Monday, May 28, 2018

the next few days


Sunday we drove to Castro de Sao Paio beach near the village of Vila do Conde where there are traces of a small settlement dating from the Iron Age. 


the 'sand' was more like tiny gravel

the Atlantic Ocean!

some of the locals were fishing and when I was photographing a man's small fish flopping around on a rag on the beach, another man walked up with one in his hand for us to see



The restaurant there was crowded and couldn't seat the five of us for lunch so we headed back, stopping at a coffee/sandwich shop for the first of several toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, spending a quiet afternoon at the Villa and then dinner at the restaurant in the village.

Monday we drove to the village of Vila do Conde at the mouth of the Rio Ave, a center of ship building and seafaring back in the day, where we had lunch surprise! and stopped in a couple of pastry shops and then home to dinner at the Villa.

walking toward the river/coast

now and then in these small neighborhoods in the small towns these religious 'cabinets' are tucked away between houses and shops, the figures here are about 2/3 life size

a replica ship from the exploration age, it is unbelievably small and has two more decks below

Tuesday we drove a little further to Aveiro situated south of Porto which sits on a lagoon with canals winding through the town with brightly painted boats you could tour the canals on, something we didn't do, where we walked around and had lunch 


a fairly typical street in small town Portugal


and then explored the beach front with its several lighthouses 


the lighthouse at the end of the quay

the four pronged concrete 'jacks' around the end of the quay were huge and many had bible verses stenciled on them

and then made our way to Costa Nova beach with it's restored fishermen's homes that have been brightly painted in vertical stripes. No fishermen live in them now, of course, as it's a tourist attraction. There are others in the back streets where the residents do live.



There was much we didn't see on our day trips, most of the 'tourist' attractions as it turned out, as our habit was to get to whatever little town, find a place to park, walk around the area where we parked until we were ready for lunch, find a place to eat, walk around some more, and then head back to the Villa.

next: rural Portugal and the Worst Tours company

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7 comments:

  1. Well, sounds like a perfect daily itinerary to me. I think I would have been fascinated by the little religious cabinets.

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  2. The biggest requirement is finding the way back to the car? What huge, great, overwhelming inputs of another life.

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  3. going to Portugal for lunches sounds like a plan!

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  4. That sounds like a lovely time to me - I usually get annoyed at touristy things. And lunch is Very Important!

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  5. You took lovely pictures of the town. The roads are so narrow and it must have been difficult to park.

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  6. Sounds like the perfect holiday. I'm very interested in those religious 'cabinets' - did they represent significant biblical events? Favorite family saints? I could very easily live on fresh fish...

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  7. WOW, I could almost taste the soup and salty breeze around me.What a delight to share!

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.