Pimientos de Padrón has to be one of the best Spanish dishes going. It's a dead simple dish of loads of little green peppers fried with a bit of sea salt added before serving. The twist is that whilst the majority of the peppers are sweet, the odd one has a hot kick to it! So first stop after leaving Santiago do Compostela was for a lunch stop in Padrón. Other than the peppers there's not a huge amount going for Padrón. A few eccentric statues of local dignitaries and a few nice cafes, but not a lot else.
After lunch and, disappointingly, no really hot peppers, we went to Isla de Arousa which is an island attached to the mainland by a 1km long bridge. Lucy had read that it's really easy to free camp right on the beaches and she wasn't wrong. We had the most beautiful spot with a view back to the mainland. I went for a cycle around the island which is only quite small. It has a really nice nature reserve and a bit of a shoddy town (looked to me like a good spot to be smuggling into).
After a fairly lazy morning on the beach we set off for the resort area surrounding Poio. It happened to be the Saturday when the locals celebrate the festival of St Jean by eating sardines and setting fire to things. We'd read in the guide book that Combarro is a good place to join the celebrations so headed there and got a spot in the car park thinking we'd stay the night. After exploring the village, which is a really nice little well preserved medieval fishing village, we worked out by reading some posters that actually this year all the festivities were in Poio. Bums. By this point we were feeling too lazy to head into Poio and find a place to stay so instead we went to a campsite at Playa Paxariña.
This campsite was incredible for all the wrong reasons! It was mostly residential camping so full of caravans that don't move and owned by Spanish families. It was completely rammed full with the most elaborate set ups including sheds containing bars! Everyone was watching the Spain Euro 2012 game on their TV's throughout the park. The local kids also all pitched tents on the beach, making for a full on party Saturday night.
After the excitement of the weekend we headed for Pontevedra which is quite a big place with quite a nice old town. Trouble is it was a scorcher of a day and all we fancied doing was lying on the beach. So after a fairy sedate explore and lie down in the park at Pontevedra, we hit the road to arrive at Playa de Nerga near Cangas in the early evening. Just in time for a quick cool off in the sea followed by a tramps shower using the beaches facilities (we were the only evening beach goers with shampoo at the freezing cold shower - now turning into a habit and the most common way for me to wash).
In the morning we decided to explore a beach a bit further afield called Playa de Melide. Despite a hair raising drive down unpaved roads with a treacherous 30 point turn on a cliffside, this was a real gem of a beach. With a super hot day we just lounged on the beach getting in and out of the sea to reduce core body temperature. Really we should have stayed for the night but by mid afternoon when the sun had gone past it's strongest we got itchy feet and headed into Cangas itself.
Not much to say about Cangas. We used their toilets and we walked their historic walk (as recommended by the tourist office). The walk took 10 minutes and included nothing noteworthy. So we decided to go back to the beach we'd stayed at the night before. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) our memories failed us and we punched Playa de Menduiña into the sat nav instead. So despite the surprise of not recognising any of the approach, we did bag an awesome spot with the sea nearly lapping into the door of the van.
The next day we made our way ever closer to Portugal and stopped off in Galicia's biggest city, Vigo. Probably a bit of a marmite place this, I quite enjoyed walking round it but it's really industrial and some of it is pretty run down. They've got a massive hill which overlooks the port and city which has had a fort at the top since pre-history. The fort which is there now is really quite impressive with spectacular views from the ramparts and you're free to explore. Sadly though it's surrounded by dereliction which makes it have a slightly unnerving quality to it.
After spending the afternoon in Vigo we headed for Praia de America which is a lovely really long and relatively unspoilt golden beach. When we got there it was packed with Spanish locals who fortunately cleared off relatively early presumably to watch Spain beat Portugal in the Euro 2012 semi final. After the crowds had gone we moved the van to a more favourable spot looking out to sea and went and found a bar to watch the match.
