North Portugal, Alvarinho country, Douro and Serra da Estrela

[Pedro]

Me and Sofia spent a couple of days in Espinho for my little brother's birthday before going on a ride around the North of Portugal. 

Having a day with no plans, we went to look at bike dealerships in and around Porto, with a stop for a very typical northern lunch, something Sofia rarely gets to experience since she's rarely in Porto.

First, getting her seated on some nice GSs

 

And then the bike I really went there to see, I am going to try and take one for a testride and see what it's like, looks nice in person:

 

And then, a nice lunch of Rojões:

 

The restaurant on the outside, it's a locals' non touristic spot:

 

And then, a stop at Triumph Porto, where I was made to sit on a Tiger, very comfy bike though, and has a 30 liter fuel tank as well:

 

Across the street to that, we have the best dealership of the day, and a bike I really like. Can't see it fitting my motorcycling very well, but it is a nice thing.

 

The next day, we start our tour, heading North straight to Valença, not to be confused with Valencia in Southern Spain. Valença is a small town next to the border of Portugal and Spain in the Minho river, it's got an old part that is inside the fortified walls, which is what we visited. Sofia's grandad was born here, his dad was stationed here in the military, before being sent to WW1. The military lived in houses that no longer exist right around where we parked our bikes.

And then took a walk to look around and also to find an espresso.

 

Valença is very well fixed up, very polished and very touristy. Flocks of Spaniards wash over it for visits and meals, it's very pretty but not really my thing. We moved on, now entering a special wine region that is not very well known internationally. Between Monção and Melgaço is a DOP region that grows very special Alvarinho wine, used mostly for Vinho Verde but normal white wine too, it's very nice. The region is very pretty and filled with history. 

We stopped to check out what looked like a cool abandoned square by the small road we were taking, and came upon a small place with a big historic significance.

The little place of Ponte do Mouro, it's where 648 years ago the Duque Lancaster came from England to meet D. João I, to arrange the wedding of Philipa of Lancaster with John I (the first), creating the Windsor Treaty in 1386, which is the oldest alliance between two nations.

Big History for such a tiny location. My theory is that they both got heavily drunk on local Alvarinho wine, and drunkenly promised eternal friendship between their countries, but that's just my theory 

@Sofia is very enthusiastic about History, and I got to hear of how great Philipa was, and how her marriage with D.João I originated the best kings and leaders, and characters in Portuguese history. 

 

We rolled off, but this being a tiny region, we stopped 20 minutes later to cool off as the sun was coming out, a little before 3PM, for a cold water and a sip of that local cold wine they talk about. Just a sip, as I don't drink on the bike.

We stopped on a cafe just on the road, and this is the sign to the entrance of the farm next door

 

Hey @boboneleg, look, bins!

 

 

Shortly after, made it to Melgaço, and went to walk around to see the castle and show Sofia around the place.

 

From there we were too far away get to Tras os Montes or Galicia through nice roads, so I hunted around and found a deal for a nice room in Ponte da Barca, which is a nice small town in the heart of the Minho region. I think it's a hidden gem and wanted to show it to Sofia, so we went. Via some nice but easy twisty roads through wild forests and vineyeards,  by 18:30 we were there.

 

Great hotel room view, and I do like a deal. 

The river is just on the other side of the gardens on the previous picture, and we would have plenty of sunlight time to have a little walk around town before dinner, it's a small place.

 

I found a small very old school restaurant for dinner, it's the building on the right in the next picture. Not much choice anyway as tuesday is the day when most restaurants close here. 

View from the restaurant. We had hake filets cooked like a portuguese grandmother would. It was a very nice meal, watered with local vinho verde, I loved it.

And then a short stroll across the bridge, as night arrived.

 

In the morning, it was raining, so we took our time to get up and lazily walk up the street for a coffee. This is by far the wettest region of Portugal, but I was determined to leave late and chase the rain instead of riding under it.

Only after 11 did we roll out, by midday it was already properly hot under the rain stuff so we stopped to take all that off and visit Lindoso Castle. We had avoided the rain, great success!

 

We left Lindoso, and minutes later crossed into Galicia, a couple of hours later through nice flowing roads that much pleased Sofia in her Speed Triple, we stopped at Allariz. In Allariz, at 15:00, there was not a place to eat a snack, only two proper restaurants for proper sit down meals. 

 

We didn't vibe with the place, so had a water and carried on, I booked a table at my favourite restaurant near Bragança and headed there. Almost two hours later, we're entering back into Portugal:

 

As always, a great dinner was had near Bragança, I didn't take pictures. The next day we'd roll south and onto Serra da Estrela, I'll continue later.

 

[Pedro]

We woke up earlyish and by 8 something we were gone, stopped for a picture on one of my favourite vistas starting to go south from the northern tip of Portugal

 

By 9 we stopped for the morning espresso, but someone can't resist a little bit of regional bread with butter for breakfast...

 

11:40, we stopped in Freixo de Espada à Cinta for Sofia go so source some sandwiches for the lunch picnic, it'd be a little early but we had a prime spot coming up just a few kms ahead. I stayed by the bikes watching the town's life happening, a little children's school class was walking around town, all in their blue overall things and hats, they were stopping by shops and offices and calling people out to say hello to them. They made such a happy ruckus that everyone in town was smiling! You can barely see them in the pictures below as they're so tiny.

 

Out came Sofia with lunch

 

12:30, stopped for lunch and enjoyed my cheese sandwich.

 

We then headed to Vilna Nova de Foz Coa, where the river Coa joins the Douro. This is one of my favourite bits of road in Portugal, my little secret biking paradise, that I discovered this time in 2020 and have been returning on purpose ever since. We stopped by the river to put in our destination in Google Maps. 

