North from Esposende

After a slow catch-up day yesterday we decided it was time we started doing a little exploring in Portugal. Our day took in three places to the north of where we are staying in Esposende. The first, Viana do Castelo, turned out to be much bigger than we envisaged and we loved it. It immediately felt different to any of the Spanish towns we have visited, but we struggle to clearly know why. Maybe because it had a lighter, brighter feel, was only two-storied,  and many of the buildings had colourful tiles on their facades. There seem to be a lot of design goods. To balance these, there are still plenty of the old one-stop-shop with a little of everything. Shoe shops were everywhere, and excellent patisseries. The place felt very comfortable and the locals seem very cheery and friendly.

I'll have a ladder, a pair of pyjamas, and some seed potatoes

We were tempted to have lunch in Viana do Castelo,  especially when we saw menus which features soup and bread for just 1 Euro, or you could have the plate of the day with water for just 2.5 Euro.  A full 3 course menu including bread, wine and coffee is typically 5 Euro. That's even cheaper than Spain and way cheaper than France.

We usually take local roads when we are travelling, sometimes extremely narrow little back roads when our GPS feels so inclined, and today we stumbled across a huge old grand home, inside a massive stone-walled compound, complete with neighbouring walled vineyards. It was stunning, and unfortunately all closed up but it didn't look as though it was being allowed to decay. What looked like the old stables next door had been converted into a restaurant, and judging by the number of  cars outside it was a popular one. The sign outside said 5 Euro for lunch so we thought we'd try it out. We were not disappointed. The main course was essentially like a stew, accompanied by a local fresh red wine "Vinto Tinto Verde" (literally "wine red green" i.e. green=fresh) - slightly fizzy, full of flavour, deep red -  dessert and coffee all for 5 Euro, and we could have had soup as well. It was very nice and, as with everyone we have encountered so far in Portugal, the waiter was extremely helpful and wasn't fazed at all when faced by two blank faces when reeling off in Portuguese. People have gone out of their way to be helpful and friendly.

Solar de Bertandios

The next and smaller destination was Ponte de Lima, a town which owes a lot to an early bridge built by the Romans, which is still standing and functioning, and another longer mediaeval bridge which links directly with it. In fact the tourist brochure we picked up said it was the oldest town in Portugal. Again, this town was a delight. Both towns were surprisingly into public sculpture and well tended public reserves and gardens, often with delicate topiary. Another thing that distinguishes them from Spanish towns are the cobbled streets everywhere, with white or gray cobbles used for permanent road markings.

It's harvest time for the grapes

Corn everywhere

The Roman Ponte of Ponte de Lima

Before setting off back to Esposende, we travelled a little further inland to visit Ponte de Barca, another sweet riverside town, though one with many very tired old buildings.

Some little notes about Portugal so far:

- Long tall lengths of cut stone are used instead of wooden strainers or posts to hold up grapevines. Stone is a very very common building material. We wonder how we will feel about wooden houses when we get back to NZ, as we are getting so used to stone.

- Some toll roads only use automatic electronic payment, so if you end up on one by chance you can't pay by cash or card and are in real strife. We've yet to work out how to get an electronic pass sorted for our car. We've also had a bit of fun with the GPS when we have exited to avoid "electronic tolls only" stretches. It has really struggled to get us back on track, and the maps seem a bit out of alignment and out of date from time to time.
- If vehicles are traveling too fast coming into town they are slowed first by an orange traffic light, and then a red light if need be, before they can proceed. It seems a great system for preventing speeding. It's like a mini instant fine of 30 seconds of delay if you are speeding.