Do Templo Braga

Feeling like a couple of drowned rats since having set ashore on the Continent, we felt it time to head south to Portugal with all haste. Having awoken to another damp morning, in Luarca, we quickly packed up and hit the road. Several hours later, and we found ourselves in Portugal, pitching our tent (the first time since leaving GB) on a pretty much deserted site (save for all ...

... getting to the place - one woman threatened to throw out her sat nav after taking the wrong turn numerous times. The rain continued and as the camp site only offered sites under oak trees we had a few very noisy nights with water dripping, acorns and oak apples falling on the caravan and a stream running underneath it we decided to move on.

... gaan, maar dat komt grotendeels door de hardnekkige mist. Ik probeer weer een aantal korte video's te uploaden: de belboei bij Ramsgate, het hijsen van de vlag in Portugal, de vissen in de haven (we drijven echt in een aquarium) en misschien nog een paar andere stukjes.

... egg, it was like hiding the flowers in your pants.

So the starter didn't go so well for me but the main was good. We both had the whitefish which was deep fried - mine with the skin, Kevin without. Mmmm mmm. They have a type of wine in Portugal called Vinho Verde, which means green wine. It's a sweeter white that's barely fizzy - it somewhat like a Reisling. After dinner, we went to the the wifi area and looked up a hotel for the next day since we weren't able to ...

... a while while I slept in until 9:30.  After showers (better than the last place - they had a bench to help out with the juggling) we were on the road by noon.  We went into town to try and find velcro and eventually found some in a store that sold everything.  I can't imagine anything smaller than a wheelbarrow this place didn't have -- and it had wheelbarrows, too.  Kevin found this place in Potes after we had tried a seamstress and a couple of outdoors stores.  The lady ...

... Sandelady who we spotted when we booked our tickets, but had to make do with a Sandeman who had a ponytail and acted like a robot. In both Lodges the port was good, and it was as well that the bus stop was just over the road. A couple of interesting learning points: The city on the north bank of the Douro is Porto. The city on the south bank is Vilanova de Gaia, formerly Cale. It was from these two cities that the ...

... agora com a volta às aulas. A Universidade do Minho também foi uma boa surpresa. Não esperava um campus tão grande e nem tão bonito, para quem estuda na Unesp de Franca (sem nenhuma ofensa, eu ainda adoro o predinho velho) tudo é muito monumental. A vida na universidade tem uma dinâmica bastante peculiar, os alunos do último ano vestem uma roupa tradicional e por essa razão devem seguir uma série de rituais (mulheres não podem usar maquiagem quando usam o traje, não ...

C est le plus beau "stretch" qu on a fait! De Villa do Conde par Barcelos, Ponte de Lima et...Sao Roque (Parades de Couros pour aller chercher de l argent!) Top 5 Surprises agreables : 1) La plage et le boardwalk sur l Atlantique a Villa do Conde 2) Festival de musique en face de notre chambre a Villa do Conde 3) Super hotel a Barcelos la ville du Coq...et pour pas cher en plus! 4) Arrivee en Campeons ...

So on thursday we came back to braga, again with another terrifying bus drive as we could see the drops in the light, Portugese drivers seem to drive in an invisible middle lane! However it did give some spectacular views. Once in Braga we found a room which is very nice and we got it at a big discount so even better. It is now draped with our wet clothes! Today we have ...

... Kinda neat, the bridge here is pretty. Our hotel room is super tiny. Two twin beds, or something similar anyway, and a small bathroom. The bridge here was designed by Eiffel, bud I didn't find that out till later. (since I"m about 5 days behind on this thing) But there the the interesting part of porto. Dinner was kind of interesting, we ventured on down to a ...