The reason being is that,  after all the preparations made to take the car out of the  country, and the evidence provided for same, the Portuguese authorities have only just, five months later almost accepted that it has ‘gone’ (well sort of, but you’ll have to scroll down to the end for the twist in the tale)

So to recap, we were ordered to deport the vehicle within 14 days.  We specified the border (as required), the date (as required) and time (as required) and provided all this information to the customs.  Having crossed this border many times, and never having seen anyone in authority on the border (the EU’s premise is after all a continent without borders amongst its member states (not that it applies this ethos to the moving of cars from country to country!) I made enquiries, and was assured, that in this instance there would be someone at the border to make the necessary stamps to prove that the had been exported. I was still unconvinced that anyone in authority was going to make their way to the border on a Sunday but Customs assured me they would. 

So, on a bright sunny Sunday morning Nick set off with said car off to specified border.  He arrives.  No one is at the customs office (and by the look of the place there hadn’t been anyone there for years if the cob webs and rusty door lock were anything to go by).  He searches around and finds an immigration officer asleep in the sun.  Said immigration officer can’t help (‘more than my job’s worth’ is particularly prevalent in the public services in Portugal).  Nick calls me and I advise that he puts export documentation under door of office, and takes a photo .   ‘Jobs Worth’ won’t participate so Nick (who is no photographer at the best of times) manages to take the photo of  ’the act’ from behind – not easy when you’re on your own but he manages it anyway. 

I call lawyer and email her to document the above activity.  Her view is that we should ensure that there is an ‘official’ stamp on the copy of the export documentation on entry to the UK by a UK customs officer.  Why they should be convinced to sign something in a language that they don’t understand and on a matter that is absolutely nothing to do with them is beyond me (especially as their Portuguese counterparts wouldn’t accept the English on the V5 stating that it is not proof of ownership – the issue that started all of this). 

So, just to be sure, on the trip up through Spain, and France various photographs were taken of the ‘orangemobile’ enroute and indeed on arrival at, and loading of, and storage of car on the ferry. 

On arrival at Dover Nick joins the queue ‘something to declare’ (although with the length of the queue and with the speed with which it progressed, I’m surprised anyone bothers) and finally came in front a UK Borders and Immigration officer  (or whatever they are called nowadays).  Anyway, after lengthy explanation and production of documention, Customs would have nothing to do with it.  It wasn’t in a language that he understood, and wasn’t a matter on which he had any interest in anyway (his main foci no doubt relating to those issues where targets/bonuses were payable on).  He suggested Nick went to the local police station.  Another queue, another wait, same answer.

So, with one more photo of the car on the White Cliffs (could there be a more quintessential shot of a vehicle reaching home?) off Nick drove to Bedford (further photo outside of his offices – all date stamped of course!) , had the car cleaned up ready for sale.   We had in fact sold it on ebay for a good price – but see postscript below! 

Nick sends me the photos.  I send them to the lawyer.  She forwards them to the Customs.  Process complete (or so you would think) 

But no.  Customs refused to believe car had been exported – the documention hadn’t been found at the ‘customs’ office (there’s a surprise) and therefore, despite the photographic evidence, the car was deemed still in Portugal.  No responsibility that their official wasn’t at the stated place at the stated time with the onus remaining on us to prove that the car had been exported (and the evidence provided not being enough).  Catch 22. 

So what does a girl do?  Sits and waits for the letters demanding payments upwards of 25000 euros plus fines to arrive 

And guess what?  To date, at the time of writing five months later, nothing has arrived.  So what was all the fuss about?

 The story had a bitter sweet ending though as far as the Customs were concerned.  Out of all the people across Europe who could have bought the car off of Ebay (and there was a lot of interest from Germany, Spain and Scandinavia and even Russia (it turned out the car was a collectors’ item unbeknown to me) it was purchased by a very nice man 10 miles from the office in Bedford.  And what was he going to do with – drive it straight back down to Vale do Lobo in Portugal where he had a holiday home.  But, as he’s not a resident (and therefore doesn’t pay his taxes in Portugal) HE is allowed to keep it down here (at least for 6 months of the year).  Indeed, I took some clients up that end of the Algarve recently and there was my car (a bright orange G4 Freelander is pretty difficult to miss!) standing proudly at the entrance to Vale do Lobo golf course. 

