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Ibericorama Days 55-56

Toledo is an ancient city set on a hill above the plains of Castilla-La Mancha, south of Madrid.  It’s known for medieval Arab, Jewish, and Christian monuments, El Greco art and an amazing gothic cathedral which rivals some of the best we have seen in our travels.   Because of its significance in Spanish history, it is a well visited City within a very small area.  There are no paintings to share, but we did absorb the culture and took advantage of the river walk outside of the city walls.

Next Stop - Segovia and its Roman Aqueduct

Ibericorama

Days 52-53

Alcalá del Júcar is a village in the Castilla-La Mancha region.  It sits on a steep hillside overlooking the Júcar River and its dramatic gorge.  The Moorish/Medieval castle sits at the top of the hill at the turn of the Júcar River.  

The topography and construction of the town is another amazing feat of engineering (equaling that of Albarracín).  Most of the dwellings on the hillside are built into the rocks (our hotel had a cave bodega).  There are a series of cave dwellings which can be toured.

A shoutout to our favorite bar, La Hondonera (the slingshot) which lies on the ramped pedestrian promenade…the main access to the river area which had a beach and park area to hang out. 

Note:  We did happen to be here during the Harley Davidson Rock N Riders festival so were entertained by the various Spanish HDC logos…but no…we did not attend the festival.

I did complete a painting study of the village’s “money shot” down by the puente romana showing the bridge, the hillside town and the church tower.  You can see it on the works page or on Instagram.

Quick note about Zaragoza in the Aragon region.  The Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar is big and sits between the Plaza del Pilar and the Ebro River.  Nice low key vibe.  Onwards to some hill towns.

As a amateur chef and food enthusiast, following are my thoughts and opinions on the tapas bars in both Bilboa and San Sebastián:

Food a plenty - anywhere, any time.  It seems to be close at hand, inexpensive and easy to find.  You will not go hungry.

Bilboa old town vs. San Sebastián old town - Bilboa seems a bit more civilized and will close doors at a moments notice if things get slow.  San Sebastián can be a mosh pit of activity…not necessarily a good thing in these Covid conscience days.

Message to vegetarians, or anybody just looking for something green - about the only green food product you will find are olives and peppers…btw, olives are a fruit.  If anybody out there wants to open a vegetarian tapas bar…you will do well, there is no competition.

You gotta love bread - if you are ordering tapas, expect it on bread…even if it is not on bread when you point to it…it will be delivered to you on bread.  God help those with celiac disease.

Bilboa or San Sebastián?   - Bilboa gets the award for variety and inventiveness.  San Sebastián gets the award for volume.  I was not expecting this.  Maybe it’s because Bilboa is catering to both tourists and locals in its old town where San Sebastián old town seems to be almost exclusively tourists. 

It was a movable feast and happy to share it all with our friends Andy and Christa from Vienna.

Ibericorama Days 45-47

After visiting San Sebastián, three things leave an impression…the food, the Basque culture and the beaches.  As already mentioned, I will do the next blog post on the tapas/pintxos in Bilbao and San Sebastián, because there is a lot to discuss.

Our time in San Sebastián marked the halfway point of the trip and it was refreshing to see he ocean again having last seen it on the Rota Vicentina.  However, this is the Bay of Biscay and San Sebastián offers not only three beaches, but three hillsides for great viewing of the sandy shores.

• Lá Concha beach is on Lá Concha Bay which is really shaped like a shell.  It’s an urban City beach with the best views of it from Mount Urgull and the castle.
• Ondarreta Beach is also on Lá Concha Bay and sits at the base of Mount Igeldo which has a funicular and an amusement park from the past at the top.
• Zurriola Beach to the east is the surfer beach.  You will see many surfers walking from their apartments, surfboard in hand.  The beach is best seen from Mount Ulia which has nature trails.

You will find a gouache study of one of the bridges in San Sebastián in the Works page.

Ibericorama Days 43-44

After visiting Bilbao, three things leave an impression…the food, the Basque culture and the Guggenheim.  I will do the next blog post on the tapas/pintxos in Bilbao and San Sebastián, because there is a lot to discuss.  Having never been in “Basque Land”,  the  Basque culture is so evident…the language, the signage, the flags, the use of tx., etc.  Historically, Bilbao is the industrial center of the Basque region and they seem to work hard at making a clean, safe and stylistic City.  We talked to two non-Basque residents  at a bar who had a lot to say about the region and the Basque culture…very supportive…happy to pay their taxes directly to the local government instead of Madrid to get their services in return.  It is such an interesting place.

