starting to rain so we headed back down. Not long after we were back at the van a thunderstorm hit. I have never seen rain like it in my life. The roads turned into rivers. On the way back down to the town we found a car in front of us that kept driving forward and back, forward and back. We thought they were nutters until the lady got out and explained what they were doing. The hill you drive down is really steep, but when you get to one part of it it is actually uphill but doesn´t look like it. You can prove it by putting the car in neutral and rolling "up" the hill. So then we looked like nutters doing it! When we got to the bottom of the hill there was a massive traffic jam. We pulled over and walked to see what was happening. The drains on a major tunnel road had blocked and it had filled up with water in the rain. People were tooting till the cows come home (not sure what they were trying to achieve) So we stayed parked up and cooked tea and waited it out. (Sometimes its great living in your vehicle).
From Braga we headed to Porto which we had really been looking forward to. It lived up to all our expectations and more.....wish we were still there.
Really cheap shopping and a lively shopping area. Awesome 2 storey open air market where old ladies are selling fruit and veges, flowers, baking, seafood and live poultry. I got some flowers from a lovely old lady, we talked for a while (me in English and her in Portugese) great fun.
Found a great park on the riverside to stay, could open the back doors and look over the river. Loads of men out fishing along the river, and hundreds of fish! The river looked like it was swimming there was so many! Needless to say they were catching a lot of fish.
Also went to the port wine museum and to a fancy bar that only sells port wine by the glass. They have couches and a lovely garden area for you to sit in and enjoy your port. The ones we tried were delicious. We bought some bottles from the supermarket later on that day which are also yum. Also had a lovely lunch in a really busy bar which had exceptionally good service I might add. From Porto we headed back to Spain (rather reluctantly) but we were going to meet up with Mish and Hannah and Markus and Anna who were near the Portugese border.
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