{"id":408,"date":"2018-10-07T15:43:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T15:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=408"},"modified":"2026-08-18T16:25:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T16:25:03","slug":"euro-travellers-2018-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=408","title":{"rendered":"EURO-TRAVELLERS 2018. 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

7\u00a0 HEADING FOR PORTUGAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 A mammoth construction project.\u00a0 A little research told us that this was the proposed high-speed rail link between Madrid and Lisbon.\u00a0 This is part of the EU’s much vaunted Trans European Network (TEN-R) scheme.\u00a0 In 2016 the EU granted Spain \u20ac250 million towards the \u20ac312m cost of their sector which runs to Merida.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Clearly the EU hadn’t got the message that the Portuguese had pulled the plug!\u00a0 Good game, good game!\u00a0 But at least Madrid residents will be able to visit their relations in Merida very conveniently.<\/p>\n

We spent a happy day in C\u00e1ceres on Monday while waiting for the replacement filter to arrive.\u00a0 Had a couple of nice coffee stops.\u00a0 Our Spanish can now sort out the coffees OK but the additional jug of hot water can still take some negotiation!\u00a0 In the late afternoon we wandered through the old part of town.\u00a0 Some lovely old buildings around the central square.\u00a0 Big, old, Moorish-looking towers and city walls.<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Plaza Mayor, Caceres.<\/span><\/p>\n

On returning to base we were met with the news that the filter was not coming after all.\u00a0 Not good…<\/p>\n

Got the bikes out on Tuesday and found that our railway walk was more down hill than we had realised.\u00a0 We rolled down for a few miles and then pedalled back past more unseen nightingales in the bushes.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday we said goodbye to our new Dutch (friendly) neighbours and headed to Portugal.<\/p>\n

We spent hours circling the town of Campo Maior with its cobbled streets.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 When in doubt go back to the starting point and try again.\u00a0 The problem, we discovered, is that the web site has at least four different sets of coordinates and the site has two different names!\u00a0 That combined with a magic one-way system in town made destination location a problem.<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Our pitch at Camping Os Anjos.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the recommended bar\/restaurant (Taverna O Mininistro) we had the “Camping menu”:<\/p>\n

1\u00a0 Olives<\/p>\n

2\u00a0 Plate of starters: Tuna\/carrots\/ white beans\/onions\/red peppers\/ bread\/Croquettes, cheese, ham,<\/p>\n

3 Sardines<\/p>\n

4 Pork with new potatoes<\/p>\n

5 Chicken fried potatoes<\/p>\n

6 Strawberries, candied plum in honey, cake\/flan, oranges, cream<\/p>\n

7\u00a0 Coffee, wine and water<\/p>\n

…five courses + … all for \u20ac13 a head!<\/p>\n

It was so good we had to do it again – and again.\u00a0 That, plus a lunch out one day, covered our dining needs for the four day duration of our stay.<\/p>\n

Some of the cars here seem to be powered by sewing machine motors and hem along at about the speed of a bicycle.\u00a0 They sound like sewing machines too.\u00a0 We think that the reason these micro-lites without wings are so popular this side of the border is the price of fuel.\u00a0 It’s pretty much UK price in Portugal.\u00a0 That’s two things like home – the cost of diesel and the time of day.\u00a0 We forgot to change the clocks when we crossed the border.\u00a0 Now we are suffering jet-lag!<\/p>\n

Thursday we went to the coffee museum just to the north of Campo Maior.\u00a0 A brilliant, interactive account of the coffee growing, importing and roasting processes.\u00a0 One of the best bits was the first-hand (videoed) accounts of the coffee smuggling.\u00a0 This apparently was still going on in the 1960s!\u00a0 The factory and the museum (opened in 1994) is owned by the Delta Coffee Company.<\/p>\n

Later we found the almost deserted hill-top fortress town of Ouguella.<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Then Elvas.<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

There are so many ancient fortified hill-top towns and villages around here.\u00a0 I guess that’s what you get when you have a land border between two empire-building states.<\/p>\n

Friday – not very good weather.\u00a0 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 Ch\u00e4o to visit the stud farm.\u00a0 The latter won the day.\u00a0 We stopped in Monforte where we met Riu – the tourist board chap who recommended a place to eat in Fronteira.<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

Monforte, Praca da Republica and the Bone Chapel (one of five in the area).<\/span><\/p>\n

After half an hour chatting he gave us his phone number in case we needed help later.\u00a0 On to the stud farm, via Riu’s restaurant – which was very good but deserted when we arrived.<\/p>\n

Arriving at the Coudelaria Nacional, we found the gate un-manned so we drove in and around all the buildings.\u00a0 It’s a big place – 800 hectares and was founded exactly 200 years before I was born.\u00a0 By royal decree, it was established to maintain pure-bred Lusitano horses in the tradition of the “Real Picaria”.<\/p>\n

We saw extensive stables and magnificent arenas.\u00a0 The buildings looked a little bit in need of attention but still rather grand.\u00a0 But the place was more or less deserted and the afternoon tour was due to start in half an hour.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So we decided to leave.<\/p>\n

\"D:\\JTUserData\\Documents\\PICTURES\\My<\/p>\n

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!\u00a0 As we left we found the entrance gate womaned too, so we stopped to enquire about joining the tour.\u00a0 As we did a bus-load of 40 Spanish tourists arrived.\u00a0 We decided against joining a tour in Portuguese with Spanish translation and no English.\u00a0 Well, at least we had had a free tour of the place and left tyre tracks in the sand of the dressage arena!<\/p>\n

That was last Friday and it’s now Monday.\u00a0 I’ve got behind because we’ve been doing a lot of driving and not much shopping!\u00a0 I’ll try and catch up later!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7\u00a0 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.\u00a0 A mammoth construction project.\u00a0… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-portugal-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8108,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions\/8108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}