This blog covers two days because yesterday's internet connection was very slow, probably because we were in such a remote area.

Canadians should not complain about gas prices. In Portugal you can expect to pay about 1.50 Euros for a litre. So the previous day I filled up in Spain where the gas was about 20 cents cheaper. Do the conversions.

_02A1377 Yesterday morning we left the fortified hilltop village of Marvao. This is the route within the walls out from our hotel.

_02A1393 We drove some major highways, where at one point when we were at altitude we were in very heavy fog. Thankfully we eventually got away from these very foggy conditions. We went through some very hilly areas with major road bridges and then got on to some narrow winding secondary roads in forested areas such as this.

_02A1397 Our destination was the remote village of Piodao. As we got off the beaten path, our GPS no longer functioned. The goal
now was to find our way to Piodao without a map and without road direction signs. The other difficulty was when I would stop to ask someone for directions, no one spoke English (with one exception). But we prevailed and eventually there were signs posts to the village.

_02A1408 _02A1412 We saw a few villages within these mountains, so there was some signs of civilization.

And then there it was - Piadao.

_B0A0317 Piodao is unique because most of the buildings are constructed with slate.

_02A1420

_02A1424 So are the "streets" made of slate, making them very rough and possibly slippery in these wet conditions.

_02A1461 We had to park outside the village and walk about 200 meters to our lodging, Casa da Padaria.

This building was originally a bakery, thus its name - Padaria is bakery in Portuguese.

_02A1464 This was the view out of our window.

This morning we strolled along the one main walkways in the village. Here are a couple scenes from that stroll.

_02A1488

_02A1480 No doubt you've noticed the preponderance of blue doors.

_02A1505

Then it was time to check out.

This was one last view of Piodao.

_02A1510 This morning was still rainy and misty as we were back on the mountain road.

_02A1513 Much of these hills have been denuded by recent forest fires.

_02A1514 This is another of the villages in this region. Our question was, what do the residents do for a living.

Our destination today was a medium-sized town, Viseu. The drive out was much easier for finding our way than it had been getting to Piodao. Much of it was on a different road in another direction.

But the fun and games continued. I had reserved accommodation in Viseu, but when we found the place, this was the scene.

_02A1526 There was construction and absolutely no parking anywhere close to the pension. To make matters worse, the room undesirable. So we went into this cafe, "I Love Coffee" ( to the left in the photo), to plan our next move. The young owners spoke good English and helped us out. We also had a very good lunch (probably because it was not Portuguese food). We found a nearby hotel, booked a room, and cancelled the first one. Veda would have been exceedingly unhappy with it, to put it mildly.

_02A1531

So here we are for the night, and happy about it.

Happy birthday to Bob Gallagher. We won't ask how many.