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Two and a half weeks in july of 2016 I traveled and camped in Portugal with Eduardo. He showed me his country. This is what I saw.

My name is Insa Wulf and at the following pages I want to show you what I have seen, I want to tell you what I experienced, give you an impression of the atmosphere.

Maybe you find some inspiration, maybe you fall in love with some beautiful landscape.

Most of all I want to encourage you to travel and explore new places. And until then: feel the different moods in this little book.

This book including layout, photos, sketches and texts is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Ansichten, content

Espinho 5 Via Serra da Estrela to Covilhã 17 Covilhã to Elvas 29 Évora 55 Sines 75 Vila Nova de Milfontes 83 Cabo Sardão to Sagres 111

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Espinho „Espinho is a city and a municipality located in the Aveiro District, Portugal. It is located in both the

Greater Porto and the Metropolitan Area of Porto. It is one of the smallest municipalities in Portugal and was, until 1899, part of the Santa Maria da Feira Municipality.

In 2011, Espinho had a population of 31,786,in an area of 21.06 km².

It is a beach resort and a zone of legal gambling with a casino - Casino Solverde. Its fair - Feira de Espinho, having been first organised in 1894, is well known in Portugal. The city is home to CINANIMA Festival Internacional de Cinema de Animação, an international animation festival. The municipal holiday is June 16. source: wikipedia The day in Espinho started very foggy but warm. Eduardo showed me the weekly market, where you can buy nearly everything. This market feels like it is ten kilometers long, and for walking till the end and back to the beginning you need about two to three hours (Yes, it is huge!).

The first stands are for fish, then there are loads of meat and vegetable stands as well as some for plants and flowers. After that you would see lots of small animals: Imagine chicken, ducks, guinea pigs and rabbits sitting in small cages or cardboard boxes. Slowly the offers change to anything made of braid fabrics, like baskets as well as any type of tools for the kitchen - a lot of pottery. After that the stands offer any type of clothes: From sports shirts and daily clothes, aprons, sunglases and baseball caps to socks and underwear, there would be anything you could look for. All in all it‘s very interesting diversity. Don‘t underestimate also the many different types of people selling those things. Some of them sitting there with their families and shouting at each other.

We covered ourselves with hats, baskets, beach towels, a funny looking plant and delicious small fishes and veggies for that day.

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Via „Serra Serra da Estrela to Covilhã da Estrela („Star Mountain Range“) is the highest mountain range in Continental Portugal.

Together with the Serra da Lousã it is the westernmost constituent range of the Sistema Central and also one of the highest in the system. It includes mainland Portugal‘s highest point at 1,993 metres (6,539 feet) above mean sea level (although the summit of Mount Pico in the Portuguese Azores islands is higher).

This point is not a distinctive mountain summit, but rather the highest point in a plateau, being known as Torre („Tower“ in English). Torre is an unusual summit in that it is accessible by a paved road. The peak has a topographic prominence of 1,204 m (3,950 ft) and its parent peak is Pico Almanzor, in Spain.

The mountain range, situated between the municipalities of Seia, Manteigas, Gouveia, Guarda and Covilhã, is about 100 kilometres (60 miles) long and is 30 km (19 mi) across at its widest point. It is formed from a huge granite ridge that once formed the southern frontier of the country. Due to its bizarrely shaped crags and gorges, mountain streams and lakes, beautiful forests and magnificent views, the area ranks among Portugal’s outstanding scenic attractions.“ source: wikipedia.

The first day of travelling was dedicated to go through Serra da Estrela mountains. Before the trip I was afraid how to handle the heat of Portugal as a person from northern europe. My wish was to keep at least 10l of water in the car to not dehydrate. Though to my biggest surprise there were so many natural water sources in the mountain area that every few kilometres we could refill our small 0,5l bottles. These great conditions would keep being like that for all northern Portugal.

