The last time I wrote we were in the north of Spain at a place called Noja near Santander. On our last night we decided to park outside the campsite gates as we wanted to be away before they opened in the morning. We had hoped to get some sleep but up until 2am we had what seemed like the whole town coming to look at our motorhome with the car hitched up on the back. The like of which they obviously never seen before as they made so much noise discussing it all. The following morning we drove to a place called Vilanova de Arousa on the Western side of Galicia in north western Spain. Our site was on the edge of what is known as a 'Ria'-a large estuary of which there are many in Galicia. Visits included a day out in Tuy, on the Portuguese border and one to Santiago de Compostela. The end of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrims' route with a beautiful cathedral. It was an attractive, touristy old town. Whilst we were there we were lucky enough to witness a genuine Galician bagpipe player outside the cathedral and inside the swinging of what must be the world's largest incense dispenser. It was strung up on a pulley mechanism from the roof of the cathedral and swung over the congregation alarmingly close to their heads . During our week we managed to sample another local speciality of Padron peppers. These originate from the town of Padron. They are innocent looking small green peppers fried in olive oil with loads of garlic. They have a delicate sweet taste but the reason they are special is because every once in a while, with no tell tale signs you get an extremely fiery hot one. Equally delicious but a total surprise. These peppers are totally addictive because you eat more wanting another hot one.
We left Galicia at the end of the week and headed south into Portugal. We had two nights at Gala near Figueira da Foz on the Atlantic coast. It looked quite poor and run down. We walked past a single storey dwelling with its door open. An old lady was sat on the bed, her visitor on a dining chair at the end of the bed. Apart from a sink that was it. No more space in the room for anything else. There were also many places which were nothing more than shacks strung together. There was also a great deal of litter, lots of stray dogs and cats roaming around. However, the place did have loads of charm and the people were friendly and cheerful. When we arrived Mike asked an old boy for directions, he limped along a narrow street to point out where the campsite was. As we drove off he shouted 'Good Luck' and howled with laughter therefore raising our fears about the suitability of his chosen route. The route was fine, his directions were great, it must have just been a friendly farewell.
From Gala we continued south to a very pretty village called San Pedro Da Moel. Stunning views along the Atlantic coast and a lovely boardwalk across the dunes-perfect for jogging. We found a nice cafe in the square for a meal one evening. On the menu was a dish called 'Secretos'. I asked the waiter what this was and he pointed to a picture of a pig sellotaped to the window and said-'black pig'. I could see that and as it was a photocopy of course it was black. He went on to say it was a speciality so I had to try it. Having ordered all sorts of worrying thoughts ran through my head. What on earth could 'Secretos' mean? Could it be 'secret' referring to a part of the animal's anatomy or worse still secretion? As we don't speak Portuguese and his English was very fragmented we remained in the dark. Finally a plate with three huge pork chops turned up. Secretos turns out to be a very special breed of black pig. I'm relieved to say absolutely delicious.
We took a day trip to a town called Tomar and visited the Convento de Cristo which had been the headquarters of the Knights' Templar founded in 1162. Subsequently it had been a monastery and a convent. We were completely unprepared for the centrepiece. A very atmospheric circular temple called the Charola. The only negative was the coach load of OAPs that arrived at the same time as us and who chattered noisily all the way round. When we got back into town we visited a 14th century synagogue. Amazing that it survived through the inquisition with such a huge Christian complex just up the hill. We also had a day out in Obidos, a very attractive, touristy fortified town. On our last night on the Atlantic coast we decided to spend the night on a gorgeous, natural, unspoiled cliff top. Unfortunately we didn't get much sleep. It must have been a romantic spot for couples to 'make out' as for the first half of the night cars roared up and down the sandy track.
At the end of the week we headed south for the Algarve in order to spend a bit of time before heading into north Africa. Gordon and Fran, our next door neighbours took us on a tour within our first 24hrs which was very useful for orientation and also extremely kind. They showed us beaches, cafes, restaurants, bars, dentist, Dr, cinema, shopping mall, market, hairdresser, internet-pretty much everything really. It was particularly useful as when Nige and Sally came over for Mike's birthday 6 days later we were able to take them round as though we'd been coming for years. They arrived at tea time actually on his birthday so we quickly got ready and went for a night out in Albufeira old town. A couple of pricey drinks in the main square, a fabulous steak restaurant for our meal and then late drinks in the old town. We were treated to the antics of a soldier on R & R from Iraq dressed in women's clothing as he had played golf badly. He was dancing up and down the street with anyone who was interested. That did include me -how do you think I knew so much about him?! We danced to the singing of Mario Miguel an extremely talented Neil Diamond impersonator. A regular feature of the Albufeira summer season he has now gone to Dublin for the winter if anyone fancies hearing Neil Diamond with a Portuguese accent. You will have gathered that we settled into the swing of holiday making pretty quickly. Sadly, as was the case on a previous visit from Nige and Sally, it started to rain again! We didn't let the weather get us down though and managed to take them out and about and visited the very pretty village of Carvoeiro just up the coast.