Something is DEFINTIELY wrong with  the system – you pay your taxes in Portugal, bring much needed revenue to the country via my business (300,000 bed nights in 2010 alone) yet you can’t bring a car into a Member State.  Own a property, don’t pay your taxes here, and you can have car here.  Doesn’t make sense!  Moral of the  story – don’t try and do things properly, just take  a chance (like the tens of thousands of Brits and Irish and Germans that have had their cars down here for years) – although far be it for me to advise as it is clear from my blog entries on the subject that I am no expert (other than how to do it wrongly with the wrong people and the wrong time!)

 Postscript 1:  the good news is after wasting what was considerable time on this matter, I am now the owner of a lovely Mercedes SLK which we bought in Portugal (at a stupidly inflated price due to the taxes here) which has turned out to be a superb mobile tanning machine for someone who never has time to sunbathe (but not so convenient for carting cots and high chairs around!).   

Postscript 2:   the bad news was that when  Nick took the car back to UK, he was stranded there for two weeks due to the Ash Cloud (and he HATES being in the UK!).  A fitting end to a sorry saga I think.

After the refusal by the Faro Customs to accept that my husband and I had a marriage of communal assets (ie the normal type of marriage in the UK) , that I purchased the car and my husband did not own it the appeal to Lisbon failed.  Why?  Because we have the wrong type of marriage in our house deeds, despite the fact that we were married in the UK long before we moved to Portugal. 

So, what does this mean?  Well, I have been given TWO days to get the car out of the country (well, 36 hours to be exact).  I have to go to  Faro (an hour away from where I live)  to get some paperwork the day before export (no sooner).  I have to inform them of the time and border where I am going to take the car (and if you’ve ever crossed between Spain and Portugal in the south, north and east of the country you’ll know there are no border posts any more because in theory (although the way the Portuguese run the Matriculation process totally belies this).  I then have to the next day take the car to the appointed post (two hours’ drive)  and get all the documentation stamped and then the car cannot return here for five years, at least whilst I own it. 

Within this two day notice I have to find somewhere for the car to go.  I can’t take the time out to drive it back to the UK and as it is now up for sale, it is likely the buyer will come from Spain or Germany – so what’s the point of taking it all the way to the UK to bring it back to mainland Europe?  If I take it to Spain, where do I leave it?  Is this a concern for the Customs?  Not at all.  Although part of the European Union, the car in their view is illegal here and must go.  Full stop.

My response.  Tomorrow I go and cancel my residency in Portugal.  The loss to Portugal of my tax income, which will over the years of work I have left in me (hopefully)  far exceed even the extortionate amount of tax (22K euros) they want for my car which is worth around £7k max.

For a debt ridden country (even worse than the UK and second only to Greece) this is economics gone crazy.    And, as I say, illegal.  The only other option?  To take to the European Court of Justice.  The problem here is that the last four cases of a similar nature that have been taken to the ECJ have actually succeeded, ie it has been proven that the Portuguese are acting illegally.  However, no fines have been imposed as the ECJ’s view is that until every country (from the UK through to Lithuania) applies the same rules, there is no point interfering with the individual decision of one of the EU countries.

So, the end of a year of heartache, stress, time and money has come to an end – and if you see an orange Freelander parked somewhere up in either the UK or Spain, don’t think it’s abandoned.  It’s just awaiting a new owner in a country which hopefully will allow a LHD car to be imported in line with legislation in Europe. 

So, if you’re thinking of bringing a car in the Portugal for importation, think carefully – and do read my do’s and don’ts on my January blog so you don’t caught out in the bureaucratic nightmare that the Portuguese authorities impose.

So, if you’re thinking of learning the lingo, where to start? There are a plethora of language programmes available on dvd, cd, mp3 on sites such as Amazon but you do need to ensure that you choose European Portuguese and not Brazilian (there is a big difference). Most of the US produced programmes are the latter – so beware!

I’ve tried most of the programmes available from Oxford, Berlitz and the like and by far the best is Michel Thomas’ Portuguese course, available as a two CD starter set (great for getting started prior to a holiday), an eight CD foundation set that will take you through to lower intermediate and a supplementary four cd advanced course. Also worth looking at to start with is Elisabeth Smith’s one day Portuguese – a corny language learning programme if ever there was one, but at the end of 75 minutes you can confidently find your way around a town, ask for directions, order a meal and the such like. Highly recommended for the total beginner!

