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)

Loving Portugal - The Algarve

Looking back along the coast to Portimao

We crossed over the bridge from Spain into Portugal immediately loosing an hour, plus half our life savings! We got sidelined into a queue and credit card taken before we could continue into the country, all automated. Road tolls $20 NZ for 80 odd Km over 40mins then $4 NZ to complete the journey on a locally tolled road. They can often be avoided, if you can use your map better than Sheryl did!

Maria & Simon & Boris
Our third lovely HelpX Hosts

We arrived at our third HelpX host - Simon (English) & Maria (Brazilian) and Boris (Russian- well not really, he is a Podengo).
Stayed near the town of Messines, which is remarkable for little except it is historically central for transport options and good BBQ chicken at a local restaurant that we were taken out to. Delicious. Thank you S &M
The streets in the regions towns are cobbled with the local stone, a white flint that gets so polished its downright dangerous. It is persevered with, I assume, as it is a local resource and labour intensive, two big pluses for a local economy! The local little village of Paderne is near by that Sheryl & Maria cycled to for a coffee. Apparently very good too.

Bill's first block wall

Simon & Maria are on a 3 acre plot slowly turning it into a multi use venue but ultimately an events venue \ cafe with a focus on motorcycle activities for tourers. Portugal is a nice place for touring and is Simon's passion.
We were available to help with some block walls and finishing stone work over the 10 days we spent living in the van as the accommodation wasn't presently available and was easier as the van is very homely.

Simon & Bill pouring the base for block wall
Lots of "Boy Toys" (Tractor & large concrete mixer)

Boris my new Russian friend was a  delight and we played chess often...sorry chase often,  he beat me at that also, he is a very strategic thinker.
Albufeira is a delightful coastal beach resort stunning with amazing cliffs. The whole area or southern coast is much like the coast at Hahei Beach on the Coromandel, where we were ensconced only 12m ago with Sam and Pauline in Big Yella. The kayaking would be stunning but alas this time of year, though pleasant, doesn't warrant the operators operating. This shoulder season is a nice time of year to appreciate its charms with only a few tourists, not all the cafes, restaurants are open but enough

Albufeira Beach Front

that they are competing for your Euro with good food and beverage prices, but you still need to be aware, if they are not advising a price ,you will be paying over the

The streets of Albufeira

odds.

Silves Castle Ruins

We visited Silves, another smallish town with a neat big castle and obligatory Moorish history, spent an enjoyable few hours in the castle, church and town just mooching, soaking up the sights, history and beer.
We have observed more facilities for motor homers here in Portugal. There are park up areas in most towns. Taking advantage of otherwise vacant land ie harbour board

Portimao Marina - spot us in the camp!

land or adjacent to sport facilities (stadiums etc),  they are generally centrally located, parking for a few euros typically 3 for a 24 hour period . Very basic facilities, pay for water, dump facilities, shower and toilet (if you're desperate) and no attempt to beautify the waste land. But fulfils a popular need. This suits us very well, long may it continue. We parked up 2 nights at Portimao in a group of 200 odd, mostly German, Dutch, French, Portuguese and British plus 2  Kiwis, a rare bird indeed. There is certainly more effort made in the area to keep the tourist on side as it is a big earner for these coastal areas, in the off season.

Lovely beaches in the Algarve

Portimao was well worth the visit and I would put it on a recommend list for any one wanting a beach holiday with plenty of scenic enjoyment, will not vouch for peak season, however shoulder is good.
Portimao and  Lagos were important parts of the sad story of slavery, openly used by one and all over the  eons. Slavery, again, was a valuable resource not to be ignored, from the Ancient Greeks through to America in recent ages. The Portuguese were raided by Moorish  pirates and themselves raided Africa for slaves and this grew into a huge business for the Portuguese Kingdom as a whole, but not limited to the Portuguese.

Large square in Lagos where the Slave Markets were held. 

Later the Christian Persuasion were implicit in the continued highly profitable trade. Both sides of the argument were naturally able to use the bible to justify their position as also the Moors.

Looking across to Sagres

Best not get into this argument me thinks!!!!!

This southern coast is reasonably sheltered and warmish but we will move up the western coast which is more rugged, relatively isolated, an exposed Atlantic coastline. What weather gets past the UK, arrives on these shores.....

Bill out on the Western most Southern point
of Portugal - amazing coastline   

Today we ventured to the very end of the known old world (pre voyages of discovery). A place called Sagres where the Naval school was set up around the 15th century to teach navigators the art, to be able to go forth and discover the New World, which the Portuguese did, very effectively.
Sagres and Cape St Vincent were the edge of the world and nothing was known (by the Continental Inhabitants) of any thing else out that side of the world. Trade & riches, "commerce" were the big drivers in this story.
 As I said earlier, this is the exposed Atlantic coast and though it was a stunning cloudless day it was an unrelenting strong cold wind blowing all day which sapped

Sao Vicente (St Vincent) Point

our strength after 4 hours of fighting it. The area had no trees, only stunted pushed over bushes, no where to hide. Needless to say there were cafes on the other side of the cliffs away from the predominate gales providing much needed respite. Hallelujah.

