As a newbie i decided to make this contribution. It's our last trip to the mid west/north and we hope to get back there in September.
We came in from Salamanca and registered our van with the credit card. Not as expensive as we had feared.
Belmonte 40.363933 -7.340832
Viseu 40.664689 -7.917444
Fatima 39.633546 -8.671014
Coimbra 40.199596 -8.428871
Nazare 39.596758 -9.068561
Pataias 39.659453 -9.015349
Fig De Foz 40.147687 -8.867065 (AIRE)
Fig De Foz 40.164552 -8.857161 (CAMP)
Aveiro 40.643621 -8.659435
Angeiras 41.267041 -8.719997
Vitoria 42.865324 -2.685292
We left Salamanca and headed West on the E80, Ciudad Rodrigo was our diesel top up. Fuel is about 20C/l dearer in Portugal.The road improves when you get into Portugal and we did the decent thing and had our van reg matched with our credit card. We decided on Belmonte from the Rough Guide and while the town is cute the AIRE at the bottom of the hill is part of a bus stop. We were awakened early in the morning, not by buses but a garden sprinkler that hits 3 of the 4 vans that can park there. All in all its not worth going out of your way for.
Viseu was the next stop and again an AIRE. Point noted on this trip. About 40% of vans are French, maybe 25% local and the rest a mix. The AIREs are much more common than in Spain. They are frequently not official. We liked Viseu and we noted that like Belmonte it had a very defined Jewish section. We ate Kosher in both places. The old part of the city is lovely but like most of these places its at the top of a decent climb. Viseau is nice, worth a visit if you're in the area.
When we were so close we said we had to visit Fatima and while the town is nothing special, lots of religious tack, you have to give credit for the job they did on the Basilica. You could have the Rolling Stones at one end, U2 at the other and space in between for the kids to play. Massive. Motor home parking is in the car park nearest the Church and facilities are excellent, if a little sloped.
We took a small hop to Coimbra and there is a huge parking cum AIRE just across the river from the centre of the city. We parked in the bus section, with a lot of others, might be a problem high season. Its a lovely place, the town is quite touristic and the university is at the top of a very steep hill is lovely. Teresa told me that because she climbed up there while I lay out in the municipal pool that is part of the park. There is a restaurant right beside the pool which was excellent. Eating in the city was hit and miss. The place gets a big thumbs up.
I'm going to post the rest of this later as someone else wants the laptop. I will finish the report asap....
We came in from Salamanca and registered our van with the credit card. Not as expensive as we had feared.
Belmonte 40.363933 -7.340832
Viseu 40.664689 -7.917444
Fatima 39.633546 -8.671014
Coimbra 40.199596 -8.428871
Nazare 39.596758 -9.068561
Pataias 39.659453 -9.015349
Fig De Foz 40.147687 -8.867065 (AIRE)
Fig De Foz 40.164552 -8.857161 (CAMP)
Aveiro 40.643621 -8.659435
Angeiras 41.267041 -8.719997
Vitoria 42.865324 -2.685292
We left Salamanca and headed West on the E80, Ciudad Rodrigo was our diesel top up. Fuel is about 20C/l dearer in Portugal.The road improves when you get into Portugal and we did the decent thing and had our van reg matched with our credit card. We decided on Belmonte from the Rough Guide and while the town is cute the AIRE at the bottom of the hill is part of a bus stop. We were awakened early in the morning, not by buses but a garden sprinkler that hits 3 of the 4 vans that can park there. All in all its not worth going out of your way for.
Viseu was the next stop and again an AIRE. Point noted on this trip. About 40% of vans are French, maybe 25% local and the rest a mix. The AIREs are much more common than in Spain. They are frequently not official. We liked Viseu and we noted that like Belmonte it had a very defined Jewish section. We ate Kosher in both places. The old part of the city is lovely but like most of these places its at the top of a decent climb. Viseau is nice, worth a visit if you're in the area.
When we were so close we said we had to visit Fatima and while the town is nothing special, lots of religious tack, you have to give credit for the job they did on the Basilica. You could have the Rolling Stones at one end, U2 at the other and space in between for the kids to play. Massive. Motor home parking is in the car park nearest the Church and facilities are excellent, if a little sloped.
We took a small hop to Coimbra and there is a huge parking cum AIRE just across the river from the centre of the city. We parked in the bus section, with a lot of others, might be a problem high season. Its a lovely place, the town is quite touristic and the university is at the top of a very steep hill is lovely. Teresa told me that because she climbed up there while I lay out in the municipal pool that is part of the park. There is a restaurant right beside the pool which was excellent. Eating in the city was hit and miss. The place gets a big thumbs up.
I'm going to post the rest of this later as someone else wants the laptop. I will finish the report asap....