Going back to Michel Thomas though, this in my view is the absolute best. I have to admit I have a real liking for Thomas’ language approach – I learned both the rudiments of German and Spanish using these programmes, before going straight into the intermediate classes at language school in the respective countries. His methodology is simple. No books, no writing, just listen and repeat – and for no more than 20 minutes at a time. Equally, he doesn’t go through long grammar lists or verb conjugations. Rather, he starts with the phrase ‘I want’, then moves on to ‘I want to …’, through to ‘I want that now’, ‘tomorrow, next week, with this, with that and so on. In a very short space of time therefore you’re able to make simple requests of people, book hotel rooms, order meals and tell the telephone company that your internet isn’t working.

I can’t recommend the course enough – it’s taken me to an advanced level (along with help from the staff at Boavista who are great ‘informal’ language teachers to me.

But what if you want to do more? Well, there are a number of options. You could try going to the language school in Lagos (some people think they’re great but as an ex language teacher myself, I don’t personally rate theml). The local Camara – or council – offer free language classes once a week (although wrap up warm as they’re held during the winter nights in freezing school halls) and I know a lot of people have benefited from these. There are some other self study programmes that I would also recommend, such as Linkword (basic pc interface but a very good way of learning vocabulary (although the first vocabulary list is based around fish and I was never sure that the word ‘polvo’ for octopus would be at the top of my priority list). However, it is a good way of extending vocabulary and at £35 or so a pop for all three levels, worth every penny.

Finally, if you’re looking for private tuition, either on an individual or small group basis, you won’t go wrong with Alice who is based in Burgau (00 351) 966878043. She is the best teacher of language I have ever come across (and I’ve been through a few with the various languages I’ve learned) and her methodology is very similar to that of Michel Thomas. (Alice also does holiday courses for my rental guests who want to keep their brain active during their hols – so if you’re interested in spending an hour or two a day or week etc with her, let me know)

So, if you’re thinking of learning the language, do ensure that which ever programme you go for, it is European Portuguese that you’re going to be learning – and do give Michel Thomas’ course a go as you certainly won’t regret it!

Simpler said than done – not just in our experience but in thousands of others’ too.  In theory, the law is simple.  One car per person can be legally brought into the country tax free, as long as it has been owned for 12 months prior to coming over to live in Portugal and the process is initiated for matriculation – or tax free importation – within  6 months of taking up residency  ( a requirement for importing a car)

As the law appears quite simple, we duly took the necessary steps.  I bought one car in the UK (left hand drive) 12 months before moving to Portugal and my husband bought another at around the same time.  We took up residency within six months of arriving in Portugal (an easy process undertaken at the local Camara), employed a highly recommended expert to undertake the matriculation process (as most people do as the paperwork is horrendous), sat back and expected it all to go through without a hitch within about 6-8 months.  Twelve months – and thousands of euros later, one car has no status in Portugal (and thus technically illegal) and the other has 30 days to leave the country

How, you might ask, can this happen in a fellow member state of the European Union when a key tenet of the Union is the free movement of trade, labour and goods?  As two professional (and would like to believe highly intelligent) people we can’t understand it either – other than the Portuguese customs/tax authorities see  car matriculation as an easy way of collecting money from even the most ‘switched’ on emigrants.

 Indeed, they are the only country to have been taken to the European Court four times on this matter, and each time they’ve been found at fault.  But still it goes on – as the fines levied by the European Court are many hundreds of thousands of euros less than collecting the taxes from people who simply just give up on what should be a formalised – and easy – legal process for importing a car. 

It all started off ok.  We provided the original documentation for each car, the V5Cs, gained the necessary certificates of compliance from Nissan and Landrover, had the cars MOT’d in Portugal and all seemed well.  Then the obscure request to see the deeds of our houses came from Customs in Faro.  A strange request given we had provided countless pieces of paper demonstrating our identity/address, but hey ho, we thought,  if you need, them, we’ll give them to you as we have nothing to hide. 

What became apparent later was that the reason they wanted the deeds is that in Portugal these documents describe the ‘type of marriage’ you have (in the UK there is only one, in Portugal four).    So, what could possibly be the problem?  Well, unless you instruct your lawyer to do differently, your status of marriage will automatically be entered in the deeds as ‘casal sens bens’ or in other words, a marriage where what both parties owned when entering into the marriage becomes the other. 

