{"id":3033,"date":"2014-06-03T20:32:42","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T19:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=3033"},"modified":"2026-05-23T08:47:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T07:47:57","slug":"more-lazy-days-on-the-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2014\/06\/03\/more-lazy-days-on-the-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"More Lazy Days On The Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Traditional
Traditional Portuguese tile painting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rodney beat me at our first round of Uno last night.\u00a0 We\u2019d had a drink at the nice bar above the swimming pool at the campsite and I was in fighting form for a quick game, but he slaughtered me, conclusively.\u00a0 There will be a comeback soon and then we\u2019ll see who wins.<\/p>\n

Weak from my defeat, I just couldn\u2019t wake up on Sunday morning.\u00a0 I came to a halt.\u00a0 Rodney cycled in to Odeceixe to check out the undulation of the route; I\u2019m very glad he did, I would have been pushing my bike most of the way.\u00a0 I faffed about a bit, sorted toes and cupboards, read a bit, looked at photos and then when the cyclist returned, we lazed by the pool for a couple of hours.\u00a0 I did manage to find some energy for a quick swim in the still chilly pool, but Rodney used the excuse that he had already had plenty of exercise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Waiting
Waiting for Windy Miller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dinner was early so that we could wake me up with an evening walk in to the village.\u00a0 It was a long walk downhill, with a bit of uphill and the only bit of flat was as we walked across the wide bridge over the Rio de Seixe.\u00a0 We walked up the incredibly steep streets to the top of the hill and breathed in the gorgeous view from the old mill near the top.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
The top of the town at Odeceixe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve decided that I must have some Iberian blood in me because everyone seems to be quite short and I\u2019ve hardly spotted anyone with long legs, I feel rather at home amongst the locals.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t know how they manage to live in such tiny houses.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s like permanently living in a campervan.\u00a0 We have some friends who\u00a0wouldn’t be able to\u00a0get through the front doors without doubling over.\u00a0 Rodney thinks he\u2019s in Hobbit land sometimes and he definitely seems quite tall in Spain and Portugal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Im
I feel so tall…….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We sat in the main square of the village for a drink, mine was a lovely big glass of fresh oranges juice; the barmaid squeezed\u00a0eight oranges to fill the glass.\u00a0While Rodney had the smallest bottle of beer I\u2019ve ever seen, 200ml, it wouldn\u2019t go down well in pubs in Australia or England!!\u00a0 Perhaps the short people around here can’t take too much booze.\u00a0 From there it was then a long uphill dawdle back to the campsite at San Miguel and a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
The village square in Odeceixe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Monday morning we checked out of the really nice campsite and drove to a lay-by near Odeceixe for an al-fresco breakfast.\u00a0 The view down the river valley towards the tiny village of Praia de Odeceixe was beautiful.\u00a0 I could have happily sat there all day; in fact I did try and sketch the view but realised the camera would do a far better job at capturing the vision than my pencil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The view at breakfast time. Beat that !!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We drove up to the cliff above the village, parked Eileen and sauntered down to the beach for another morning of what we do best.\u00a0 It is a lovely beach and the cliffs seem to protect it from the wind, which was a pleasant change after all the wind we\u2019ve been buffeted with recently.\u00a0 The sea was still too cold to dunk more than feet in, but some of the rock pools at the far end of the beach, where the river joined the sea,\u00a0were much warmer and still beautifully clear.\u00a0 There were quite a few other folk lazing on the beach and a couple of wet-suited surfers, but there seemed a real feeling of silence about the place.\u00a0 There were no shells on the shore line, no seagulls, no litter, or decaying fish.\u00a0 It was as if someone had given the whole place a good spring clean and switched off\u00a0the sound of the wind.\u00a0 We both fell asleep on our towels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Paddling
Paddling at Praia de Odeceixe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the way back uphill to Eileen, we stopped at a little caf\u00e9 for small spicy chicken pies; just a palm sized, puff pastry encased, gourmet treat.\u00a0 We also had a plate of fried sweet potato chunks and we followed these up with a scrumptious pasteis de nata.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always liked a Portuguese tart, but the ones here are better than any I\u2019ve had before.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to have to indulge in more of these before we leave Portugal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Praia
Praia de Odeceixe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Time to hit the road again.\u00a0 So we dumped everything back in Eileen, drove over the cliff tops a bit and then back past Odeceixe and off to the north.\u00a0 Rodney wants to increase the world\u2019s koala population by introducing them to Portugal.\u00a0 On this section of the road, with gum trees lining both sides, and seeing numerous plantation eucalypts, we honestly felt like we could have been driving in Australia.\u00a0 Next time we\u2019ll bring one of those signs that say \u201cKoala for the next 10kms\u2019 and put it up beside the N120; it might confuse the locals and the tourists……hee hee.<\/p>\n

Our next planned stop was at Vila Nova de Milfontes, so we only had about 50kms to drive.\u00a0 We drove over the huge bridge above the Rio Mira, through the town and out to the headland at the entry to the estuary.\u00a0 Another “wow!”\u00a0 With the sun shining on the sea, the river, the beaches, the old fort, everything looked gorgeous.\u00a0 We\u2019ll definitely check out this place tomorrow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Vila Nova de Milfontes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, this really is a lovely part of Portugal.\u00a0 We walked around the town and out to the old Fort de San Clemente, which is now covered in ivy, and we were told it\u2019s a hotel,\u00a0though it didn\u2019t look like anyone was staying there.\u00a0 I collected lots of pebbles as we dawdled slowly along the beach, and from time to time we found a smooth rock to sit on and gaze on the beauty of the surroundings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"One
One of the many beaches at Vila Nova de Milfontes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we\u2019d strolled as far as possible, we turned around and wandered back to Restaurante Choupana which looks like an old wooden shack literally built into the sand dunes.\u00a0 The waiter was lovely and helpful, but it was the smart\/casual chef who was the best dressed man in the restaurant today.\u00a0 He cooked our mackerel and prawns on the outdoor grill and the smell wafted over us while we waited and salivated.\u00a0 The spitting sounds from the grill mingled perfectly with the sound of the waves nearby.\u00a0 We think we\u2019re giving this place the award for \u2018restaurant with the most outstanding view\u2019; and pretty darn good food too\u2026..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Our
Grilling our two mackerel and prawns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also decided that there seems to be a very laid-back feel to restaurants and caf\u00e9s in Portugal.\u00a0 If there are customers wandering in, they just keep cooking.\u00a0 In France lunch is between 12pm and 2pm and you can\u2019t really turn up after 1pm, because you have to be out by 2pm.\u00a0 In Portugal we\u2019ve wandered into restaurants as late as 3pm and 3:30pm and they\u2019re still very happy to serve you.\u00a0 And there never seems to be any urgency to finish the meal.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lovely way to float through an afternoon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rodney
Rodney at his pre-birthday lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It would be nice to eat at the Choupana again, but it\u2019s Rodney\u2019s birthday tomorrow and we\u2019re aiming to head inland towards Evora, plus there\u2019s still so much more of Portugal and Spain to see before we get to France.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
The Restaurante Choupana<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Rodney beat me at our first round of Uno last night.\u00a0 We\u2019d had a drink at the nice bar above the swimming pool at the campsite and I was in fighting form for a quick game, but he slaughtered me, conclusively.\u00a0 There will be a comeback soon and then we\u2019ll see who wins. Weak […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8327,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033\/revisions\/8327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}