Portugal exposed

Monday, May 18, 2015
Portimão, Lisbon, Santiago, Algarve, Portugal
17-20 May             

We are now up to Sunday 17th so we docked at in Portimao in the Algarve region of Spain . This was an excuse to visit the gardens of the Estoi Palace about 80 mins drive inland.

http://www.historichotelestoi.com/

Built in 19thC it has some richly decorated rooms (including the gents loo) and is now a Posada (smart hotel). It is famous for its neo-Baroque and neo-Rococo features with a garden which pays homage to the garden of Versailles.

The accommodation rooms are separate discretely hidden from the palace itself.

Only a half day visit but very interesting

It was then a afternoon and night sail to Lisbon

We arrived on a glorious morning with the temperature rising to about 28C in the afternoon. As we have done before Botanica arranged a bus tour around the city and then to gardens and we had the afternoon to explore the town on our own.

This time the gardens were the Fonteira Palace and its gardens

http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Marquises_of_Fronteira                          

This was finished in about 1640's and is still lived in by the family, luckily some of its more ornate rooms are open for visits. It has some typical Portuguese tile work both inside and outside.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the palace

The tilework had pictures of battles and other allegorical scenes and went up the wall to about waist height. From then on were the conventional portraits. Outside were balconies also lined with tiles, overlooking some fabulous gardens and water feature (I don’t they had swimming pools in the 18C) One of the gardens was specifically designed to be seen from above – from one of the balconies perhaps we could get some ideas for our back yard.

We could leave the bus at Rossio square and then explore downtown Lisbon . We just walked down their main pedestrian street and of course had Portuguese tarts for lunch.

Back to the ship by 1730hrs for a 201 mile trip to Oporto. Unfortunately that night we ran into bad weather which slowed us down considerably not mention caused a number of people to take to their cabins. Luckily the ship had some very efficient sea sick pills, the upshot was that missed the stop at Oporto where we were to explore the town and visit the Casa de Campo which has the oldest camellias in Portugal.

This meant we had the whole day at sea, fairly rough most of the day.

During night it calmed down to be just a gentle swell as we steamed on to our next port of call La Corunna for a 60 minute bus journey to Santiago de Compostela . Suddenly we back in Europe since the air temperature dropped down to 16C even with some rain.

http://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_de_Compostela

As you probably know this has been the destination of pilgrims for over a thousand years (maybe from 865AD), the city centre is basically vehicular free which makes it very easy to walk around. From the bus we saw many pilgrims which come from all over the world

We spent nearly 2 hrs in the cathedral itself which turned out be a bigger version of the Cadiz one. Like it had the two organs opposite each other about ½ way down the long aisle (as our guide said)

After the cathedral we walked around the side streets, our guide spotting a couple German pilgrims who showed off their stamps which showed they had completed the various sections and their final certificate. The minimum walk to get the certificate is only 100km.

A 2130hrs departure for the 344 mile trip to Belle Ile. A scheduled day at sea. Which at the moment (mid afternoon) is pretty calm – just a gentle swell.

Comments

Louise Wilson
2015-05-21

I've been following your trip with great interest - and, I have to say, some envy. Great commentary and photos. I've learned a lot about gardens I had no idea existed! Forgot you were away (lost track of time), so have left a couple of cryptic messages on your ansaphone in Sydney. Will be back there soon - hope to hear about your travels in person. Love to you both, Louise

nick
2015-05-26

very interesting and excellent photos. Corunna was also the site of one of Britain's best retreats under Sir John Moore
kind regards
Nick

Pamela Mason
2015-05-27

Hi Leith and David, Enjoying your blog and photos. Keep enjoying everything and keep on your feet!! I had a nastly fall in Hobart 2 weeks ago and just got an email from John on a boat on the Kimberley Coast. Poor Viv had a nastly fall and has broken one arm and sprained the other plus cuts and bruises. So watch out for trickey surfaces. Looking forward to seeing you when you get home. love Pam

2025-02-13

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