On our last full day in Spain we had a lazy morning on the beach and then headed for the Portuguese border. We stopped in a fortified town called Tui which looks across the river to a Portuguese fortified town called Valença. Tui looks a bit sad in comparison to Valença with its huge city walls perched on the top of a hill, but I guess the Spanish had less to fear. Valença is by far the more impressive but Tui has a nicer feel to it, probably because Valença has nothing but kitsch tourist shops and slightly annoying waiters urging you into their overpriced restaurants. We stayed over one night in an ok Aire in Tui before moving on a short way the second night just for a stop over in Caminha.
We then decided to have a little luxury for a few nights and checked into a campsite just outside Viana de Castelo. This was our last chance to use our discount campsite (ACSI) card which then isn't accepted in July/August. The campsite was one of Portugals Orbitur sites and was one of the best we've been in so far. Lovely relaxing 3 days doing very little with direct beach access (surf a bit blown out unfortunately), pool and wifi!
On the last day we explored Viana de Castelo and went up a fun funicular railway to the top of a big hill with a church (this has become something of a recurring theme - are churches on hills more holy by virtue of being closer to god? Or is god omnipresent making it little more than a signal of power by the ruling elite?). There was also an iron age settlement which has been excavated and was pretty impressive.
Even with great facilities it's amazing how quickly we got itchy feet and wanted to carry on, so we headed to a surfing beach for the night (the name eludes me at the moment). Great location slightly marred by a sodding fog horn that went off intermittently throughout the night and a car of youths who parked right next to us for about an hour playing gabba whilst getting stoned (odd combination if you ask me). Wouldn't happen in a nice Orbitur campsite...
After a pretty humiliating surf (I'll put my poor performance down to the bad nights sleep) we carried on to Guimaraes which is the current European capital of culture. Nice little place, not sure what impact the culture thing has had though. All we saw really were these heart logos all over the place and a couple of installations (one being a wall and the other some hanging balls which kids can kick about. We did pick up a programme of events (in English) but we couldn't make any sense of it. Still, had a nice stroll around and I went up a very neat cable car to the top of a mountain whilst Lucy wandered round the shops.
We spent the night near a walk which we did the next day from Briteiros. The walk (labelled PR2) came out of a guide I'd picked up in the tourist office and was supposedly really well marked out and easy to follow. It think back in the 80's it probably was well marked but now not quite so. Either the marks had faded away or the trees they were on had burnt down. Still - we muddled through and halfway round went into Citânia de Briteiros which is an excavated iron age hill fort. Really impressive, well preserved and you're free to just wander around (no keep off signs in sight).
After the walk went to the municipal campsite in Braga which is pretty good. Decided to stroll into Braga and watch the new spiderman film at the cinema. Us and the other 6 people watching the premier thoroughly enjoyed it. Interestingly they stuck an interval in half way through. It was pretty abrupt but a quite welcome rest stop.
On leaving Braga we stopped off at a touristy place called Bom Jesus which is a big church on top of a huge hill which overlooks Braga. Apparently devout types will climb the millions of stairs to the top on their knees in return for a few sin tickets. We went up the funicular and had a beer in the cafe whilst watching some Wimbledon. Very pleasant.
After leaving Bom Jesus we headed inland to some nearby mountains to a resort town called Caldas do Gerês (or just Gerês). This is a beautiful area with loads of activities to do. Would be an ideal place to come for a week to do some walking and water sports (there are a couple of big reservoirs). We went for a walk and had an afternoon in the thermal spa. We also got to watch a local traditional folk-y music and dance crew on the Saturday night. It became quite difficult to stand after a while due to the ear piercing voice of the lady singer (watch the video below with sound on to see what I mean).
At this point we made a major change to our itinerary and elected not to head further inland. We'd originally planned to drive east to see some of the less populated areas of Portugal and to cross back into Spain to see Zamora and Salamanca. But by this stage I just fancied a bit of a break from driving so we headed back to the coast toward Porto (via a couple of nights in Vila do Conde) for a longer stay in a campsite (where I'm writing this!). Porto is a great place, but I'll write about it another time.
A few facts:
After lunch and, disappointingly, no really hot peppers, we went to Isla de Arousa which is an island attached to the mainland by a 1km long bridge. Lucy had read that it's really easy to free camp right on the beaches and she wasn't wrong. We had the most beautiful spot with a view back to the mainland. I went for a cycle around the island which is only quite small. It has a really nice nature reserve and a bit of a shoddy town (looked to me like a good spot to be smuggling into).
