Ride Spain & Portugal: places we see & people we meet Part 3


Motorbikes – the places we go and the people we meet: Part 3

Part 1 and Part 2 covered the start of this road trip and my journey down to Vimioso in Portugal.

Read on to find out about the journey and my stay in Trujillo. Join me on the ride to the town of Elvas in central Portugal before I leave for Evora the capital of Portugal’s south-central Alentejo region and what was to become one of my favourite places in that country.

Note: There’s lots of pictures in this post, so why not take your time, open the picture galleries and enjoy the views.

A dull start

The weather forecast wasn’t looking great, but even though I was still early on in this trip I had seen enough to know the forecasts were nowhere near 100% reliable or accurate. Having said that, the early morning weather in Vimioso provided a dull start to the day as I readied my bike and said farewell to Rob and Janice in the car park.

There were certainly some odd weather systems over Europe and some of the stories from home of the monsoon like conditions in the UK were pretty extreme.

Thankfully, the adverse reports for the day were generally unfounded, the weather was generally decent and warming and ended with a temperature high of 27C

Headed for Trujillo

I had decided I would head for the medieval town of Trujillo in the Extremadura region of western Spain.

Some folk claim it to be the most beautiful town in the region, I’m not qualified to confirm that, but following my visit I can say it has its fair share of superb medieval buildings along with fascinating architecture from the 15th and 16th centuries. The place has many magnificent palaces and mansions that were built in that period. If you take time to open the picture gallery you’ll see what I mean.

The Plaza Mayor is exceptional, and a place that is often used to host festivals during the year- the buildings are just superb and merit a wander around.

I didn’t make a direct route

A direct route would have been about 180 miles the route I made was to take me a little over 230 miles. I was less than 20 miles from Miranda do Douro in north east Portugal, so I decided to head that way.

It’s a place I am pretty familiar with and one I have biked down and around a few times including during the 2017 trip with Pat when we travelled extensively on a Kawasaki Vulcan 650S.

It’s not a big place and has a population of less than about 8,000 or so but it’s a fine place to visit.

A huge reservoir

On my way to Trujillo I crossed over the Almendra Dam – it’s just massive and the reservoir that backs up behind the dam covers around 86.5 square kilometres and when full, contains around 2.5 billion cubic metres of water.
At more than half a kilometre wide and at a height of 202 metres it’s very impressive and is actually one of the tallest structures in Spain.

 

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An interesting fact

An interesting fact is that the local language spoken in this region is ‘Mirandes’  It’s one of the official languages of Portugal. But to be honest my reason for diverting via Miranda wasn’t one of wanting to hear the local language or to top up my (limited) cultural knowledge – it was as simple as wanting to re-visit one of my favourite views and to travel on the roads in that area.

Mirando da Douro picture set

Click any image to click/scroll through the picture set

Route and an amazing National Park

After leaving Miranda I headed for Ledesma, Sando, Tamames and La Pesca. Later it was towards Plasencia and the road that took me through the magnificent Monfraque National Park – an unspoilt area of vast mountains and rocks where literally hundreds of black vultures circle and swoop.

Apparently it’s one of the best places in Spain for bird watching and as I passed through and stopped to take in the sights I had just a little regret that having to travel so light meant I was unable to carry my main camera and lenses with me. I thought of my wife who would have absolutely loved it. We both shoot with Canon EOS 90D‘s using Sigma 100/400mm lenses – and we would have spent an hour or two at least there.

Monfaque National Park picture set

Click any image to click/scroll through the picture set

Where the rivers meet it’s not just vultures

The landscape has been formed because it’s where the Tajo and Tietar rivers meet and it’s one of those places that you sort of have to see to really appreciate – pictures just don’t quite capture the spectacle. Apparently the Romans called the place Monsfragorum which means the fractured mountain! It’s not just vultures that make their home in the national park. I understand there is quite a population of Spanish imperial eagles, along with eagle owls and griffon vultures.

Good days riding and a good hotel

All in all it had been a pretty good days riding and I had really enjoyed myself  – the road through Monfraque National Park had probably been the highlight, it had been about 30 miles or so of almost empty roads.

My hotel in Trujillo was the Izan Trujillo and it was very decent.

The hotel is actually in the old Convent of San Antonio which dates back to the 16th century.

