A beautiful morning dawns, we are up before our alarm, drinking our coffee, then we head out for a brisk morning walk. Talk about a change in the temperature. We were hot yesterday, now today it is puffy coats all the way!  But it’s clear and beautiful and makes for a lovely walk down by the river and up through the empty town.

Stopping at Tahone Abuela, we pick up Hornazo, the Salamancan specialty – a pastry stuffed with 3 different types of meat (chorizo, ham and bacon) along with cheese and this tomato spread (sort of like pan de tomate) – to snack on for our lunch during the drive to Covilha. Then, we make short work of packing at the apartment and are on our way around 10, only to sit in traffic right outside the apartment when the street is blocked by an ambulance. We think some guy hit a pedestrian, but who knows?  All we know is that the traffic was backed up for blocks and blocks. We didn’t care, we have all the time in the world, and after about 15 minutes the ambulance finally moves, the bottleneck disperses and we make our way out of Salamanca and on into the countryside of Spain.

It’s gorgeous out here with hardly anyone else on the road. The funny thing though is that the landscape changes abruptly when we cross the Portugal border. It’s bizarre.  We go from green fields and farmland to rocky almost barren scrub brush covered hills in the blink of an eye. And, once again, the time changes the minute we cross the border. Again. Weird.

Driving along the highway, we see a sign for a castle or something and decide to make an impromptu detour.  Google maps says the place may be closed – well, like we believe anything that stupid map program says, but it looks cool anyway and we decide to go for it.  As it turns out, it is closed, there are workers doing a ton of reconstruction work on the tower like castle, so we get one photo and chalk it up to a nice little countryside diversion.  The map program re-routes us onto country roads, which is nice enough as we drive through the sunshine and the clouds heading toward the hotel Luna Serra da Estrela above Covilha. 

Sadly though, the stupid GPS routes us directly through the middle of the town of Covilha, on little windy streets that, thank God, finally open up onto a main artery (main meaning not tiny little cobblestone streets) and we are winding our way up hill toward our final destination.  About 20 minutes out, we find a nice little park, with a picnic bench in the sun (necessary because it is far colder up here and the wind is whipping like crazy) where we picnic on our awesome Hornazo.  One with egg, one without, they are both fantastic and definitely addictive.  Thankfully, we won’t have the opportunity to get these any longer – salads-r-us in a matter of days!

After our snack, we take a few minutes to walk the trails around the park, just stretching our legs and enjoying the fresh air. There have obviously been heavy storms up here, because there are a lot of fresh treefalls, including one that couldn’t be more than a day or two old at best. As the wind keeps whipping around us, making the trees bend and sway, we are thinking maybe this isn’t the smartest place to be?  But it is a nice walk, fresh air, and we successfully make our way back to the car and continue our journey up into the mountains of Portugal. 

The road is definitely a windy mountain road, with switch backs and steep inclines, and the ruin of what may have been a home on the side of the mountain. 

Up, up, up we go, finally reaching the Miradouro da Varanda dos Carqueijais – an overlook that is spectacular, looking down on the Cova da Beira and further out to the Castelo Branco.  It is gorgeous – and a little bit scary on this semi-circular bridge type thing that is suspended over the cliffs and singing in the wind.  Gorgeous – but scary!

We’ve still got boat loads of time, it’s only a little after noon, so as we continue up into the mountains, we see a sign for the Miradouro do Sanatorio, and figure, what the heck? Turning off the main road, we proceed up a small paved road, that quickly turns into gravel and traverses up this mountain and around what I keep calling a lighthouse (but we’re landlocked here, so I don’t know what the heck it is), but the road keeps going and the views are spectacular…..and then the road turns to a muddy track and we think….um…no.  We’ve been here before, and we ain’t doing it again!

Ed successfully completes a complicated u-turn (more like a k-turn with lots of maneuvers) and we return the way we came, with equally spectacular views, but also the knowledge that we will hit the paved road to continue our journey.

Arriving at the hotel, it is a little past 1:00pm, and we have little doubt about checking in, but it is also pouring rain with gusting winds (the rain is going sideways), so we figure, well, what the heck?  We’ll just sit in the car until it subsides enough for us to go inside.  After about 10 minutes, we feel it is safe to venture out and head into reception, where they so wonderfully check us in and give us a room!  Thank you Luna hotel!  And on top of it, we have a fabulous room with a huge double bedroom and a smaller single bedroom (that probably used to be a porch) which gives us plenty of room to spread out with our luggage and re-pack our for flying sojourn beginning tomorrow.

