Spain and Portugal – Regua to Mondim de Basto
Previous day || Back to trip summary page ¦¦ Next day
Regua to Mondim de Basto
Another night on the aire at Regua in Portugal, as we breakfast a lady appears at the door, she is selling figs and other produce from her smallholding, we buy a box of figs for €5, the green ones are ripe, sweet and delicious. I speak to her in french, I am surprised to learn that she travels about 30 km from home to sell her produce.
We service Hymer on the Area de Servico para autocaravanas and leave Régua just after 11.00am calling at Intermarché for some fresh food: chicken, salad veg and grapefruit. No fresh milk, so more UHT has to do. Shopping in Portugal is not such a good experience as in Spain or France. The quality of fresh produce is lower, and there is a lot less choice. However you can buy dried salted cod in very large pieces. It is piled high in the supermarket and has a distinctive aroma, I wanted to sample it, but Gill thought it might leave a smell in the Hymer. We did once have an Indian Take-Away, the smell lingered for days.
Taking the N108 to Rede (on the railway line) where we turn onto the N101, a steep uphill climb through Mesão Frio and stop for lunch on the high road with great views across the valley just before the village of Quintela. We continue on the N101 to Amarante where we take the N15 through Amarante crossing the river Tâmega. At a branch in the road north of Amarante we take the N210 through Celorico de Basto where we see the tall conical hill at Mondim. We overshoot the turning for the Area de Servico as it is at the steep and narrow part of the old town. Coming back through the new town we turn down the road to the hotel which has easy access.
We immediately recognise the Area by the black circular tyre marks of the local youth! Many motorhomes have not stayed here because of it, others have said it is quiet. We are tired and it is hot, about 29°C so we park up under the trees anyway. We walk into the old town which is delightful with steep, narrow streets full of shade and lots of places to eat (but they do not open until about 8.00pm). The restaurants follow the Portuguese way, not much choice, you get what is being cooked today, and you are not sure how much it’s going to cost you. One restaurant had a note saying the cost was often around €20 per person plus drinks. That is hard for us Brits to cope with, we like to know how much things are, not enter into an open-ended commitment.
Hot and tired we return to the camper, open wine and sit out in the cool of the shade. Later when it is getting dark we eat Serrano ham salad for tea and melon. Waiting until the restaurants open at 8.00pm is too late for us to eat, usually we are in bed between 9.00 and 9.30. The sky is clear and full of stars, it is quiet with only one other camper for company and no noise of the locals spinning around the car park in the night.
Gallery Regua to Mondim de Basto
Click at image to enlarge
