8 October 2022 - Lamego and driving the Douro Valley part 1.
Miles driven today = 44
Total Miles to date = 2,093
Our plan for the next couple of days is to take our time driving down the Douro valley to the coast near Porto. We had considered doing it all in one hit. As the crow flies it's less than 50 miles but on roads as twisty as these it would still be between 4 and 5 hours driving, so we decided to take it easy and booked ourselves a campsite which is roughly half way.
Having given ourselves such a relatively stress free agenda we decided to take ourselves on a little detour before heading west. Lamega is a solid 11km of uphill climbing to the south of Regua. It's known as the centre of production for the fizzy Raposeira wine. It also hosted Portugal's first Parliament in 1143 and therefore, contentiously, considers itself to be the country's birthplace.
The whole town is overlooked by the Baroque shrine of Nossa Senhora dos Remedios. This "stairway to heaven" is reminiscent of the Bom Jesus shrine near Braga but we have already effectively by-passed that so it was good to be able to see something similarly majestic first hand.
At the other end of the town's central avenue is the the Cathedral or "Se"
The ceilings inside must have been wonderfully decorated in their prime but are badly faded now.
You could also access the 16th century cloisters with their rose garden through a door to the side of the Cathedral.
The building to the right is the Porta do Sol Theatre. The town does have a castle which didn't really look worth the climb. You can just see it poking above the other buildings in the photo.
Some of the back streets were on impossibly steep slopes. The residents here must have seriously impressive calf muscles.
We headed back towards the Douro on the N226. En route we pulled over for this impressive view down over the valley with Regua in the distance. Even the power lines couldn't spoil the breathtaking spectacle.
We picked up the N222 which follows the southern slopes of the Douro valley all the way to Porto.
It's reckoned to be one of the most amazing roads to drive in all of Portugal. I think Lisa actually enjoyed it for a change although, being a Saturday, there was less traffic to worry about.
On every turn we were treated to the most stunning panoramas. Occasionally the vineyards gave way to olive groves and cherry orchards.
The road moved away from the Douro to follow the seep sided gorge of the Rio Cabrum. We stopped for lunch at the bridge where the road crossed the river and returned to the main valley.
We dropped down toward the river level and crossed to the northern side of the Douro at Porto Antigo, picking up the N211 through the quaint Riverside town of Ribadouro. We climbed and then dropped to cross again to the southern shore at the Carapatello Dam.
The Douro is dammed at a number of places along its length. Previously it would have been unavigable when in flood but the dams have effectively created a series of ribbon lakes.
The cruise boats which ply their trade up and down the river have to pass through a series of huge locks to enter and exit each section.
We climbed away from the dam and very quickly found the entrance to our home for the night. It's a small campsite with only 8 motorhome bays and they are now full so I'm glad we called ahead yesterday. It's €20 a night with hook up.
We can use the pool and there is a nice looking restaurant attached with amazing views from the terrace so we've booked a table for 7:30, although I've subsequently realised it'll be getting dark by then so I'm not sure how much we will be able to see. We've been advised to wear our big coats as it could be a chilly 13 degrees!
Update - and a very nice meal it was too as it goes. We didn't need our big coats. It was still north of 20 degrees but it was a little on the dark side sat out on the terrace. We both ordered salmon which, like most Portuguese food, was a tad over-salted but huge portions. It was all served up on one plate which we thought was a little odd until we got the bill and realised we had one large portion between us so €20 the lot!
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