As such, Customs claim this ‘state of marriage’ as being that my husband (as the dominant partner in a Portuguese marriage) was in effect bringing in two cars, not the allowed one.  Logic defies this view but to go with the flow, we got our lawyer in the UK to write a letter to state that in the UK there is only one type of marriage, and as the cars had been purchased in individual names after the marriage, we each owned one.  Customs did not accept this on the basis that the lawyer was ‘our’ lawyer and wanted us to prove, by production of a copy of the marriage law in the UK the status of marriage there.  That may sound a simple request to comply with, but as the last marriage law was passed in 1776 and related to age of consent, that wasn’t very helpful. 

Customs then produced a new argument (why they didn’t at the beginning make any of this clear I don’t know) in that as the V5C (commonly known as the ‘log book’) was in my husband’s name, it was clear he was trying to import two cars.  This is despite the fact that I had already provided a receipt to show that I personally had purchased the car (more on this later).  For anyone who is unfamiliar with the small print of a V5c, it clearly states that the name on the ‘log book’ is just the keeper, not the registered owner. 

 However, the Customs authorities would not accept this very clear statement on that document (or on the hundreds of official documents from the DVLA on line reiterating this fact).  DVLA (in an admirably short space of time) even sent an email confirming the status of the V5C, but again to no avail.  Customs insist it is a document of ownership.  (You may be wondering why, after all our careful preparations, the V5C for my car was in my husband’s name but the previous owner failed to notify DVLC of the sale of the car, and it was left to my husband to sign all the paper work whilst I was here in Portugal.   

So, a stalemate was reached.   All the conditions of importation had been complied with in terms of time of ownership, taking up residency, necessary paperwork, production of receipt etc but the response from the Customs authority in Portugal is still that ‘we can’t prove ownership of the car’ as the status of our marriage undermines our claim that I own the car, the receipt is not a proper ‘factura’ or invoice (there is no company name or tax number  on the receipt as it was bought privately from Ebay – something that Customs could not understand) and they wouldn’t accept the formal declaration from a UK government department that the document of keeping is not a declaration of ownership.

The final decision during a meeting with the Head of Customs was that he (not us) would decide which of the two cars would be matriculated – or legally imported free of tax – and he decided on the Nissan (the right hand car) which would not have been the one that we would have chosen  if we had to choose between the two. 

 However, this sorry story did not stop there. 

We were subsequently informally told that the Nissan would be provided with its plates within 7 days of that meeting.  We were off to Borneo and Australia during that week (but needed the car for our house sitters) and nothing happened.  Equally, what the Customs people didn’t tell us, was that the car couldn’t be driven by anyone other than the owner (my husband) or his wife or children – something we only found out by chance with the penalty being impoundment of car and payment of the tax due (30K euros on a car worth 15K euros).

 After much chasing and ‘back door’ investigations, it transpired that as Customs knew we were going away for three months, they decided not to issue the plates until we came back (apparently there is a little known condition that if  you leave Portugal for three months or more during the matriculation process, the process ‘runs out of time’ with no right of appeal).    

In effect therefore, one is ‘trapped’ in the country for three months (it’s not a bad place to be ‘trapped’ but we had a wedding to go to in Borneo and couldn’t possibly cancel).  Even worse, the car during this period is ‘illegal’ and cannot be driven at all and is tucked up in the garage awaiting our return and hopefully registration under a Portuguese plate (but how we are supposed to drive this ‘legally’ to Faro (75 km from where we live) to get the plates is a mystery)

As far as my car is concerned, we are taking this to appeal in Lisbon.  As part of this process we have had the  letter from our lawyer  ‘notarized’ at great expense to prove that the lawyer is acting in good faith as opposed to on our behalf.  I have called every number belonging to the name of my car’s previous owner in the whole of Yorkshire, in an effort to get a receipt which the Customs authorities will recognise as a proper invoice or factura (although how we’re supposed to do this for a private sale is beyond me).  Having no luck with that route, I even went as far as employing a private detective who has still to find the original seller. 

At this point you may be wondering, why on earth bother – why not just sell my car and buy another in Portugal?

 The answer is simple and a case of partly finances, partly practicalities.  Who wants a left hand car in the UK (and I can’t sell it in Portugal as it has ‘no status’).  Secondly, the taxation that the customs people want ranged from 19K euros on  a Friday night to 22K euros on the following Monday – without any explanation whatsoever for theincrease over the weekend.  For the Nissan, 30K is required.  The value of the cars?  £10K for the freelander and £15K max for the Nissan.  In terms of practicalities, my car was supposed to leave the country five days ago, and as I am away how on earth do they expect us to get it out of the country? 

