Road Trip - France, Spain, Portugal

[willwander]

Day 24
Salamanca. Nice drive out the bottom end of the Picos, great mountain road. Joined a big dual carriageway heading south, drove over an hour before we saw another vehicle in either direction, weird. Put on some good tunes, munched some more miles in the van, great road trip day. Another couple of hours and we arrived at ‘Camping Don Quijote’ , seems nice, it’s busy.

 

[willwander]

Day 25
Salamanca. Spent the day in town, nice enough, coffee and people watching in plaza mayor, ate a very nice cake type thing. Food at the campsite, surprisingly good.

 

[kurienp]

Day 25
Salamanca. Spent the day in town, nice enough, coffee and people watching in plaza mayor, ate a very nice cake type thing. Food at the campsite, surprisingly good.

C'mon. We need some pics. How about a few pics each day?

 

[Simon197]

Great thread thank you. How have you found Spain for the dogs? Dog friendly?

 

[willwander]

C'mon. We need some pics. How about a few pics each day?

Ha, I have pics, didn’t think anyone would be interested.

 

[willwander]

Great thread thank you. How have you found Spain for the dogs? Dog friendly?

It’s ok. No problem on campsites, but it’s out of season, I think in season there are more restrictions. You can’t take them on public transport, unless they fit in a bag. Shops and restaurants, mixed. Obviously you have to be mindful of the heat on hot days, plenty of water and shade.

France was much better.

 

[CaliKatt]

Ha, I have pics, didn’t think anyone would be interested.

 

[willwander]

View attachment 129573

But other people’s holiday pics are a bit boring haha,
I’ll try do better. This was the nice cake thing which did have an interesting name, which I’ve forgot. It was delicious.

 

[larrylamb]

But other people’s holiday pics are a bit boring haha,
I’ll try do better. This was the nice cake thing which did have an interesting name, which I’ve forgot. It was delicious.
View attachment 129587

looks like a Danish Spandauer.

 

[willwander]

Day 26
Welcome to Portugal !
Last night we planned to go to Porto, but it keeps raining there, so this morning we changed our mind. A 4hr drive down empty dual carriageway brought us to ‘camping Pelinos’, just outside of Tomar, in central Portugal just north of Lisbon. Campsite is rural, bit hippy but nice little site. Went for a walk, saw a snake !

Photo for @kurienp

 

[chockswahay]

If you're still there tomorrow i highly recommend a visit to Convento De Christo ...... we went there a few years ago in a previous van ........ here is a 'blog entry' if you feel inclined ........

13th March: Tomar

'The Order of the Knights Templar' I think their title alone is evocative in itself. It conjures up images of magnificent warriors, ri...

wolfydoesportugal.blogspot.com

 

[willwander]

If you're still there tomorrow i highly recommend a visit to Convento De Christo ...... we went there a few years ago in a previous van ........ here is a 'blog entry' if you feel inclined ........

13th March: Tomar

'The Order of the Knights Templar' I think their title alone is evocative in itself. It conjures up images of magnificent warriors, ri...

wolfydoesportugal.blogspot.com

Hi, yes we plan to visit Tomar tomorrow.
I’m now busy scouring your blog for tips.

We plan to eventually make our way down through Portugal and back along southern Spain, Cordoba, Granada etc. perhaps avoiding the most developed resorts along the coast.

Any tips on good spots gratefully received.

 

[Azteccamper]

Hi, yes we plan to visit Tomar tomorrow.
I’m now busy scouring your blog for tips.

We plan to eventually make our way down through Portugal and back along southern Spain, Cordoba, Granada etc. perhaps avoiding the most developed resorts along the coast.

Any tips on good spots gratefully received.

Fatima is a very interesting town not far from Tomar.

Recommend Ronda in southern Spain. Nice site about 20 min walk into the town. Bullring is impressive as is the well documented ‘Puente Nuevo’.

El Sur Camping Resort - Ronda

Camping Rural Resort El Sur in Ronda

www.campingelsur.com

 

[secret lemonade drinker]

The Fort at Sagres is worth a visit, if you are going all the way South and do Gibraltar on the way back

 

[kurienp]

Day 26
Welcome to Portugal !
Last night we planned to go to Porto, but it keeps raining there, so this morning we changed our mind. A 4hr drive down empty dual carriageway brought us to ‘camping Pelinos’, just outside of Tomar, in central Portugal just north of Lisbon. Campsite is rural, bit hippy but nice little site. Went for a walk, saw a snake !

