Estalagem Falco Mendonca Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo

... Portugal and was the only one until the mid 1900s and boy do you have to be in good shape to go there. The University is on the top of a hill of winding cobbled streets and when we got to the top we once again told ourselves to get into better shape. The University is gorgeous and has wonderful views of the river and the city. After walking around for a little bit and ...

... br>One fun fact about Portugal is the Parking Gypsies. We are lucky enough to have some Portuguese friends who gave us a little warning about them (Thanks Danny)! These are people who guide you into parking spots, either free or paid, that are in the city center. These spots are all obvious and people would have no trouble parking without them but because they "help" you into your spot you have to tip them. If you don’t you have a large chance of finding ...

... a unique rose port. Yum!! After our 3 hour tour (we were invited to stay longer) we headed down to the pool attached to the campground. 1.30 euro later we ...

After a leisurely morning and a second day of swimming in the huge pool at the regio (entirely on our own) we set off for Portugal to a random town in the heart of the duoro/port making. The drive was extended by a long carrefour stop and we didn't leave Salamanca until nearly 4 pm. An uneventful drive lead us to an hour plus of hair raising mountain turns to ...

My friends and I decided to get away for a few days, and took a trip up northeast, to one of the less known regions of Portugal - Trás-Os-Montes. The main reason, was to get away of the usual festivities of Carnival, which lately have a strong influence from Brazil. Don't get me wrong... Carnival has a long tradition in Portugal and we have in fact transmitted this tradition to Brazil, but for the past decades, we have the opposite, it's the Brazilian ...

My uncle and my aunt came to pick us up, at the arrival of the train (before 6am). As we wanted to have a coffee with a delicious Portuguese pastry, but as the coffee shops were not yet opened, we went to see the sunrise from the front of the cathedral.

... and the beds were tight, it was hard at the end of the day no matter how pretty it was. When we got to Pinhao we had no idea where our Quinta do Passadouro and after asking at the pub we took several wrong turns before going, up the hill, down the hill and then the driveway was up down and all around, and this was on the sides of cliffs, but it was a quite pretty place to stay the night. We met up with the other couple and had a game of Uno, they were Dutch and hiking around ...

... was in Quinta do Vallado, Miguel who is a gourmet, love the wines made there. As we got into the winery we discover that they do not have a tourist program. But we were very lucky, because one of the owners were there, and he was very polite to allow us making a quickly visit to their wine "factory", with him explaining the process. And in the end he gave us 4 bottle of his wines. Next stop: Porto

... airport. Guimaraez is next door's university town, but somehow friendlier than Braga, with a shopping center and a movie theater and plenty of parties for comfort. Back in Uli's dark little cell, we vow to go back to those Portuguese beaches while they're still as nice as they are now, unspoiled and without disgusting high-rise buildings that unfortunately have begun to sprout along the coast line.

Salamanca - food shopping, city walk. Plaza Mayor rated the most beautiful in Spain. Portugese border Scenery mountainous & rocky - donkeys, carts, women with baskets & potatoes on their heads, washing clothes in streams etc Climbed up mountain roads ro Guarda, highest town in Portugal, thenedged along the sides of the mountains towards Coimbra. Roads incredibly bad - huge potholes & corrugations Camped in pine forest before Coimbra