A most unusual place to spend the night.

National Forest of Bussaco is a 105 hectare forest which contains more than 700 species of trees, a Palace (now a five star hotel) and a Carmelite convent.  After paying the 7€ entrance fee we confirmed it was OK to stay the night and continued up the hill bypassing the car-park, as there were heavy tree felling operations going, on and parking by the trees next to the 5*Hotel.  A much better view thanks.

There was a hermitage here in the 6^th century inhabited by Benedictine monks but in 1628 the Carmelite order extended.  They built a convent and introduced exotic species of trees and shrubs, laying cobbled paths and enclosing the forest within walls.  There is evidence that during the Peninsular War the future Duke of Wellington stayed at the convent the night of his victorious battle in 1810 (not sure which room he was given as they are all about 6 foot square!)

 

The Convent

            

In 1834 when religious orders were abolished in Portugal, the forest became state property.  The Palace was built in 1907 as a royal summer residence but then the monarchy was abolished three years later so the royals hardly got a look in.  All to our benefit.

The Palace Hotel

         

Having spent the day there we followed most of the various paths which lead to ponds, waterfalls and chapels together with one area containing a collection of tree ferns from new Zealand.  One really steep path, which leads eventually to the highest point at 545 metres, contains depictions of the ‘stations of the cross’ inside dark square stone structures.  We only saw three of them (path too steep) but where amazed by the detail of the terracotta figures within. 

Sadly, there was a very bad storm on 16th January this year and evidence of the devastation is everywhere.   400 year old trees with their tops torn off, others that have crashed through a hermitage building and the visitors’ centre and lots of paths are now a bit tricky to negotiate.  

Lots of hard work is being done to clear all this up ……..  hence the closure of the car-park!! 

     

A Little Bit of Culture

We have travelled into the heart of the countryside north of the Tejo river which is an altogether more prosperous region dotted with various monasteries.  Deciding that a trip to Fàtimar (the Lourdes of Portugal) would be a taking things a bit far we opted to take a look at the largest Roman remains in Portugal, together with just two of the monasteries on route. All world heritage sites of course!

The church and Cistercian Monastery at Alcobaça date from the 12^th Century and once housed 999 monks, who, between prayers  (as the quidebook seems to infer)  had a grand old time in “ this distinguished temple of gluttony”. The refectory had a water channel built through the middle of the room so that a tributary for the nearby river could provide a constant supply of fresh fish.   In the attached church, the lady in the finely carved tomb was murdered by her prospective father-in-law because of her family’s potential Spanish influence, only to be reunited with her prince once he became king two years later!  He died seven years after that and they now resided in opposite chancels of the church.

Manueline style doorway

Batalha – This monastery was built after a Dom Joâo of Avis won a major battle against Juan 1 of Castile in Spain who was claiming the Portuguese throne in 1385.  Dom Joâo’s army was very much outnumbered even though he was also assisted by a few hundred English soldiers, so he called on the Virgin Mary for help and vowed to build a superb abbey in return for victory. The whole place is enormous with two cloisters and an unfinished chapel and attached to the church, like the one at Alcobaça it has plain arches that reach far above your head – really quite serine especially when the sun shines through the stained glass windows.  The stone carving is very fine and almost gives the appearance of lace around the cloisters.     

                         

Roman ruins of Conimbriga    -  The original settlement dates back to the Celtic times but the Romans came here in the 1^st Century AD and it  blossomed as a major city on the route from Lisbon with well to do mansions and baths.  However, because of threats from invading tribes in the 3^rd Century the townsfolk threw up a huge defensive wall around the town but for some reason, it went right through the centre of the eastern side with some houses left on the outside! The Suevi tribe eventually seized the town and the inhabitants fled to neighbouring Coimbra saving it from destruction. It is set in a very peaceful valley with the remains of a 3km aqueduct leading up to the bathing complex.   The original area was huge and the mansions and baths are easily recognizable and it looks as though there is a vast amount still to be excavated.   

A study of waves

Having spent the last two months in the Algarve on the southern coast of Portugal we have started our Spring migration north – along the west coast.  It’s quite different along this coast as the prevailing winds and tides have created a wild and rocky coastline which is quite spectacular.

The weather has not been too kind to us since turning north (warm but wet & windy) so we have been ‘treading water’ a little waiting for the weather further north to improve.  In doing this we have stopped at some lovely spots on the coastline, one of which was Praia de Sto. Andre.  We arrived on a rare sunny day and took a stroll on the beach, the huge rolling waves were quite spectacular – especially the pure white spume and the beautiful translucent turquoise of the water as the waves rolled over. Although I have taken some pictures, and relatively poor quality video, they don’t do the spectacle justice but should give you an idea of what we were experiencing.  The waves must have been about 25 feet high!

Another phenomenon was the sea water flooding into the shallow lagoon.  As the waves rolled up the beach, higher and higher, the water would surge into the mouth of the lagoon - like a mini Severn Bore.  It was obviously a visitor attraction as quite a few people were watching this.

