Hi,
We’ve taken some time off recently, but this week has found us back at it. On Tuesday, we took the dogs to the vet for their yearly shots, visited a church with a marvelous view, and walked around the ruins of an old fort. It felt good to be out and about, and hopefully we won’t wait as long to get out there again.
Our first stop was at Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Franqueira (F9V4+V4 Pereira, Portugal), a Catholic church located on a hill overlooking the town of Pereira. The view from the grounds was lovely, with a mixture of houses and countryside. The church itself was under repair with scaffolding on the front, but we could still see the church through it and it was beautiful. The grounds were not extensive, but they were well-maintained. We are pretty sure the trees surrounding the parking lot were cork trees, because the bark had recently been peeled off them. But, as neither Chris nor I are botanists, we are prepared to be contradicted on that. We have lots of pictures as well as a video of the site, so check it out and let us know if we are wrong.
Ruínas do Castelo de Faria e Estação Arqueológica (F9W3+M3 Gilmonde, Portugal), our second stop that day, is located about 500 feet East-Northeast of the church. If we had been brave and not on a time schedule, we could have walked the path down to the ruins, but we punked out and drove. It was a lot longer than 500 feet by car, but still only took us a few minutes to get there. The site of the ruins is marked on Google Maps, but there are no markings on the side of the road. There is a small sign further in, but If Chris had not been navigating I might have driven right past the entrance. Still, we stopped and were very pleased with what we found. This site is not manicured, and the wildness of the hilltop was quite refreshing. The woods are reclaiming the ruins, and the greenery lends an air of mystical glamour to the moss-covered stones. Pictures of the site are in our Photos folder on under Archeological Sites, and the video can be found here.
So, as if we hadn’t done enough to keep everyone happy, we also headed over the Vila do Conde to see Opal and Onyx’s vet. They love their vet, so that was a treat for them. They were fawned over (which they adored), their puppy passports were updated for another year, shots were given, and we said a fond good-bye. And, as always, we had to take another picture of the Aqueduto de Santa Clara on our way home (we never get tired of seeing it as we drive through the city). The trip back to Custóias was quiet as the dogs slept all the way. They had had a busy day, and I did not begrudge them their well-deserved sleep.
Nola