So we drove around the mountain area, saw some dams, clambered around the stony area of a small lake, saw adorable puppies of the fluffy Estrela mountain dog, took a ride in a cable car... and enjoyed the sun and really rocky mountains.

Portugal is mostly associated with the beaches of the Atlantic. That made the mountain area a surprise to me. It is worth going around this area, eating the amazing cheese, carrying it with yourself for many days in tupperware and have it smell for you even when you‘re already at the beaches of Algarve.

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Covilhã to Elvas „Elvas is a Portuguese municipality, an episcopal city and frontier fortress of Portugal, located in the

district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about 230 kilometres (140 mi) east of Lisbon, and about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of the Spanish fortress of Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway.

Elvas is among the finest examples of intensive usage of the trace italienne (star fort) in military architecture, and has been a World Heritage Site since 30 June 2012. The inscribed site name is Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications.“ source: wikipedia The starting point for this day was the city of Covilhã. It also has this contrary architectural mixture of buildings with the combination of stone and white walls compared to more modern Estilo Português Suave houses (an architectural style, „Soft Portuguese style“). A coffee in a café gave us energy to move on.

The heat was strong in the mountains. We only made a quick stop to watch the river pass by next to the road. I was suffering in the midday sun while Ed was coping better. Here and there we would pass a forest of eucalyptus. Eduardo tells me they are not of origin in Portugal but grow like crazy in the warm conditions.

We discover by accident a small village called Castelo Novo. It has a stone tower which seem to be remains of a fortress that offers a great view around the village. What else we will discover is an „Área de lazer“, a river and meadow. So it‘s an area for lazer things, Ed? „Noooo, that means Recreation Area“. Many times more I‘ll be impressed about how many Áreas de lazer one can find in Portugal. A lot of places, all that I saw next to a river, lake or else, with good conditions and overall for free. It‘s amazing.

Some time later we stop at a village with houses painted in typical colors: Basecolor white because of limestone colour and yellow borders. The village is giving us an impression of how Elvas might be like.

In Elvas, a city with very tangles streets, I feel the restless atmosphere of a border city. It‘s interesting to see something like an aqueduct from roman times as well as remains of a fortress.

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Évora „Évora is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 56,596, in an area of 1307.08 km². It is the seat of the Évora District and capital of the Alentejo region. The present Mayor is Carlos Pinto de Sá of the CDU coalition. The municipal holiday is 29 June.

Due to its well-preserved old town centre, still partially enclosed by medieval walls, and a large number of monuments dating from various historical periods, including a Roman Temple, Évora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network. Évora is ranked number two in the Portuguese most livable cities survey of living conditions published yearly by Expresso. It was ranked first in a study concerning competitiveness of the 18 Portuguese district capitals, according to a 2006 study made by Minho University economic researchers.“ source: Wikipedia The next day Ed and I spend nearly totally in Évora. It is a very beautiful city with a small chapel that tears out everyone from usual thoughts: the bones chapel. You see now one picture of it here to left.

Imagine all walls of the chapel room covered and decorated in human bones. It was impressive with which oversight and detailed work the room was furnished in bones.

The city of Évora shows itself to you on many facades with the Alentejo typical colours white and yellow. At the market the houses are of the stones and white walls-combination. The streets also feel tangled but not as crazy as in Elvas. Some time of the day we spent inside and on top of the cathedral of Évora, a beautiful massive building with interesting looking towers. From the roof one can already see the remains of a Roman Temple which is situated nearly next to the cathedral This city is old. You can try to feel the age in the narrow streets. Though it‘s impossible to really imagine the whole history here: Romans conquered the city more than 2.000 years ago, the city already existed quite some time then.

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Sines „Sines is a Portuguese city of Setubal district, the Alentejo region and subregion of the Alentejo coast, with about 18,298 inhabitants (2015 INE). Find the largest and the first port area of Portugal and the main city industrial port logistics in Portugal and the birthplace of Vasco da Gama.