Photo for @kurienp
View attachment 129591

View attachment 129598

Thank you. love those two guys!

On Portugal - here's a log of our travels in Portugal - 2020 - https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/portugal-2020.37198/

I think you have already crossed the Duro valley, but there is a great train ride (return) from Pinhao which is east of Porto.

An hour up from where you are is Praia da Costa Nova - you can park on the Aveiro Lagoon promenade.

If you're heading further south - Lisboa camping - just outside of main Lisbon is great for access to the city. I would not take my van in. A few Euros for a taxi into town is great. In addition, in town, we hired an autorikshaw and, if I remember right, for about 30Euros he gave us a full private tour of Lisbon in a few hours (and don't miss to eat Pasteis de Belem)

The city is quite pet friendly too.

further down - Sintra, visit the Pena Palace is also a good visit.

 

[willwander]

Thank you. love those two guys!

On Portugal - here's a log of our travels in Portugal - 2020 - https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/portugal-2020.37198/

I think you have already crossed the Duro valley, but there is a great train ride (return) from Pinhao which is east of Porto.

An hour up from where you are is Praia da Costa Nova - you can park on the Aveiro Lagoon promenade.

If you're heading further south - Lisboa camping - just outside of main Lisbon is great for access to the city. I would not take my van in. A few Euros for a taxi into town is great. In addition, in town, we hired an autorikshaw and, if I remember right, for about 30Euros he gave us a full private tour of Lisbon in a few hours (and don't miss to eat Pasteis de Belem)

The city is quite pet friendly too.

further down - Sintra, visit the Pena Palace is also a good visit.

Ah, now you’ve made my blog post look bad, haha

 

[kurienp]

Ah, now you’ve made my blog post look bad, haha

Ha ha! That was not a live post like yours!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

Hi, yes we plan to visit Tomar tomorrow.
I’m now busy scouring your blog for tips.

We plan to eventually make our way down through Portugal and back along southern Spain, Cordoba, Granada etc. perhaps avoiding the most developed resorts along the coast.

Any tips on good spots gratefully received.

There's a dozen trips mainly around Spain documented on our blog.

Most trips were out of season so many of the sites will be year round.

www.caravanramblings.co.uk

 

[willwander]

Fatima is a very interesting town not far from Tomar.

Recommend Ronda in southern Spain. Nice site about 20 min walk into the town. Bullring is impressive as is the well documented ‘Puente Nuevo’.

El Sur Camping Resort - Ronda

Camping Rural Resort El Sur in Ronda

www.campingelsur.com

Interesting, I actually added El Sur to our list of maybe’s last night.

 

[CaliforniaSeb]

But other people’s holiday pics are a bit boring haha,
I’ll try do better. This was the nice cake thing which did have an interesting name, which I’ve forgot. It was delicious.
View attachment 129587

Your dog is actually licking their lips at that pastry!
Salamanca we haven't been too. You seemed a bit "so so" about the place if I read correctly?

 

[willwander]

Your dog is actually licking their lips at that pastry!
Salamanca we haven't been too. You seemed a bit "so so" about the place if I read correctly?

Maybe we’d just seen too many churches by then, there’s a couple of spectacular ones and plaza mayor is nice, but found it a bit touristy and outside of the headliners, a bit meh. Personally preferred Pamplona.
Never go by anything I say hahah, I’m a rubbish tourist, I rarely read much about a place or go into the history etc. We just have a mooch and a coffee.
Love the name tho, ’Salamanca’ sounds so exotic when you say it out loud.

 

[willwander]

Day 27
Tomar, lovely place. Visited the castle grounds, had to sneak the dogs in, didn’t go inside. Ha. Those Knights Templar really got around. Had a mooch round the old town and an ice cream, really chill place, relaxed. We liked it.

Photo for attention.

 

[Bluebird]

Don Quijote ? We left there weds morning, lots of locals eating in the campsite restaurant which is always a good sign.

 

[willwander]

Day 28
São Martinho do Porto. Spent the morning in Nazaré, which was nice. I was excited to see the iconic spot where Sebastian Steudtner set the record for the biggest wave ever surfed (28.5 meters), sadly no big waves today. The town was nice actually.
We then went to ‘Praia da Gralha’, drove down a very steep and sketchy track right onto the beach which was deserted except for a couple of blokes fishing, dogs had a great run off lead.
Staying tonight at Yello village, colina do sol, nice site and a refreshing change from some pretty average ones of late.

Still dodging the rain, just.

Pics to keep you happy

 

[soulstyledevon]

How has the van been…?