After a fairly lazy morning on the beach we set off for the resort area surrounding Poio. It happened to be the Saturday when the locals celebrate the festival of St Jean by eating sardines and setting fire to things. We'd read in the guide book that Combarro is a good place to join the celebrations so headed there and got a spot in the car park thinking we'd stay the night. After exploring the village, which is a really nice little well preserved medieval fishing village, we worked out by reading some posters that actually this year all the festivities were in Poio. Bums. By this point we were feeling too lazy to head into Poio and find a place to stay so instead we went to a campsite at Playa Paxariña.
This campsite was incredible for all the wrong reasons! It was mostly residential camping so full of caravans that don't move and owned by Spanish families. It was completely rammed full with the most elaborate set ups including sheds containing bars! Everyone was watching the Spain Euro 2012 game on their TV's throughout the park. The local kids also all pitched tents on the beach, making for a full on party Saturday night.
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| Local teenagers partying on the beach |
After the excitement of the weekend we headed for Pontevedra which is quite a big place with quite a nice old town. Trouble is it was a scorcher of a day and all we fancied doing was lying on the beach. So after a fairy sedate explore and lie down in the park at Pontevedra, we hit the road to arrive at Playa de Nerga near Cangas in the early evening. Just in time for a quick cool off in the sea followed by a tramps shower using the beaches facilities (we were the only evening beach goers with shampoo at the freezing cold shower - now turning into a habit and the most common way for me to wash).
In the morning we decided to explore a beach a bit further afield called Playa de Melide. Despite a hair raising drive down unpaved roads with a treacherous 30 point turn on a cliffside, this was a real gem of a beach. With a super hot day we just lounged on the beach getting in and out of the sea to reduce core body temperature. Really we should have stayed for the night but by mid afternoon when the sun had gone past it's strongest we got itchy feet and headed into Cangas itself.
Not much to say about Cangas. We used their toilets and we walked their historic walk (as recommended by the tourist office). The walk took 10 minutes and included nothing noteworthy. So we decided to go back to the beach we'd stayed at the night before. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) our memories failed us and we punched Playa de Menduiña into the sat nav instead. So despite the surprise of not recognising any of the approach, we did bag an awesome spot with the sea nearly lapping into the door of the van.
The next day we made our way ever closer to Portugal and stopped off in Galicia's biggest city, Vigo. Probably a bit of a marmite place this, I quite enjoyed walking round it but it's really industrial and some of it is pretty run down. They've got a massive hill which overlooks the port and city which has had a fort at the top since pre-history. The fort which is there now is really quite impressive with spectacular views from the ramparts and you're free to explore. Sadly though it's surrounded by dereliction which makes it have a slightly unnerving quality to it.
After spending the afternoon in Vigo we headed for Praia de America which is a lovely really long and relatively unspoilt golden beach. When we got there it was packed with Spanish locals who fortunately cleared off relatively early presumably to watch Spain beat Portugal in the Euro 2012 semi final. After the crowds had gone we moved the van to a more favourable spot looking out to sea and went and found a bar to watch the match.
On our last full day in Spain we had a lazy morning on the beach and then headed for the Portuguese border. We stopped in a fortified town called Tui which looks across the river to a Portuguese fortified town called Valença. Tui looks a bit sad in comparison to Valença with its huge city walls perched on the top of a hill, but I guess the Spanish had less to fear. Valença is by far the more impressive but Tui has a nicer feel to it, probably because Valença has nothing but kitsch tourist shops and slightly annoying waiters urging you into their overpriced restaurants. We stayed over one night in an ok Aire in Tui before moving on a short way the second night just for a stop over in Caminha.
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| Valença |
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| Tui (and a bridge designed by Eiffel) |
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| Picturesque spot for the night at Caminha |
We then decided to have a little luxury for a few nights and checked into a campsite just outside Viana de Castelo. This was our last chance to use our discount campsite (ACSI) card which then isn't accepted in July/August. The campsite was one of Portugals Orbitur sites and was one of the best we've been in so far. Lovely relaxing 3 days doing very little with direct beach access (surf a bit blown out unfortunately), pool and wifi!