It is the seat of a municipality with 203.30 km ² of area and 18,598 inhabitants (2015 INE), divided into two parishes. The municipality is bordered to the north and east by the municipality of Santiago do Cacém, south and west by Odemira has coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. The coastline of the city, south of San Torpes, is part of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina.“ source: wikipedia In the evening Ed and I arrive in Sines. Some days later the city will host a Music festival but until then there is a food festival. Portuguese love food festivals! You can count on the fact that somewhere right now there is a festival of shrimp, a festival of sardines, of watermelon or a festival of cherries in some lovely city of Portugal.

Some moments in the sun at the beach filled me up with energy and we filled up our stomach afterwards with tasty food from the food festival. Another great thing to discover: Beaches basically in the heart of a city. It‘s lovely to have everything nearby and somehow this beaches give you a spirit of relaxing.

We camp at a big camping at the outer border of Sines. On the way to Sines I could already see a lot of surf shops, the atlantic waves are strong. In the evening we are lucky to witness some concerts at Porto Covo near Sines, where some pre-warming for the music festival takes place. Next morning we come back to that area, have a look at the spectacular coast and cliffs.

Short after Sines we stop and spend some time at the beach, opposite of a small island and enjoy our first full day at the coast. Some drawing takes place.

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Vila„VilaNova de Milfontes Nova de Milfontes is a civil parish in the municipality of Odemira of the Portuguese Alentejo region.

The population in 2011 was 5,031, in an area of 76.48 km².“ Source: Wikipedia

Vila Nova de Milfontes - that small village was a holiday destination for Ed back in the days when he was a kid. Now we‘re here. Our camping place has a relaxed size, high trees here and there.

The river Mira exits at Milfontes into the Atlantic ocean so that you have a choice whether you want to have a swim at the warm river water or at the exciting and colder ocean water. In the morning we explore the fisherman harbour and observe the agile looking boats.

It is Eduardo‘s birthday so we decide to rent surf boards and try our luck. Ha! And with us we take the car key into the sea. With all the excitement of surfing we forget that the car key is battery-driven and with the salt of the ocean... you can guess! Electric key is not electric anymore! Corrosion.

With some more adventure of hitchhiking, a super friendly surf store woman, patience for the towing guy we and the car manage to get back to the camping spot. So there we are, with a non-functioning car key forever at a camping in Portugal! Luckily Ed‘s friend Beate will send us the spare key and with 24h shipping (and some more problems there...) we only stay at Milfontes for a total of 6 days! :-) So, we get a good rest, start more into barbequeing, we draw at the beach, wash our clothes, spend hours in the cafe with bicas or finos... No day really being able to say when we can leave. My happiness is of a good size since the camping place is really the best we have during all the trip, tall trees, some amount of space, sometimes crazy teenage neighbours, sometimes calm. Also a new discovery: white Sangria - from now on preferred in contrast to red one.

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Cabo„Sagres Sardão to Sagres is a civil parish in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in the southern Algarve of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 1,909, in an area of 34.37 square kilometres (13.27 sq mi). It is historically connected to the early Portuguese Age of Discovery.“ Source: Wikipedia

Before coming to Sagres we spend one night nearby at a camping of the city of Alvor at the Mediterranean coast. It is more a late-night-emergeny solution. We don‘t really see much of the city.

Cabo Sardão is a crazy pile of cliffs. After you arrive at the parking you pass a lighthouse and approach the ocean to see those stunning huge rock layers breaking out of the sea. Near the tip of one of these rocks a stork even had its nest and was sitting on it. This is such an impressive spot of the earth! In addition to all this fantastic crazy view it would show itself first in a huge load of fog which disappeared after 15 minutes, a bit like a curtain opening.

In Sagres unfortunately the view remained cloudy and foggy, a bit grey. It‘s been interesting to be at this most western point of Europe and former nautical school. Standing on a big rock at the tip of Portugal.

(It is also the site where in the 11th century a poor bacalhao fisherman invented the famous sagres beer.)

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