Learning curves are a fact of life and thankfully so because life would be pretty boring if we all stopped discovering new things and absorbing the enormous amount of information available to us. I love the saying, “you learn something new everyday”, because it’s so true, and I think while you’re travelling the only thing wrong with this saying is that there is much more to learn than only one thing a day!
We have mentioned it before, but one of the biggest things we’ve had to grapple with as travellers is the fact that we won’t be able to see everything that each country has to offer in the time that we have. I think we’ve come to accept this reality pretty well but there are still times when we struggle to decide what to see and what we can miss. Our answer always being if we don’t see it now, it’s the perfect excuse to come back again!
Although we never miss out on what we can do because as we always say, “we’re here now, we may as well do it.” This is especially true when Mum suggests we visit another church and Mikayla groans from the back seat. But seriously, this leads me to another of my favourite sayings, “don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
We are wild camping in our van and move on to a new place every day. If we do stay in one spot it’s only when we’re staying with friends, or in a place (such as Paris) with lots to see in one area. So there is no time like the present to see that building, explore that park, walk along that beach or do whatever we can to immerse ourselves in the culture of a new place.
Deciding where to move onto next is also tough as we want to see all the best places but we also love discovering areas that are as yet mostly untouched by the commercial side of tourism. When we say commercial tourism we mean souvenir shops rather than local artisans, signs in English rather than the local language and large restaurants sponsored by ice-cream companies rather than traditional little cafes and bars.
After only a short time it’s very easy to spot the resort style, summer holiday destinations from the quaint little towns that hold real substance when you stop and look around. A few times we’ve been driving through a small town and decided to stop because we like the feel of the place, only to discover a historical castle or an ornate church.
We love meeting new people and sharing stories, learning and making new friends, but we also love heading into the national parks and escaping into nature. Although we have learned that not all national or natural parks are desired destinations, or potential camping spots.
Yesterday it was time to leave Portugal so we set off from Praia Grande de Pera on the south coast towards Spain. We have had a couple of encounters with the police at the Spanish border and while we were absolutely fine both times we thought it would be best to camp a long way from the border, so pouring over the map we picked out a final destination, Parque Nacional de Donana.
Big mistake! Our logic was that we would stop at the national park, find the perfect camping spot (as we have before) with only a slight detour on the way to Seville. Didn’t happen! We ended up driving alongside the national park as there are no roads through it, and it wasn’t even a pretty drive and in hindsight a waste of time because we ended up sleeping in a car park on the outskirts of Pilas. Moral of the story being, not all national parks are wonderful, beautiful places.
Since our last post we have also been to Lisbon, and aside from the atrocious treatment we received on the public transport here (one guard on a power trip) we had a lovely day. First stop was the Torre de Belem (Tower of Belem) which we admired from the outside. We strolled along the waterside pasts the monuments and came across the monastery.
We were so comfortable in Joao and Maria’s apartment that we decided to stay another two nights and spent the whole next day doing nothing but watching TV, writing and getting organized for more adventures in Vincent. Sometimes doing absolutely nothing is just what we need to recharge because as self-indulgent as it sounds, travel, site seeing and driving are really tiring.
When we did finally leave the apartment we had to say goodbye to Maria and Joao who were the best hosts ever and such wonderful people. We know count them as lovely friends and hope to see them again one day, maybe in Australia. We had lunch with them before setting off south.
In Santiago do Cacem we stopped at the post office to send a few gifts then continued on through the gorgeous area between here and Lagos, sleeping in a quite pull off from the main road near Alfambra.
On arrival in Lagos the next morning we went straight for the Ponta de Piedade, a point below Lagos where we walked along the rugged cliff that reminded us so much of a mix between Ganthuem point in Broome, Western Australia and The Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria.
We drove east from Lagos to our beautiful and private camping spot behind the dunes at Praia Grande de Pera where we walked along the beach before heading home again to Vincent.
Since then we have arrived back in Spain after a day of driving and we’re now spending a bit of time at MacDonald’s trying to book a side trip to Morocco. More on that soon!
Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album PORTUGAL
Here We Come World 