On the last day we explored Viana de Castelo and went up a fun funicular railway to the top of a big hill with a church (this has become something of a recurring theme - are churches on hills more holy by virtue of being closer to god? Or is god omnipresent making it little more than a signal of power by the ruling elite?). There was also an iron age settlement which has been excavated and was pretty impressive.
 |
| Looking down onto Viana de Castelo from the iron age settlement |
Even with great facilities it's amazing how quickly we got itchy feet and wanted to carry on, so we headed to a surfing beach for the night (the name eludes me at the moment). Great location slightly marred by a sodding fog horn that went off intermittently throughout the night and a car of youths who parked right next to us for about an hour playing gabba whilst getting stoned (odd combination if you ask me). Wouldn't happen in a nice Orbitur campsite...
After a pretty humiliating surf (I'll put my poor performance down to the bad nights sleep) we carried on to Guimaraes which is the current European capital of culture. Nice little place, not sure what impact the culture thing has had though. All we saw really were these heart logos all over the place and a couple of installations (one being a wall and the other some hanging balls which kids can kick about. We did pick up a programme of events (in English) but we couldn't make any sense of it. Still, had a nice stroll around and I went up a very neat cable car to the top of a mountain whilst Lucy wandered round the shops.
We spent the night near a walk which we did the next day from Briteiros. The walk (labelled PR2) came out of a guide I'd picked up in the tourist office and was supposedly really well marked out and easy to follow. It think back in the 80's it probably was well marked but now not quite so. Either the marks had faded away or the trees they were on had burnt down. Still - we muddled through and halfway round went into Citânia de Briteiros which is an excavated iron age hill fort. Really impressive, well preserved and you're free to just wander around (no keep off signs in sight).
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| The iron age baths - that's the entrance to the sauna, which would make the iron age people teeny tiny (or we've misunderstood) |
After the walk went to the municipal campsite in Braga which is pretty good. Decided to stroll into Braga and watch the new spiderman film at the cinema. Us and the other 6 people watching the premier thoroughly enjoyed it. Interestingly they stuck an interval in half way through. It was pretty abrupt but a quite welcome rest stop.
On leaving Braga we stopped off at a touristy place called Bom Jesus which is a big church on top of a huge hill which overlooks Braga. Apparently devout types will climb the millions of stairs to the top on their knees in return for a few sin tickets. We went up the funicular and had a beer in the cafe whilst watching some Wimbledon. Very pleasant.
After leaving Bom Jesus we headed inland to some nearby mountains to a resort town called Caldas do Gerês (or just Gerês). This is a beautiful area with loads of activities to do. Would be an ideal place to come for a week to do some walking and water sports (there are a couple of big reservoirs). We went for a walk and had an afternoon in the thermal spa. We also got to watch a local traditional folk-y music and dance crew on the Saturday night. It became quite difficult to stand after a while due to the ear piercing voice of the lady singer (watch the video below with sound on to see what I mean).
At this point we made a major change to our itinerary and elected not to head further inland. We'd originally planned to drive east to see some of the less populated areas of Portugal and to cross back into Spain to see Zamora and Salamanca. But by this stage I just fancied a bit of a break from driving so we headed back to the coast toward Porto (via a couple of nights in Vila do Conde) for a longer stay in a campsite (where I'm writing this!). Porto is a great place, but I'll write about it another time.
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| Porto |
A few facts:
- I heavily trimmed my beard with Carrefour Discount trimmers. It was fun whilst it lasted but I looked like a bell end, it's now back to its normal no. 3 length. A word of warning: Carrefour Discount trimmers pull more than cut.
- I must apologise to the girl in reception at Citania de Briteiros. One of our rules in the van is to never go for a number 2 unless in dire emergencies. The Citania de Briteiros reception and W.C.'s are in the same building, only separated by partitions, and I had over 2 days worth saved up.
- It seems to be universal that any kind of festivity will attract an impossibly drunk person to liven things up:
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