Tapas crawl

 We arrived at the paradore jarandillo de la vera today - Lisa will post about that later. In typical Spanish fashion we decided to do a tapas “tour”. Twelve euro and 10 glasses of wine later we finished our journey. 

Portugal with Friends

The Guimarães library

We have been traveling in Portugal since April 9th, visiting Guimarães, Lisbon and, now, Obidos. Lisbon was the best because we got to meet up with our friends Ron and Valerie! More on that shortly. 

First, our first stop: Guimarães. 

Guimarães felt like a big city after the small villages we visited in France and Spain earlier in the month, but seeing the old town with its castle, churches, palaces, and old cobbled streets made it well worth visiting. It's well preserved, if touristy, and dates back to the foundations of Portugal in the 12th century. Earlier, Romans and Celts settled the area, and there are some wonderful archeological sites nearby. We had wanted to visit the site of Citânia de Briteiros, which dates back to somewhere between the first and second centuries BCE with Celtic settlements, but it was another rainy day, and sloshing and slipping through mud just wasn't appealing, so we contented ourselves with the Martins Sarmento Archeological Museum in the old town. 

While in Guimarães, we stayed just outside the city walls in an old water mill, built originally in the 14th century. The inside was refurbished and comfortable, if IKEA-inspired. We slept in a modern little loft above the kitchen. (I liked it, though I hit my head on one of the beams every morning.)  In addition, we had a kitchen/dining area and living room, and out back we had a small patio with a stream flowing underneath. The "breakfast" part of our stay could have had a bit more to it, but I loved that we'd just hang a bag on the door each night and magically there was bread in it by morning.

The medieval Guimarães Castle

Walking through the old town from the castle toward the main square, with a quick stop at the fountain

The narrow streets of the old town

Studying our tourist map in the old town square

One of the many artifacts at the archeological museum

And the archeological museum's beautiful courtyard full of arcades and gardens

Easter bunnies!

Our next stop: two days in Lisbon with our friends Ron and Valerie! Together we had a great time exploring, having dinner, and generally exhausting ourselves with long walks that always seemed to be uphill. 

Unfortunately, the first museum we planned to visit, the Lisboa Story Centre, was closed due to a strike. (And Valerie already had tickets for us!), so we had to improvise a bit, but it all worked out. The Resistance Museum was still open, so we walked over and spent some time there. Learning about Salazar and what it was like in Portugal under dictatorship was sobering. After the museum, we wandered over to the very crowded Mercado da Ribeira to browse food stalls and see what was on offer. It was too crazy! We made a circuit and headed to the Convento do Carmo. How everything was entirely uphill, I have no idea. Well, maybe I shouldn't have led us through all of Google's shortcuts. We finally made it to the Convent do Carmo a bit winded. The convent was built in the 14th century and was one of Lisbon's great medieval buildings at the time. It was destroyed in 1755 when the city was devastated by a massive earthquake. Now all that remains are the arches and exterior walls. There is also a small archeological museum housed here with different antiquities from around the world. 

What remains after the great earthquake of 1755 in Lisbon

The archeological museum at the Carmo Convent

The next day, before we left for Obidos, Ron and Valerie invited us to join them for a tour of Sintra's Palácios --  the Nacional, Monserrate, and Pena, and the Quinta da Regaleira, a very interesting and strange mansion from the early 20th century, complete with parks, grottos, and a famous well that winds down into a cave where you emerge, supposedly, reborn. Hmm. My favorite place by far was the Monserrate Palace with its amazing textiles and beautiful filigree work. It was peaceful and the surrounding park was mediative and serene. And everywhere but Monserrate was filled with people and lines and craziness. I had no idea there would be so many tourists, but it was Easter break and our wonderful guide, Cat, did warn us. Nonetheless, the four of us nobly carried on and enjoyed the day, the sites, and each other's company.

