We had a wonderful few days in Barcelona. We stayed about 20 minutes out of town in the Campsite Barcelona and then took the free camp shuttle into Barcelona itself for a look around. Our first stop was at the Christopher Columbus monument.
Spain once more......
Once we left Gibraltar we were at last heading along the Mediterranean coast back in lovely Spain. We stopped off at lots of lovely spots, and tried to miss our the touristy areas along the way.
We then headed inland to visit the medieval Arab Palace - Alhambra, only to find the tickets had to be pre-booked and they were already sold out until the end of the month! So we decided to head up to the snow for a night instead and found ourselves 2.5km's above sea level in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Well here we are in one of the most basic aires we have yet been in, but it does have an amazing view of the Rock of Gibraltar, unfortunately a runway and a high security fence are between it and us. As there is nowhere in Gibraltar to stop over night in a campervan we slept in Spain and cycled over the border into Gibraltar the next day.
We cycled through passport control without a hitch along with all the other wheeled vehicles, (buses, trucks, cars and motorbikes) which definitely gave us all a hands on lesson in road safety, especially with all the mopeds zooming into every available space in the queue clutching our passports, opened at the right page just in case we needed them. But in no time we were stopping again, this time we were stopping to allow an airplane to take off down the runway, which due to the limited space in Gibraltar, the runway and the road use the same space and when a plane is ready to take off or land the road is closed to allow it the space it needs on the runway.
Waiting at the gates for the plane to take off
Some monkeying around was definitely in order when we went up The Rock. Some of the monkeys were so tame they came and happily sat on your shoulders, or in my case partially wrapped around my face.
Some hours later at the Botanical Gardens and the girls are still monkeying around!
Portugal
My birthday was really fun because Laura and Mum made a surprise party for my which I didn’t know about. We went for a picnic and had a delicious party lunch with fresh strawberries, sweets, biscuits and a big cake with candles!
That evening we went for a little walk around the town of Viana do Castelo to find a restaurant, and even the town seemed to know it was my birthday as they had strung up lots of flowers in the streets!
When we finally found one, we had a delicious dinner and I had a burger and a strawberry and cream filled crepe for dessert. It was really good.
It was a great birthday. By Amy
There were some interesting toilet facilities at the camp site, thank goodness we had a loo on board!
The girls having some fun on the giant flying fox nicely in the shade of a pine forest
From Viana do Castelo where had stayed for a couple of days to enjoy Amy’s birthday we headed South towards Porto and stayed in Villa Nova Gaia and spent a couple of days falling in love with Porto. The first day we started the day at Foz do Douro which had quite a holiday feel to it, with the beach and a tram service into town.
After a look around we then headed to the Fundacao de Serralves art gallery, which unfortunately was in the middle of changing its exhibitions so there was not much to see in the gallery, although we had some fun in the grounds which were extensive and full of funky outside exhibits.
Our 2nd day in Porto was as great as the first and we cycled along the river Douro to Villa Nova Gaia, the area famous for all the port houses. We had a lovely day cycling up and down the very steep and cobbled streets,
wandering into some of the port houses to have a look around and taste the port.
A ride in a cable car was a lovely treat.
Some views of crowded Porto
After Porto we stayed the night alongside one of the canals around Aveiro. It was a lovely town with a great morning market that we wandered through.
There were some interesting toilet facilities at the camp site, thank goodness we had a loo on board!
and we also walked across the amazing Ponte Dom Luis 1 Bridge which is some 60m high and has two levels, the bottom level is for pedestrians and motor vehicles and the top level is also for pedestrians and trains
A view of the Port house roofs
The rather narrow road Pete had to back our campervan down, as the corner was too sharp/ narrow to get the camper around!
A few days later we travelled in land to the town of Fatima and went to Pegadas dos dinossaurios, a disused quarry where we saw an amazing sight! Dinosaur foot prints preserved in limestone! The tracks apparently date back some 175 million years when the area was swampy and a group of sauropods came wandering through. It was an amazing sight to see.
A while later after walking around the top of the quarry and looking down on the footprints and then walking on the quarry floor amongst them the girls spent some time wrestling a dinosaur.
There is a huge monument depicting the famous Portuguese mariners, with Henry the Navigator standing at the front. (you can just make out Laura and Amy on their bikes at the bottom of the picture).
The tower of Belem which is a cute fortress that was built in 1515 to safeguard the approach to Lisbon looked really lovely in the evening.
Doing some tricks on the bikes, cycling down come curved steps while we waited for just the right amount of light to take a photo of the fortress sitting just out in the river.
Some pretty impressive birds’ nests.
We eventually we made it to the Algarve and unfortunately it rained every day we were there. But we still managed to get out and about during the clear patches. Riding out to the Portimao lighthouse.
The town of Lagos
Up on the castle walls, and not a hand rail or safety barrier in sight, no OSH regulations here!
Views from the top of the castle walls. Spain just across the river Rio Guadiana and the long bridge connecting Spain and Portugal.
A few days later we travelled in land to the town of Fatima and went to Pegadas dos dinossaurios, a disused quarry where we saw an amazing sight! Dinosaur foot prints preserved in limestone! The tracks apparently date back some 175 million years when the area was swampy and a group of sauropods came wandering through. It was an amazing sight to see.
We spent a couple of days in Lisbon, but unfortunately only remembered to take the camera with us on the one evening we went for a cycle ride along the river Rio Tejo out at Belem.
A relaxing afternoon by the pool, after our trip around Lisbon at the inland town of Ourique. before we hit the Algarve.
Some pretty cool seating decorated with tiles in the small fishing town of Olhao
Pete in the stocks in courtyard of the 13th century Castro Marim castle we couldn’t find any rotten tomatoes to throw so we decided to let him back out!