I’m not a big fan of modern art, but love architecture, City Planning and the evolution of cities…so I loved the Guggenheim, more for these features than the art itself inside the building.  We did happen to visit in the 25th anniversary of its opening with a special exhibit on “Motion - Autos Art Architecture”. Perfect for a traffic engineer in a transformative state to artist.  Forty historic vehicles were on display and the parallel worlds of painting, sculpture, architecture, photography and film.  Also (as shown in the photo) the permanent display of “The Matter of Time” was mind boggling in terms of perspective.  The Frank Gehry building is the star, inside and out….not a square corner to be found.  Maybe some don’t notice, but the building seems to hung and merge with the bridge over he Bilbao estuary.   I will need to read more on the. “Bilbao Effect”…a phenomenon whereby cultural investment plus showy architecture is suppose to equal economic uplift for cities.  It a real thing in Bilbao.

Ibericorama Days 40-42

We first discovered the town of Ponte de Lima when we came through on our bikes riding the Portuguese camino in 2013. Having only spent a few hours then, we were determined to come back which we did in 2017 and again now.  I could easily come here and paint for a month, but three days would have to do.  There are plenty of picturesque subjects including the Lima River, the Roman/Medieval Bridge and the Avenida dos Platanos with its massive plane trees which draws you in for your half mile evening stroll.  

Paintings from Ponte de Lima appear on the Works page and Instagram.

These were our last three days in Portugal until our circumnavigation sends us back into the Algarve in June.    On this journey of geographic and self discovery, Ponte de Lima again did not disappoint and still remains as our favorite place in Portugal.  For now, it is off to Northern Spain and the Basques.

After arriving in Pinhão from the last day of the hike, we made our way via the historic train back into Porto where our Douro riverside apartment awaited.  This would be our third visit to Porto, so we played it like a local…enjoyed our river view and explored a few streets and neighborhoods we had not seen before.  No need for tours, museums or standing in line for the Livraria Lello.  Geographically, most streets flow you down to the river where the City’s history and energy is focused…so it was nice to be near the river for most of the day.

Check out two gouache studies on the woks page and on Instagram…one is a nocturne from our apartment balcony with minimal light assistance and the other a scene from Jardin da Cordoaria where the old streetcar makes its turn near the Clérigos Tower.

Next up:  Our favorite small town in Portugal.

Ibericorama

Day 35:  Circumnavigation of the Pinhão River Ridge -  Alijó to Quinta do Silval

6.3 miles, 470 feet elevation gain, 1,400 elevation lost, 2:10 moving time

After negotiating the local dog gauntlet in Favaios, the hike was quite pleasant and ended with a descent down through the vineyards to Quinta do Silval which happened to be the home of the Magalhães (Magellan) family after they moved from Sabarosa (see blog for Day 33). In fact, the Quinta is still in the family and their port is named ‘Magalhães‘.  We received a thorough description of all their wines and ports from the director and learned that port wine is produced from the grapes grown higher on the ridge because of the sugar content while normal wines come from those near the river.  Images of Magellan appear in our heads as we circumnavigate the Pinhão River Valley within our Ibericorama circumnavigation of the Iberian Peninsula.  Janet has come to calling me Magellan for my navigation skills.

Day 36:  Quinta do Silval to Pinhão

7.0 miles, 1,030 feet elevation gain, 1,700 feet elevation lost, 2:30 moving time

The hike started with a steep climb through and out of Vale de Mendiz with only a slight interruption from one of the local Douro mixed breeds.  Vast landscapes had been had everyday on the hike and our last descent down through the vineyards back to Pinhão provided some of the grandest.  We will have to do this again!

Here are links to our four hiking days around the Pinhão River…or download the Wikiloc app and search for Ibericorama.

 https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ibericorama-pinhao-to-sabrosa-hike-101587734

(Ibericorama Pinhão to Sabarosa hike)

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ibericorama-sabrosa-to-alijo-hike-101675047

(Ibericorama Sabrosa to Alijo hike) 

https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ibericorama-alijo-to-quinta-do-silval-hike-10173822

(Ibericorama Alijo to Quinta do Silval hike)

Ibericorama Day 34

Circumnavigation of the Pinhão river ridge - Sabrosa to Alijo

7.5 miles, 1,750 feet elevation gain! 1,570 feet elevation loss, 2:45 total moving time

As with a large portion of our hiking routes, the walk out of Sabrosa followed one of the original wall lined cobbled roads, then down through terraced vineyards to the Pinhão River.  It would then be mostly uphill from here.  Upon arriving at Quinta da Pedro Alta (Alta being the key description for the vineyards), we were encountered by a friendly dog…a Douro valley mix.  We just assumed he belonged to the winery, which we would later discover was not the case.  He proceeded to follow us eastward for 3 miles and Janet dubbed him ‘QP Cão’.  

