This summer we spent three weeks in Europe: a week in England visiting parents and playing tourists was followed by a great week in Asturias (northern central Spain). It was Simon and Alba’s exceptionally enjoyable wedding with extended family followed by a few days in an outstanding Airbnb in the coastal village of Lastres. Then Alison and I set out on our seven day road trip heading south and west towards the Douro valley, finally visiting my brother Mike’s estate in Portugal.
Thursday, August 31
The day started earlier than we would have liked with a complicated plot to get Alison and Rebecca’s family to the train station in Oviedo, rendezvous with Chris at the airport Hertz rental return, get him to the train on time and rescue Alison. Amazing it went flawlessly, but proved to be by far the most successful navigation of the whole road trip.
My random selection of Beneventa for lunch was a disaster: such a nasty busy town with a small and unattractive Plaza Major. We managed to escape after narrowly avoiding a parking ticket and paying the exorbitant 20 cents parking fee. Our improving Spanish enabled us to decipher the gesticulations of the parking attendant pointing repeatedly at the car license plate and a parking meter.
The Beneventa detour proved too much for the car GPS. It gave up and just tried to send us back to the Oviedo train station. Instead, relying on my mad navigation skills, we set out cross country towards Toro on minor roads. That proved a brilliant move as we passed through the charming village of Tiedra with its castle and a wonderful café. The locals were super friendly and my linguistic prowess resulted in lunch with beers and tapas for just 8 Euros. The castle was closed for siesta, of course.
We eventually arrived at the San Juan II hotel in the center of Toro. This could well have been a Parador in another life with outstanding views across the valley to the south, very close to the Colegiata de Santa Maria church and the main restaurant drag.
Mastering restaurant opening hours in Toro proved beyond us. Too many times we arrived somewhere at a meal time to be greeted by “We’re closing now”. Waiting until 9 PM for dinner also proved challenging.
Friday, September 1
Our first day in Toro started with a leisurely breakfast and the purchase of entry to five churches with Spanish audio guide for 6 Euros. Navigation skills failed again as we got horribly lost in the back streets of Toro using a map that randomly excluded important streets. We did find two of the churches before enjoying a beer and tapas at Cafeteria La Taza which seemed to be the only place to keep sensible opening hours in Toro.
Alba had recommended an afternoon tour of the Bodega Divina Proporcion winery just south of Toro. I recognized only the phrases “primera fermentación” and “vino tinto” during the all-Spanish tour, but what else do you need to know about wine. The subsequent meal was brilliant: 6 courses, two bottles of wine and coffee for 23 Euros each. Divine Proportions indeed.
Saturday, September 2
This was our day out in nearby Zamora which started well by arriving as planned at the Parking de Zamora: a fine omen. Zamora sits astride the Douro River and was terrific. We crossed the Puente de Piedra, visited the Aceñas de Olivares (restored water mills), the Santa Iglesia Catedral and Castillo de Zamora before making our way to the Plaza Major.
As we sat quietly enjoying more beer and tapas the plaza exploded with activity as the procession of the Festival Internacional de Folklore de Zamora arrived: bagpipes, dancers, music, tall folklore characters etc.
In the plaza is the Monumento al Merlú which looks disturbing like the KKK or the Spanish Inquisition, but is a call from the equally sinister Brotherhood of Jesús Nazareno to join the annual parade.
Back in Toro, we decided to get our money’s worth and find the last three churches of the tour: just too many gruesome statues of the crucifixion for one day, but great views from the top of the Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, worth the long, steep climb up many stairs.
The dependable Cafeteria La Taza was closed all day, as were several other restaurants; strange for a Saturday night. So we dined in the hotel restaurant overlooking the valley and our favorite Bodega (22 Euros total including beer and wine).
