Mon 7th Sept - Mon 14th Sept Leixios (Matasinhos) including trip to Foz Coa

We spent our first whole day in Leixios marina and discovered why there was no information on the town in the Portugal guide books, the town is actually called Matasinhos basically the Northern border of Oporto. It is only the port that is called Leixioes and what a busy port it is too, there is a huge lifting bridge which just happened to be opening one of the times we crossed it so the girls loved it they thought it might be their big brother Daniel who was steering the ship through the bridge. After seeing this Ali thinks it is the perfect solution to the ‘fixed link to Bressay’ problem.









The marina has a laundry service which picks up your laundry in the morning and delivers it back at night, washed dried and folded. A pretty good service except that the delivery guy doesn’t work on a Monday so we carried all of our stuff across town to the laundry which would have been a less arduous journey if we had any idea where we were going at all! The trek did however lead us to a lunch experience we enjoyed quite thoroughly. We stumbled across a restaurant where all the clientele sit around a runway where the small owner guy runs up and down at lightening speed serving people and shouting food orders to the kitchen staff with seemingly infinite energy reserves as it was very busy. We just ordered the usual ‘prato da dia’ dishes which were all very good indeed.

We spent a lot of the day just wandering round getting our bearings and finding out about a trip I really wanted to do, a trip up into the mountains to Foz Coa where there is a lot of Palaeolithic rock art. It seemed the only way to go was by hire car so we booked one for the next morning.

We got up early and made a packed lunch etc for the five hour drive to Foz Coa. The hire car didn’t come with a map or much fuel so we set off the direction we thought it would be in and quickly missed a turn off for the area we wanted to go in and realised that at the next service station we were getting fuel and a map to make sure we didn’t end up on the road to Lisbon with no fuel. Once we got the map and miraculously got back onto the correct highway all was fine, until we accidentally passed through a toll booth without picking up a ticket and got fined at the other end! This trip was starting to add up already. The scenery was stunning the road follows the river Douro on and off and other river valleys too as you go East until we turned South and were driving along the upper Douro again. The foliage is much greener and lusher nearer the coast too it is like a desert up in the mountains. If we stopped the car and got out to take photos at the top of the valley then it was astounding the hot wind whistling up at you. Thank goodness the car had air conditioning.

We got to Vale do Foz Coa just in time to go to the tourist info get some hotel addresses (prepared as usual!) and get to the Archaeological park offices and find out we couldn’t book a trip until the Thursday. This meant we had the whole of Wednesday with no plans but the area up near the Spanish border is so full of old castles and history etc that we knew we wouldn’t be stuck. We got a hotel straight away which was also a relief and we took turns in having a bath for the first time in months. I think we would all agree that the trip was worth it just for the bath alone! The lasses spent about an hour in there playing around. We went for dinner in the local restaurant well the only one within walking distance that we could find. Ali felt as though he deserved a glass of vino or two after all the hard driving and we had a pleasant meal.

The next day we got up for buffet breakfast and headed off to find some old castle villages. The breakfast was standard fare except for one thing that amused Ali and I. When we went to get a cup of coffee we realised there was a kettle with coffee IN IT and another with hot milk IN IT and another with water for tea! We were surprised the coffee actually tasted OK.

We set in the direction of the Spanish border on some minor roads which wound up and down the valleys and around the hillsides quite precariously. One of our guide books warned about Portuguese driving and we did see some seriously dodgy overtaking going on, probably because we were going so slow!

We spotted a solitary church on top of a hill so we made it our fist stop and were quite surprised our peerie rental car made it up the cobbled track all the way up the hill! It was quite a view from the top but we did feel sorry for the poor folk who would have had to walk to the top of the hill every Sunday before the time of cars.

Next stop was Castelo Melhor and old fortress on top of a hill again. It is situated in a really old town where people shelled nuts in garages and all the gardens were full of squash etc growing. We walked up to the fort which is entirely planted full of almond and olive trees and there are goat herds in amongst the ruins. We felt as if we were intruding on someone’s farmland so we didn’t stick around long. On the way out of town we saw an old lady with her donkey and we got out of the car to ask if the lasses could stroke her but she shooed us away and said ‘get back in car get back in car tsk tsk.’ Maybe she thought we were looking for a donkey ride or she just gets annoyed at dumb tourists like ourselves who want to look at her donkey - who knows.




We carried on to the real goal of the day Castelo Rodriguez which is basically just the same idea but much more accessible and preserved. It was getting pretty ho by this time so the girls were moaning a bit by the time we got up the hill on foot. The whole town is the attraction as some of it dates back to the 11th century and it has been occupied by various groups of people and seen a lot of conflict during its time. There are cafes selling local fare too - thankfully as we were in dire need of a drink of water. After walking around looking at the various bits and pieces we thought it would be a good idea to head back to the hotel and have a really cold shower!


I got one a bit sooner than I bargained for…… There were lots of road works going on along the way and if anyone knows Ali they will know most of his holiday snaps consist of diggers, piers etc etc. The workmen were having to use a water spraying truck to wet down the road fill before they could flatten it so Ali got me to stick my head out of the window and take a picture of the spray truck. Then he said we would just stop and I could get out and get a better picture, which I did then as soon as I got back in the car he drove off past the truck a bit too quickly before I had realised my window was still down! I suppose it was refreshing in the searing heat. Alisha was on the back seat behind me sleeping and was just a tad grumpy after her rude awakening!