 

 

Back in 1996, Portugal was going ahead with building a dam here in Vila Nova de Foz Coa. When they started investigating the river they found a very important area containing prehistoric engravings, protests from archeologists with help from university and high school students created started a public movement to protect these engravings. 

At the time, Antonio Guterres was running for prime minister, and announced he was in favor of protecting these engravings and maintaining the river like it was, he was elected and went through with his promise, cancelling the dam. He went on to have a successful carreer and is currently serving as Secretary General of the United Nations.

To create an easy way to appreciate the famous engravings they created a museum in which several objects are exhibited along with replicas of the carvings. It's a famous building and I had never been there, so we went.

The building itself is fabulous, but it's pretty hard to explain that there is absolutely no shade to park vehicles under in a place with temperatures frequently well above 35º.

Culture:

 

They have some interactive explanations for you to really understand the engravings, I found it interesting. It was getting hot by then, though, and we decided to move on.

 

A guy from Sofia's club had lost his dad after a long battle with cancer, and we moved on quick in order to stop by the wake in the afternoon before getting to our hotel for the night. Being on a timetable, I didn't stop for pictures of the rest of the ride until we stopped.

That night we slept in a rural hotel that had been built from a decaying convent in ruins. It was pretty nice and the area around it is great, mostly built in stone, I had visited a few weeks ago and was happy to show Sofia around.

 

After dinner we went for a little walk, and slept well. Next day, into Serra da Estrela.

[Pedro]

We didn't leave very early, but our first stop was close. By 10:30 we were in Trancoso and had a walk around town, mostly inside the old walls with a visit to the castle itself.

 

Hey @boboneleg, more bins:

 

Sofia loves big old trees:

 

We carried on, via small roads to the next castle, this time at Linhares, on the footsteps of the Serra da Estrela:

 

It was with great pride I pointed out to the health and safety present in this castle, like in modern places!

 

Lunch stop, a very forgettable toast in an unfriendly cafe. I love this region of Portugal to ride around in as the roads in the Serra da Estrela are great, but I don't get the people here. A local forestry service team also stopped for their afternoon coffee. 

 

It was quite hot, but we didn't plan to go far. Sofia is organizing the next meet for her Triumph club. First stop, a cafe by a river, her ladyship stayed in the cool shade by the flowing waters while I went to do some reconnaissance up a tiny secondary (or tertiary) road. I loved it, poor surface and quite bumpy where the potholes are patched, tight and twisty up a mountain, perfect to race around on big trail bikes! Apparently, that's not what they're looking for 

 

Next stop, to meet the lady that runs the cafe where the club will have lunch, very idyllic place, it'll be loud when they're there on a sunday though 

 

It was a lazy day and would become even lazier. The stay for the night was just 10 or 20km away, fortunately on a very very nice perfectly twisty road. Sofia had a conference call to do and I planned on enjoying that time, so we made it there early enough to use the swimming pool.

We parked by some bins, because I made a point of showing @boboneleg we do have garbage bins in Portugal on this trip 

 

And proceeded to the swimming pool. I soaked for a good hour or so, we had the place to ourselves and I enjoyed that very much.

 

The Serra da Estrela, in the background:

 

I didn't take pictures of dinner as I found it very disappointing.

 

 

 

 

[Pedro]

Breakfast was sadness on a table , I barely survived it, and we moved on. 

We climbed the Serra da Estrela in the morning, made it there to enjoy the coolness of the mountain air when you get to over 1500m in altitude. Riding down was nice through some twisties, eventually stopping for a sandwich already out of the mountains. 

 

 

The Tower, at 1990 meters.

 

 

It was by the afternoon well into the Alentejo that I took my first picture of the day, a selfie with Sofia following me into the Alentejo's most typical landscape. It was now getting warm and temperatures went past 35º as soon as we saw yellow grass. 

 

After an hour or two at 37º we weren't far from our destination for the night, but I was very keen on stopping somewhere cool for a cold water. Since I had never been inside, we decided to stop at Flor do Crato Monastery, it now works as a tourist attraction and hotel. 

 

I suppose it must be quite fancy as the place is gorgeous, but the service is shit. We walked in from the heat to be told the cool inside cafe is closed and that we could sit on the outside one until 19:00, by which time that one closes and we then have the inside one. Now what kind of moron thinks it's nice sit toasting in the sun in 37º during the day to then move inside when it cools down must be a one of a kind moron. We moved on and 30 minutes later made it to our hotel.

Bikes safely tucked away and after a nice shower and rest, we enjoyed a very nice typical dinner in Alter do Chão, now cool and pleasant enough outside. Dinner was great, food was amazing, wine was cold, everything was alright, and we had a little stroll walking back to our room.

The Alentejo night sky after a hot day is usually amazing, but my phone's camera doesn't make it justice.

 

In the morning, we headed home.

Sofia was so happy to see her favourite oak trees I had to stop and take a picture, even though by 10 in the morning it was already quite warm.

 

After the rainy Spring we had, most reservoirs and dams are almost full, we stopped by one to look at it as that's rarely the case. Plenty of mosquitoes though.

 

Just so a certain someone doesn't come out saying she doesn't take her own BOTM pictures:

 

We had a little espresso by a bunch of swallow nests, they were quite busy with all the mosquitoes around. And again, more bins, @boboneleg!

 

Quick dash of fuel, trying to not let the heat get you when stopped:

 

And back on the road, an hour or so later, quick snack stop, then onto the motorway to Lisbon, pass the big bridge:

 

And to Ericeira