Portugal- Monasteries and Porto

From Obidos we drove to Alcabaca.  We hadn't planned to stop, but changed our minds when we saw the impressive monastery there.  The church part is free to enter so I went inside for some photos and to see the tombs of King Pedro I and his love.  She was unfortunately ordered to be killed by Pedro I's father, as she was Pedro I's wife's lady in waiting- quite scandalous and sad for her really.  The monastery was beautiful and amazing, it is absolutely huge and has such a lovely ambience inside.

We then went on to Batalha, where there is another monastery, also UNESCO, which is very similar to Alcabaca's.  This time we paid to go into the monastery.  Two highlights for me were the chapel where many Royal tombs are located, and also the grave of the unknown soldier.  Two soldiers were standing either side, and it was very moving.  We feel like we are following Queen Elizabeth's 1957 tour of the country, as we saw the carriage she rode in at the Coach museum, the boat she sailed in at the Maritime museum and we saw photos of her visiting the monastery in Batalha.

The stain glass windows reflecting on the floor

It was then onto Coimbra where we parked at an aire with about 15 other motorhomes.  We have found Portugal to be extremely motorhome friendly, which many serviced aires and free parking places, as well as many other motorhomers about.  Coimbra is the University town of Portugal.  From the 12th century this title floated back between Coimbra and Lisbon, until in the 16th century when the University settled in Coimbra for good.  Again there was beautiful views of the town from across the river and some steep roads to climb to the University which is at the top of the hill.  It was a pleasant couple of hours exploring the town before we drove to Porto.

The University

Dale outside the University library

At Porto we stayed at Campismo de Salgueiros, one of a number of campsites located near the beach and it was a 20 minute bus journey from Porto.  The campsite was an astonishingly cheap  4.75 euros a night for 2 people without electric and including showers.  That afternoon we walked along the waterfront to the estuary where the river Douro meets the sea. There were a lot of seagulls and shags at the estuary.  Because it was a sunny Sunday there were hordes of locals strolling the foreshore promenade and having drinks at cafes. In the morning we tried to catch the bus and it seemed the timetable may have been reduced as the one we went out for never arrived so we had a little wait for the next one spot on time.

Dropped right on the edge of the historic Porto district, it was only a short walk to the Cathedral and Information Centre. Porto is hilly which means you get views from all over the place and the Cathedral is one such location (as cathedrals go it was just okay).  There was some sort of service on when we visited with about half a dozen attendees. The historic centre of Porto is wonderful in the sense that it looks so old, you almost feel the history dripping off it.  This retention of the historic feeling appears to be linked to the residents of the inner city living in what looks like near poverty.  We walked through the narrow Ribiera streets with a mixture of trepidation and intrigue.

We could see all the Port cellars across the river on the Gaia side so went for a stroll along the front.  We then returned onto the Porto side and made a circuit around the historic district viewing various sites (mainly churches) before getting the bus back.

The next day was devoted to getting to Pontevedra in Galicia, Spain via Viana do Castello in Portugal.  We were staying off toll roads and this meant initially a slow journey up the built up  coast north of Porto, before a hilly, windy journey inland north of Viana do Castello.  The major highlight of the day was getting McDonalds for lunch in a mall and finding that the mall offered excellent free WIFI and powerpoints (which was necessary as our computer battery is dying and last about 30 minutes currently).