7 HEADING FOR PORTUGAL
South of Plasencia, running alongside the A66 (of Ruta de la Plata fame) is a series of partly built bridges – some of them enormous – and tunnels and cuttings and embankments. A mammoth construction project. A little research told us that this was the proposed high-speed rail link between Madrid and Lisbon. This is part of the EU’s much vaunted Trans European Network (TEN-R) scheme. In 2016 the EU granted Spain €250 million towards the €312m cost of their sector which runs to Merida. But as part of the “joined up thinking” project, Portugal cancelled their part of the link in 2012 on the grounds that it was not financially viable. Clearly the EU hadn’t got the message that the Portuguese had pulled the plug! Good game, good game! But at least Madrid residents will be able to visit their relations in Merida very conveniently.
We spent a happy day in Cáceres on Monday while waiting for the replacement filter to arrive. Had a couple of nice coffee stops. Our Spanish can now sort out the coffees OK but the additional jug of hot water can still take some negotiation! In the late afternoon we wandered through the old part of town. Some lovely old buildings around the central square. Big, old, Moorish-looking towers and city walls.
Plaza Mayor, Caceres
On returning to base we were met with the news that the filter was not coming after all. Not good…
Got the bikes out on Tuesday and found that our railway walk was more down hill than we had realised. We rolled down for a few miles and then pedalled back past more unseen nightingales in the bushes.
On Wednesday we said goodbye to our new Dutch (friendly) neighbours and headed to Portugal.
We spent hours circling the town of Campo Maior with its cobbled streets. We ended up on a dusty track in the middle of a field of olives – quite possibly very close to our target – Camping Os Anjos. When in doubt go back to the starting point and try again. The problem, we discovered, is that the web site has at least four different sets of coordinates and the site has two different names! That combined with a magic one-way system in town made destination location a problem.
Our pitch at Camping Os Anjos
At the recommended bar/restaurant (Taverna O Mininistro) we had the “Camping menu”:
1 Olives
2 Plate of starters: Tuna/carrots/ white beans/onions/red peppers/ bread/Croquettes, cheese, ham,
3 Sardines
4 Pork with new potatoes
5 Chicken fried potatoes
6 Strawberries, candied plum in honey, cake/flan, oranges, cream
7 Coffee, wine and water
…five courses + … all for €13 a head!
It was so good we had to do it again – and again. That, plus a lunch out one day, covered our dining needs for the four day duration of our stay.
Some of the cars here seem to be powered by sewing machine motors and hem along at about the speed of a bicycle. They sound like sewing machines too. We think that the reason these micro-lites without wings are so popular this side of the border is the price of fuel. It’s pretty much UK price in Portugal. That’s two things like home – the cost of diesel and the time of day. We forgot to change the clocks when we crossed the border. Now we are suffering jet-lag!
Thursday we went to the coffee museum just to the north of Campo Maior. A brilliant, interactive account of the coffee growing, importing and roasting processes. One of the best bits was the first-hand (videoed) accounts of the coffee smuggling. This apparently was still going on in the 1960s! The factory and the museum (opened in 1994) is owned by the Delta Coffee Company.
Later we found the almost deserted hill-top fortress town of Ouguella.
Then Elvas.
There are so many ancient fortified hill-top towns and villages around here. I guess that’s what you get when you have a land border between two empire-building states.
Friday – not very good weather. It was a toss-up between Badajoz back in Spain for a shopping expedition (plus a refill of diesel!) or a trip to Alter do Chäo to visit the stud farm. The latter won the day. We stopped in Monforte where we met Riu – the tourist board chap who recommended a place to eat in Fronteira.
Monforte, Praca da Republica and the Bone Chapel (one of five in the area)
After half an hour chatting he gave us his phone number in case we needed help later. On to the stud farm, via Riu’s restaurant – which was very good but deserted when we arrived.
Arriving at the Coudelaria Nacional, we found the gate un-manned so we drove in and around all the buildings. It’s a big place – 800 hectares and was founded exactly 200 years before I was born. By royal decree, it was established to maintain pure-bred Lusitano horses in the tradition of the “Real Picaria”.
We saw extensive stables and magnificent arenas. The buildings looked a little bit in need of attention but still rather grand. But the place was more or less deserted and the afternoon tour was due to start in half an hour. Having circled what appeared to be the main reception building – and driven across the edge of one of the display arenas – we found no-one. So we decided to leave.
On the way out we stopped to admire the horses and were met by about 20 cars racing back into the farm – presumably to man/woman the 3 pm tour! As we left we found the entrance gate womaned too, so we stopped to enquire about joining the tour. As we did a bus-load of 40 Spanish tourists arrived. We decided against joining a tour in Portuguese with Spanish translation and no English. Well, at least we had had a free tour of the place and left tyre tracks in the sand of the dressage arena!
That was last Friday and it’s now Monday. I’ve got behind because we’ve been doing a lot of driving and not much shopping! I’ll try and catch up later!