Moreover, why SHOULD I take it out of the country? Portugal is part of the European Union.  The UK likewise. We complied with all the regulations to import the car – and it is not our fault that we have only ‘one type of marriage’ in the UK or that the Portuguese authorities will not accept the fact that theV5C is not an ownership document.  Equally, with a valid receipt, which would be valid in a court  of law in the UK, one would assume ownership is defined. 

Clearly not so and having gone through this experience – which is still not resolved as we have two cars that are effectively ‘holed’ up in our garage and can’t be used and with no legal means of taking either to either register or get out of the country – one might ask why we just don’t drive the car illegally as many people who have lived in Portugal do for years. 

However, being good European citizens and wanting to comply with the laws of our adopted country, we decided to do it properly in line with the laws of that country.  I would like to say to anyone else – don’t bother – but the penalty for having a car in Portugal for more than six months (even from another European country) is confiscation of the car until the taxes (which as I said earlier are roughly two thirds to a double more what the car is worth) are paid (and I can assure you, the amount will depend on the supervising customs officer of the day).

So, if you’re thinking of bringing a car into Portugal:

1.  Make sure your deeds do not have the phrase ‘casal sans bens’ in it – this is a standard phrase that lawyers use for all purchasers from the UK and Ireland.  Your lawyer can easily insert a different phrase (they have a list of them for other nationalities) which will save you all these problems
2. Make sure that the V5C  for each vehicle is in different names – you and DVLC may not see it as a document of ownership, but the Portuguese authorities – however erroneously – certainly do
3. Make sure you have a receipt for purchase for the vehicle that includes not only the full name, address, and description of vehicle (as I did) but also the seller’s passport number and National Insurance number (which is the equivalent of the ‘fiscal’ number in Portugal) and have the receipt laid out as a proper invoice or facture as though it was coming from a business.
4. Don’t let anyone other than yourself, wife or children drive the car during the matriculation process – you are not told that it is illegal (I think they just want to catch you out) but it is a new (and unknown) law that apparently came into force in 2010
5. If you’re getting to the end of the matriculation process (successfully I hope) then don’t leave the country for any length of time.  Again, not communicated (and I am not even sure this is in the law) but you do need to plan to stick around until you have the plates in your hand. 
6. Unless you really want to keep your car, think carefully before importing it – whilst the expenses associated with matriculation make it financially worthwhile,  it isn’t worth the hassle if you want a normal life during the process (which is of course, exactly what the Portuguese  and government want you to do)

The moral of the story – everyone will tell you it’s difficult to matriculate a car, but do be prepared for it to be almost imposible.  There are no clear laws available (I speak Portuguese and I have searched and searched), the authorities are unable (or unwilling) to provide and the whole process is like pushing water up hill.  However, I’m not giving up as I believe it is a right of a European citizen to take a car from one country to another – and not have either their car (or its owner) be held ‘hostage’ during the process.

Day 1

Drive up to Lisbon and do the ‘day trip’ mentioned earlier staying in Lisbon overnight

Day 2

Travel over to Tomar, have lunch there and then carry on to the area of Castello do  Branco

Day 3

Travel around the Serra Estrada via Mainteigas and then on to Viseu

Day 4

Travel from Viseu down via Batilha to Sintra

Day 5

Travel down from Sintra to the Algarve (via Troia – see previous article) if you have the time

By taking a route based on the above towns/cities, you can cross off the left hand side of the coast around Figuera do Foz as if you’re used to the coastline in the Algarve, you won’t find anything that excites you on that side

The strange thing was though that whilst the club house was superb, with comfortable outside seating (must be the expat influence here!), calming music being played etc on first glance one thought one was in a true five star environment.  But then you notice that the terraces hadn’t been cleaned, the staff were slow/surly (not a patch on Sebastiao and his crew at Boavista), they expected guests to open the doors for the staff.  Very strange but a great place to go and a definite for anyone wanting to have a game of golf in the area

From Praia del Rey we drove down to Sintra – the most magical place in Portugal so far for me.  We went there after our trip to Lisboa (it is only about 30 minutes away so can be added onto a Lisbon trip easily) but everything was covered in clouds and mist.  The second time we went, the skies were deep blue, the countryside was green and the town itself is almost impossible to describe as it is so beautiful.  Be careful here though. 

There are in fact ‘two Sintras’ – the new part (which in itself is pretty old and pretty as it runs along the gorge) and the old town which way up on the hill, both ‘towns’ overlooked / dominated by two castles right at the top of the gorge.  We stayed in the most fabulous bed and breakfast – Casa do Valle – which had views up the gorge to the castles, was superbly  clean with a balcony to enjoy the views (and work – for the first time in a week we had a decent internet connection), swimming pool and lovely gardens.  I cannot recommend our accommodation highly enough (and as you might have noticed I am very picky!!!). 

