Journey to Queluz

On the way down to the next pousada not far north of Lisbon we stopped at the old university town of Coimbra (bottom picture) and at Obidos where we saw these oranges. Coimbra was very steep and involved some unnecessary steps to get in to the historic baroque library (we found out later we could have gone in directly without all those steps!).

Our only sighting, so far, of storks was near Coimbra where around 10-12 were spotted. We saw 2 storks nests. Although I have been looking for bee-eaters, none seen.

Obidos was pretty but clearly a tourist trap.

Viseu

Internal view of the pousada lounge

Door knocker

After a walk around the old town in the morning with the guide and cup of coffee with new friends from Gloucester  (she reminds us both of Jean Haigh), we bought a couple of filled croissants for just 1 euro each.

In the afternoon we went by coach to an old sanatorium in the mountains at Caramulo in what is now an art gallery and car museum.

Journey to Viseu

Today, we travelled on to our second Pousada in Viseu. This one is again a grand building. This was an old hospital. Unlike the first, this was in town. On the way we made a few stops, the first being for a wine tasting at a place with magnificent gardens complete with peacocks. At last the rain stopped and it was sunny.

We were appalled that the coach driver spoke on his mobile phone whilst driving. Also, we found out that the courier was at school (Hazeldine) with Jo (John's wife).

Porto

Today it rained!  Our guide in Porto reminded us of our guide in Vilnius last year - boring! She was doing her job, but going on and on about uninteresting facts that we would soon forget! As well as seeing the famous city sights (the cathedral, the station with all the tiles), we visited the gardens with the pink art-deco house and Marilyn Monro's shoes made out of pots and pans.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porto

Guimaraes

We stayed at this Pousada for three nights. Today we visited  the old part of Guimaraes, which is reported to be the old capital of Portugal. Many of the old buildings are made of granite. Lunch was a cake, a cheese and ham sandwich and 2 coffees was 5 euros total including the tip.  In the afternoon we walked around the gardens, avoiding the steps!

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guimarães

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guimarães

Flight

Good, on-time flight to Oporto. Coach to Guimeraes Pousada took just under an hour. Pousada excellent with lovely room, good food and  wonderful building. Weather not brilliant! Cloudy, windy.

First day

As we did not want the tension of not getting to the airport on time, we travelled to Gatwick the day before staying at the Premier Inn Gatwick North. We went by SAGA taxi. Both journey down and the stay at the Premier Inn were excellent: no tension, relaxed and good to be there in good time.