Day 08: Sat 12 May

The distance to our destination was established to be less than 70 kms. We did however select an interim destination east of the direct route to take us away from the densely populated area north of Porto. Still, even with this interim destination the first part of the ride was not very pleasant. It was Saturday morning and the amount of traffic on the roads was remarkable. Still, we made good progress and we reached our daily destination after 145 kms.

We had booked a remarkable guest house with a user satisfaction rating of 9.6. Having stayed there, we believe that the rating is justified. The guest house consists of old stone buildings, renovated to the highest modern standards. Nowhere else in Portugal have we seen such high building and finishing standards. Better still, the couple who own and run the place are most pleasant and made our stay a real pleasure. 

When we arrived at the guest house, we were greeted by loud music blarring from high mounted speakers next to a church located nearby. The music lasted through most of the afternoon and could easily be termed a disturbance in an otherwise rural and very quiet area. We learned later from our hosts that the music was due to some traditional festival which happens around three times a year and has become rather controversial, with the younger generation wanting to do away with the blarring loudspeakers and the older generation insisting on maintaining the tradition.

For dinner, we visited a near-by restaurant and we again enjoyed good traditional portuguese food. Like many other restaurants since Porto, almost all of the main meals were offered as full and as half portions. We did not specifically specify our portion size when ordering, assuming that the full size portion would be the norm. When the food arrived, we looked at each other and agreed that ordering half portions would have been the better choice, given the size of those portions. Imagine our surprise when we received the bill and found that we were billed for half portions!