After Nige and Sally left the weather improved and one afternoon we went out parasailing with Peter and Vera-another couple of RVers. Mike stayed in the boat to take pictures as he had parasailed before. He jumped off a mountain once in Andorra and thought it would be a bit dull over the sea by comparison. As the combined weight of the remaining three would be too much with the wind and swell I went up on my own. It was absolutely wonderful, so peaceful and great views. I even dipped my toes in the water when the boat turned round. On the way back we saw Cliff Richard's boat. Our skipper raced near so we could see if Sir Cliff was on board but sadly not, just his business partner.
We decided it would be a nice treat to visit the cinema as we hadn't been all year and we'd heard that the films in Portugal were shown in English with Portuguese subtitles. 'Ultimate Bourne' was on at the local multiplex so we showed up with plenty of time to spare one Sunday afternoon. We waited our turn in the queue but it was so long that by the time we got there we'd missed the start. The next time we went they'd moved the start time forward by 20 minutes so we were too late, the third time they'd changed it to 9.30pm which was too late. We decided to go and see 'Knocked Up' instead. Got there, right time but this time the ticket office was closed so we had to queue at the bar. One girl was selling tickets, but also doing the drinks and popcorn. We finally got in front of the screen, sat down as the ads started. There was an intermission half way through! When did we last have one of those? The adverts were old fashioned slides advertising local businesses. The only thing lacking was a girl to sell ice creams but she was busy selling tickets, popcorn and drinks.
We are now back on the Algarve after a month in Morocco which I will write about in a separate letter. Unfortunately while we were away Mike had an upset stomach which grumbled painfully and uncomfortably on for over a week. With terrible pains and a fever he managed to drive over 800 miles in 3 days back to our base here in Albufeira. He went straight to the Dr's and was sent to the local private hospital with suspected peritonitis. It turned out to be diverticulitis treated with IV antibiotics. He did discharge himself after 20 hours having seen the shocking bill of just under €1,500. He has got a lot better over the weekend on oral antibiotics and Dioralyte and is off to see the Dr again at 9 o'clock on Monday morning. It almost goes without saying that he is absolutely delighted with the only good side effect-he's lost 12lbs in weight after 14 days of illness. Some fellow campers have helped set up our TV so we have all the main UK channels and will gradually set ourselves up to stay for the rest of the winter.
We left Galicia at the end of the week and headed south into Portugal. We had two nights at Gala near Figueira da Foz on the Atlantic coast. It looked quite poor and run down. We walked past a single storey dwelling with its door open. An old lady was sat on the bed, her visitor on a dining chair at the end of the bed. Apart from a sink that was it. No more space in the room for anything else. There were also many places which were nothing more than shacks strung together. There was also a great deal of litter, lots of stray dogs and cats roaming around. However, the place did have loads of charm and the people were friendly and cheerful. When we arrived Mike asked an old boy for directions, he limped along a narrow street to point out where the campsite was. As we drove off he shouted 'Good Luck' and howled with laughter therefore raising our fears about the suitability of his chosen route. The route was fine, his directions were great, it must have just been a friendly farewell.
From Gala we continued south to a very pretty village called San Pedro Da Moel. Stunning views along the Atlantic coast and a lovely boardwalk across the dunes-perfect for jogging. We found a nice cafe in the square for a meal one evening. On the menu was a dish called 'Secretos'. I asked the waiter what this was and he pointed to a picture of a pig sellotaped to the window and said-'black pig'. I could see that and as it was a photocopy of course it was black. He went on to say it was a speciality so I had to try it. Having ordered all sorts of worrying thoughts ran through my head. What on earth could 'Secretos' mean? Could it be 'secret' referring to a part of the animal's anatomy or worse still secretion? As we don't speak Portuguese and his English was very fragmented we remained in the dark. Finally a plate with three huge pork chops turned up. Secretos turns out to be a very special breed of black pig. I'm relieved to say absolutely delicious.
