Monday was spent exploring Lisboa, Portugal’s capital. The city is huge and so colourful with most houses being covered in murals or tiles.
Considering the size of the city and our somewhat sketchy parking situation (car park in Belem at the marina for free, no facilities, more details below..), we decided to buy tickets for one of the (obnoxiously) red sightseeing buses and see the city in a day (tickets were 20€ each for two different routes and could be used for 48 hours).
Departing close to where we were parking, the tour took us right into the city and through the old town before heading up to Castelo de St Jorge for glorious views of the city. We meandered back down to Comercio Square before jumping back on the bus and heading back to Peggy.
Note: homeless people/ drug addicts take command of car parks and ‘advise’ you where to park in exchange for money. In most busy places you can’t avoid them / find your own park. They wait at your car until you give them money so we gave the (pregnant) woman 50p and as to be expected, she begged for more. If no money is given, shady things MAY happen to your car but we didn’t have any issues.
We left Lisboa on Monday afternoon and headed further north, stopping for the night at Peniche, a small surfing town. Unlike anything we’ve ever seen, a land spit connected to the mainland by two beaches… just incase you couldn’t choose which one to surf at. It was windy, bitterly cold and the water was not the nicest (can you really beat the Algarve Coast??) so it was a quick pit stop.
The journey from Peniche to Porto took us most of Tuesday, so we arrived just in time for dinner (of course). We left Peggy in a parking lot with about 24,775,937 other motorhomes (free to park, no facilities) and rode our bikes along the Douro River before wandering along Cais de Ribeira, soaking it all in.
We eventually stopped for food and beer and Jack finally experienced the ‘Francesinha’ – a traditional Portuguese sandwich filled with different meats and cheese covered in a tomato and beer sauce. Boy food, ya know.
On Wednesday we had the whole day to explore the city and lucky for us the main attractions are all within walking distance of each other. Similar to the previous night, we rode our bikes in and parked them at the same spot before starting the hike up the hill to get a birds eye view of what was quickly becoming our favourite city. It was worth every gruelling step (photo evidence below).
We then proceeded to walk along one of the six bridges connecting either side of the river. You really cannot beat wandering through the steep streets of the old town and stopping by the cathedral, Clergios Tower and The Crystal Palace amid coffee, cocktail and chip stops. We spent the majority of the afternoon at a garden bar (called Base) on top of a shopping mall, lounging in the sun, slurping mojitos. Porto, we love you.
The number of mojitos drank last night was indeed terrifying, so we figured we had seen and experienced enough of what Porto had to offer and packed Peggy up to head back into Spain.
The drive took us a loooooooong time and we got as far as León. Pulling in at numerous camp grounds before finding Camping Ciudad de León which cost 20.50€ for the night and we got to have a MUCH needed shower.
From León we continued the journey into Spain and on to San Sebastián. There was one listing for motorhome parking that was a tad out of the city (and packed) so we went for a little drive and scored a park near the beach for 5€. We wandered through the old town before climbing Mount Urgell for scenic views over San Sebastián.
From San Seb we went to Biarritz for a short swim stop before continuing the journey across the country with the ultimate goal being somewhere along the Côte d’Azur. We got as far as Lourdes before calling it a day and staying overnight at camping-car park for 10.80€ (unfortunately no facilities and crappy wifi).
Sunday was quickly upon us once again and we luckily got to spend all day in the car! South of France, we’re coming for ya.
Until Week Nine! Au Revoir x
Holidays obviously agree with you both. You look very happy & relaxed or maybe it’s the tans. Love to you both xxxx