Looking to "Worlds End"

The weather has certainly cooled down and is less settled, but still acceptable with many stunning clear days, almost good for a swim, We are moving well north to Calais for an April 7th crossing, and  we are not holding our hopes for better swimming conditions, though thought I might try some body surfing at Nazare (google it).

Another day, another beer, life's a beach!

Rio Tinto the real McCoy

The Rio Tinto Landscape.

It was intriguing to learn that Rio Tinto is a river about 60kms from where we have been domiciled for the last fortnight here in Spain. I did know RT was a world wide

A Wasteland.

mining company of  significant size and also had a not so shiny reputation, as many other mining operations, mining in general being a dirty industry best carried out in some one else's backyard, if possible or at best in less populated areas of 3rd world countries.
So with a little more research we discovered this company was formed by a British partnership, later with the Rothschilds taking full control in the late 1800s. Spain was mining for copper from this area, as had all comers over the last 5000 years (a section in the museum on

No Paddling Please.

the Romans & mining). It is hugely rich in minerals, to the extent that the RT river has always run orange, is highly toxic and populated only with "extremophile anaerobic bacteria". The subsurface rocks on the river bed contain iron and sulfide minerals on which the bacteria feed.

Still Beautiful.

Interestingly NASA run a lab in the area trying to determine what similar lifeforms may have existed on Mars, similar in geology to this area
Only a mining Company that had poisoned thousands of people, made villages uninhabitable, left mountains of toxic waste through out many countries, etc. would have the gall to then turn around and make a tourist attraction of said poisoned land.
And indeed they haven't, but a local trust has, as a monument to what I don't know, but it is a testimony to how to get things wrong, albeit dating back to a time when it

Rusting Hulks.A train enthusiasts dream.

didn't matter so much. As pointed out in the English blurb to accompany the train ride through the old tailing's, is the quote " from an ecological point of view this area is totally unrecoverable" and its no surprise as you travel on the train..... this is the most poisonous environment we've seen, like the worst areas of Rotorua's Hells Gate, kms of sulphurous stinking coloured wasteland, a salutary lesson on mans ability to shite in his own nest, still though a sight to behold, for whatever reason. The train trip on the restored  tracks was accompanied  by the  loudest sound  system imaginable and even with tissues

Notice the Haze!

wedged into my ears was  soooooo loud. In Spanish of course but an informative English translation was given to read.  The museum was really well set out but was a huge disappointment as there was virtually no English, just lots of great exhibits, photos and models but hardly a skerrick of English, some have said a way of getting back at the English for munting the country, or perhaps it may be too scathing of the English owners practises, point taken perhaps....!!!!Watch for my review on "Trip Advisor" which incidentally is a helpful resource..

NASA think this may be like Mars was.

We came away from there both suffering dull headaches possibly from the sulphurous heaps of ore, or more likely dehydration, in a confused frame of mind re

Giant Collapsing Slag Mountains.

whether this quest for minerals was worth the pillage of our earth, but also cognisant of the fact that this dirty industry supports the world in its present guise!!!!
Another strange phenomena we witnessed over that day and to a lesser extent the previous day was a light brown haze at times limiting vision to little over a km and at best 5kms, largely ignored, the people we asked simply referred to it as clouds!!  It turned to be dust haze out of north Africa, the Saharan Desert. It cleared by day 3 leaving a very fine dust on everything ,not gritty, and not causing any particular difficulties for the population that we could determine. We were the only ones that seemed to notice it.

Isla Chrisina. Delightful.

We trundled on to Portugal via a beach resort called Isla Christina, a new town with little history but lovely beaches and only a few tourists wintering over from Northern Europe and UK. Lots of Germans & Dutch. As our Swedish neighbour pointed out if there are Dutch staying, it must be a good deal!

San Luca, Seville and around (7th to 21st February)

Plaza de Espana - built for the 1929 Expo 

We have just completed another happy experience through HelpX with our wonderful host Sandie, able to check out the local town of San Luca an unremarkable town of a few thousand people which services a rural community, within

Our home at San Luca

commuting distance to Seville a 40 min train ride away.
Sandie has an acre of rural living with a finca that has had some reno work done and a stand alone cottage, built  when they first came  here several years ago, which is where we stay. Sandie is a English tutor at an academy and is also studying a business degree so has limited time to do the section tidying required. She recently had trees dropped then roots pulled and we have spent our fortnight here burning roots, strimming long grass, tidying, in short odd jobbing and believe we have made a difference for Sandy. We also took Luna,

Bill's first job -
get the hot water working

the very placid golden lab, for walks around the local park (Verde Corridor) and neighbourhood.
We ventured into Seville via train twice, again trains cheap and regular. Seville is historic for many reasons and we were able to sample a small part of whats on offer here.
Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus) is one of the characters that gets a lot of exposure here in Sevilla, though having just trawled through his life and times

CC's mortal remains (well some of them)

he probably gets exposure in many cities. However his remains are buried here, well , there are some bones here, as elsewhere. One thing for sure was CC was responsible for instigating trade with the Americas, and here in Sevilla there is the Kings tobacco factory, for the King had sole rights to market tobacco throughout Europe for some time. Actually Spain in many ways was the Great Super Power of its time, a time when the UK was still very much in the dark ages.

