Chaves and Camping Quinta do Rebentao

This was by far the quietest camp site yet and one of the least expensive. The welcome was great. We were taken on a motor tour of the town by the Director of the campsite Albano Gomes. He was also Director of Camping Portugal some years ago. He was very proud of his town and took us to the Old Roman Thermal Spa centre to taste the water. The water comes out of the ground at an amazing 73 degrees. We also got to see the train museum and nearly  everyone seemed to know our guide.  Walking back with our shopping later, Jose the reception man stopped and gave us lift back to the camping.We will definitely be back here.
Thanks Albano, Jose and staff for a great stay.

Casa de Mateus, Vila Real.

Had to visit this one, it is the house of the Mateus Rose fame. The gardens are full of immaculate box hedges and only one full time gardener. He cuts the hedges with hand shears.
Everything in the house is made of Chestnut wood and every ceiling is different. Half the house is open to the public but the other is still lived in by the family.

Nossa Senhora dos Remidios Lamego

This is a beautiful Pilgrimage church on a hillside overlooking Lamego.
We took the van up to the car park and then Sarah made me climb down all 686 steps and then back up, luckily not on my knees.

Linhares

The village of Linhares is supposed to be a "Living museum" but we did not see much living there. There were however some interesting Boulder houses built arond the local rocks. The medieval castle is quite good too.

Tour of Serra da Estrela

Took a 75 mile ride round the Serra. The road round the Glacial valley was breathtaking, at least it was for Sarah being on the back of the scooter.
The rock formations were impressive especially the Old mans head in the picture. The top of the mountain is just on 2000 meters and has a shop selling local cheese and ham and is a ski centre. There was still some piled up snow on the top.We stopped at a waterfall on the way up called Poco do Inferno. We found the difficult route up.

Quinta das Cegonhas camping

We found another Dutch run site in a delightful terraced garden of a seventeenth century Manor House.
We took a walk up to the second highest village in Portugal, Folgosinho.

Conimbriga Roman ruins

Well preserved Roman town with lots of work to show how this must have looked in its heyday.

Convento do Cristo , Tomar.

The entrance is dominated by a Templar Castle and leads into a garden in front of the Convento.  Difficult to do this justice in a short note, I took over 75 pictures of the Convento so it gives a clue as to how spectacular it is.

Quinta da Cerejeira

Another lovely quiet campsite run by the Dutch, they seem to love Portugal.
We had a lovely Paella outside in the sun.

Marvao

This visit to Marvao started out as a potential disaster, I locked the keys to the scooter under the saddle. Luckily a workman gave us some wire and Sarah managed to fish them out while I pulled the seat up.
The Castle made up for all this and was the most fantastic castle yet. They were doing a lot of work on the building and the grounds. The castle is used as a venue for festivals by the Spanish as well as the Portugese. Sarah spotted a new bird for us a Blue Rock thrush .