Galegos

We are now in a remote part of Portugal, right on the Spanish Border. Our accommodation is in a very comfortable bed and breakfast run by a British couple, Ken and Carol.

It is communal so we have two couples as fellow guests hence the comment about Brexit. After an excellent breakfast, although Marion was forced to eat scrambled egg, we decided to drive to the hillside town of Marvao. This sits about 1500 feet above the surrounding countryside on a rocky promontory, comprising a castle and small village.

We parked at the bottom of the village and walked through the narrow streets of whitewashed houses until we reached the castle at the summit of the town. Once in this position it was obvious why the site had been chosen, it had complete views over the surrounding countryside. Although it had been a Roman settlement it was originally fortified in the 11^th Century and had played a pivotal part in wars in the region up to the early 19^th century. It was a perfect day, there were very few people there and the clear weather meant that the views were amazing. The geography also meant that there was a clear impression as to how the various wars had ebbed to and fro across the region. After a detailed exploration of the castle we had a snack lunch overlooking the countryside.

It was then back to our accommodation to relax, well for me a walk. I took what is euphemistically known as the Smugglers Walk. This refers to the history of the border area where from 1935 to 1960 goods were smuggled from Portugal into Spain, originally due to the shortages as a result of the Spanish Civil War. I was expecting long arduous paths but after about 500 metres of climbing I was at the Spanish frontier. Nowadays there is only a small stone to mark the transition, although of course due to Apple technology my IPhone changed time zone immediately, thus making it the first walk that I have undertaken across time zones. The walk itself was lovely climbing high over the surrounding countryside and criss-crossing between the two countries. For the first time I saw the black pigs for which the region is famous. There were also industrial quantities of bee hives. Of smugglers there was no sign.

This evening at the recommendation of our host we dinned in a small local restaurant. There we both had really delicious local boar, all washed down with some great local wine. So now even after two weeks of holiday we are retiring to bed really tired.

This blog maybe delayed as the wifi connection has failed tonight! Picture will be in a second blog due to upload difficulties.