Saturday 1st June we left Sines very grateful for the free parking space and the cool breeze that kept the temperatures below 21 degrees for our entire stay. We were heading north but there were no other cool spots on the way. The best we could hope for was that by the time we had reached our destination the sun would have started setting.

This would be a full day’s drive, getting to our next overnight stop on the border with Spain in time for dinner. We were passing all the places we would have loved to visit, places we had been to in a different year and were looking forward to seeing again but not this year, maybe next year or maybe not for a long time. As we spent all day in the van this post is filled with photos from past trips to these places, a trip through time…

Like Alcácer do Sal with its narrow shady streets, small museum, riverside cafes, multiple restaurants and a nice campsite (with washing machine!) near two supermarkets – everything within reach.

And Lisbon, the capital city where we stayed in the huge campsite and I took a bus to the train into the city the year I attended a creativity course. Where the nuns in the monastery invented Pastel de Nata’s and they are still baked daily nearby.

Or Mafra with its huge cathedral with 4 (or maybe 5) church organs and attached palace now a museum.

And Alcobaça with an equally huge cathedral and instead of a palace an almost empty monastery attached. Where an artist was repainting the life size statue of Jesus on the cross.

The city of Porto where we went on a food tour in 2023 has always been a location with a more moderate climate and we love it but even Porto was baking in the heat so we drove past getting little glimpses of the bridges in the distance.

Aveiro where we parked by the train station and took a train to Porto for the food tour. The colourful town with Venetian style boats and coloured ribbons instead of locks proclaiming love on their many bridges.

The town – Vila Nova de Cerveira – our destination on the Spanish-Portuguese border may not have been cool in temperature but it has the coolest tapas. So we were willing to risk higher temperatures!

The first thing we did when we arrived was to walk in the blazing sun (the sun hadn’t set just yet…) from the car park to the restaurant to book a table for later. This place is so popular with the locals, and possibly the Spanish from over the border, that we were concerned we might miss the prize we had risked the heat for. Table booked we sat in a shaded courtyard with a cold drink reading.

After dinner the sun had set but it was still warm enough to sit by the river (which borders north Portugal and Spain) and appreciate the natural air conditioning coming off the water. Tomorrow we would travel a couple of hours into Spain just north of Santiago de Compostela to a parking spot at a greenway, Via Verde. The temperatures were forecast to be a max of 25 degrees on Sunday going up to 28 degrees on Monday. We would only be staying one night on our route north. All manner of things are well.