Vipi, the Finnish owner, bought the land 20 or so years ago and has built everything from scratch in typical style for the area (the house looks a lot older than it is which is a testament to the care and love that has obviously gone into its construction and, indeed, the running of her bed and breakfast establishment) and she is a very caring and talented host.  We will definitely be returning as it is like Paradise (I know now what people feel when they go to Quinta Melody for the first time!)

The old town of Sintra defies written description – it has to be seen to be believed – but do be careful where you eat.  There are a number of restaurants (with outside seating areas!) in the main square but these looked real rip off places.  Instead, we climbed up through the town and went to a lovely restaurant where Nick had the best steak he has ever eaten in Portugal.  We spent more than we normally would but hey ho, it was the last day of our holidays, there was a guitarist there and it was all very romantic!  Definitely the best night of the holiday.

In the morning we went and did the photography of the town before heading off to Montebelo golf course at nearby Farminhao  Strange place – in the middle of nowhere, lovely club house (again with no outside seating to enjoy the tremendous views), friendly staff and nice course but somehow it didn’t seem to be ‘finished’.  No obvious reason why but the place was empty, it was a beautiful Sunday morning but just lacked ‘something’ I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  Having said that, given the dearth of golf courses in the area, it’s worth playing (and very reasonably priced)

After a couple of hours round the pool when we got back on the Sunday evening we headed off to Fatima the next day – the most sacred shrine outside of Rome for the catholic faith.  I’ll keep most of my thoughts on this place to myself for fear of offending anyone, but if there’s a view that Christmas is commercialised in the UK, this commercialism on a scale never before seen. 

The town is full of shops (the size of John Lewis’ some of them) selling religious statues and the like and, from a visitor point of view, the whole town is totally tacky as a result.  Indeed, the town has grown from nothing to its current size on the back of three girls in 1917 seeing the Virgin Mary from whom they learned three ‘secrets’ – the third of which was not revealed until after the Millenium as it related to the assassination of the Pope.  One of the sisters involved, who was made a saint in 2000, only died three years ago having lived in the town all her life. 

Despite my comments on the tackiness of the town, the main square – or esplanade – is a sight to behold (think a square the size of that used for the Nuremberg rallies and multiply 10).  Strangely, after all the pilgrims we had seen walking to Fatima on our travels, very few people were there – although in May and supposedly October (when we were there but didn’t see) the place is full of pilgrims, hundreds/thousands of which make the last few kilometres of their pilgrimage on their knees to the Basilica. We only saw two doing this and they were taking photos of each other so guess they weren’t quite as focused as other pilgrims at other times

Moving on from Fatima we travelled to Batalhaa stunning town with again a superb cathedral and town square – with the former having the most amazing stained glass windows which reflected on to the walls of the cathedral making it a truly ethereal sight.  After a lunch here Nick had itchy knickers (I think he had had enough of sightseeing) so off back home to pack up for what was probably one of the highlights of our holiday – Sintra.

However, going east and north the next day was a mind blowing experience  We took the main road out to Castelo do Branco (not really worth a visit as the castle is in disrepair, grafitti-ed and the town not much to talk about (although the shops were open but we couldn’t find a parking space) and then on to Idanha de Velha.   WOW! 

Traveling through the most superb countryside, offering everything from vineyards to hills, plains and mountains, arriving at this village was initially a disappointment  – a newly constructed (but unopened) visitor centre coupled with a modern metal walkway round the town walls, did not engender confidence. However, on entering the village – said to be the most perfect example of a Portuguese traditional village – the experience is one definitely to remember.  Cobbled (or rather calcada-ed) streets, historic village dwellings, superb views, chickens running around, beautiful flowers in the gardens and window boxes, all mix together to create a sublime experience. 