All things Portuguese

Having been in Portugal for three months now we have gradually got used the slow pace of life here, and I must say we find it most agreeable.  The people are very friendly and nothing seems too much trouble for them.  They are very willing to assist and try to speak English when we struggle with the Portuguese and even the Police are quite amicable. 

Here are one or two things that we have noticed:-

   1)     There are large piles of salt cod (Bacalhau) both in supermarkets and fish markets but we haven’t seen anyone buying it yet?

2)     Coffee shops, or Pastelaria’s as they are called here, have a large variety of lovely small cakes, most are regional but you will find these everwhere - Pastel de Nato (egg custard), Pastel de Feijao (bean mixture) and Pastel de Armendoa (almond mixture).  Not to mention the fig cake.  No wonder I have been putting on weight!

3)     During the winter the oranges have been fantastic, easy to peel, juicy and sweet nothing like those we get at home. They are sold by the roadside and little white vans arrive at the Aires frequently.  Come to think of it we don’t see Portuguese oranges at home at all!

4)     A sign at restaurants saying ‘Prato da Dia’ (usually hand-written and pinned to the outside window) literally means 'dish of the day', but can also mean a set menu to include soup, main course, dessert and a drink.  Having been caught out twice now we must remember to ask before we go in and hope they will speak some English. Funnily enough, ½ dose actually means a half portion and not any number of other meanings Les comes up with.  

5)     Every town of some size has it’s Chinese shop selling anything and everything none perishable and somehow we have found ourselves inside quite a few of them  ...... and actually coming out with purchases! Things like a mini soldering iron, a bucket, an iPad case, star Allen keys and an outside doormat .......yes! we have been there, and found them very useful for our travelling lifestyle.

6)  We have found the Portuguese Alentejano red wine to be rich and flavoursome and at about 2€ a bottle, very cheap too.  We have tried more expensive wines but with our limited wine expertise can’t really taste much difference.  The ‘vino verde’ white wine is slightly fizzy and we hope to be partaking more of this as we go north and hopefully the weather gets hotter.

7)  Cast your mind back to supermarket shopping in the UK just 3 or 4 years ago – yes, plastic bags were given out with all shopping weren’t they? – well that’s just how it is here and we are now having trouble remembering to take our Tesco ‘bags for life’ in with us! Not sure if they have cottoned on to the recycling idea quite yet.

8)  Another thing we have noticed in supermarkets is the loud banging and chopping sounds emanating from the meat counter.  Almost all meat is butchered in front of you, you ask for a whole chicken and it will be cut up into however many pieces you want, a piece of beef will be chopped up for goulash etc. and as they are big on pork here there are all sorts of strange, (to us) pork cuts being chopped and sliced for stews – hardly any meat  is pre-packed.

However, although it seems like we are a world away from England - never fear...... there's always the good old English breakfast to be had down on the tourist beaches! The local artist has obviously been at work on this board.

Unlike France it’s quite easy to get WiFi here, lots of cafés have it and we also have a Mifi mobile modem which works out at 1€ per hour of personal internet use, so we can use it in the van on the Vodafone mobile network. We will also be able to use it in other European countries we visit but we know it’s not that cheap in France, we will see when we get there.

Beaches in the Algarve

We thought you might like to see our photo’s of some of the beaches we have seen on our travels in the Algarve.  The eastern Algarve has wide sandy beaches with golden sand containing lots of sea shells of different types.  We saw shell fishermen most days in the sea up to their thighs dragging their nets while stamping their feet to dislodge the tiny clams.  Later in the day they would be outside the smaller supermarkets with their catch hoping to make a bit of cash.  We did find a few clams ourselves but when we tried to cook them they were so full of sand we couldn’t eat them so obviously should have been water treated first - or were they the wrong type of clam?

Manta Rota 

 There are also the lagoons especially around Tavira and Salgados with lots of seabirds and some flamingos too.

 

                                                               Ria Formosa Estuary

As we travelled west, the coast and the beach walks became more rocky and interesting as we discovered the yellow and ochre of the cliffs, the hanging valleys, sink holes and stacks stranded way off the beach. 

 Galé Beach

on the walk at Praia da Marinha

The western tip of the Algarve is a Nature reserve and has a varied landscape which is very green in the Spring.  However the wind can be quite fierce as you look out across the Atlantic to Africa to the south or America to the west. 

  

Beach at Luz

Us parked for a few days at Boca do Rio 

 Of course the weather has not been as sunny as this all the time but no point in taking photo's in the rain is there? 

Wild Spring Flowers

Spring arrives early in Portugal and we have seen many unusual flowering plants especially on the coastal paths we have walked when the weather has been kind.  I had never seen wild freesias before so they were a lovely sight as we walked nearby Praia da Marinha in late February. 

                        

 Here are a few photo’s of the other flowers we have taken over the past few weeks and no doubt there will be more as we travel west. 

Rock Roses 

                      

                                                 

Miniature Iris growing in the sand dunes