Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Muxía day 2

It is so nice and to be staying in one place for two nights. You never know ahead of time if a place you are staying is someplace you will want to stay two nights, but The Parador of Muxía is definitely a 10 out of 10. I’m so glad we got two spend some extra time here. love this spot

After breakfast we went for a hike along the coast. From above you wouldn’t even know that the Parador is in front of you but from the coast it is a big place.

The Parador
Starting out on our hike

After we had gone about half a mile the trail went steeply up. We went up a ways and then turned around.

The view from our turn around spot.

Back at the Parador we played some cards then drove over to Muxia and the point across from the hotel. We hade a picnic lunch then went on another short hike.

Duke cutting cheese for our picnic
The lighthouse
This hike also became quite steep after a while so we retraced our steps.

We had dinner at the Parador restaurant. Europeans eat later than Americans. Our reservation was for 9 and we finished eating after 11. There was a little girl about 3 years old eating at a table next to us. She and her parents were still there when we left.

My warm lettuce and tuna salad, delicious!
Duke’s steak. He said it was excellent.

Baiona to Muxía

This morning before we left the Parador of Baiona we walked the coastal path around the castle walls. they have scaffolding up and are cleaning the walls in a couple of places. It is interesting to see what a difference the cleaning makes.

You can really see the before cleaning / after cleaning difference.

We also saw a lot of people out fishing and some people scraping some kind of mollusk off the rocks,

Fishing boats
Scraping the rocks

We have seen a lot of pelegrinos (pilgrims) the last few days. They were all on the Camino de Santiago from Porto to Santiago de Compostela. This morning when we left Baiona we drove to Santiago de Compostela. We parked and walked to the main square. The cathedral in the square is the end destination of the Camino.

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

We went into the cathedral and looked around, then stopped for coffee at a nearby bar.

Coffee in Santiago de Compostela

Then we got back in the car and drove west to Muxía. The nearby parador has only been open since 2022. It is very modern and is in a beautiful spot.

Playing cards in the bar.
This picture is from outside reception which is on the top floor. The green terraces are the roofs of the rooms.
The elevators go down diagonally

For dinner we had a great dinner in the Parador Restaurant.

My scallops starter
Duke’s tomato salad
Jo Ann’s razor clams
Duke’s octopus

Tui to Baiona

This morning before we left Tui, Duke, Brian and Jo Ann waited in the car while I ran into the post office to mail some cards. I had a nice chat with the lady who sold me the stamps. She asked if we were on our way to Santiago de Compostela and I told her no, today we are going to Baiona. She said she was from A Guarda and that if we go through there we should really go to the lookout at the top of Monte Tecla.

A Guarda is due west of Tui right at the mouth of the Minho River. We drove to the top and enjoyed the wonderful view of the Spanish coast going north and the coast of Portugal going south.

View of the Portugal Spain border from the lookout

Just below the summit we stopped at the ruins of a Celtic Castro. It’s the foundations of the Castro wall and buildings of a town of about 3000 people who lived here in the 1st century B.C.

Castro de Santa Trega

From A Guarda we drove north along the coast to the town of Baiona. Along the way we stopped for a picnic lunch.

Our picnic lunch

In Baiona we are staying at the Parador in an old castle. Baiona is where Columbus’ ship the Pinta and its crew first landed in Europe after their voyage of discovery. We played cards and then walked into town to see a bit of Baiona.

The Pinta replica in Baiona harbor
It was a warm day so we had ice cream.

For dinner we walked back into Baiona and ate outdoors at a Taberna La Boqueria. Jo Ann had mussels, Brian had squid, and Duke and I shared cockle and shrimp rice.

Dinner

When we walked back to the Parador the castle was all lit up.

Baiona castle

Porto, Portugal to Tui, Spain

Our breakfast buffet at Pestano Palácio do Freixo this morning was the best of our trip so far. To make our breakfast even better we sat at a table overlooking the Douro River to eat.

Part of the breakfast buffet
More of the buffet

There was a birthday sleepover over for a 9 year old boy in the hotel last night. The party was in a big meeting room overlooking the river. When we peeked in there were tents and balloons and lots of boys running around. This morning we could see the boys driving pedal cars in front of the hotel. It looked like fun!

It looks like a perfect place to drive cars if you are 9!
Directions to the party

We relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful day for a while after breakfast. About 11:30 we checked out and stored our luggage in our car. Then we took an Uber into central Porto and took a 50 minute boat ride on the Douro River. The tour is called the Six Bridges tour.

On the Six Bridges River Tour
Porto main square where we started our tour

After the boat tour we hiked up through Porto about half a mile to the Lello Bookshop ( Livraria Lello). The bookstore originally opened in 1881 and has a stunning Art Nouveau interior. It is incredibly popular because J.K. Rowling used it as part of her inspiration for the shops in Harry Potter. I visited it when we were in Porto in 2016. We knew that they charge an entry fee which you get back if you buy a book but the charge had gone up to €10 and we probably would have had to wait an hour in line a o we decided not to go in. We booked an Uber and headed back to our car.

Livraria Lello

Back at our car we loaded up and drove out of Porto north across the Portugal Spain border to the Parador of Tui where we are tonight. we walked along the Minho River into Tui for dinner. We ate at Parrillada-Taperia A Muralla last time we were here and it was just as good this time.

The view from our room
Walking along the Minho River to dinner
For dinner we shared the meat grill

Casa de Insua to Porto

We had fun wandering the back roads today. We drove to the coast, to Portugal’s second city, Porto.

After breakfast we looked through the museum of Casa de Insua. There is an extensive collection of maps and illustrations from Luis de Albuquerque’s time in Brazil. There is also a collection of things related to the history of the house. It includes everything from wine making equipment, to farming equipment, to things relating to the early production of electricity.

I think this was for milling grain

Our first stop after we left Casa de Insua was an ancient stone burial monument constructed about 5000 years ago.

Creating a video of me coming out of Anta do Penedo do Com

Next, a bit farther along our circuitous route, we hiked up to a view point with a swing. The swing was broken, but the hike and the view were great.

The swing at the viewpoint
It has been suggested that this should be our Christmas Card next year!

When we were in Portugal in 2016 Duke and I remember seeing a sign for a Roman Bridge and driving down a narrow dirt road to discover it. We wanted to find it again and we did. The bridge makes you think of all the people who have crossed it on the last 2000 years.

Checking out the Roman bridge
Taking a break on the bridge before hiking back up to the car.

We found another great picnic table for lunch.

Lunch

For the last hour of our drive we switchbacked down into the Douro valley.

There are lots and lots of terraced vineyards in the Douro Valley

In Porto we are staying at Hotel Pestana do Freixo, right on the river’s edge.

The historic house has the reception desk and the restaurant where we ate dinner.
Our rooms are in the building next door. We sat on the terrace of the mansion to play 500.

It was a great day!