As we have experienced in our hikes, dogs follow into one of four categories…friendly, unfriendly, leased/fenced, unleashed/free to roam.  As we entered the village of Soutelinho, we discovered there were multiple dogs that fell into the least desirable category for hikers.  QP was our guardian angel as he sheparded us past other dogs including the first of two aggressive corgis that would impact our day.   Upon entering Favaios, we went straight to the Fire Department knowing our hotel ahead in Alijo was not going to look kindly to a dog in the room.  QP, however, shied away from the Fire Department, and they informed us that he looked familiar and likely lived on the streets of Favaios.  So we bid him farewell and assumed he would join the other street dog asleep on the grass by the town fountain.

We did find a picturesque tree lined street with views (Avenida dos Plátanos) and decided it was a good place for lunch.  Corgi #2 who apparently lives on the street has a good nose and quickly sniffed out the linguica and definitely  wanted some.  So ended our lunch and we realized why nobody else was enjoying the pleasant benches on the street.  We made our way into Alijó, negotiating other dog encounters, this time without QP who we will remember fondly.

Next up:  Alijó to Quinta do Silval and more Magellan.

Day 32: Viseu-Porto-Pinhão Travel Day

Travel days can be no fun, but ours had some excitement.  After a successful car drop off at the Porto Airport and Metro ride into Porto, we (as in Steve) had a little run-in with a souvenir stand while hauling our luggage to the Bounce bag drop-off.  Then came the train ride to Pinhão…about 80 miles up the Douro River.  CP (Comboios de Portugal) runs historic rolling stock on this line and the upper part of the journey is all along the Douro River….quite a visual treat.  Our day ended with dinner on the quay in Pinhão.

The next four days were our self-planned loop hike along the Pinhão River valley.  We used some routes that others posted on the Wikiloc app with some add libs.  At the end of the hike blogs…I will post a link to these hikes. The photos for these hikes really don’t capture the elevation, grade and grandure of the terrain which were all stunning.

Day 33:  Pinhão to Sabrosa hike

After a quick trip through the Pinhão Sunday market on the quay we headed up…and I mean UP the west ridge of the river valley.  The route covered an elevation gain of 1,800 feet in 3 miles (Ave 11 percent grade).   We arrived in the village of Provesende at the top of the ridge at noon with Sunday mass ending.  The scene was one from days past…the congregation exiting onto the plaza, people gathering around the cafes, children in their Sunday best running around the pillory… BTW, Provesende includes several old manor houses in ruins, ready and waiting for a new life.  The second half of the day included walks down into several smaller valleys lined with terraced vineyards and views straight downhill to the Pinhão river.  We arrived in Sabrosa where Inez at Casa dos Barros served us a private dinner by the pool.  (Note:  Across the lane from Casa dos Barros is the house where Fernando de Magalhães [Ferdinand Magellan] was born…more on him later.)  Hike:  9.1 miles, elevation gain 2,900 feet, elevation loss 1,200 feet, total moving time 3:30.

Next up:  Sabrosa to Alijo, Alijo to Vale de Mendiz, and Vale de Mendiz to Pinhão hikes.

No paintings to share, but certainly more to come.

Ibericorama Day 31 took us to the north central Portuguese City of Viseu which was visually charming.  Upon arrival we were immediately helped by a City Hall employee as we peeked into the building…she set us out in the right direction…geographically, aesthetically and spiritually.  Viseu is known for sites of historic arts and literature and has a historic center focused around the Cathedral and Museu Nacionalidade Grão Vasco.  Too bad we only had the one day to explore.

Ibericorama -  Days 27-30

The Schist Villages

In the center of Portugal, there are 27 traditional stone villages known as the Aldeias do Xisto (Schist Villages).  These settlements in the hills were nearly abandoned and in ruins when they gained new life through the cooperation of 21 municipalities of Central Portugal… the locals committed themselves to this project of recovering their villages.  Reconstruction is still in progress with many ruins waiting to be claimed.

Our venture included two…Talasnal above Lousã and Gondramaz near Miranda do Corvo.  Each area has well marked loop trails, but we went rogue, left our car at Talanal and hiked to Gondramaz for two nights.  The most exciting part of the trek between villages was the wild boar that crossed our path…luckily they were anxious to get out of our way.  We also had a visit by the town Fox in Gondramaz one evening.  Staying in the villages was a step back in time and well worth the journey.

One of our day hikes was down to the river below Gondramaz.  Luckily there was way markers and directional signs as we were will into the depths of the brush.  I did complete a gouache study of a waterfall there which is on Instagram and the Works page.