Prawns for lunch, with some delicious Portuguese vinho verde, ‘green wine’.Porto Covo
Porto Covo is a very relaxed fishing village on the Portuguese coast south of Lisbon. I love the way they place stone seats in the middle of the Main Street.
Main Street, Porto Covo There is a small harbour at Porto Covo.Porto Covo Cove.Another old cove.
There are a load of walkways running along the sandy/rocky coast here.
These flowering succulents were everywhere.Foz doArelho
After Covo, we moved up the coast to Foz, and parked about 5 metres back from a sand-rimmed lagoon.
Vinho Verde Country
The weather was turning wet and cold so we beetled up to the Douro valley where we stopped the night at Quinta de Lourosa. This is a vineyard where they brew vinho verde, and sparkling white, rosé and red. We had a mini tasting with the delightful owner and have stashed a few bottles away in the boot.
Fortress at Braganca, a border town close to Spain, where we stopped for lunch en route to Valladolid.Braganca.
We stopped off at Cape St Vincent, the SW tip of Portugal, on our way round Portugal to Zambujeira.
Cape St VincentParked at the top of the cliffs. Plenty of space here. Just remember to use your handbrakeThe Lighthouse.Good to see the English national dish alive and well in deepest Portugal.More spectacular Coast a bit further north at Zambujeira where we stayed at Camping Villa Park for the night.Deserted Beach. Apart from Coco.Pretty House on the Zambujeira seafront.A dose for only €2.85. There’s value.
We stopped at Orbitur Valverde, a campsite between Praia da Luz and Lagos, for a couple of nights.
This is the beach at Praia da Luz. We took a taxi to Lagos and were set down here at the Place of the Infanta Dom Henrique. The old Moorish Castle on the seafront at Lagos.The two shoppers checking out some shiny things . At this point John and I split off with Coco for a walk around the port.Marina at LagosLagos Town HallPosing at the old slave market after a spot of shopping. Pretty little church at Praia da LuzAn old Cuban.
The next day John and Linda headed off inland to visit John’s nephew. Nia and I walked around Praia and had to dive into a Mexican restaurant for cocktails and nachos when the heavens opened.
Cat Burglary at the Cathedral, Sardines on the beach, impertinent cranes, …Faro has it all.
We stopped for a couple of nights at Faro, capital of the Algarve, on the south coast of Portugal.
Beach side Restaurant. We paused here for sardines and other delicacies. Sardines by the beach, listening to the Atlantic rollers rumbling in (us, not them). The campsite is on a spit of sand about 2km from Faro town. We took the ferry over.Faro FerryFortifications surrounding Faro old town.Arch through old city walls.Faro cathedralCoco checking out the cathedral. She had to be carried. Faro old town from the Cathedral roof.John dropped his guide book from on high and had to vault a wall and sprint across the cathedral roof, before security clocked him, like a cat burglar. We were impressed. Impudent Crane. On a statue of some worthy in the main square.Another Crane. On the Belmarco Palace.Lunch at a seafood restaurant in the sun. Drinks on the beach. We watched the sunset. Coco and Phoebe watched the nibbles.
Our first stop in Portugal, just over the Spanish border, on the shore of the Guadiana estuary.
Sunrise over the Guadiana. The pretty main square of Vila Real. Rebuilt apparently after the Portuguese earthquake of 1755. Fountains and EsplanadeGrande HôtelLinda and JohnLinda’s bike.The Guadiana EstuaryOwl watching sunrise.
Parked up on the Marina just over the border to Gibraltar, on a very blowy and wet day.
Alcaidesa Marina. The two princesses on the runway at Gibraltar. Drinks at Grand casemates Square, just to get them fired up for a shopping trip. And boy did it work. !!!
Puente Nuevo, the New Bridge, at Ronda. (Completed 1793, so not that new).The remarkable El Tajo gorge which runs through Ronda. Casa del Rey Moro; the house of the Moorish king. Church in Ronda.Ronda was a favourite haunt of Ernest Hemingway. Romantic Journeys to RondaApartment block Mural in Ronda. Must get the aerosol cans out when we get home. Tapas in the Plaza del Socorro
We moved down to Camping la Bella Vista, a few km to the east of Gibraltar, to meet up with Kate and Alastair again. There are some very good restaurants here.
The Duchess’s CastleCapitainerie and Palm tree at Duquesa beachSammy likes to take himself for a walk.Beachside apartments just south of the campsite. The BeachLa Duquesa
The Alannia resort at Crevillent is not to everyone’s taste; it’s very big, maybe 500-1000 pitches, and well provided with stuff to do; heated swimming pool, sauna, pétanque, Padel (like tennnis but slightly smaller courts), and so on.
The site is between Alicante and Torrevieja, and close to the towns of Catral and Elche. Catral is within easy cycling range and has some good restaurants and shops, including a massive Chinese warehouse shop stocking everything that you would never want or need. But fun to walk round.
The campsite Plaza
Barbecue on the Plaza
Robot waiter on the Plaza. (Took food to the wrong table 😂😂)Non-robot waitress serving nibbles and Pina colada’s on our pitch.
Off duty waitress quaffing generous measure of Baileys
Elvis impersonator in the bar at night. Good singer but needs to put some weight on. Pétanque with Alastair and Kate.Lunch at the Chinese in Catral. More than you can possibly eat and drink. 8 euros a head. Entrance to Marjal. We are on route to the nature reserve. The Nature reserve about 2 k from the campsite. Stuffed with flamingoes and loads of other pretty waterfowl. Flamingoes lunching on worms, snails etc. I guess.One of the many hides on the reserve. Moonlit Marjal Palm