We settled our bill ready to head off and had a nice breakfast of toast with the mountain honey that we had bought in the market yesterday.
Dave was keen to take the scenic route across to the Douro region of Portugal, especially because the next stretch of our journey was not particularly long. In the end it took about three hours and we drove through some beautiful countryside with lots of cherry blossom trees and views of distant mountains.
When we got to Lamego it was much larger than we had expected but we recognised the main building of the campsite up the hill in the distance.
Check out the Camping Lamego Campsite.
It was quite a small campsite but had really beautiful facilities, lovely clean bathrooms, a little bar and lovely views. There was actually some sunshine when we got there so we ate outside – the hornazo pastry(still a bit dry) left over from yesterday and a tin of meatballs(classy), all washed down with a beer!!
We decided to go for a stroll into the town and the campsite owner directed us to the Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios. We were really surprised when we got there as it was so beautiful – set up on a steep hill with steps and statues and beautiful tile work cascading all the way down to the town. There was then a lovely promenade with some more statues when you got down to the town.They represented the 4 seasons.
We stopped at a cafe for a coffee and a Portuguese custard tart to give ourselves some energy for the climb back up!! We managed it quite well although it did start to rain about halfway up so we sheltered under some trees. When we got to the top we got a bit lost, got caught in a torrential downpour and needed to dry off!!! All very refreshing!! When we were nearly back we were very disorientated and a lady came out of her house to help two bedraggled English tourists, directing us back to the Santuario as we clearly looked like we needed sanctuary!!!! 🙂 we managed to communicate to her that we were looking for the campsite however, and she set us back on the right track.
We had a simple dinner in the van of some of the rye bread with the remaining cheese and chorizo. Dave had bought some IPA down in the town and a bottle of wine from the region. The wine cost €2.60 and was very pleasant. It’s hard to believe that it could even be produced for that low a cost. We stayed in the van with the heating on as although the rain had stopped, it was blowing a gale by this point!! However, we did nip out to see Lavego lit up at night and watched an episode of ¨This is Us¨.
Wow looks a beautiful place
You should drive down to Portugal and stop off here. I think the campsite will become a hotel as well soon as they are renovating the house. The trip along the Douro in the next blogpost should sell it, even more, though I have more than 200 photos to go through so it may be late.
Such a spectacular sight. Wonderful photos , it all looks so beautiful. It’s great that you are seeing so many wonderful places . Xx
Better late than never.
Absolutely fab, view.
Very amusing you seem to find the rain, when Cornwall is bathed in sunshine day after day. Jx🦋