Sunrise over the Cathedral.

Expected top 37 degrees.

On the road a bit today.
Stopped at a wonderful Portuguese town that had the ruins of an old castle high above.

Castello de Vide

Absolutely all locals apart from us.
Tiago had rung ahead and we were greeted at a street cafe by the owner who had raced to get us a special cinnamon treat at the local bakery.
Apple and cinnamon slice.
Delicious!

Wandered the town.
Beautiful church.
Gardens and whitewashed houses.

I was given the most wonderful short tour by an older Portuguese lady who saw me taking a photograph of beautiful tiles showing St John.
She grabbed my hand, and we chatted as we walked along.
I am not at all sure what we said.
But we had a good time.
And then she left me to take another photo of the tiles that she had pointed out.
Made me grin.

During the Spanish Inquisition, many Jews fled to Portugal.
Then Portuguese Inquisition started so the Jews moved to smaller towns and villages trying to hide and just blended in and stayed.

Beautiful small town and I love the way we seem to be off the beaten track.
Tiago has said that he hates stopping at big Service Stations so as much as possible the tour will deviate a little just to see country Portugal.

So, as a change, we are stopping for lunch in a major shopping centre of the region.
Not for tourists, just the locals so we can eat and have a look at genuine Portuguese shops.

It is wonderful each and every time we stop and are ready to get off the bus, Tiago stands up and with huge enthusiasm says "Vamos!"
( Let's go!)
And we do.... with a big grin!

OK, grabbed a slice of pizza for lunch.
( Don't tell Mum I bought 3 more tops!)

It was great in here.
Very cool to start with.
And in here, we weren't tourists.
And shopping centres in Portugal are just the same as ours!
Only an hour but very enjoyable.

Next stop was the Roman Towers at Belmonte.
This is an archaeological site.
However, archaeologists were confused by this building.
It is definitely Roman ( according to the archaeologists) built in the 1st Century AD.
However, it does not resemble any other Roman ruins to date.
Have a look at the photos.

( I personally think it looks like something out of 'Stargate' the movie.)

Further excavations were done in the 1990s and the foundations of other buildings were found.

This was great to get up close and touch something they think was built about 2000 years ago.

From the Internet:
The Tower of Centum Cellas (also known as the “Tower of St. Cornelius”), located in the municipality of Colmeal da Torre in Portugal, is one of the most enigmatic monuments from the Roman period to be found in the country. These majestic ruins were part of a large Roman villa from the first century AD.

This rectangular building, made of pink granite blocks, appears to have had three levels with openings of various dimensions. It was thought that it was once a temple, a prison with a hundred cells (hence the name), or possibly a praetorium (the headquarters of a Roman camp), and a building part of Roman villa.

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Onto Viseu and the hotel and a fairly quick turn around for our dinner out at an 18th century Manor House, Insua Manor.

The man who built the house was inspired by the Palace of Versailles and the gardens are amazing!
We had a lovely time wandering the gardens with Tiago pointing out rare and special plants.
There are 2 types of gardens here ...
The French Garden with wonderful hedges, ponds and structured garden beds.
Then there was an enormous English Garden with old, old trees from all around the world.
And the biggest gum tree you would ever see.
Came all the way from Tasmania!
Tiago loved showing us around these gardens, explaining the trees and where, and when, they came from.
This is so old and the tree sizes have to be seen to be believed.
So beautiful.
Old stables, out buildings ...
It was a fantastic tour.
Then we headed inside for a tour of the Manor
And then to a 5 course dinner.

I had Cod.

( By the way Eva, that's the 4th time I've had Cod. You're right. It's delicious.)

So ...
I had Cod, roasted baby goat with octopus mashed potatoes and other wonderful things.

It was a great night.

And I will never forget watching the sun set over Portugal while singing along to ...
... I can't get no satisfaction
... We will rock you
... YMCA
... and loads more
playing full blast on the bus for the journey home.

It was wonderful.

Xxx