Despite the fact that it is obviously a tourist attraction (although there were only about six of us there), the village is a working one with butcher’s, cafes, mini Mercado etc.  The really strange thing was that again, although a tourist destination, it didn’t feel like one and there was only one souvenir shop (thank goodness) – in the UK such a village would boast tea rooms on every corner and be selling tat all over the place.  The local village people were also very friendly – when I went to get some coffee from one of the two cafes (note, no outside seating in such a superb setting) one of the residents started talking to me and within a few minutes, I had made lots of new friends (including the original guy going out to shake my husband’s (who doesn’t s peak and Portuguese) hand.  A great place to visit and one to definitely include on any itinerary

Nearby to Idanha da Velha is the village of Monsanto which has to be seen to be believed.  Built totally out of the rocks that dominate the landscape, the fact that anything, let alone complete houses, shops, cafes etc could be carved out from the rocky landscape is surely a wonder of the world.  There is no vehicular access to the village so park where you can on the outside, and the walk up through the village is a little on the steep side, it is truly worth it.  Again,  it is a tourist destination and although it has more souvenir/tat shops than the previous village, prices are not high – we had prime spot in the local café overlooking the plains, hills and rocks, and paid no more for the drinks than we would anywhere else in Portugal (the Portuguese are not good at ripping tourists off thank goodness!).  Again, a must visit for any time spent in the region.

From Monsanto we decided to go in the mountains – the Serra Estrella- which are the highest mountains in Portugal and in a good year, offer sking out of Manteigas and Torre.  Travelling from Monsanto to Covilha is fairly flat and although we didn’t get to stop in Covilha it looks a lovely town and one we’ll return to  – as you travel out of the town there is the most amazing, what looks like, university quarter up on the hill which is full of old buildings, with walkways across the streets.  As you keep going up, it gets steeper and steeper and effectively there are two ways to ‘do ‘ the Serra Estrella in a day – either go out of Corvilha  and go left towards Torre or go out of Corvilha and turn right for Manteigas (you can of course do the complete loop round but the road is very steep and slow and difficult to do without getting a headache in a day I would suggest) .  We chose the latter and  what a super drive it is. 

Up and up, round and round – quite  breathtaking although very few opportunities as the road is so narrow to stop and take photos.  It took us about two hours to get to Manteigas – and what a disappointment that was.  From above it looks totally picturesque but when you get there, it’s a little faded with tourist shops, and cafes that seem to have been built specifically so you can’t see the view (another example of little outside eating spaces).  However, if you need to use facilities or need a drink, here is the place to have it as there is nothing after this until you get to Seia – I was so desperate for a drink that we stopped at the Pousada(which must be one of the worst in Portugal – built in 1942 (why they were building such when everyone else was at war I don’t know), again nowhere to sit outside to enjoy the views and really quite shabby.  So, if  you were thinking of staying in a Pousada in the area, I would definitely say don’t as you will be most disappointed.

What we did find on the way though – and this just shows you the type of high class places my husband takes me to – was a gypsy encampment which enterprisingly had set up a coffee stall.  Not the best coffee in the world – and food consisted of buying a bag of rather stale cakes – but fun all the same.

Anyway, continuing on out of the Serra Estrella the drive down to Seia is spectacular and this did look a rather superb town.  One shouldn’t underestimate the time it takes to drive just half of the way round the Estrella so do leave a good afternoon to do it.  On reaching Seia we decided not to take the drive back to Alvorge and instead stay up in the area as it was so beautiful.  We found the most superb hotel in Viseu which is a stunning town with a picturesque (but working) old town with the most amazing misericordia or cathedral. 

The town is truly enthralling and is split into two parts – the new (which unlike a lot  of Portuguese towns is very attractive) and the old.  We stayed at the Hotel Avenida (having stopped off at a Chinese shop in Seia and bought clothes for the evening and all necessary toiletries for a total of 60 euros, including what Nick says is my best pair of jeans) which was a lovely hotel, clean, bright, with balcony, a lovely welcoming owner, and internet access – all for 45 euros for both of us including breakfast.

 Dinner was taken in a local restaurant – at Imperio dos Sabores for dinner (232 400 584) highly recommended for simple Portuguese food for dinner.

As day two dawned, although it wasn’t supposed to be a golfing  holiday, Nick had the urge so to speak so we decided to go north east and take in a golf course in the area.  First stop was Luso,a spa town which has great recommendations in the guide books but which personally I would not bother putting on the itinerary.  Very busy, not terribly attractive, and with the rudest waitress I have ever come across in Portugal (avoid Lourenco’s café if you ever go there).  Having said that, Luso is the ‘producer’ of the biggest brand of bottled water in Portugal, and it was quite comical seeing all the locals and visitors go up to the water fountains,  clutching their Luso bottles, and filling them for free.

