March 13, 2015
We awoke well rested in our Parador Ducal Palace after a late night shocker. Don't know if it was the winds blowing the windows open or if it was old ghosts, but it scared us in the middle of the night. I suspect the window locks were loose and it was a strong wind, but with the drapes flowing and accompanying night noises, it was pretty much like the soundtrack from the Exorcist was playing.
We had breakfast of coffee, croissant, and fresh squeezed orange juice at a local spot off the main square. This morning was a special one because they had chocolate filled croissants. All for about 4 euros each. We packed and made our way to the car to get out of town quickly. Nothing wrong with Lerma, but we were going to Portugal for the first time in 22 years for Cathy and 29 years for me. The first time together for us. Cathy had been looking for a place to stay in Penafiel Spain, but by mistake saw a really cool house that had a private room in Penafiel Portugal. So she booked that instead and it was a good excuse to go there. On our way we had beautiful weather and the scenery was all flowing hills and valleys with green and brown patches of tilled land alternating with lettuce and other vegetables that were coming up.
One of the towns that we were looking at going to was Zamora. That was going to be one of the ones we would have gone to if we didn't go to Valencia first. So we did a detour and went there. It was and easy drive - again - the highways are not very crowded and the tolls are high. We headed into the town not knowing anything about it, but it is a larger town than we expected. Very modern parts that were busy with people - we hit the traffic jam at 2:00 PM, lunch hour. We found a parking garage and went underground and parked. The garage attendant took us upstairs and pointed out the direction to the old town and told us how to get there and some sights to see.
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| Miro's Marketplace |
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| Downtown Church and Plaza |
The old town is really a charming area. Lots of ornate structured buildings that made me think of places like Salzburg and other European places, not Spain. However, it is very Spanish and very walkable. Their Marketplace was closed when we got there, but it again is a unique structure with a mirror facade that shot back Miro like images of the buildings around it. A great long main street takes you by all kinds of shopping and churches and the
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| Bargain Lunch Menu |
marketplace. We had the street to ourselves as most people were lunching and we finally gave in and decided it would be best to get something before people were back to work. We found a little bar that had a daily lunch special of a glass of wine or beer, and a tapa for 3 euro. So we had some wine and then headed back to the car to get out of town before the siesta was over and the streets would be crowded again.
We hit the road and made it into Penefiel, close to Oporto Portugal, by sundown. We were to meet the owner of the house at the main Cathedral at the top of the town. Portugal in this area is extremely mountainous. We were surprised at the steep ups and downs and corners, with all kinds of emergency run offs as you approach the coast. We texted the owner and we followed him the last mile to his house down a very dusty and tight road. Several times we thought "Did we tell anyone where we would be?" because it was like we were being led to the countryside for a killing. But we arrived and it was a beautiful stone building with our host Virgilio and his wife Ana and two young boys. They grow flowers and mushrooms for a living and the house is hundreds of years old that had been renovated about 20 years ago. We were invited to dine with them and they shared a pork and mushroom stew with us and saffron rice. Also, they had their own Vino Verde they made and to finish off was a homemade Blackberry Brandy that Virgilio makes. Who are we to turn down that? It would just be rude.
