On Sunday after breakfast we drove up to the castle to record Duke’s car review for YouTube. Unfortunately the wind made parts of the audio unintelligible. We’ve been trying to decide whether to use it. I think I will post it with an apology and some subtitles.

From Marvao we drove to Lisbon. We had to get to Hertz in central Lisbon by 1:00 when they closed. As we pulled up to the Hertz garage the agent was pulling down the garage door and locking up! We barely made it. If we had made one wrong turn we would have been too late!

Our hotel is literally next door to Hertz. We checked in and the concierge booked Covid tests for Ray and Linda, who will fly home on Monday. We rested a bit then took a cab to the pharmacy where Ray and Linda got tested.

We stopped for coffee and Pastéis de Nata. These Portuguese specialists are delicious.

We walked around a bit people watching, browsing the souvenir shops, and enjoying the Lisbon sunshine.

After we got back to the hotel we booked a restaurant for dinner. Many were closed on Sunday but we found one a couple of miles away. Our last dinner in Portugal was delicious.

Saturday was our longest day of driving so far on this trip. We drove 240 miles south and a bit west into Spain again. Now we are in Marvao on the Spain Portugal border just into Portugal. Marvao is on top of a mountain with a stunning 360 degree view. In the picture below you can see the castle on top of the mountain. That’s where we are.

This morning before we left Zamora we explored a bit the square outside our Parador had beautiful trees trained to grow together to create a canopy.

Before we left Zamora we visited the Ethnographic Museum.

There were many interesting things in the museum. Take a guess at what these are.

On our way to Marvao we saw at least two cars with Ukrainian license plates. You wonder what their story is.

When we stopped at a roadside cafe for coffee and lunch we enjoyed watching the storks.

After we checked into our Pausada we went for a walk up to the castle

Our room at the Pausada da Marvao is charming with a great view.

Our view at breakfast

Portugal is in a different time zone than Spain. It’s one hour earlier. Friday morning I woke up early and got a nice picture of the sunrise and Bragança castle from our hotel room window.

The breakfast room at Pausada de Bragança had a beautiful view too and there was a tree growing out of the floor!

After we checked out of the Pausada we visited the castle. In the castle keep there is a military museum which was interesting.

It took us just over an hour to drive back into Spain to Zamora where we spent the night at the Parador. This is Parador number 71 for Duke and me. We had welcome drinks and played cards in the bar.

I love watching storks. There were two nests on the roof right outside the window.

Duke and I went out to explore a bit before dinner.

Saturday we head back into Portugal towards Lisbon where Ray and Linda will fly home.

Thursday morning our first stop in Puebla de Sanabria was the post office, to mail postcards.

Then Duke bought some fresh bread.

Then we walked around the castle, the church and the central square.

After we left Puebla de Sanabria we drove north to see Lago de Sanabria. According to Wikipedia it is the largest glacial lake in the Iberian Peninsula.

From Lago de Sanabria we dove south into Portugal to Bragança where we are tonight we had drinks by the fire, played cards and had a relaxing afternoon.

Duke and I stayed here in 2016. We ate at the hotel Michelin Restaurant. We had a fabulous meal for €35 including wine pairing. A similar meal there now costs at least €90 and wine is an extra €30 per person. We passed. The chef has another restaurant in town, Restaurante Geadas. That’s where we ate tonight. I had sole, Duke had beef and cheese and egg and Linda and Ray had calamari.

Today before leaving the Parador de Corias we went for a short walk through the grounds.

Santo Estevo is the farthest north in Spain we will be with Linda and Ray on this trip. After checking out of the Parador we headed back south through the mountains.

Tonight we are at a smaller Parador not far from the north east corner of Portugal in the town of Puebla de Sanabria. This is the view from the parador

We had dinner in the Parador restaurant. By now you’ve probably figured out that we like squid. For dinner we had steak and squid. Both were excellent. Portugal and Spain are the only places I’ve ever had wonderful squid like this.

Today is Duke’s 70th birthday. So we celebrated.