Beach Hopping

After leaving Braga and hopefully the rain we headed for the Atlantic coast for a taste of surf, sand and sun and as we made our way down this very beautiful and wild coastline we beach hopped en-route.

The first 3 nights were at a campsite that was still open in a small resort town called Vila Cha. We arrived along the cobbled roads in the sunshine along and finally felt warm enough to get into t-shirts and shorts. It was a relief to be able to dry out our wet clothes and shoes.

Our campsite was 5 minutes walk to an endless sandy beach and it was here I discovered the Portuguese board walks, also known as Green Walks, that are all along the coast line. The soft white sand is quite hard to walk on for a long way and these board walks that connect beaches, towns and historical places are such a good idea. Many of them form part of the camino way and you often see the recognised camino sign whilst walking.

For two days we were there I walked for 3 miles in each direction and still didn’t come to the end of the boardwalk. 

The beach here really reminded me of rocky coves of the Atlantic coast in Ireland, beautiful blue sea and white sandy beaches but the sad difference was the amount of rubbish on the beaches here. Most of it probably swept in from the sea at high tide but a real sorry sight.

 

Vila Cha was noisy with barking guard dogs so we continued south and stopped for 2 nights at an Aire on Praia de Labago near Aveiro. Aveiro is known as the Venice of Portugal due to the connecting lagoons in the area but we didn’t explore as it looked closed when we drove through!

We’d been recommended the site for dog walking and being able to park right on the beach. There was another board walk into the town, we walked to get provisions and it was here I discovered Bolo Rei – Cake of the Kings, traditional Portuguese Christmas Cake. 2 coffees and 1 large piece of cake 3.50€.

Whilst here we experienced another night of extreme rain and along with the sound of the thundering sea I did wonder if we’d be washed away before the morning. 

We moved onto another beach site. an Aire on Praia Lagos where I ate my first Octopus caught and cooked by the owners of the restaurant. They were usually closed that day but were opening for a special occasion and he said he could fit us in too.

Our next beach stop was Nazare. We couldn’t miss out this place as it has one of the best surfing beaches in the world. Nazare is hugely commercial with lots of tourist restaurants, shops, places to stay for surfers and for holiday makers.

To get to the coast you have to go down some steep hills and steps but to get to the surf beach Praia del Norte, you have to climb some steps to the old town and fortress so for 2 days we were going up and down to explore both old town and resort town of Nazare.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the giant waves or any surfing but the waves still looked pretty spectacular. As is quite typical in Portugal all the buildings are painted white with white cobblestones and the streets are very narrow.

In Nazare we stayed  at campsite 1.5km out of town but amongst some very tall pine trees, the air was quite damp so needless to say we both both got bitten by mosquitoes …. I am still itching from the 15 plus bites I have!! 

From Nazare we needed to find a spot to spend Christmas and I was hoping to strike lucky with the weather and the location for our next beach stop.