Last stops in Portugal before crossing the border into Spain

Leaving Amarante we headed out on the IP4 towards Bragança.  The road wound its way up to an elevation of nearly 1,000 metres, and then all the way back down again, with beautiful views over the countryside.

You know a road is steep and winding when you have these 'safety slip-ways every so many kilometres down the road!

We decided to stop about 40kms outside Bragança at a reservoir, Barregem do Azibo just below the little village of Santa Combinha.  There are no facilities here but we had everything we needed, so all was good (N41.58168 W6.89952).

The Aire at Barregem do Azibo

Mel put on his Wikiloc App to see if there were any walks in the area and what do you know we were soon off on a 10km hike around the reservoir!  It is a large Biodiversity area, attracting lots of butterflies, dragonflies and eagles.

Mel looking across to the Aire 

Plenty of old cork oak trees here, with a lot having been stripped of its cork.  As well as bottle corks, the Portuguese make a lot of products with the cork.  We had walked right from the top of the hill in the distance.  It was a steep climb back!

Santa Combinha

Back at the motorhome, we watched quite a few eagles circling around us and then one landed and took off down by the waters edge.

Leaving the reservoir we went to Bragança, with its ancient citadel and perfectly preserved wall.  The Aire has all the usual facilities and can take approx 30 motorhomes (N41.80389 W6.74633).  Good job we got here early as within the space of an hour it was full of French motorhomes, it's a popular spot for them to stay before heading north back to France.

We had a wander around the town, then along by the river before heading up to the castle.

Walking along the river, we came across this.  Interesting use of old materials, but no idea what it was supposed to symbolize.

Entering the castle walls to the citadel.  The Bragançans were the last line of Portuguese monarchs, ruling from 1640 when they replaced the Spaniards until the fall of the monarchy in 1910.

Igreja de Santa Maria and the Domus Municipalis - a fifteenth-century Romanesque monument (municipal meeting room on the first floor and cistern below)

The tower houses a military museum, spread out on 4 floors in the tiny rooms.  Mostly weapons with a few costumes and medals – no photos allowed to be taken!

View from the top floor, unfortunately by the time we got to the top it was raining.

Tomorrow we leave Portugal and head back into Spain.  It will be sad leaving this country, as we have had a fantastic 36 days here.  The people have been friendly, the scenery and architecture beautiful, it's reasonably priced and most of all it is geared up for motorhomes.  All our stops in Portugal have been free, apart from one paid Aire in Obidos – thank you Portugal for looking out for us motorhomers!

Oh yes… we will miss these too, but our waistlines won’t!

Pasteis de Belém - a flaky custard-like cream tart, that they have been making for over a century.

Last year we did a little survey for ourselves to rate the countries we had visited based on: Scenery, Architecture. Friendliness, Cleanliness, Value for money, Safety, Road conditions, Motorhome facilities, Wild camping, Campsites and Food.

Visiting Portugal last year, we only went to the Algarve and rated it 14 out of the 20 countries we visited, with Morocco, Slovenia, Greece and Austria our top 4 but having just used the same system with rate Portugal a big fat first!

Sally x