Its great value, has superb underground parking, has great reception staff, nice room, excellent shower and is well located in the town, I would absolutely recommend it and would not hesitate to stay there again.. Click any image to click/scroll through the hotel picture set below.

Trujillo picture set

Click any image to click/scroll through the hotel picture set below.

The history of Elvas is in the buildings

Last year I had visited Elvas, having been inspired to visit by a picture in a motorcycle journal I had seen years earlier (and that I wrote about here).

I was so impressed when I saw the Amoreira aqueduct last year that I felt I had to go back, see it again and stay the night. The aqueduct is remarkable and its construction was started the best part of 500 years ago in 1537 (it was finished in 1622).

The aqueduct was built to bring water into the fortified city of Elvas. But the thing is, it’s not just any old aqueduct – it’s 3.7 miles long, is 130 ft high but best of all, for part of its structure it’s actually on four levels/four arches on top of each other – it’s truly an incredible sight.

Not far to Elvas

If I took a direct route I could have been in Elvas within a couple of hours, but I had no real intention of taking a direct route. The weather was good so I decided to head for the town of Carceres which looked quite stunning and it’s another medieval city. It’s actually a designated World Heritage City.
Before I left I went and walked another few miles around Trujillo, who knows if I’ll ever stop by this way again.

Where did that come from!

As I neared Caceres it seemed that from nowhere I was hit by an almighty deluge that made riding feel unsafe as water washed down the street I was riding on.
I stopped and took shelter under a tree, put my hi-vis vest on and swapped from thin mesh gloves to Gore-Tex waterproof gloves!

Slight change of plan

Given the sudden weather change (which went onto last the best part of two hours) I cancelled thoughts of heading into Caceres, waited under the tree for half an hour or so then headed off.

It was pretty treacherous through the town and I was grateful for the patience of drivers who could see I was struggling in the difficult conditions

The going wasn’t good

The hour or so after I got going wasn’t good at all, which was a shame as the route and scenery was pretty good as I headed in the Sierra de San Pedro mountains – or more a range of low hills than mountains really. I stopped for coffee as I neared Elvas and rode down the road I had been on last year with the trees that had been stripped for cork, a stop at the local bull ring for pictures and then onto my accommodation in Elvas.

Although I just couldn’t pass the Amoreira Aqueduct without stopping for pictures even though the reality was that they would be pretty much the same as last year.

Click any image to click/scroll through the hotel picture set below.

Arriving at Elvas

My accommodation at Elvas was the Hotel Sai Joao de Deus, a decent 4* hotel in a former convent that was built in the 17th century (1840).  It is actually built into the walls and the town fortifications.
As I arrived at the hotel I pulled into a car park at the side of the hotel and there was a group of riders on an organised tour and who had arrived a few minutes before me. We chatted briefly as they unloaded what seemed like a lot of gear – I was told they needed to carry spares (I think they were doing some sort of off road riding).

Oops wrong hotel

One chap asked if I was travelling on my own, I explained I was and that organised tours were not quite my thing, I enjoyed my own company etc. but to each their own.

The group leader was actually in the hotel checking them in … that was until he came out and let them know he had guided them to the wrong hotel – so maybe not quite as organised as they might have hoped!

 

Great accommodation and a terrific town

Once checked in I was told I could bring my bike into the inner courtyard (which I did). The accommodation was excellent, the service was spot on and the bike parking superb – I would be very happy to stay at this place again and can heartily recommend it.

Apparently Elvas has evidence of remains that date back as far as the 10th century. It’s walled fortifications started to be built when Portugal regained independence in the 17th century

I understand the actual fortifications of the town are the best surviving example of the Dutch school of fortifications anywhere in the world!

Wandering around

I wandered around Elvas for a few hours and absolutely loved it.
It’s got a heck of a history, it was a garrison town and was used to guard the border crossing between Portugal’s capital Lisbon and Spain’s capital Madrid. Water for the town was supplied by that staggering 3.7 mile long Amoreira Aqueduct that was built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. I’m no historian but the place is just impressive and it’s easy enough to search the web for more info’ if that’s your thing.

And the weather is perfect

Best of all the weather had changed and I knew I would be looking at very decent weather for the rest of the trip
Check out the pictures in the gallery below. Click any image to click/scroll through the pictures.

 

Click here to go to Part 4 and read about when I meet Alan and Di – the owners of a very clean Yamaha and with a quite brilliant approach to motorcycling in Iberia. And then it’s down to Evora for a couple of days.