Bucaco Palace arboretum and Porto

A short drive took us up the valley to Bucaco National Forest.  This is a fantastic place, a wooded hill side that is partly an arboretum, a monastery and a folly of a hunting lodge (now an expensive hotel).  The weather was variable to say the least, by the time we had climbed up to the entrance of the hotel from the campsite in the valley we were soaked.  Met a lovely couple who had brought their campervan to the car park and joined them for a coffee in the hotel and got to see some of the amazing azulejos (tiles) and Manueline arched doorways.  The Carmelite monastery partially remains, and the cork lined cells reminded us of the convento dos Capuchos at Sintra.    

The camellias and the magnolias were in flower but being damaged by the heavy rain. 

The arboretum has some wonderful specimens, a magnificent Tasmanian eucalyptus planted in 1876 and the Bucaco cedar said to of been planted in 1644.

 A valley of tree ferns lead to the Fonte Fria a casade over steps ( a bit like the one at Chatsworth House).

Above the hotel an old cobbled pathway zigzagging up the hill side named the Via Sacra with small chapels marking the stations of the cross.  

The park staff were very busy in the forest as there had been a lot of storm damage with many trees uprooted and quite a few of the smaller pathways blocked by fallen trees.  A beautiful place to visit and we will come again and explore further afield, especially the spa town of Luso just down the road.

From Bucaco we headed towards the Douro valley stopping off overnight to visit our pals Eric and Susan.  They are in the process of re-building an old Portuguese farmhouse.  They have been working on it steadily for two years and say it will take another two years to finish.  The property has a fantastic outlook and their Portuguese neighbours are really friendly and helpful. They made us most welcome, cooked us a lovely meal and sent us off the next day with lots of yummy provisions.  Rob will update this with pictures from his IPhone when he works out how to do it.....

PORTO

We spent a rainy day travelling through the Douro valley which was stunning but was shrouded in mist and we did not see it at its best. We arrived at Camping Marisol just south of the city. Unfortunately the weather did not improve over the next couple of days and on Tuesday we donned our wet weather gear and braved a day sight- seeing in Porto.  The local bus took us to the centre and our first port of call was the railway station which is renowned for its azulejos (tiles) walls.

 A quick soaking later we arrived at the Se (cathedral) and the Pillory column. 

The church of Santa Clara was very plain on the outside but the interior was completely covered in gilded wood. 

   The buildings around the main shopping areas were very grand and so was the Torre dos Clerigos, 75m high.  We decided not to climb its 240 steps as by this time the rain was coming down quite sharply. 

  We found shelter from the rain at the church of St Francis which has a 18^th C baroque interior, everything that can be gilded is and supposedly 450lbs of gold was used, unfortunately for us photographs were not allowed except in the catacombs where not even 1oz of gold was to be seen.