Porto Meanderings

The full day we spent in Porto we followed the suggested InnTravel walks around the city. This picture is some of the tiles high up in São Bento, plenty more tiles there but I did like the ones up near the roof.

Evening meal was again at Jimao Tapas e Vinhos - enjoyed on both occasions!

Transfer to Porto

After enjoying another evening and breakfast at Calheiros we took an Inntravel arranged taxi to Porto for a few extra days stay at the Hotel Pestana . We'd arranged a trip to the Graham port lodge for a tasting that afternoon and so wandered over the river and a walk alongside admiring painted walls:


See the album for the rabbit! I'd rather gone off the sweetness of port but the tasting and introduction to the lodge was much enjoyed! That evening we ate at Jimao Tapas e Vinhos close to the hotel - busy I'd recommend booking (which we did).
Oh and at lunchtime we ate at da Terra - a vegetarian restaurant with a serve yourself infinite buffet!

Around Calheiros

A final day of the manor houses' walk was a very gentle walk around Calheiros with grandstand views of the house:


For the rest of the day we enjoyed walks around the grounds with extensive gardens.

Up to Paço de Calheiros

More on that even more receded holiday in May! The next day's walk was a very gently affair, we arrived at the final manor house around lunchtime. If you do this spend more time in Ponte de Lima - where by the way the lamp posts play brass band music at you - I think this was set off by motion detectors and they seemed to be still activating late into the evening, if you're allergic to brass band music walk down the middle of the road!



A slightly ascending route and we ended up in a wonderful room for 2 nights in the manor house - the picture is a view from the terrace outside the room. Extensive grounds and the house is worth the look around. There were quite a few groups for the evening meal in a grand dining room!

A day in Ponte da Lima

(this is getting a bit drawn out.. sorry for the delay in adding updates!)
The next day was around Ponte da Lima, we took it gently around the town. But we did include a visit to the Vinho Verde visitor centre - with tasting!



That evening we ate at Casa do Provedor where I risked the local speciality of sarrabulho - pigs' blood rice and quite enjoyed the experience!

Into Ponte da Lima

The next day of our Minho holiday was the longest (17km) but probably the flattest! Ascent through vineyards and then down to the river Lima and along an Ecovia into Ponte da Lima


A pleasant walk but on a very hot day, a cafe was advertised in the instructions but we were too early in the season and it was closed. Eventually we reached the town and walked though the wonderful Plane tree avenue pictured above to our destination for the evening Mercearia da Vila a hotel rather than a manor house in an old grocer's shop (that website is all in Portuguese!) We ate out that evening at Taberna Cadeia Velha close to the river and lovely views of the setting sun!

Starting the Caminho

We left the Quinta da Malta - taking the packed lunch in a monogrammed bag and after a taxi transfer to the Santuario Nossa Senhora da Aparecida (a place of pilgrimage) we followed the Caminho de Santiago for the rest of the day. Fairly gentle and flat meeting a few fellow walkers en route who were mostly intending to walk a little further than us that day - onto Ponte da Lima - we were taking 2 days over that.
I think we got to our stop that night early afternoon Quinta do Sobreiro - we were the only guests that evening but were well looked after. It was a very hot day so we stayed in the shade the rest of the day.

An introductory walk

The initial walk was a gentle affair around Durrães as far as the Ponte das Tabuas - a bridge on the Caminho (pilgrim) trail to Santiago - a route we met a few times during the holiday!

It was a gentle walk I think we regularly beat the Inntravel timings by quite a bit this week. We were back at the Quinta da Malta for lunch and enjoyed a gentle afternoon with another bottle of local wine! We also had a look around the farm associated with the manor house with lots of organic produce which was used extensively in the food. We were a day behind some other walkers and during the afternoon some others arrived who then were a day behind us. Another relaxed evening meal before thinking about the first transfer walk.

Manor Houses of the Minho

We're recently back from 10 days in Portugal - as ever an InnTravel walking tour! The photo album of the trip is here.
We travelled to Porto via Brussels and then tram and train to Durrães where we spent 2 nights at Quinta da Malta one of a number of manor houses which formed the stops for the trip - family homes rather than hotels but we were well cared for. .

We arrived for an enjoyable meal with lots of local wine and a gentle inspection of the huge gardens to the house.

Lisbon

We extended the holiday with a night's stay in Lisbon. These are some of the tiles in the Cervejaria Trindade a converted refectory of a monastery, you'd never know it was there from the street.

We spent much of the day walking in the centre, lots to see, we never made a tram ride - they always seemed to be packed to the doors even at 9am on Sunday morning!
Evening meal at Santo Antonio de Alfama down in the Moorish quarter - we'd had lots of soggy vegetables during our stay they were well cooked here - we just got in, I'd recommend booking! We stayed by the castle, busy - lots of street vendors selling selfie sticks(!) but the hotel was quiet and restful.

