The Spain (and Portugal!) Chronicles - Day 12

On Saturday, our last day, we did the activity I was looking forward to the most but we had the least time to do: we went to Portugal.

As I mentioned previously, we had planned on going to Portugal earlier in the week but were unable to rent a car. Not only were most cars rented for the vacation season, but Justin and I are both automatic drivers and Enrique can’t drive at all, which limited our car choices a bit. What made things even trickier was that Justin’s and my flight left Vigo at 5, not at 7 as we had originally thought. So our day would have to be a bit tightly packed.
Anyway. We were able to get transportation that day because Enrique’s mother drove us. (She offered to lend us her car earlier in the week, but again, Justin and I are automatic drivers.) We only had time for one stop in Portugal: Valença, a walled town just over the border of Spain.

Valença is famous for its fortress (mostly protecting it from the city of Tui in Spain), and the big things to see are inside the walls. We spent a few hours there walking around, looking at the shops that sold beautiful tiles, ceramics and linens, and practicing our nonexistent Portuguese. It was really cool to stand in one country and look over the river to another. (In fact, since we returned to Oxford that night, we were actually in three countries in one day!) We also bought some postcards and last-minute souvenirs, which was not easy because I was out of Euro cash and did not want to get more on the last day.

After Valença, we crossed the International Bridge (designed by Gustave Eiffel – yes, that Eiffel) into Tui. We tried to get into the cathedral, but it was closed, which surprised us. We wandered around a bit but didn’t have much time, so we went for an early lunch and called it a day. (I can’t remember the name of the place where we had lunch, except that it was impossible to pronounce!) We did tapas, and I was pleasantly surprised for two reasons: they had croquettes that I liked (usually I think they have no taste) and the octopus wasn’t too bad (I think it was grilled instead of boiled – I’m never a fan of boiled stuff).

After lunch we went back to collect our luggage and to head to the airport. I didn’t fly in to this airport, so I was surprised to see how tiny it really was. (Even though we were there a few days earlier to pick up the boys, I couldn’t tell how small it was after security.) It only had 6 gates, maybe 5 check-in desks, and very few international destinations. Also, there were no coffee shops/restaurants/etc. after security – you just get through the security line and boom, there’s the teeny gate. So, we said our goodbyes kinda quickly – you know how it is at the airport when you have a car parked outside – and got ready for our flight. It was kinda funny because Justin and I were the only non-EU people on the flight, so for once the line was very short and easy once we got through customs back at Gatwick!

After waiting forever for luggage and forever for the bus, we made it back into Oxford rather late. Justin and I met up with Darcy, Justin’s girlfriend, who had Chinese food for us at Hertford when we got there. I got back to Catz around 10:30 pm and called it a night.

So this ends the Great Spain/Portugal Adventure. As always, you can check out all of the glorious photos on my Flickr. Thanks for reading!