Portugal Atlantic Sea Board

Lovely Village of Porto Covo

Portugal's rugged Atlantic coast makes for isolated old Fishing villages, wild golden surf beaches, awesome cliffs and for many Coastal walkways. One we have been following in the van a stunning 120 km multi day walk along the coasts golden

Village of Salema which we
walked over to from Boa do Rio

beaches and precipitous cliffs, from village to village. We drove in to some and stayed to do some exploring. The way of life for the old fishers was simple and unchanged for generations, congregating for long periods, smoking and watching, waiting waiting waiting.......The harbour too  rough to put out, but seldom a shortage of fresh fish, these villages have a small permanent daily market building stocked with the local produce, always fish, meat, poultry, and lots of veges, interestingly in Portugal our familiar Kumara very plentiful.

Amazing coastline along the Atlantic Ocean

The little and large shops having an amazing selection of frozen fish, and bigger supermarkets having a fresh fish section way surpassing what is offered in our fishing village of Nelson! Indeed the fish markets all through our travels have been spectacular to say the least as we've mentioned before. Pity we aren't very adventurous with fish!!!
Portugal also keeps its livestock in the fields - cows and sheep in the fields where they belong. This is the first sighting of our trip of normal beef and sheep grazing in the paddocks as we are familiar with in NZ.

Major road works
in Vila Nova de Milfontes

We're not sure of the deal with the EU but all major works (and there's plenty happening) is signalled by  large signboards that state the EU fund allocated to this or that project. The little villages seem to be getting huge infrastructure upgrades with all the old streets being dug up and all new services going in to them, then cobbles being relaid. Mammoth work for such small communities, and of course with the summer rush fast approaching, its all go.
It seems that these villages rely much more on tourism now days and as such there are large developments for holiday makers requiring these huge upgrades to cope for the 3 or 4 months of the year when the tourists arrive in their thousands, straining all the services. Also in this vein is (as in Italy) the

The road front runs past these houses
along the beach

many abandoned construction sites of all sizes largely in resort areas or on the fringes. The financial crashes really hurting some.
We were stopped for the first time today for an ID check by the GNR (Portuguese police)
They thoroughly checked our NZ and International licences telling us that they will need to be renewed next month then finally smiled to wish us a safe holiday. They weren't interested in our passports at all, indeed camp operators being the only ones wanting to see them. The GNR are not at all flashy and the mainstay of the vehicle fleet, least ways down south, are a fleet of old old Nissan patrols, possibly 15 years old and well used.Their uniforms are also very low key

Down the main street on sunset
at Porto Covo

looking more like forest workers in sensible work clothes(always a pistol though) but at the road side check the young men were very smart in a more formal uniform. and very handsome Sheryl said.........
We have been freedom camping here, there being many areas that, it is not so much "allowed" as "not forbidden". Also many villages have dump and water facilities and land to to park up. A lot of the road side parking has height restrictors to keep us out but a lot don't, it seems a harmonious mix, the old timers who have been coming for a few years say it's too strict and you "could and did park up anywhere in the good old days". We've all heard that before. Truth is there are a lot of campers around so some control is necessary, or else we would take over!!!!

The Bread Man at camp
Bill getting fresh baguette

We have stayed in real camps on two occasions so far and this has been half the price of Spain & Italy at about 12 euro and one at 8 so are not complaining. As also mentioned last blog the wasteland parks are only 3 or 4 euro, also very acceptable. We talked to an English couple who come out often for 6 or 8 weeks at a time and saying so far at 4 weeks in this trip had only spent 12 Euro on accommodation.. They eat out a lot, so do benefit the economy especially this time of the year.

Walking along the cliff top walkway

Its been nice to be able to eat our full of oranges and mandarins but not like home, these are tree ripened, they are literally picked ripe for the local market, so juicy and delicious. We did a walk the other day and picked fruit from the road side,

Looking back along part of the
Coastal Walkway

yummmmmmmm...The other fruit that seem wasting are loquats, looking so ripe but not able to pick unless you have ladder and not for sale, We think because its not a keeper, pick and eat only, but prolific here. Spring is also arriving in these latitudes, spring has been chasing us up the country as we still head north.. with different wildflowers appearing amongst the fields and dunes.

Cork Tree that has had some harvesting done.

We are travelling through cork country. Portugal produces the biggest proportion of cork for the world market, and indeed all wine here is still corked ,we daren't mention the screw cap is a NZ idea!!!
The cork oak to us is a very nondescript tree but you can see where they been harvested. The bark is stripped initially at 25 years of age then typically at 9 yearly intervals after that, the trees living 300 odd years, still a big business. Its a very ordinary looking product in its raw state but a large viable industry, and still harvested as they have done for hundreds of years.

Sines - an important Port since Roman times
 with huge oil refineries today

The other forests here are pine and eucalyptus. The pine is not at all like our superior pine plantations, often looking quite unsuitable for milling, there are several types seen growing, like Rabbit Island everywhere. The gum trees apparently are used for paper production and small poles in the agricultural sector, I imagine they would need treating for ground work.
A small mercy I, the driver, have enjoyed here is the roading. Very much like our roads, not counting the big pay motorways, with mostly good verges and areas to pull off the road, something lacking most every where else in the places we've visited.

The River Village of Alcacer

We are working our way north through a homely environment with happy smiling people tanned from outdoor work in traditional roles.The feeling we get is honest hard working villagers not fully understanding why we all come in such droves every summer and increasingly year round???? Them city slickers and foreigners..........

My "takeway" coffee
(They had ran out of takeaway cups,
so I did have to return this one)