10/3 -- Travel to Portugal's Douro Valley by way of Ourense and Chaves

Today we started with a visit to Ourense, known for its hot spring baths. We had planned to try them out, but discovered they are closed for cleaning on Monday. Probably just as well -- it was only 46 out when we started and still very cold at 9:30 am when we arrived -- and they are outdoors. At least we were able to sample the water from constantly flowing faucets -- it was VERY hot! We visited the city council chambers and talked to a representative of the mayor, visited a cathedral and a market, then got back on the bus and crossed over into Portugal.

Lots of stands selling flowers in the market -- all for
cemetaries.

Central Square of Ourense

City Council Building

Stained glass coat of arms of the city

Inside the council chambers

Church tucked in between two buildings --
reminded me of how Rouen Cathedral is now
out-flanked by two large buildings.

The Ourense Cathedral do San Martino,
built in the 13th century

In the entry to the cathedral

Stained glass rose window -- unusual shape and design.

The outdoor bath being cleaned.

A few miles south of the border, we reached Chaves, where we had come for lunch with three local families. We were early, so we walked around for a bit. There was a stone-step 'bridge', a very modern bridge, and an old Roman bridge. Iwona was bold and crossed on the stones. The rest of us used a modern bridge and then crossed back on the Roman bridge. There was no breeze at all, and the water was held back by a dam, so it was completely flat. The sun was shining and made the river seem like a mirror.

Modern Bridge

Stone step bridge

 

Iwona demonstrating her style on the step bridge

Old Roman Bridge

Stela along the bridge

An occasional sight in Spain and Portugal:
a telephone booth with a working phone.

 We divided our group of 11 into 3 segments and each went to a different house within a block and shared lunch with a family. Two of the homes had English-speaking members, which helped. At our home, we were greeted by Amelia and her son-in-law who spoke just a little English -- Google Translate was a great help. Soon we were  joined by Paula, the daughter/wife and 14 year old son and a bit later, a 24 yr old daughter. Paula spoke excellent English and we shared a wonderful meal and conversation. We saw family pictures and learned that they had spent 10 years in Angola when it was controlled by Portugal. Then we joined the other 2 family groups and the matriarch of our group entertained us with several acapela songs.

Paula and her mother, Amelia

Amelia all ready to go out

Amelia singing in a relative's home

After lunch, we went back to the city center for a while, and then  it was time to head for the Douro Valley and our home for the next two days.

Remains of a Roman fort

Jim along the Roman wall at the guard tower

Inside the Santa Maria Church in Chaves' main square. The
wooden roof and blue wall decoration were both unusual.

Captivating barbershop chair for the little guys.

 Our beautiful hotel has a large balcony and the 4 married couples have adjoining patios, so I guess a big party could ensue. I went with Nico to the village in case he needed a passport (like in Spain) to get a sim card for his Spanish phone and took the opportunity to get a new sim card too, this time for only 2.5 euros (vs. 10 in Spain). We walked back to the hotel across a pedestrian bridge, just under a mile away. We have passed into an earlier time zone so our 7:30pm dinner is actually at 8:30pm body time. Time for bed NOW!!

View from our patio toward 3 bridges (the middle one is mostly
hidden). The one in front appears to be a former railroad bridge,
now a pedestrian walkway. You can see the concrete supports
for the village bridge behind it. The tall bridge is for the freeway.

View down the Douro River in the other direction