Motorhomers on Tour : Tchau Portugal, Hola España

After 36 fabulous days in Portugal, we cross the border into Spain. Our journey has been lovely, travelling on as many ‘roads less travelled’ and keeping off motorways as we criss-crossed our way from south Portugal to north.

Our journey across Portugal - in white

So, once again we are across the border into Spain and in the space of a second we have lost one hour of our lives as the clocks go forward! The only way you know you have crossed the border is the EU sign. The quickest route to our first stop is by motorway, most of which are free in Spain and the journey from Bragança to Zamora was quite pretty.

First stop back in Spain – the city of Zamora in Castella -León region. It sits on the River Douro surrounded by its defensive walls, and was known as the ‘well protected’. The Aire is next to a park and gives motorhomes their own little spot (N41.50351 W5.75648).

With being in Portugal so long we had completely forgotten about the Spanish siesta, where nearly everything closes between 2pm-5pm. So, walking around the old town of Zamora during this period made it feel like a bit of a ghost town. It was nice walking around its narrow cobbled streets, known as the city of Romanesque. We find the architecture can sometimes be just as nice to see from the outside as in, plus we had been in enough castles, cathedrals and churches over the last few weeks to last us a while so we weren’t that bothered they were closed!

Zamora Cathedral

Zamora Castle

Plenty of storks nesting in this old church roof.

The Puente de Piedra (stone bridge) across the River Douro

Posing with the bronze sculpture of the maestro Herminio Ramos Pérez – a chronicler and journalist, he became the Voice of Zamora

On the Plaza Mayor outside the church is the scary looking El Merlú together with El barandales - representative figures during the Easter Holy Week .

Old Town Hall

Very steep street leading down to the stone bridge across the river, that used to provided direct access to the centre of the city for traders

The next morning we were up and on the road early as we headed to Palencia – a 98 mile (157kms) drive and the longest distance we have driven in one day since the beginning of our journey. The quickest route was by motorway, but nearly all of these are free of tolls and pass through some pretty countryside so the drive was quite pleasant.

The Aire (N42.01056 W4.54568) is all free and the facilities amazing. You get the usual (water and chemical waste dump) plus electricity, heated shower/toilet block, secured Wi-Fi, washing/ironing room with washing powder provided and outside seating area with vending machines. The Aire is spotless and is cleaned about 3 times a day. It is owned and run by the garage across the road, which I guess relies on motorhomes filling up with fuel and spending in their little shop to cover the cost of providing it for free.

The only trouble was that it rained and rained and rained for the 2 days we were here. It was a good job we had electric as there was no way our solar panel was going to keep our batteries charged up with no sun!

Sitting out the rain on the Aire at Palencia

In-between the rain we managed a walk into the town. Like Zaomora, Palencia has some lovely Romanesque buildings and way too many churches!

Cathedral

Whilst we were here there was a music festival taking place - Palencia Sonora Festival. It attracts over 20 artists that play music in the town and in the Parque de Sotillo, bit like the Leeds festival. A large area of the park is cordoned off for the stage and is full of tents, that were in danger of getting washed away because of the rain! Despite the rain the show still went on and we could hear the music going on at the Aire into the middle of the night. Thank goodness for ear plugs!