October 1st - 6th, 2012 (Spain, Portugal, Spain)
Progress so far (Click picture to zoom)
Before leaving Baiona we did the final walk recommended by the Tourist Information Office, which was around the Castelo de Monterreal and spent several hours trying in vain to follow the vague map instructions. In the end we gave up and just enjoyed the walk around the ramparts, before heading back to the boat. The next morning started off quite bright and sunny but the mist started to roll in just as we weighed anchor. We had decided to go down to Viana do Castelo in Portugal, which was about 35 miles away. We had the Portuguese courtesy ensign so thought we might as well hoist it! There was very little wind so we motored the whole way and just as we were tying up to the pontoon, the sea breeze kicked in, which would have given us a great sail. Just our luck!
We spent three nights here and once again met up with Tony & Jane on Capisce who invited us round for a delicious three course meal meal one evening, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We met up for drinks on Mistroma on the final night, before we headed back up to Baiona and they were headed south to Porto and then across to the Canaries.
This is a lovely town, but we only managed one day of sightseeing, as the rest of the time was spent catching up with outstanding jobs on the boat. We very much enjoyed what we did manage to fit in and will come back here again next year, when we’ll have more time. We visited Gil Eannes, an old hospital ship which was built in 1955 and wandered through her decks looking at all the old medical and navigation equipment used at that time.
After a leisurely lunch in one of the town squares, we took the funicular up to Santa Luzia which has amazing views of the surrounding countryside and on a clear day you can see for 40 miles. It wasn’t quite so clear when we were there. The interior of the church is spectacular and after wandering around and then getting the lift up to the top of one of the towers, which provided even better views, we decided to walk back down the hill. There is a lovely cobblestone path that takes you straight down into town and keeps crossing over the twisting road.
We motored down the river out of Viana do Castelo in brilliant sunshine and headed north for the first time since leaving home. A sea breeze had got up as we were leaving and we were hopeful that we would have a good sail back to Baiona, but after half an hour it died away and we were down to about 2kts, so yet again we had to motor. We arrived back in Baiona in the early evening and once more anchored in the bay.
