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SailingPegasus.nl - Zeilen met de Pegasus - Blogdetails
Datum: 1-08-2016    From Spain to Portugal, Viana do Castelo
 Friday, 29-07-2016 to Saturday, 30-07-2016
Today is Kit’s 2nd birthday and we reward him for this by leaving today, so he can tuck himself away again nicely under the salon-couch for the whole day. But we will make it up to him, not to worry, he gets extra candy on the way and tonight his favourite dinner, a tin of SHEBA.

We are glad to leave here, since the wind here is very chilly, which even causes us to put on a vest! It is 34 miles to Viana do Castelo in Portugal, so we leave timely. The wind is not very strong, but enough to sail on the mainsail and the forecast is that the wind will grow stronger at the end of the day. Because we sail on the Atlantic Ocean in front of the Spanish/Portuguese coast, we have some very troublesome waves, called ‘breaks’; they come just off from behind, so every now and then the wind drops from the mainsail. Due to this, the boom endures a lot and that is the reason we suddenly hear a blast. A block form the vang (this thing takes care that the boom does not go up) has come loose from the mast and is completely twisted. Fred secures it with a temporary solution and that will be another chore on our to-do list. On the way the dolphins are with us again, swimming under the boat. In the afternoon, the wind comes more at our back and we add the Genoa. The wind increases as predicted and around 17:00 we sail with a pretty high speed onto the river Lima, to the harbour of Viana do Castelo. In the distance we can already see the long bridge, “Pont Eiffel”, built by engineer Gustave Eiffel, most notably known of his work in Paris, the Eiffel tower.

The Marina
Just before this bridge lies a small marina on port side; this marina is closed off with a revolving bridge, so you first have to berth at a waiting pier. Because the waiting pier has only 4 places, we berth the Pegasus next to a French boat. Then you have to walk from this pier to the harbour office, by way of a footbridge, quite a distance. On the bridge they tell us that the marina is booked up and even more: we have to leave tomorrow to make way for some stupid event with jet skis that will take place on the river! Ridiculous! Is our first reaction. When we arrive at the harbour office, it turns out that the event will be on Sunday and so we can stay a day longer. We will have to leave Sunday morning though, because the river will be closed off then. Our neighbours already leave tomorrow morning, so we can berth directly on the pier. The harbour office is closed at specific times, so you can’t use the facilities when you want to, moreover you have to ask for the key every time. Not very efficient!
 
The town
One of the most beautiful towns in the north of Portugal. It played an important role in the discovery journeys. A city full of history and architecture, with large stately houses with the coat of arms of the nobility on it, beautifully decorated palaces, churches, convents and drinking fountains. Many of the streets of the historic centre lead to the Praça de República, the heart of the city. Here you will find several impressive buildings, often decorated with glazed tiles, a drinking fountain from the 16th century and the old Paços do Concelho (the former city hall).
The streets are wide, with the exception of the oldest part with its narrow streets, where you can find the restaurants. From the water you can see the pilgrimage church of Monte Santa Lucia on a hill, this is sort of a replica of the Paris’ Sacré Coeur. Because we lack the time, we skip this one. Behind the beautiful old building of the train station lies a modern shopping centre (R.Gen. Humberto Delgado 101) with several storeys. We need another sim-card for our cellphone for the time we stay in Portugal. At the firm “NOS” we buy an internet card for € 2,50 and upgrade it with € 20,00. It is valid for one month and for that we have unlimited internet! The waiting pier borders a park and next to that a boulevard, where, at this moment, people with stands display their goods. In the park they have built a stage, where later that evening a hard rock concert will be held in honour of the 25th anniversary of a local band. We can enjoy the concert from the boat.

The people, the language and the music
The Portuguese are very friendly, they understand and speak English better that the Spaniards. Portuguese sounds much warmer and melodious than Spanish, and although the words look similar, the pronunciation is completely different. The culture is very interesting and versatile. The Portuguese music, the “fado”, sort of the Portuguese blues, is sad and melancholy beautiful. It is one hour earlier in Portugal, so we set our clocks back.

Eating out
We find a very peculiar restaurant, called "A Moda Antiga”, a retro market and bistro wrapped into one https://www.facebook.com/amodaantiga/home . It is run by a couple of nice you people, who speak English and do their utmost to please us. We have had a wonderful dinner here! The shop is a haberdashy kind of thing and you can even hire bikes here! Certainly worth a visit. The 2nd day we have lunch at a local butchery, where you also can have a bite to eat. It turns out to be a very popular spot: you have to stand in line to buy food here! We had some juicy spareribs and chicken drumsticks, in big quantities for little money.

The weather
The 2nd day it suddenly turns much colder and mistier, as if the weather is pursuing us!

Boat chores
In the town we find a shop where we buy several metres of Velcro to attach the blackout curtains on our shutters. And again, they have a multitude of crocheting wool and I simply can’t resist to buy a few balls of it.

Encounters with other sailors
Next to us a boat, “The Circle” is berthing, with on board a couple of enthusiastic young people, a Spanish captain and an Australian crew. They just bought the boat and picked it up in Amsterdam and their plan is to sail around the world. On the way they will make a documentary and they ask Fred for an interview about our trip. Perchance we might see it back on their website: https://thecircle2016.com.

Sunday morning we will leave and will be heading for Porto.
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9-08-2016, reactie van Odette van Eden
Gefeliciteerd met Kit.

Wat schrijf je toch iedere keer weer leuk. Ik vind het erg fijn om jullie zo een beetje te kunnen volgen.

XXX Odette
 
9-08-2016, reactie van Aad
Lekker blogje weer, ontspannend.
Zorg er wel voor dat Fred ze niet gaat schrijven. Hij zou een ingewikkelde thriller in 2 a4-tjes klaar hebben en dan schat ik het nog ruim in, heel ruim.
Ik stuur de laatste versie van mijn nieuwe boek direct naar jullie, hij komt binnen een maand uit.
 
9-08-2016, reactie van Mila
Bom Dia, Kit!

Nou beestje, van harte gekattegiceerd met je verjaardag en nog vele kattige jaren (je hebt 9 levens, dus dat worden nog veel verjaardagen...wahaha!)
Heb je nou al zee-katte-pootjes?
Nog steeds niet gewend aan de motor?

Voordeel van jou aan boord is dat Caroline en Fred nooit een kater kunnen krijgen....die hebben ze al! :)

Welnu, een goede reis weer en de hartelijke groetjes aan je baasjes.

Een katte-pootje van tante Milla

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