Sunday, September 3
The supermarket was closed, so our picnic plans were scuppered. Just as well, it was raining anyway. And so we arrived in Portugal at Miranda do Douro and the magnificent River Douro. The border interpretation center was also closed, big surprise, but we found an excellent tourist center in town. After muttering “miradouro” a few times we emerged with an excellent map of the local viewpoints and set out to vista.
Our previous attempt at viewing the Douro several years ago had failed horribly as it was on fire and we never actually saw the river through the smoke. We were hoping for better this time and were not disappointed.
At Miradouro do Castrilhouço I had my first conversation in Portuguese with an older gentleman riding a moped. We concluded that he was on his way back home from his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, based solely on his scallop shell flag. Who knows where he was actually heading. We ran into him again at Miradouro de São João das Arribas, but as I had already exhausted my entire Portuguese vocabulary, no words were exchanged.
We arrived at our hotel in Freixo de Espada à Cinta just ahead of a massive thunderstorm so ate and drank in the fancy hotel bar and restaurant.
Monday, September 4
A mixed start to the day: we failed to embark on a river cruise (they closed in September), but did manage to buy our picnic supplies at the local supermarket.
Heading for the Fraga do Puio overlook, a local old timer blocked the correct road with his dogs and diverted us down a very steep and winding dirt path. By this time the GPS had abandoned us yet again. Fearing damage to the rental car, we pulled up before the bottom where we had an excellent view of the river and could just see, high above us, the overlook platform where we should have been. We returned to Freixo via the miradouros at Penha das Torres, Cruzinha and Penedo Durao after a spectacular day of Douro viewing.
In Freixo, the highly recommended Cinca d’Douro restaurant was closed for the season. We were getting used to this by now, and instead dined at the Latas restaurant: two 3-course meals with huge portions of meat and wine for under 30 Euros.
Tuesday, September 5
Leaving the Douro behind, we set out for the Parador Casa Da Insua in Penalva do Castelo. En route we stopped at the historic Rodrigo de Castelo hill top village. Its restaurants were closed, but we found empanadas in the nearby town. Further on we stumbled across the expansive garrison at Almeida.
The Parador Casa Da Insua was magnificent with expansive French and English gardens, museums and best of all a charming bar in the grounds where we consumed several beers before dining in the Parador restaurant.
Wednesday, September 6
One of the goals of our trip was to be the first family members to visit brother Mike’s property in Lagares de Biera. After a minor unplanned diversion (thanks GPS!) we met up at the local Espingarda Café and headed to the nearby town of Olivera do Hospital for lunch. Then back to Mike’s for a tour of the barn and land. Primitive would be an understatement, but Mike has numerous plans for the property, is well underway with his crops and newly fruit trees, and is “living the dream” off-grid and largely independent.
Leaving Mike’s for Porto airport, the GPS decided to have one last attempt to totally confound me, and kept asking us to make U-turns and return to Mike’s. We stopped at a gas station where Alison asked directions and I switched to Google maps (why didn’t I do this earlier?).
Thursday, September 7
We anticipated that this would be a long and tiring travel day and were not mistaken. Starting with a 3:40AM shuttle from the hotel to the Porto airport, change in Lisbon, change in Heathrow and eventually back home to Fremont after 21 hours. Flight delays meant we didn’t even have time to spend relaxing in the Heathrow BA lounge.
Epilogue
Some comments on Asturias (rather than Spain in general) and Portugal
- The people are very friendly and willing to help at any time. They never treat you like dumb tourists.
- Asturias is cheap and Portugal even cheaper. Meals, drink and hotels are an absolute bargain.
- Make sure you have emergency food because restaurants and supermarkets are closed at times you would normally eat.
- Even if you master some of the Spanish language, it is worthless in Portugal. Similar words are pronounced completely differently.
Never change terminals in Heathrow unless you can avoid it. Since the Elizabeth underground line has opened you can no longer get that handy shuttle bus between terminals. You have to walk miles to the nearest tube station and put up with the vagaries and delays of the underground. With hindsight I could have taken hours off our return trip with better planning.