Lisbon was gorgeous, fun, busy, and intense, and even though we were only there for 48 hrs, we were ready for a slower pace of life. I think that the longer we are travelling, the more chilled we are getting, or maybe it's the longer Gaz's hair is getting... erm dunno. His hair is at mad professor stage right now with wild curls and really long sticky out bits. He seems quite content though.
Our Portugal experience continued as we drove to a coastal village called Ferrel, very near to the more well known town of Peniche which is north of Lisbon on the Atlantic coast. Ferrel is a sleepy place of residential houses and surf focused boarding places that flank a single main road leading to the beach coves of Baleal.
Our accommodation was probably the most amazing place we have stayed so far and we would definitely recommend it and if we ever return to this part of the world, we will stay here again. The Ocean House Baleal (http://www.ocean-house.co ) is across between a hostel and a hotel. It's based in a beautiful old house which is full of portugese character on the ceilings and around the windows, doors and bathrooms. It's an open welcoming place where the rooms are generous and comfortable, and the shared lounge, kitchen and back yard are full of facilities and designed to make you feel at home.
We very quickly settled in and met the rest of those staying; most were digital nomads, working away from their native country, working online in the day. Most had been at the hostel for several months and were surprised when we explained that we were only around for a few days. Everyone was interested in learning about us and our plans; all very friendly.
It rained at night but was warm and sunny in the day which meant we could walk to the beaches and explore the local area and sit and watch the surfers. It was so nice just getting a coffee in the sun and contemplating how lucky we were to be enjoying fine weather in mid November.
After our downtime in Ferral, we headed to the Venice of Portugal: Aveiro. A beautiful and colourful town with 4 canals that carry Moliceiro boats. These boats are sort of Gondola shaped, but bigger. They sail in the Ria de Aveiro, a region of the Vouga River. These boats were originally used to harvest moliço, (hence the name) a type of algae used as agricultural fertilizer, but now they are used solely for tourism.
We only had a couple of a days in Aveiro, so we spent the time exploring the town. I planned a route, which while interesting was not that effective at showing us the beauty of the town, instead I would recommend simply wandering, following your nose and you will become absorbed in a warren of gorgeous streets and squares with coffee houses and patisseries on every corner. When we started to just wander, we found ourselves surrounded by incredible architecture and quaint shops. Just lovely.
Aveiro boasts a lot of colour, from it's architecture, to the boats, and also the characterful coloured ribbons that are tied to the bridges that criss cross the canals; visitors buy the ribbons and write memories on them before tying them to the hand rails. Seeing the colour brightened up a dreary day for us.
From Aveiro we decided to take a ferry across the lagoon to the 20km long spit of land that nestles against the lagoon and the Atlantic It was only a few Euros for the 15 minute journey across the water on the little car ferry, but the drive north on that spit of land was beautiful and the beaches breathtaking.
We took the opportunity to have a granny moment on the edge of the sand dunes, setting up our stove and camping chairs for a cuppa. There's a lot to be said for a granny moment - it was lovely being lucky enough to be on this secluded beach and be the only people there.
Heading north to the amazingly beautiful city of Porto and our final few days of exploration in Portugal. We booked a small apartment very near a metro station, but very much on the outskirts of all the bits you'd want to see. We arrived and Gaz explained that he wasn't feeling too great, so the first evening was a quiet affair. Unfortunately the next day Gaz was still feeling rough, so in order to make the most of our expensive, but brief trip to this great city, I headed out exploring on my own.
The good thing about Porto, much like Lisbon, is the all inclusive travel cards. It's very straight forward and only a few Euros for the day, so I armed myself with one and a map of the city so that i could walk and not get too lost.
It was a beautiful day so I wandered along in the sunshine and made my way down to the waterfront, catching the metro across the Eiffel bridge so that I could see the cityscape from the other side. It was beautiful and there were musicians playing wherever I went which only added to the late summer feeling and alfresco atmosphere. There is so much to see, and like Lisbon, every which way you turn there's another opportunity to photograph street art, architecture, city life or something new to taste or try. Unlike Lisbon, the vast majority of Porto is easy to walk, and the bits that are hard to reach can be accessed by funicular railway, or a tuktuk.
I loved my day exploring in Porto and whilst Gaz wasn't with me, I felt perfectly safe wandering around and catching the metro or buses. As always, I wish we had more time but we had arranged our ferry back to UK from Santander, so the next day was a long drive north out of Portugal, through the picturesque forested rolling hills and into northern Spain to the ferry port.
Why are we heading back to the UK?
Well, we need to drop off the landrover and catch a flight from Manchester to our next destination - a month in Cape Verde! Watch this space
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