Monserrate's beautiful architecture and serene spaces

Outside Monserrate Palace

On of the many garden fountains at Quinta da Regaleira

Heading down the well

Spain - Along the Camino de Santiago

As we made our way through Spain to Portugal, our route took us partly along the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, the 10th-century pilgrimage route that people still walk from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. We stopped to see some of the pilgrim sites on the way. Our first stop was the historic Spanish village of Sahagún. 

After stopping at Sahagún, we arrived about an hour later at Hotel Rural Via Avis (Way of the Birds) in Santa Catalina de Somoza near Astorga for our two-night stay. The Via Avis was a beautiful and cozy place in a restored 18th-century village building with a small courtyard and four private rooms. Over breakfast, the owner explained to me that the name of the hotel comes from pilgrims following the migration of the birds in the northern hemisphere, the same path as the Milky Way, which it turns out is the same path as the Camino. Fascinating! 

On our second day we toured the nearby villages of Castillo de los Polvazares, Santa Columba de Somoza, Rabanal, and finally the pilgrim site of Cruz de Ferro. We also visited to town of Astorga just down the road and saw the Episcopal Palace by Catalán architect Antoni Gaudí and the gothic Astorga Cathedral. 

In Sahagún were the ruins of a monastery from the 10th century still stand—

The ruins of the 10th-century St. Benito monastery

The San Benito Arch - the original entry to the old church

The 12th-century San Tirso Church next to the monastery ruins

Accommodation in Santa Catalina de Somoza--

The courtyard as Via Avis

A shared living room and kitchen

Touring the nearby villages--

Castillo de los Polvazares 

Castillo de los Polvazares 

The iron cross pilgrim holy site - Crux de Ferro

Astorga--

Gaudí's palace

Astorga cathedral--

Next stop: Guimarães, Portugal

The Pyrenees

 Our second stop in France before we crossed the border into Spain was at the foot of the Pyrenees in the Pays Basque. We spent two days in Ispoure next to Saint-Jean-de-Pied-de-Port. It was beautiful with the snowy mountains as a backdrop, the sheep, fields, local wines and cheeses, and the traditional white-washed houses. We shopped at the outdoor market and walked around town. It’s a bit touristy because so many people come for the Camino de Santiago, but it’s not overly so. 

France — Arrival

 So we returned our rig, flew from Cape Town to Addis to Paris on the 31st -1st, picked up our Renault at Charles de Gaulle, and headed to our first destination, the lovely village of Mortemart, France. It was a five-hour drive from the airport and we were so tired! Luckily the drive was uneventful, minus an unfortunate detour through the center of Paris during rush hour— 😱😮—but we survived. By midday we were in Mortemart in a 13th century monastery. Gorgeous! 

We found a great cafe bar tucked away on the main square, just adjacent to the town’s 10th century castle.

The cold and snowy village square

—-

While in Mortemart we also visited the site of Oradour-sur-Glane. This village stands exactly as it did after the Nazis came through and killed everyone in the town—642 men, women and children—and burned the village. Crumbling shops, homes, burnt out cars—all of it is still there.  It stands frozen in time. In the museum there is a corridor of pictures of those who died there. Seeing their faces and seeing all the children is heartbreaking.

Made it to Europe

Today was a beautiful drive through villages in the northern Spanish mountains from La Cavada through Puerto Alisas, Arredondo, Asón, La Gandara and back in a loop to our pensión. It’s cold at night here and the mountains are snow-topped. Our drive was full of winding roads and steep precipices. The sheep didn’t seem to mind, neither did Richard, but I tried not to look down too much! 

We stopped in La Gandara for a glass of wine. (And a few journal notes.)

Back at our pensión we spent the late afternoon enjoying the garden and our new companions, Charlie and Lulu. Obviously, Charlie failed obedience school. 

A much better behaved (and more dignified) Lulu:

Our first 4 nights in Europe were in France where it was cold and snowing. Here in northern Spain it’s getting warmer! Low 60s for a high today. Yay! More on France to follow.