Povoa de Varzim, lighthouse church

I kept telling the Portuguese people we met in Povoa that this was my first time in Portugal (Colin did his RYA Day Skipper in the Algarve many moons ago) but then I remembered that our honeymoon was in Madeira which is part of Portugal (I hadn't forgotten the honeymoon, more that Madeira was part of Portugal) so I hope they forgive my little error!

Having realised I didn't say much about Povoa de Varzim in previous blogs, I though I'd put that right even if it does disrupt the order of the blog as it was a pleasant place and we enjoyed out visit. The marina staff were very friendly and helpful, there was free wifi, a book exchange, the showers and toilets were clean and the washing machine and dryer were cheap. The nightly rate for us was only €18 - bargain! It is secure with a finger print system used for entry, although our fingers didn't work for a day or two, then started working, don't know why.

The only downside to the place was the fog horn which was so sensitive that even a fine sea spray would set off it's very loud air raid siren type alarm. Many times it went off at night and during the day when there wasn't a trace of fog in the air. Oh and the pontoon finger we were on was quite short and narrow, it didn't cause any problem other than Emerald wasn't held in that tight and we did wiggle around in the winds a bit, but we never felt like we would break free. There were plenty of boats in the marina, both visitors and locals, with many being lifted out for storage ashore in their huge hard standing area.

You can pay the €2 Portuguese light dues tax at the marine police office near the casino, the payment covers you for a year and took only 10 minutes to get done, again with friendly, helpful people.

There is a metro station 10 minutes walk from the marina with regular trams into Porto for €2.70 a journey which takes around an hour. The town was bustling with a busy, pedestrianised shopping area which had lots of lingerie shops!

The area behind the marina contains the homes of the fishermen; their church even has a lighthouse built into it. The footpaths are white mosaic with patterns such as waves and sea creatures drawn out with black stones. Very pretty. The older men sat around in the afternoon playing cards or putting the world to rights, glass sided meeting areas had even been built for them along the sea front. The women it seems were left to do the fish selling sat outside their doors with buckets of sardines at their feet.

Along the seafront runs a promenade and cycle path which was heavily used by the locals; joggers, people out for a stroll and lots of cylists of every age. We followed the path south past beaches to Vila do Conde to have a look at the remains of an eighteenth century aquaduct which reportedly has 999 arches; quite spectacular as it runs up the middle of the road between houses, but unfortunately a few arches have now fallen into disrepair.


Aquaduct arches

Back along the cycle path heading north back to Povoa and out the other side which had the feel of a holiday resort area with beach cafes, bars, sports facilities and windbreak hire. They needed it as the northerly wind blew quite strong for a few days whilst we were there.


Colin and a mermaid in Vila do Conde

We didn't eat out whilst we were here but there were plenty of cafes and bars around and for food shopping bread was readily available (super soft little baps that taste great) and there was a Pingo supermarket in town or a Lidl 20 minutes walk south of the marina. Too many pastelerias selling little pastries and cakes that fit into your mouth in 1 go and are very morish.

It must be local election time in this area as there were billboards everywhere advertising each party and why they are best to vote for. Some candidates even had a campaign vehicle driving around playing a song about them (we couldn't understand the words but did catch the candidate's name being sung over and over). An idea for the political parties back home to try out I think to make elections a bit more interesting :-)