We took a day trip to a town called Tomar and visited the Convento de Cristo which had been the headquarters of the Knights' Templar founded in 1162. Subsequently it had been a monastery and a convent. We were completely unprepared for the centrepiece. A very atmospheric circular temple called the Charola. The only negative was the coach load of OAPs that arrived at the same time as us and who chattered noisily all the way round. When we got back into town we visited a 14th century synagogue. Amazing that it survived through the inquisition with such a huge Christian complex just up the hill. We also had a day out in Obidos, a very attractive, touristy fortified town. On our last night on the Atlantic coast we decided to spend the night on a gorgeous, natural, unspoiled cliff top. Unfortunately we didn't get much sleep. It must have been a romantic spot for couples to 'make out' as for the first half of the night cars roared up and down the sandy track.
At the end of the week we headed south for the Algarve in order to spend a bit of time before heading into north Africa. Gordon and Fran, our next door neighbours took us on a tour within our first 24hrs which was very useful for orientation and also extremely kind. They showed us beaches, cafes, restaurants, bars, dentist, Dr, cinema, shopping mall, market, hairdresser, internet-pretty much everything really. It was particularly useful as when Nige and Sally came over for Mike's birthday 6 days later we were able to take them round as though we'd been coming for years. They arrived at tea time actually on his birthday so we quickly got ready and went for a night out in Albufeira old town. A couple of pricey drinks in the main square, a fabulous steak restaurant for our meal and then late drinks in the old town. We were treated to the antics of a soldier on R & R from Iraq dressed in women's clothing as he had played golf badly. He was dancing up and down the street with anyone who was interested. That did include me -how do you think I knew so much about him?! We danced to the singing of Mario Miguel an extremely talented Neil Diamond impersonator. A regular feature of the Albufeira summer season he has now gone to Dublin for the winter if anyone fancies hearing Neil Diamond with a Portuguese accent. You will have gathered that we settled into the swing of holiday making pretty quickly. Sadly, as was the case on a previous visit from Nige and Sally, it started to rain again! We didn't let the weather get us down though and managed to take them out and about and visited the very pretty village of Carvoeiro just up the coast.
After Nige and Sally left the weather improved and one afternoon we went out parasailing with Peter and Vera-another couple of RVers. Mike stayed in the boat to take pictures as he had parasailed before. He jumped off a mountain once in Andorra and thought it would be a bit dull over the sea by comparison. As the combined weight of the remaining three would be too much with the wind and swell I went up on my own. It was absolutely wonderful, so peaceful and great views. I even dipped my toes in the water when the boat turned round. On the way back we saw Cliff Richard's boat. Our skipper raced near so we could see if Sir Cliff was on board but sadly not, just his business partner.
We decided it would be a nice treat to visit the cinema as we hadn't been all year and we'd heard that the films in Portugal were shown in English with Portuguese subtitles. 'Ultimate Bourne' was on at the local multiplex so we showed up with plenty of time to spare one Sunday afternoon. We waited our turn in the queue but it was so long that by the time we got there we'd missed the start. The next time we went they'd moved the start time forward by 20 minutes so we were too late, the third time they'd changed it to 9.30pm which was too late. We decided to go and see 'Knocked Up' instead. Got there, right time but this time the ticket office was closed so we had to queue at the bar. One girl was selling tickets, but also doing the drinks and popcorn. We finally got in front of the screen, sat down as the ads started. There was an intermission half way through! When did we last have one of those? The adverts were old fashioned slides advertising local businesses. The only thing lacking was a girl to sell ice creams but she was busy selling tickets, popcorn and drinks.
We are now back on the Algarve after a month in Morocco which I will write about in a separate letter. Unfortunately while we were away Mike had an upset stomach which grumbled painfully and uncomfortably on for over a week. With terrible pains and a fever he managed to drive over 800 miles in 3 days back to our base here in Albufeira. He went straight to the Dr's and was sent to the local private hospital with suspected peritonitis. It turned out to be diverticulitis treated with IV antibiotics. He did discharge himself after 20 hours having seen the shocking bill of just under €1,500. He has got a lot better over the weekend on oral antibiotics and Dioralyte and is off to see the Dr again at 9 o'clock on Monday morning. It almost goes without saying that he is absolutely delighted with the only good side effect-he's lost 12lbs in weight after 14 days of illness. Some fellow campers have helped set up our TV so we have all the main UK channels and will gradually set ourselves up to stay for the rest of the winter.