Three Palaces and a castle

At least that's what the Inn Travel writeup said as the itinerary for the day! This is the Pena Palace:

We only managed 2 palaces and the castle but we wandered outside the Regaliera. The Moorish castle (where we started) breathtaking views over the countryside (and vertiginous!) lots of helpful displays talking about the history. Then onto Pena, the composer Richard Strauss on a visit said

this is the true Garden of Klingsor and there, up above, is the Castle of the Holy Grail

I saw what he meant with this castle in the clouds. More photos in the album.
That night we ate at O Regional in Sintra, the guide claimed recommended by locals - I wasn't sure, it felt rather more touristy than many we'd been in, there were certainly large portions though!

The final walk to Sintra - faster than a snail!

The next day was the walk from Colina Flora to Sintra

Through woods and gentle pathways, with views of what was to come! A stop to view the palace on Monserrate - spectacular, yes there wasn't much furniture in the palace but the architecture was wonderful, and the gardens too - look at the album for some pictures. We then took a bus to Sintra where we stayed at the Lawrence's Hotel, very comfortable and we ate out at Tulhas small and very busy, they were queuing outside at one point, we were close to the kitchen with good views, strongly recommended!

Convento dos Capuchos

The next day we took the easy route along the road and walked to the convento dos capuchos. A 16thC monastery for Franciscans and then Capuchins, this is the door of the dead - above an entrance that the new novices had to take to begin their lives under vows.

Very small cells for the monks, cork lined for warmth, just about walkable into - you had to crouch though. The door of the novice's cell looked onto the exit - a reminder that they could yet leave! Very austere simple location.
We walked back to Colina Flora - we ate that evening at A Toca de Julio - more conventional restaurant than yesterday's Sisudo, and a lift back with one of the waiters - exciting speeds along narrow roads. We much enjoyed Colina Flora - Aasta and James are American who love Portugal very simple but comfortable and wonderful breakfasts. The photo in the album of us was taken by James - as part of their guest book.

From the Westernmost .. inland

The next day we were given a lift to the Cabo da Roca, the most westerly point of mainland Europe. Lots of tourists but walk a little along the coast and you come very close to these dramatic rock formations of Ursa Cove.

A lunchtime stop at Adraga beach and an easy day wandering through sand dunes. At one point there was a crashed car that had clearly been dumped and some locals attempted to buttonhole us - seeing our interest, hoping that we'd dumped it and would take it away!. We walked to the guest house of Colina Flora (of which more when I write the next entry) and in the evening we were taken to Sisudo restaurant in Almoçageme - very much a local place, a wide veggie choice and lots more too. There's a photo of the place mat and the wine in the album. I'd have gladly gone there another evening but there was so much choice between eating places!

Peninha

The next day was a circular walk to the chapel of Peninha

As the book said there are stunning views over the area and as far as Lisbon, we had uncertain weather but it was still clear. Unfortunately the chapel isn't open for visitors so we had to look through the windows. We copped out of the walk around the top and instead walked back down (though a different route). Dinner was at the hotel, we weren't wildly keen but it was very atmospheric!

The picture is from a sheltered part of the Penhina chapel looking towards Lisbon.

Cascais to Azoia

We're back from a walking holiday in Portugal arranged (again!) by Inn Travel the walking was in the Sintra with a final day in Lisbon.
We flew to Lisbon got in rather late (around 11pm after the plane was delayed due to a medical problem on the incoming service)so our stop in Cascais was rather brief, we were taxied next morning to the Cabo Raso lighthouse where the host of our next 2 nights left us.
We had a pleasant morning walking along Guicho beach and after lunch at a beach cafe (very nice) the only Sangria of the week, we headed inland throughcountryside and hamlets to São Saturnino. This is allegedly a former monastery but had a distinctly spooky atmosphere due to the furnishings. We were driven to a local restaurant in Azoia for evening meal - meeting a couple who were a day ahead of us on the walk. I enjoyed an octopus dish the rest of the party were a little more conservative! A fairly restful first day of the walk.

Most of the photos are uploaded to flickr, a few more to do and I hope to sequence them in a better order. The sequence wasn't helped by my forgetting the camera sd card....

Teaser Tuesday - May 31

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Gregorius hesitated. The Liceu, as Agostinha had found out, had not been a religious school.

Very gnomic! Pascal Mercier's Night Train to Lisbon I've just finished this and am still thinking it over - I think it's a fascinating story - or is it just confusing. The story of Portugal in the 20th century and a book within a novel. The pianist Maria João Pires hovers around the text, sometimes mentioned and then in the name of another. I might give it a slower and more connected re-read. Here's a review:

It is a last chance for Gregorius to round-off his own heretofore inert life by scouring the landscape of a man who, in spite of his own unfulfilled ambitions, lived inside the bone-marrow of life at its most intense levels. If Gregorius wasn’t able to have it in own life, he is willing to live off the scraps of recounted memories and letters of someone else.

And Gregorius is even more willing to take a last-minute risk of spontaneity by walking out of the school where he teaches, packing his clothes, and taking a train to Lisbon.

I've just noticed that my second hand copy of this book has a mysterious phone number written on the first page! (you'll need to read at least the first chapter to understand this!)