A tour of Portugal

Let me say first that before this journey I had already been to Portugal, once to Valença do Minho by bus from Spain and a second time for work, flying to Porto with a technical stopover in Lisbon on the way back. The tour of this country is an integral part of a wider journey in the Iberian Peninsula including Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar (see the related tours). Having entered Portugal from the Vilar Formoso border crossing with Spain, I reached Porto for a visit to the city, which I found rather dirty and poor. The Café do Brasil right in the centre, for example, has a terrace covered by a rusty structure. Every now and then, though, you glimpse some azulejos (ceramic designs) on the facade of some building. From here I continue with my Fiat Tipo towards the north and sleep in Spanish Galicia after crossing the Valença do Minho border.

The following day, after visiting Santiago de Compostela (see the tour of SPAIN), I returned to Portugal, crossing the Valença do Minho border again. Skirting the Atlantic and bypassing Porto, I headed south to visit Fátima, once a village and now the site of one of the most important Marian sanctuaries in the world. After this dutiful stop I headed to Batalha with a fine Cathedral in light colours in the Manueline style. In the evening I slept in a dilapidated guesthouse at Vila Franca de Xira. The next day, a visit to Lisbon with Rossio Square, Commerce Square, the Church of St Anthony of Padua, born here, and the characteristic Alfama hill, where there are characteristic restaurants and venues where fado is danced.

In the Portuguese capital there is no shortage of churches, castles and palaces; some, after the fire of the 1700s that destroyed the city, were never rebuilt and show their ruins. Lisbon is all ups and downs among hills heavily shaped by people over the centuries, which characteristic trams link together. By public transport I reach the famous Belém Tower, which I find wrapped up for restoration, the monument to the discoveries facing the Atlantic and the Naval Museum. Then, having left the capital, I reach Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, marked by a lighthouse, and sleep in a small hotel in Sintra. The next morning, in the surroundings of the little town, I go to Pena Palace, which a cocktail of architectural styles makes fairy-tale.

After passing through the famous seaside resorts of Cascais and Estoril, I bypass Lisbon, crossing one of the longest bridges in Europe over the immense mouth of the Tagus, and head south. In the afternoon I am in the famous maritime region of the Algarve, where I skip Faro for the more characteristic town of Olhão. In the evening I leave Portugal, crossing the border with Spain at Vila Real de Santo António. After this journey, a long time later, I stopped over by air twice in this country. The first at Lisbon Airport, bound for Salvador de Bahia in Brazil with TAP. The second time, on the way back from the same trip to South America, I stopped over in succession at Porto Airport (arriving from Rio de Janeiro) and Lisbon, then continuing to Rome. Portugal is interesting if set within the context of a journey in the Iberian Peninsula.