After grabbing our big bags and getting settled, it looks like the rain has ended, so we head back out to go explore and hit some of the overlooks we’ve researched.  On the way though, we stop at Varanda Estrela, a cute little restaurant up the road and make a booking for this evening at 7:30 (when they open).  Our hotel has a buffet restaurant – but we are not in the mood for a full on eat your heart out meal – and figure Varanda is our best (and possibly only) alternative.  Then we are off – up into the mountains – with the changing landscape – first slate rock, then meadows of flowers and greenery, then up into the granite mountain terrain with cliffs and black rock all around. 

The higher we go (this area is the highest point in all of Portugal), the bleaker it gets and eventually the snow starts to fall.  Snow!  Yesterday we were sweating to death in Salamanca – today? Snow!!  And winds. And cold. And it hurts to get out of the car with the snow/sleet/whatever it is that comes at you like little needles on your skin!  Still we make the best of it – eschewing the lower lookouts (you can’t see anything for the clouds anyway) and going further up into he mountains than we had planned (only because we couldn’t turn around at the one viewpoint we had marked), until we reach Covao do Boi – 1840 meters (6,000 feet) above sea level. It’s amazing and gorgeous and freezing and painful in the driving snow/ice/hail/whatever!  But still.  We take as many pictures as we can, then shiver back to the car and reverse course back to the hotel!

It’s really snowing in earnest now, you can’t see a thing except the snow and the clouds, but, really, how cool!  Yesterday sunshine and sweat, today clouds and snow and frigid temps.  Incredible contrast.  Stopping at the Miradouro do Covao, in the driving snow, we find a snowman!  Sweet!!!  The viewpoint bridge is also singing or whistling, take your pick.  It is a totally mournful sound as the wind whips through the cliffs and valleys and the snow continues to fall. 

Continuing on our journey down the mountain, the snow continues to fall, the wind wicked, and being the idiots that we are, we decide to stop for a snowball fight.  I mean, really now, why not?  When would we ever get that opportunity again in Portugal?

Back down to the hotel – where the weather is better, coming and going in squalls vs. the constant snow onslaught up above – we hit the bar for an excellent pour of great Portugal wine and a Super Bock beer for Ed (the only choice really!) – and sit in the lovely little bar area, watching the sun come and go, replaced by the rain and the wind, then returning again.

Drinks complete, we wait in the room a bit, until we see the sun come back again. Figuring we’ll be safe for a bit, we venture back out into the cold to do some exploring.  The hotel sits on a ridge overlooking the Beiro valley, with chalets that line the most picturesque park of the ridge.  We walk to the end of a circular drive for spectacular views down around the valley, thinking how lovely it would be to stay in these chalets for a week or two.

The cold and the wind eventually get to us, and we head back to the hotel, happy for the warmth of the interior – even our room, which was super heated by the radiator in the bathroom that we managed to figure out and turn off.  That and opening the windows helped immensely.

Running down to the bar for takeaway beer and wine, we return to find a snowbow!  Rainbow combined with snow = snowbow!!!!  Fabulous!  Have never ever seen anything like that.  It is gorgeous and vibrant and before it disappears, so bright and colorful.

Dinner is next, where we have a lovely little table in the back of the cute restaurant (complete with stuffed deer heads on the wall!  Love it!!!) and feast on excellent bread, cream of vegetable soup for Ed, then grilled lamb for me and octopus for Ed – finally!  Pulvo.  Last night in Portugal. Nowhere near the coast. Ed finally gets his Pulvo – and it is the absolute best!  First of all, it is huge.  He eats for 20 minutes and there is still a bunch left!  Second of all, it is prepared exquisitely.  And served with potatoes (everything here is served with potatoes) and this farina/bean mixture that is to die for!  My meal of lamb is equally good (well, maybe not equally, but excellent on its own!) and we even break down and order dessert.  Yes, this is us!  But how can you resist lemon meringue?  You just can’t!  And it lives up to it’s expectations!

Excellent end to an equally excellent day.

We head back to the hotel (a whole 4 minute drive) and ensconce ourselves in our room, reading and relaxing, then falling asleep, ready – but not ready – for our last day in Portugal tomorrow.