Portugal. Although our sojourn there this time around was only brief we made so many happy memories.
Because time was running out before the Schengen clock clicked over the 90 days we only had about a week until we had to start making our way back to the UK.
That short time, however, was enough to give us a taste of what Portugal has to offer and left us with a strong desire to return and explore this beautiful country more fully.
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The Detail:
Distance Covered: 560 miles in 8 days
Financial: Fuel £137; Site Fees/Parking £9; Groceries £118; Laundry £17
Stopovers: Altura, Castro Verde, Odemira (twice) Bordeira, Beja, Evora, Monsanto
A quiet introduction
Our first stop in Portugal was at a new site just over the border at Altura.
A super quiet site in the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly busy with other vans given that it hadn’t been open long. We were apparently the first UK van to stop there!
Opened out the awning for the first time on this journey as it was such a lovely evening.
Windmills
Castro Verde was a lovely little town with a large parking area on the edge where we stayed free of charge.
A signposted walk around the town took in the lovely town centre buildings, traditional restaurants, quirky roundabouts, and a splendid windmill.
Portuguese Party
Oh boy, do the Portuguese know how to party.
We stopped at Odemira first time midweek and had a lovely restful evening. So when we were looking for somewhere a couple of nights later and we were in the area we thought we would stop there again.
Note to self – don’t stop in a town centre in Portugal at the weekends – the music and partying from the bar across the river went on until 6 am. Not our most restful sleep!
Odemira itself is well worth a visit, but perhaps avoid the weekend if you intend to stay over.
Corking Time
We crammed so much into such a short time. Some of the things we saw and did include wandering around a cork forest, storks nesting on telegraph poles, standing stones, gorgeous spring blossoms,
Evora
A wander around Evora on a sunny weekend afternoon saw a town full of life and laughter.
Some beautiful architecture and a grand church. Adjacent to the church is the bone chapel, which unfortunately we didn’t get to go into. The Chapel gets its name because the interior walls are covered and decorated with human skulls and bones.
Boulderville
Whilst visiting the truly unique village of Monsanto we parked up at Relva, which is just a short walk away.
From Relva it is about 20 minutes on foot uphill to Monsanto. The village is literally built into the massive boulders on the hillside.
We spent an amazing afternoon exploring, and witnessed a stunning sunset before deciding to make our way back down.
This is where things went a bit wrong. We had gotten a little turned around whilst exploring, but we knew there was a path leading from Monsanto down to Relva.
So when we saw a path leading downwards as we were leaving Monsanto we said to ourselves “that looks like it is going in the right direction, what can possibly go wrong?”.
Well, next time I say that tell me I’m an idiot – the path ended up taking us in completely the wrong direction, and what should have been a 15-minute walk ended up being nearly two hours in complete darkness….no light pollution here.
As before, There is so much more we saw and did that I haven’t included here – you’ll just have to go see it for yourself!
The next post will cover our journey back to the UK through Spain and France
I haven’t gone into great detail about anything in particular in this post, so if you would like me to expand on anything please leave a comment and I will endeavor to write another separate post on the topic.
Happy Motorhoming.
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