Summary

It is now pouring with rain and there is very low cloud,  a good time to go home.

Having crossed another location off our “Places to Visit” list, what did we think? 
Both Porto and Pontevedra were really nice cities in which to wander round, admire the old buildings and eat nice food, it took us a while to realise that nowhere in Spain is open for dinner until late, most restaurants don’t even look like they will ever open until 8pm. All the places we ate were good and very reasonably priced. Of course we drank a few glasses of port in Porto and in Spain rioja which is our favourite Spanish plonk. In Portugal red wine is served at room temperature, a bit too warm. In Spain the reds are kept in a chiller and served at 16 degrees, much nicer. 

All bars in Spain give you free tapas with every drink, as most sell the same wine and beer they compete on the quality of their freebies, in Portugal we did not get any, perhaps that is why there are few fatties in Portugal! 
In both countries it is assumed that we would share whatever food we ordered, I think that is a great arrangement as I order octopus which Gill won’t eat so I get it all to myself plus half of Gills meal.

Our palace (hotel) in Pontevedra was great, the building was impressive, our room huge and it was in the centre of the old town which is a maze of streets and squares in which we seemed to get lost quite often. The areas outside the old town however looked a bit scruffy, as I mentioned yesterday we did not warm to the coastal areas north and west of the city. There are 97 Paradores, we have now stayed in two, only 95 to go, I will certainly keep an eye out for others when we are in Spain or the Canaries. Judging by the number of tourist shops both Porto and Pontevedra get a lot of visitors in summer but being off season things were fine, fine that is except the weather, we did get a bit of rain. 

So that is another place crossed off the list, where next – La Palma for Christmas, not very adventurous as we have been twice before but it makes for a relaxing holiday with some great walking.