Tag: 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

This morning when we left Zafra there was some blue sky but as the day progressed the rain closed in.

We drove south along the Spanish Portuguese border to the Atlantic then across the border into Portugal. Along the way we stopped and hiked up to a look out point.

A bit later we stopped to check out this windmill.

After crossing the border we stopped to register our car and a credit card for the toll roads.

We are staying in the coastal, border town of Vila Real de Santo António. Later in the afternoon there was a break in the rain and we went for a walk.

For dinner we went to Restaurante de Associaçāo Naval do Guadiana on the waterfront. I think our dinner was the best of the trip so far. Squid, prawns, wine, bread and desert. Life is good!