Portugal
Our plan for Portugal was to make our way down the coast until we reached the most Southerly point, drive East across the Algarve to Algeciras in Spain where we would then board the ferry to Morocco. But first, as neither of us had visited Portugal before, we wanted to spend some time hitting the coastal highlights on the way down. Due to the wintry conditions, we’d have to leave the inland areas for another time.
Our first stop in Portugal was the pretty town of Viana do Castelo where we found a nice free aire near a beach on the other side of the river from the town. We had read that a small boat operates to ferry people across the river but there was no sign of it, so we could only assume it doesn’t run in the winter months. With that, we drove back around the estuary and parked in town.
We headed for the funicular that goes up the hill behind the town to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, from which there are great views across the estuary and the town.
The town itself has a nice old town where the Christmas decorations were still up. However the highlight for us was visiting the Gil Eannes ship which is docked on the river. This was the flagship of the Portuguese White Fleet, their cod fishing fleet, and was both an administrative hub and a hospital ship. Boats in the fleet would go out for 6 months at a time and at its peak there were almost 5 thousand sailors in the fleet.
The ship was built in 1955 and was in operation until 1984. It carried a full team of doctors and nurses and included an operating theatre, pharmacy, isolation wards and dentists. The engine room was also really cool and we were able to walk all through it. I have to admit we were sceptical when we went aboard but it is definitely worth a visit.
From Viana do Castelo we headed inland to the town of Braga. Braga is the oldest city in Portugal and dates back more than 2,000 years. The city itself has some beautiful architecture and makes an enjoyable place for a wander around.
Above the city of Braga is a monumental staircase that starts off winding its way up towards the Bom Jesus do Monte Church and then about half way turns into a straight stairway leading right up to the church. There is a water powered funicular to go up to the church but the walk is much more impressive.
At intervals as you climb the pilgrims stairs there are small buildings with dioramas of religious scenes.
Continuing on our way, Guimaraes is a medieval town with a small centre that is really lovely. We managed to park up for the night in a parking area next to the very small aire that was only a five minute walk from the centre, so we decided to walk into town for a night out.
Walking through the deserted streets we arrived at a small tapas restaurant with no one in it. We had read some great google reviews so decided to go in anyway. We were greeted warmly by the proprietor who sat us down and got us drinks – some very nice local wine. He then asked us whether we ate meat and fish and explained to us that he’d cook us some tapas.
He started cooking behind the bar and only a few minutes later brought out a few dishes of food which he said was traditional Portuguese tapas. He did explain what each dish was but to be honest all I can remember is how tasty it was.
The next day we explored the town and cycled up to the medieval castle just outside town. It is a lovely place and I imagine in the summer it is very busy with tourists but in January it was very quiet, unlike our next stop, Porto, which is a major tourist destination throughout the year.
Porto is a big city with a population of 1.8 million. It is also very hilly so getting around can be hard work.
We parked up at a stop on the tram network, called Fanzares, which had a large free car park right by the tram stop. Once we worked out which ticket we needed, it was an easy 20 minute ride into the city centre and we avoided driving through all of the narrow, busy urban streets.
We arrived in the centre of Porto at the main railway station, which quite helpfully was one of the spots we had marked to visit. The main hall of the station is tiled with some beautiful Portuguese tiling and quite impressive.
From here we walked up hill to the cathedral.
We generally have a policy of not paying to go into cathedrals as we have seen so many but here we did as it is a joint ticket for the cathedral and the Episcopal Palace next door.
The cathedral itself is not particularly notable with the highlight being the gothic cloisters which have some impressive tiled murals. However the Episcopal Palace which is next door is much more impressive. The entrance leads to a grand staircase with a beautifully painted ceiling.
It was originally built in the 12th century as the residence of the Bishops of Porto and the first floor has lovely views over the Duoro river and Port district of Porto.
After visiting this area we walked down the steep streets of the old town to find a restaurant near the river. Both of us tried the local speciality the Franceshina. This looks terrible when you get it – its basically a meat sandwich with an egg on top drowned in gravy – but boy does it taste good. The portions were huge and we were absolutely stuffed.
After lunch we walked along the river side and then made our way back up through the town to the city hall and then across the to the magnificently tiled Chapel of Souls.
Porto is definitely a city that rewards walking around its steep streets and we were pretty tired when we got the tram back to the camper.
Our next stop was further down the coast at Coimbra. We stopped here, staying in a fairly scruffy car park the other side of the river from the old town. Coimbra is famous for its University which was established in 1290 making it one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world. We cycled into the old town not realising that the university was at the top of a steep cobbled hill which meant that we had to push our bikes up to it.
The central buildings are spectacular but it is the library that we had come to see. The ticket to see the library is quite expensive and you can only visit on a guided tour of up to 40 people. We were really lucky that there was only us and 1 other person on our tour which was late in the day.
The Joanina library is a medieval library with books from the 16th to 18th centuries but was opened to receive books in 1750. Its main room is stunning and at night the tables are covered with leather covers to protect them from the faeces of the bats that are allowed to nest there to control any insects that might damage the books.
Besides the library the ticket also entitles you to visit the Great Hall and St Michael’s Chapel, both of which are well worth taking the time to see.
Unfortunately our visit to Coimbra coincided with some heavy rain and we got absolutely drenched on our cycle back from the old town!
Not too far from the city of Coimbra are the Conimbriga Roman ruins. These are notable for the excellent floor murals that have survived. The site itself is poorly signposted but the murals make it well worth the visit.
The Romans arrived in this area around 139BC. At the time there was already a settlement here but the Romans took it over and formalised it. By around 70AD it was a city of around 10,000 people.
The city was eventually destroyed in 465AD in an invasion by the Germanic Sueves (enslaving much of the population).
As we continued heading South we passed by the city of Batalha where the massive Batalha Monastery is visible from the road. We were intrigued so we jumped off the main road and parked up in Batalha for the night.
The monastery has at its heart an enormous and not completely finished cathedral, which is in the gothic style and was built over 200 years ago to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese in the battle of Ajubarrota against the Castillians in 1385.
There is a lot to explore in the monastery from the Founder’s chapel with royal tombs including Henry the Navigator, to the big cloisters and the unfinished chapels which are still open to the elements.
In a room off one of the cloisters is the eternal flame and the tomb of the unknown soldier from the first world war which has a military honour guard. We actually arrived as the guard was changing and got told to stand in a corner while the soldiers marched around.
Our tour of the cathedral ended with the unfinished chapels where a large gothic area has been built but a roof was never put on. Now it’s a very grand home to pigeons!
Despite travelling down the coast we hadn’t actually hit any beaches since our first stop at Viana do Castelo, so we were looking forward to visiting Nazare. This is the site of the biggest wave surfing records and it is renowned for having massive waves at this time of year. Just our luck, we arrived in bright sunshine and calmish seas sandwiched between periods of bad weather on either side with big waves.
It didn’t stop us however, visiting the peninsula where the big waves are surfed and we saw a couple of jet skis and surfers hanging around in the water, but there obviously wasn’t anything they wanted to surf. Even on a clam day though the waves are quite impressive.
After hanging around in the old town at the top of the hill we drove down into the town of Nazare itself, which is the other side of the peninsula from the big waves. There is a large parking area for motorhomes within walking distance of pretty much everything and so we wandered along the beach and seafront enjoying the rare sunshine and taking in the fish drying racks.
We couldn’t resist stopping at a seafront bar for a drink to watch the sun go down, although we retreated pretty quickly once the sun was below the horizon as the temperature plummeted – it is still January after all.
