Woke early-ish and went for a long-ish run with Diane .. the firat since my left big toe fell victom to ‘playa foot’ at burnign man. It was great seeign the city by foot.. we ran over a rail bridge over the river.. super spooky.. but souper beutiful…

 

we got back around 8. and got on the road by about 9.. our idea was to travel up the atlantic coast.. it was overcast.. but no (yet) raining.. First stop was Vila do Conde.. where we saw relics of an 18th century aqueduct that brought water to the city.

It was suprisingly intact. Deb used her instincts to find the thing.. then we drove along it for about a mile.. it was so cool to see. we put a samstone in some of the standing  pieces. 

next stop was Viana de Costelo on the coast. It started raining as we arrived.. .. it was a soggy but nice look around there . 

 

there was some sort of fancy car rally going on 

 

we walked down to the river lima just above the point where it hit the Atlantic.. .. it smelled like the sea.. .. and the drizzle made it ‘atmospheric’… and a bit miserable . 

 

this guys ‘discovered’ the rich cod fishing off the coast of Newfoundland in the 15th century.. just thinking of a 15th century ship from Portugal up there full of drying codfish made me less hungry for lunch .. 

there was a famous (to some I guess) hospital ship moored there.. it looked noble and helpful sitting there in the dock 

 

we walked through the old section of town and ran into neptune and his consort. 

 

 

after a somewhat futile search for the perfect codfish lunch we headed out.. 

one cool thing is that we ran into the signs of the trail of the Camino de Santiago. 

 

 

this meant wrong way 

we fled inland to try to escape the drizzle.. we headed to lindoso in the Peneda-Geres National Park /.. it was a completely accidental stop. but SO amazing.  There was an acietn catle surrounded by Espegueiros.. 17-18th century grain storage containers. They looked so weird !

 

 

here’s one ith actual grain !. the legs keep the rodent out . 

 

 

the view from the castle was amazing !

 

 

 

the view up the valley was really breathtaking !

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everywhere there were bright flowers to cut the gloom 

 

 

we tried to find food.. but we were told that the closest food was in spain.. so we headed to spain for the second day in a row to eat .. i think it’s more beign abe ot communicate .. but I really love spain.. 

 

here’s the bridge with the border.   spain on the left, portugal on the right 

 

half of me here is in spain, the other in protugal.. not such a big deal since shingen.. 

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we drove a few miles to Lobias Spain.. a beutiful town.. with cheese sandwiches !!!

 

 

the back towards portugal through the town of BuBaces..  with its free hot springs !

 

 

 

then up and over th e moutnain into portugal.. it was like the forst primeval.. wet and dark.. with ancitnt oaks.. I expected trolls and gnomes !!!.. 

 

i did not expect this really scared english driver with his/her camper goign 3 miles and hour in front of us.. grrrrr

 

down in Gerez we ofudn this amazing set of buildings.. we tooka  alook around trying to figure out what they were.. turns out an old moenstary makes a really nice  luxury hotel !

 

now comfortably back in Porto.. finsihing off a bottle of wine.. and anticipatign an early mornign departure..

 

gotta catch soem sleep !  so I’ll say boa noite again

 

note all, noter sam

-me