Out the front of Plaza de Espana

We walked around the city to get an idea of what we wanted to do next week when we would return. A cloudy overcast day, but able to wander in awe,  visiting a few monuments including the Cathedral where said CC is said to have his remains, certainly some bits of him anyway.
We returned the following week, after waking to a real frost, the first we've experienced down here, followed by beautiful blue skies but a bitter wind.
We did a walking tour of many of the City's monuments with our guide Rafael, who spoke good English with humour, making the 3 hours of history very interesting and

Inside the Gothic Cathedral

informative. This method of touching a cities history is great as have now done several walking tours of the cities we have visited. They are "Free" but are encouraged to make a donation commiserate with what you think is the value.
We liked Sevilla and believe it would be a truly memorable visit in summer, with its lovely parks  and  gardens, at this time of year looking a little tired awaiting some spring flush to leaf the place up. However we did enjoy, and though not likely to be back we can safely recommend it to any traveller who wants a place

Metropol Parasol
Great views of Seville from the top

that ticks most of the boxes.
Next day as the beautiful weather continued (no wind thankfully) we drove 40 mins further inland to the historic Roman city of Italica, founded in 206 BC as an important cultural place for the Romans along side the always bigger Sevilla. Two  Roman Emperors Trajan & Hadrian were born at Italica and as a result when they duly became Emperors the city was much gifted from distant Rome. It boasted the 3rd biggest amphitheatre in the empire seating 25000 people, with a town of only 8000!! But as all things are inevitable, the shifting river, & siltation from deforestation,(yes even way back then) the nearby city

Italica's Amphitheatre

of Sevilla rose in prominence with the need for commerce to stay in touch with said river, Italica slowly  fell into disuse by about 200 AD, and by 400 AD largely forgotten except as a rich resource of stone and marble. The ignominy of it being the marble imported from Greece often being ground into limestone to be burned for cement.
Ironically one of the great saviours of what is now left, a Cisterian monk from the nearby  Monastery in much later times, who did valuable work in recording historic locations etc. as  we now have, but not before the monastery itself purloined some lovely marble columns and capitals to mount crucifix's on in the church

Mosaic Flooring
Amazingly intricate

grounds.
 Also made clear was the attempts through recent times the (1800's) by well known archaeologists who came and organised big private digs and cataloguing of valuable information but often purloining the most valuable sculptures and monuments gifting them to their own countries and into private collections. These days there is little digging going on as there is enough of  the town dug up to keep all parties happy and huge areas mapped for future digs as expertise, funds, and interest dictate.

Existing and unrevealed
ruins of Italica

Italica's amphi theatre  and mosaics in situ are amazing as is the theatre, sadly though this last sight is the other end of the now occupying village and its opening hours very  curtailed, we were unable to visit that apart from looking through the security mesh.
We have been intrigued by the orange trees lining streets in many many areas, through out Spain and wondered why they weren't eaten as the streets are littered with the ripe fruit. Sandie exclaimed that they were Sevilla Oranges as if that explained all. So we picked a couple and they looked lovely,juicy, ripe but tasted like the sourest grapefruit you have ever tried. Suitable

Seville Orange Trees

only for marmalade and with a real health warning if you're on any meds, beware. Sandie gave us some homemade marmalade and it was very nice, thank goodness for sugar.

An interesting Solar Installation was about a Km up the road from us which was the first thing we saw as we arrived here. It is a parabolic reflector array and sunlight is focused from over a thousand of mirrors tracking the sun , focusing the light into towers that have a liquid that is super heated, driving turbines to generate

The solar installation up the road

substantial amounts of power. The company Abengoa has two of these and photovoltaic cells at this location producing up to 300 megawatts on a good day. impressive to say the least. Until 2014 this was the largest plant in the world, however the USA now boasting a bigger plant. We were able to wander up to the security fence, as the mirrors tracked the sun, hearing the mirrors creak as they hydraulically shifted every few minutes. The towers could be seen for many Km's and were an unearthly sight with light being shone up from the ground mirrors

Light receiving tower in action
With camera filter on full

and the glowing iridescent towers capturing this light, quite surreal
We stayed on with Sandie finishing some tasks with our planned departure on the following Monday. We enjoyed a lovely BBQ there with some of Sandie's colleague's from the English Language Academy, mostly British Expats teaching the Spanish, there being a strong demand for English, so necessary in the world of business.

Bill & Luna out for a ride/walk
along the Verde Corridor

We are moving into Portugal by the end of the week after a few days on a lovely Atlantic beach.
More to come...........