The next day was the trip to see one of the rock art sites. Ali had been pretty scathing about going to see some scratches on rocks until we got to the visitor centre. Firstly he saw the landrover jeeps we were to be transported in then our tour guide screeched up in her jeep……. Out jumped Lara Croft aka tomb raider - seriously! She was wearing army combat trousers and a tight fitting vest top, long brown hair tied back into a ponytail. If you have seen the films or played the game you would understand!

The trip consisted of being driven down a river valley close to where the site was and then hiking 1km down to the actual site. The road trip was an experience in its self, especially when we went off road. ’Lara’ changed into four wheel drive and revved up to maximum effect before racing up the dirt track. It was all very Indiana Jones. I think she was a little disappointed when Ali asked if she could stop so he could take pictures of the partially constructed damn that had been halted in the 1990’s when the rock art was found. When we booked the trip we had been warned against taking the girls because of the hike down to the river and back up again. I don’t think they realised how tough our girls were as they took it as a climbing mountain adventure. The only problem they caused was Alisha starting to dig at the ground with a stone just next to a 30,000 year old engraving of a horse. That did get ‘Lara’ flustered for a moment!

The rock art was very impressive - I thought, more impressive however was how on earth anyone actually spotted it in the first place. I can see what they mean when they show you with a diagram but to look at it not knowing it was there is astounding. They have 24hr security guards to stop anyone going there without permission and apparently they are kept quite busy! The engravings we saw were all of deer, horses and aurochs. We didn’t have time to go to the other two sites which was a shame but I think the girls may have rebelled having to look at too many scratches on the rocks!

We got back to the hotel and all had cool showers then set off back to the boat. On the way down we were surprised to see lots of little forest fires although our guide had earlier told us that they were quite normal in that region as it is so dry and hot for months.

When we got back to Leixioes then the girls started hopping up and down because the Canadian boat was there although they had to wait impatiently on deck until the Boags had come back from their walk and they were reunited with their friends.

We spent another few days in Leixioes with the kids running between the two boats. Ali and Olous had a sample of Port one night which consisted of the whole bottle! Lucky it is so cheap here.

We all went for a walk across the bridge to town on the Friday and there was a big market on in a big hangar. There were loads of fruit and veg and ….live chickens and rabbits! One lady took out a rabbit and a chicken for the kids to stroke. I think she was hoping we would buy one, they kill them for you on the spot if you want. We did think about buying some rabbits and liberating them but though better of it! As we were still standing there looking at the rabbit’s a lady came up to purchase a chicken and we herded out all the kids before the squawking began!



We found out that the huge shopping centre in town takes your kids for childcare and we could leave them all and go into Porto on the metro!! On Saturday we duly got up early and deposited all four of them at the day care and headed off into town. Freedom - Yippee!




It just so happened that there was ‘Redbull’ Air racing on in Porto that weekend. Very impressive to watch. Firstly there was an aeronautical display from a jet squadron turning and spinning all over the city - excellent. Then the real event kicked off. There were two ‘goal posts’ set up in the river and planes had to fly up the river through both sets of posts then pull up as quickly as they could turn over and get down quick enough to get back through the first goal post again roar off and repeat the whole circuit again. The river was lined with thousands of people and there were commentators and music blaring all adding to an electric atmosphere. We had been in Porto before but it was crammed with people all the restaurants and cafes along the river were working their butts off and it was really hot. There were little kids going around with buckets full of ice selling water - or beer! Every one was making a buck from it. I ended up buying a hat from one of the many stalls as it was too bright, I got a cowboy hat but in pink so Ali wouldn’t nick it off of me! After watching a few of the races we thought we had seen enough and went to look around a bit more before catching the metro back to the shopping centre (as much of an attraction if you ask me!!)

We headed off to get the kids earl and thought we would have a coffee on the way in but it was interrupted by a phone call from the day care saying one of the girls was crying and could I please come and get them all. The end of freedom. It was about 11 euros for each child for 6 hours including a snack which was well worth it! They didn’t seem too traumatised when they came out either….

On our last day at Leixioes we all went to the outdoor pool on the beach as Alisha now refuses to go anywhere near the sea. It was a bit of a swizz really. It cost Ali myself and the two girls £15 to get in and all it consisted of was a concrete pool built into the rocks, a section of beach and a little toddlers pool and a concrete toilet and shower block! If you compare that to all of us getting into the Clikimin centre at home for about £6 and having pristine showers, flumes, rapids pools and a huge clean swimming pool you can hardly believe it. Alisha did get in the water for the first time in ages though and so it seemed worth it in the end. The kids spent all afternoon going between, sandcastles and the pools so it was money well spent!

We had a great time in Leixioes, the marina was really friendly and efficiently run but we did find as some of our other friends on boats had emailed us that the air is a little grimy and the electricity on the pontoons is decidedly dodgy! We bid goodbye to the crew of Atmosphere and got ready to sail very early the next morning.