Witch Country

After a stunning drive along the rather curvaceous roads of the Alto Douro, we arrived at the city of Lamego which is one of the oldest in Portugal and is famous for its sanctuario. We stayed at a lovely site to catch up on washing and wee fee and, on our walk to the town, we were offered a lift by a father and son who thought it was too terrible for us to be walking in the rain. Eventually we accepted their offer (wet dog and all) and they were kind enough to give us a potted history of the place when we arrived. I can't help thinking that the Portuguese are some of the nicest people we have met on all our travels.

Lamego Sanctuario

Our stay was brief as we were keen to get to the Tras-Os-Montes area which is supposed to be the witchiest place in Portugal. I have to say we were a little disappointed by the town of Montalegre which had more than a hint of the Cambourne about it (sorry Cambourne), especially when we were awoken at 6 am to the sounds of a market being erected around Dickie. After the initial panic we packed up and headed off to Vilar de Perdizes.

This Perdizes cottage has seen better days

I can imagine an ancient witch living here

The bridge between Spain and Portugal

What a difference! Perdizes has a witches market once a year, in September I think, and is a somewhat tumble down village surrounded by the most gorgeous countryside. On our walk we found a burial chamber and a gorge gorge which was a little bit like St Nectan's Glen in Cornwall. The river marked the border between Spain and Portugal.

burial chamber

close up

Olas de Santa Minha

We sadly left Portugal and are now in Spain, well Galicia actually. We are parked by a river and have met a lovely young British couple (hi Tony and Claire) who are full timing in their Burstner van, and allegedly (smiley face) have seen an otter in the wild only yesterday at this very site. We have not been so lucky but did meet a couple of Yorkshire terriers called Eros and Dior which was almost as good. We did try to find the otter but were unsuccessful even with Hugo helping. 

A small beverage tonight methinks (having finally recovered from the hangover).