Portugal - warm and welcoming!

Our arrival into Portugal was unmomentous really as there was no border control as we had expected, and consequentally we just arrived! The drive down the Douro Valley (as recommended by Ed's friend Albinio) was fabulous, and we enjoyed every hair raising moment as we swerved from corner to corner, round one bend to another. Meeting Jose and Maria at the viewpoint just after crossing the border was another highlight. What lovely people; we just keep on meeting them! Portugal is so green and lush compared to the Spain that we have seen. Not that we didn't enjoy Spain, but we hadn't realised the vastness of it when we marked out our route, so passing field after field of brown and yellow did get rather tedious in the end. Even naming the shades of colour in exciting titles didn't really help...ochre, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow, etc didn't hide the fact that it was brown. Can you tell that we were once art students?!?! 

Now in Portugal we have realised that we have missed the greenness! Maybe the infamous "green and pleasant land" line from Blake's Jerusalem is so heavily ingrained in us that we naturally seek it even when it isn't to be found! Today we have thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and drive from Meda along the 331, N229, N226, and N229 to Vila Nova de Paiva and my map reading skills on the map from Albinio that is about the size of a postage stamp have been well and truly tested!!! 

The campsite is fabulous, one of the better ones that we have stayed in, and of course the warm welcome that we received from Daniella really helped us feel at ease and relaxed, so much so that we visited the bar again tonight and had another drink with her and got some excellent advice about a local festival of folklore and food which is happening tomorrow (Sunday). We are planning to go there and sample the delights of Portuguese food. I'm only hoping that the local delicacy of Salted Cod that we have seen in every supermarket is tastier than it looks!!! (And a great deal less smelly!!!)

Clare

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