2nd May
We stopped another day at Freixo de Espada ἁ Cinta, a cloudy morning was followed by bright sunshine, A stroll up to the old church we saw yesterday on the hillside,
The was some sort of annex to the side at one time?
For a small town there was plenty to see, there’s a beach “Praia Fluvial de Congita” on the Rio Douro a few km away.
We stopped at a bar on the way back, and out of the blue, a woman gave us a bag of oranges, a nice gesture.
Back at base camp, I found out Swansea have beaten the thugs of Stoke 2-0. 8th place in the bag, now to chase Southampton down.
3rd May
Typical bank holiday weather, black sky’s and rain! We set of for the town off Izeda, about 80km away, arriving there the weather was still bad, everything was closed, possibly because of it being a Sunday, but no cafe’s open either? We had a roll and a coffee and decided to move on up to Braganca, not before a few urchins stopped at the van asking for chocolates, I gave them some and they then asked for some for their sister, in half Portuguese and Spanish. No mas I told them, they then stood looking at the mural on the van for a while and disappeared before they got soaked. I took a short walk during a quick respite when the rain ceased, not a lot to rave about to be honest.
A couple of metal statue bulls and a closed café
The town of Izeda
A small amount of restoration work required on this place
Reset the satnavs for another 50km to the medieval city of Braganca to get LPG, this was closed on arrival, so it was then onto the stop for the day 41.803902 -6.745950. A free Aire with services, nestled upon a hill next to a castle.
Castelo de Braganca
There is a small hamlet within the castle walls, also a few restaurants, cafe’s and tourist shops,
The city of Braganca
The small hamlet within the castle walls.
The castle dates back to the 12th century.
Inside the church
A view of the site from the castle
We were two hours walking around, well worth a visit if you're ever travelling nearby.
4th May
It hasn’t stopped raining, during a short lull we took a walk into town, and sods law it dumped down again and we got soaked. What we did see was quite nice, a mixture of the old and the new,
A mausoleum on the side of the road, must be someone of Importance?
This shop had Ports dating back to the early 60’s
A couple of more old churches we stumbled across.
When we got back we found ourselves blocked in, there is space for 4 vans on the upper level, a convoy of French vans had pulled in and now there were 9, a chap came over when he saw me and explained they were leaving at 8am, I told him not to worry as we are not leaving till 10.
5th May
We stopped here for another day, I have been without Internet for a few days, so we walked into town and found a phone shop to get another data sim. We will definitely be leaving tomorrow, and I may have to post the blog early as we are unsure if we will be able to get a data card in Spain as we were informed at Los Barrios by Vodaphone and Orange that you have to have a contract now? this has only just started, so we will have to look at whether a Spanish provider does them, or find a bar or internet cafe.
Something about whether there’s a war on or whatever you will always get your mail?
A view of the castle from the city
And a view of the city from the castle
Who lives in a house like this?
Probably an eccentric!
We stumbled across The Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in this persons garden, along with numerous landmarks and churches.
We have done 1300 odd miles driving in Portugal in a total of 65 days, we've stayed at 20 odd places, many free, so at an average cost of £4.10 per night, we have enjoyed the interior of Portugal this time, and also the coast and the fantastic beaches we visited the first time. Portugal is a great country, hopefully we will return soon.
Tomorrow we will re-enter Spain.
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Marc and Sam