Deciding to cut short the visit to Luso, we travelled up to Curia(by passing the prostitutes the main road who shared the sidewalks with the pilgrims in their vis vests going to Fatima – a strange combination) which is a strange place (Curia that is) but with a certain charm.  The town itself basically exists of large manor type homes/palaces that have been converted into hotels and spas of and is probably one of the early resorts of the 19^th century. 

Its long tree lined avenues are really quite imposing, and is certainly somewhere to put onto a visit list if you are ever in the area.  However, if you are planning to golf at the resort’s facility- give it a miss – terrible course, with greens  that were so bad that we couldn’t stop laughing.  The best bit about it was that the course was only 9 holes.

 Having decided to not avail ourselves of a further nine holes of Curia golf course we headed off west to the coast to Figueira da Foz which is where I was going to stay.  Not worth a visit despite it being the largest resort in the area – like the Lisbon beach areas, run  down and dirty in comparison with elsewhere.  What was good though was if you come out of Figueira and take the coastal road through the quarry travelling south and out to Quaios , there is an unmade road (not for the faint hearted but the type of road that my husband just loves) which affords the most amazing views of the coastline -  which at a high level looks a helluva lot better than at low level from Fig. 

The drive back to Alvorge took us through Pombal (named after the Marques who designed the Lisbon street layout after the 1755 earthquake) which is a nice town with a main square but not much else (again, all shops closed) to Ansiao(not really worth a visit) .  All in all, day 2 had been a bit of  a washout but at least it confirmed to us that If  one is short of time one can quite safely leave the western part of Central Portugal out of the equation around Figueira and Coimbra

Nick and I decided to do a 6 day trip up to Central Portugal which roughly starts just above Lisbon and finishes at about Coimbra (we’ll do the real north next year).  Not being fans of hotels, we decided to base ourselves In the middle of the region at a place called Alvorge so we could explore east and west with equanimity  

So, having set off early in the morning of 9 October, The first decision we took was to avoid the 35 euro motorway toll charge and take a meander along the B roads up to the Lisboa.  Whilst there is nothing like driving through the Monchique mountains in the Algarve early morning and seeing the mountains pop through the clouds, when you’re trying to get to somewhere as far away as Lisboa, two hours of it to get about 60 miles does become a bit tedious.  We therefore opted to take the motorway (and suffer the cost) up to Lisboa and then make a left and travel through the south of Central Portugal.  And boy, were we glad we did.  Within two hours of leaving the Algarve it is difficult to describe how different the two terrains – and local architecture are. 

We took the N118 at Santarem and travelled towards Abrantes along the river (having along the way the cheapest lunch at 3 euros for both of us including drinks) and then north up to Tomar.  Tomar is definitely on the top of my list for a revisit.  It is situated on the river, has lovely gardens, a superb main square which was a pleasure to sit in and have coffee (one of the few places we found where we could sit outside), lots of little shops (which as usual were closed during our visit – I do believe that there is jinx on my doing any non food shopping) and the most amazing castle / fort /museumon the top of the hill – indeed it is marketed as the most complete of Portugal’s castles and the views are tremendous so if you are visiting  up north, do include   Tomar on your travel itinerary.    

From Tomar we travelled north up to Alvorge,our base for the holiday where we had rented a cottage.  Whilst the village was central for discovering the region, and if you accept that you get what you pay for, then where we stayed, Jasmine Cottage could be a good base.  At 35 euros per night both of us in a two bedroom cottage with pool it certainly was good value – but not somewhere I personally would stay again as (a) it wasn’t terribly clean (crumbs in cupboards and sticky worktops, dust on surfaces and objects etc), (b) it was very dark as had very few lights and they were all low wattage (although the owner did supply another lamp which at least made it possible to read if we both sat together) and (c ) the gardens weren’t that terribly well looked after. 

Having said that, I do realize that where we live and the types of homes that I rent out, I probably have very high expectations and all in all, taking into account the price paid, it is not a bad place to stay.  The really disappointing thing was that I booked this cottage as it was in the middle of a village with supposedly three restaurants within walking distance.  However, one had closed, one was on his holidays for the month of August and the third was hardly walking distance.  Having said that, we did find Luis’ restaurant in the next village which offered amazing value – wine at 2 euros a litre (and very good it was too) and dinners for two  including coffee, dessert and wine at 15 euros all in.  You can’t really go wrong with that!

What was great about both the location of the cottage and the village was that it gave one a great feel for the area – the views of the mountains were superb, the vineyards were a plenty in the locality and the sunsets incredible (it’s a great area for photography!)