rural Portugal and the Worst Tours company

Even though Portugal is on the same latitude as New York, it enjoys a tropical climate, rarely if ever freezing, and getting up into the 90s during the summer and the countryside shows it with gorgeous displays of color from bird of paradise and calla lilies and bottlebrush and roses and all manner of flowering trees and shrubs. During our stay the temperature ranged from a few lows in the low 50s to some highs in the mid 70s with no humidity and clear blue days for the most part, a few overcast and it rained off and on one day.

Driving through the small villages house after house, courtyard after courtyard, is filled with flowers and just about everyone has a grape arbor as well. It was rare for me to get a picture as we passed through as driving the narrow curvy cobblestone roads often bordered by high walls didn't allow for stopping and picture taking. And the Portuguese obviously love their land as it is unbelievably clean unlike the US which is a pig sty compared. I didn't see so much as a single scrap of paper or plastic anywhere in my entire 3 weeks there.

this home, in our village of Fornelo, though larger than average is still typical in its front garden

Portuguese homes, shops, and churches are faced with cement or stucco, painted or plain, or beautifully patterned tile all with red tile roofs on a hilly terrain. The main roads through the villages and towns and in the cities as well are pavement but turn off those and you are driving and walking on cobblestone which often, in the larger towns and cities, had patterns and designs embedded in them.

Rural Portugal is dotted with small clusters of houses interspersed with small fields and vineyards which give way to more dense housing and the village center and on Wednesday, a week into our stay, we all piled in the car and just drove randomly around the countryside, passing through villages, stopping now and then to take pictures or get coffee or lunch.

the churches all have bell towers, even in the countryside

the attached what appears to be deserted monastery. Portugal had a lot of monasteries

passing a truck full of hay

making random turns we picked what we thought was another narrow walled road but it ended here

Lunch at a local restaurant in whatever village we were in, no menu, no one spoke English, we were sat and two platters of whatever they were cooking were placed on the table. The place was almost empty when we walked in but filled up quickly with people waiting for tables. The man in the foreground in the checkered shirt and his wife approached me about sitting in two of the four empty seats at our table and so they joined us. She leaned over to me and asked “Frances?”. She spoke French besides Portuguese and thought to converse. No matter, we managed a bit.

The next day, Thursday, we returned to Oporto for a walking tour with the Worst Tours company which consisted of two architect friends who were trying to survive during the global economy crash of 2008 when they came up with this idea. Our guide, Pedro, came armed with a portfolio of maps and a wealth of knowledge of the history of Oporto and how and why and where the city grew, asked the group of about 10 of us what we had seen, what we wanted to see and we struck off for the hidden environs of Oporto.

along with the beautiful tile, there is also a lot of iron work on the buildings...balconies, transom grates, or just ornamental details...in traditional, art nouveau, and art deco styles

when I paused to take this picture a workman standing on the top of the wall behind me called out 'picture, picture' so I obliged him

Pedro, our guide, gave us a brief history of the tile work and styles, asking us not to buy tiles on the black market as they are usually stolen off the buildings. Vacant spots on the upper floors, they probably fell off, vacant spots on the ground floor, the tiles were probably stolen.

filling in with whatever's handy

winding our way down to the old abandoned railway track

following the old tracks along the river, the rails were still there but the ties were long gone

The tour ended at the bottom of the stairs at the edge of the tourist waterfront where excavation and restoration of some of the old tile factories is underway.  

next: a market, a castle, and vineyards

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I'm back y'all

we all arrive and the Villa

the first few days

the next few days