Portugal in August Part 1

Arriving in Munich, we went to collect Homer from his winter resting place in the Bavarian coutryside, only to find he had seized his brakes. Luckily the mechanic in the village was able to get him repaired in a few days, so we enjoyed some time in Munich at Motel One, catching up with friends. After a night in Magden visiting the Boones, we met up with Robert in Geneva for drinks and a fondue dinner. Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain and into Portugal on Friday 29 July. We met up with Mylene, Coenraad and Coemy in Vila Real in the Douro River wine area. This is where most of the grapes for Port are grown but you can also get some great red wines from the region these days. The DOC is one of the oldest in Europe and it's awesome driving up and down through the terraced vineyards. We also did a boat cruise up the Duoro River from Pinhao. Porto is a wonderful city, very walkable eventhough it's hilly and very hot in August. It has a tatty charm about it. The campsite was at the beach in Villa Nova de Gaia, on the opposite bank of the Duoro. This is also where all the Porthouses are. We toured Sandemans. We ate wonderful wood grilled local fish at Restaurante San Pedro near here. In fact all over the north, you get great Portuguese cuisine, which we washed down with lots of Vino Verde. ( Translated this means Green Wine, young and low in alcohol, grown in the very north in Minho.) Local beers are Superbock or Cristal and generally served in small bottles so your beer doesn't get warm. Prices are so reasonable in the North. Two beers, two glasses of vino verde and a Fanta costs less than 5 Euro.
On 3 August, we headed south, making a special stop in Mealhada for lunch. This is the capital of roast suckling pig in Portugal, and it was delicious! Our next camping stop was Coimbre. We toured the historic university and the famous Library Joanina. By now we were enjoying our camping kuier and Coenraad's braai most nights.
From here we did the Unesco Monestery triangle of Batalha,Alcobaca and Tomar. Palacio de Pena in Sintra is also a Unesco site; close enough to Lisbon for a day trip; which means it's very busy in August. We found a parking which we thought was close enough but ended up trekking about 6kms up the mountain in the heat of the day to reach the palace, our fitness apps congratulating us with little digital ditties all the way. Equivalent to 902 flights of stairs according to the I - phone!

 Douro Valley

Porto

Porthouses in Vila Nova de Gaia

Tomar

Batalha

Sintra