{"id":472,"date":"2018-10-10T20:03:40","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T20:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=472"},"modified":"2026-08-18T19:40:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T19:40:48","slug":"euro-travellers-2018-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=472","title":{"rendered":"EURO-TRAVELLERS 2018. 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

11\u00a0 LEAVING PORTUGAL – WHO SAID UNPAID TOLLS?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve just discovered that “Cima” in Portuguese means “top” and nothing to do with “cemetery”.\u00a0 So perhaps we were safe the other day after all!<\/p>\n

On Thursday a lady (Bridgette) comes on site to give campers a physiotherapeutic once-over. With our recent problems with our backs, we both decided to go for one of her massages.\u00a0 I think we both came out feeling worse than we had prior to the treatment, especially by the following day!\u00a0 Fortunately, her local knowledge of good restaurants did more for us than her massages!<\/p>\n

The first one she suggested was in Arco de Ba\u00falhe – the Restaurant O Caneiro.\u00a0 Excellent.\u00a0 A bit “chic-er” than most of the places we have been frequenting in Portugal.\u00a0 Fabulous view over the winding river valley.\u00a0 After lunch we walked to the campsite in town.\u00a0 Walking is the best way to get there.\u00a0 I’d be reluctant to take my car there let alone the caravan.\u00a0 We had read about the site which advertises a collection service.\u00a0 They come and meet you at the local garage and guide you in.\u00a0 We didn’t completely believe it before – but now we do!<\/p>\n

“Not staying there Barry!”<\/p>\n

It’s now the following day – Friday 22nd June.\u00a0 A fairly significant day.\u00a0 We were woken by calls and messages from home and opened lots of cards.\u00a0 One couple (and THEY know who they are!) had added lots of little shiny, plastic stars and other bits and pieces to the envelope which might have got everywhere – except we were alert to that plan.\u00a0 So the envelope was opened carefully over the sink – even so we managed to get a number of teeny weeny sparkly bits onto the floor.<\/p>\n

We decided to go to a posh restaurant that we had had recommended.\u00a0 It’s in Amarante which is allegedly about 40 minutes south of base.\u00a0 It might be possible to do it in that time – but not at our speed.\u00a0 The road is another one of those hillside-hugging roads that is always either bending left or bending right.\u00a0 If it’s going straight the road has narrowed to go over a bridge or is going nearly vertically downwards or upwards – or I’ve taken a wrong turning and we are off-route!<\/p>\n

Anyway, we did go off-route looking for a rural hotel for lunch (in case we didn’t make Amarante before dusk).\u00a0 We hesitated at a hotel and spa on the outskirts of Code\u00e7oso.\u00a0 All we needed was to look at the lunch menu but we got the full-works tour of the facilities including the fitness centre, the spa, the swimming pools and even one of their luxury suites.\u00a0 Sadly, when we got to the menu part of the tour it turned out to be fish.\u00a0 Codfish even – “bacalhau”.\u00a0 The reconstituted fish that we had seen drying in Norway earlier this year.\u00a0 As I recall we were told then that Portugal was one of their main markets for the stuff.\u00a0 Not for me though.<\/p>\n

By the time we got to Amarante the sun was reaching its highest point in the sky and the temperature was rapidly heading north of 30\u00b0.\u00a0 Just the time for a walk about town!<\/p>\n

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Church of Sao Goncalo in\u00a0<\/span>Amarante,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point we discovered that I hadn’t brought the name of the recommended restaurant with me.\u00a0 Well at my age – that’s allowed!\u00a0 Isn’t It?\u00a0 However, we did eventually find it – Michelin star and all.\u00a0 But we found it closed for lunch so we tracked off next door to an attractive looking place with a fine view over the river valley.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the meal was not the best we’ve had in the country.\u00a0 In fact, possibly the worst!<\/p>\n

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Post-birthday-lunch coffees.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Keeping to the shade, we walked along the bank of the River T\u00e3mega.\u00a0 Very scenic.\u00a0 Loudspeakers were being tested in the main square for what was going to be a very noisy celebration that Glenda had arranged in my honour for later that evening.\u00a0 Actually, I suspect it was for “Saint Jean” not “Ordinary John”.\u00a0 But maybe it was in recognition of some other saint – and they sure have a shed-load of them to choose from.<\/p>\n

About a kilometre up the hill from our site there is a disused railway line.\u00a0 Not your ordinary gravel track with weeds sprouting everywhere.\u00a0 This is a 40+ km stretch of smooth surfaced, beautifully cambered cycle road.\u00a0 As smooth as the proverbial baby’s bottom.\u00a0 It even has white lines painted down the middle in parts.<\/p>\n

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Every few kms there is an old station or village coffee shop for refreshments.\u00a0 It’s surely another wonderful example of EU money doing great things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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We walked a couple of sections of the path as it wound around the hill-sides (as anything has to if it wants to proceed in a more or less level way).\u00a0 One such walk was stopped by a herd of goats – well, strictly speaking, I’m not sure one goat counts as a herd even if it is a fierce looking chap with big curvey horns.\u00a0 It was in a cutting.\u00a0 No sideways escape route.\u00a0 So about face and retreat we did.\u00a0 We wanted to turn round at that point anyway Didn’t we?<\/p>\n

Now it’s Saturday and we have just returned from a trip to the church at the top of the hill in front of us. The Chapel Senhora da Gra\u00e7a. It’s just 15 miles from here and I counted 320 bends – many of them hairpins as we wound our way to the top of the hill.\u00a0 The roads in this part of Portugal really are tortuous.\u00a0 Quite a few people were cycling up – they must be mad!\u00a0 The view from the top was amazing – all 360 degrees of it.\u00a0 2We could even see our campsite (with binoculars!)<\/p>\n

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Hill-top church, close up, interior, and in the distance by night and day<\/span><\/p>\n

Lunch in Mondim de Basto at Adega 7 Condes was really good.\u00a0 Another excellent recommendation from our masseuse.\u00a0 It was located just off the snappily named “Largo do Comendador Jos\u00e9 Augusto Alvares de Carvalho”.\u00a0 The only thing we were fit for after that was a swim in the pool and a rest in the shade till things cooled down (which was about 8.30 pm!).<\/p>\n

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Some of my cards!<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we are off to Spain on the first (short) leg of the journey to Roscoff in NW Brittany.\u00a0 But that’s another story!<\/p>\n

So, that’s dealt with Portugal.\u00a0 We fled the country still unsure if we owed anything for all the electronic tolls!\u00a0 I guess we may find out in a few weeks time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

11\u00a0 LEAVING PORTUGAL – WHO SAID UNPAID TOLLS? I’ve just discovered that “Cima” in Portuguese means “top” and nothing to do with “cemetery”.\u00a0 So perhaps we were safe the other day after all! On Thursday a lady (Bridgette) comes on… <\/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-472","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\/472","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=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8113,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions\/8113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}