Praia de Mira: A Gem of a Beach Town

So...on the Portuguese highway headed south from Guimarães, I thought it would be a good idea to call the campground I had researched to make sure they had space. Ya know, just in case. After all, the planning for this trip had been up to me. Stubbornly, I didn't need any help. As you can imagine, I wouldn't be writing about it if they had had spots available. Desperately I tried calling a few other places in my broken Galician-Portuguese mix. While looking up campsite reviews online. And trying to stay calm and not get my vacation-planning privileges revoked. But honestly, it was just as well that our plan A didn't work out. That campground had been in the middle of nowhere, whereas our final campground was amidst a natural park with lagoons. It had a pool, a snack bar, and plenty of open area to pitch a tent. It was also just a short walk from the coastal village Praia de Mira.

Praia de Mira ended up being where we spent more time than Aveiro, as originally planned. It was a bustling beach town in the summer months, and likely quite dead in the winter. You know the drill. The area was curious because to the west was a long beach, which has been a Blue Flag Beach since the honor has existed. Then there was the town, a few streets parallel with the sea. Then there was an inner lagoon. That area was full of campgrounds. It had a nice, new boardwalk amongst the wetlands. In the evening it was lit beautifully and you could stop to enjoy the calm on large swings. 

Beyond the trees: the lagoon

Sunday afternoon was a scorcher, so we spent it at the Praia (beach) of Mira. As did just about everyone else within a ten mile radius. Colorful parasols and windbreakers made for a lovely scene. As far as taking a refreshing dip in the ocean ... there was not much of that. People were congregated at the seashore, just barely wading. Nobody was out swimming or in past their knees. The lifeguards appeared to be on high alert, leading us to believe there were immense undercurrents. But aside from that, the water was painfully cold! Perhaps it's because I haven't been to the Rías Baixas in a while, and have been spoiled by warm waters in Mallorca, Miño, and Costa da Morte. But that water was icy! We determined that the only people who went up past their knees were doing their business. Walking along the beach we saw the large wooden boats used for traditional fishing in Praia de Mira. We didn't get to see them in action, but heard that without a port, returning fishermen used to use oxen to pull their boats up in the sand. 

Note the tiny coffee cup

Speaking of fresh fish, we ended up dining mostly in Praia de Mira rather than Aveiro. There were plenty of small family restaurants with patios. Hard to go wrong: the food in Portugal is super cheap and also tasty. We kept the cod coming, and I even branched out with some fish pasta. Twilight dinner was almost always accompanied by vinho verde, a white wine from Northern Portugal. And for dessert, sometimes nibbling on something sweet, sometimes sipping Beirão (Portugal's unofficial digestive, my new favorite!), sometimes drinking a tiny but potent cup of Portuguese coffee, and other times all three. 

Side note on the coffee: the regular coffee cups are a little bigger than a shotglass. Looking up some Portuguese vocabulary we had found tons of different words for coffee styles. While seeking a coffee with milk, which would be served in a small mug here in Spain, they brought said tiny coffee cup, full to the brim. Huh? I wanted it with milk. ¨I'm pretty sure that is a coffee with milk.¨ I myself am not a coffee drinker, but to prove a point I ordered a ¨plain coffee¨ in the next place. Sure enough, the ¨regular¨ without milk was barely half of the tiny coffee cup. One sip and done! But it really packs a punch. 

Meandering in Medieval Guimarães

Of Galicia's seven cities, three of them have airports. That's a lot of airports for just one Autonomous Community with no city over 500,000 residents. On the southern coast is Vigo, which makes sense because it is a major port city with industry. Then there's Santiago de Compostela, perhaps Galicia's biggest airport. Aside from being centrally located, it's also the capital, so that also makes sense. Then on the northern coast is A Coruña, home to the fashion industry of Inditex. Basically each city has their reasons for having an airport of their own.

But one consequence of Galicia's multiple airports is that there is no single hub for international flights. Because of this, to fly internationally (to outside of the EU especially) it is often cheaper and quicker to fly from the Northern Portuguese city of O Porto. Depending on which part of Galicia you're coming from, it can be only two or three hours away. (Factoring in the time zone change to one hour behind, you can ¨get there¨ in as little as one hour!) That's much quicker than driving to Spain's central airport in Madrid, at least five hours away from Galicia. So thanks to the flight from Portugal, this year before my well-overdue trip home we spent a full week in Northern Portugal.

Castle of Guimarães

First stop: a day in Guimarães. Guimarães is a small Medieval Portuguese city. In fact, it's the birthplace of Portugal. Its attractions include the two-for-one Paço dos Duques from the 15th century, and the neighboring Castle of Guimarães. Inside the palace were enormous faded antique carpets, Renaissance paintings, and elaborate wooden furniture. The Castle, while potent from the outside, is empty on the inside. You can go up and keep watch as you walk along the outer wall, but there is nothing else to see. But hey, striding on top of a wall that's over a millennium old is quite enough for me!

Paço dos Duques courtyard

The square where we
had coffee, with its
Medieval monument

The city's Old Town is also its own attraction. No wonder the Historic Center of Guimarães is a UNESCO World Heritage Site! We got there in the morning and took in the Medieval barrio with little competition. But after our coffee in a lovely cobblestone square, the tour groups started appearing. We did plenty of walking (and even jogging) around the Old Town, between having to pay the parking meter every 90 minutes and me leaving my phone in the car but fearing I had lost it. Among the old whitewashed buildings was a convent selling pastries with a line of customers out the door. The bakery was called Divina Gula, divine gluttony. The Portuguese are known for their desserts. And nuns everywhere are too, apparently. So obviously we had to try some.  All almond-based. Not my personal favorite, but of course they weren't bad. 

We couldn't fill up on sweets, though, as lunch was right around the corner! Well, I was convinced that the Portuguese eat lunch way earlier than the Spanish do (here it's usually around 2 or 3 PM). I guess I exaggerated but all the better. That way we beat the rush and didn't have to wait. We ate in an old manor house turned-restaurant, with the huge, shady courtyard used as the terrace. In addition to pastries, Portugal is also known for its many ways of preparing cod. And so the Cod Fest commenced! Not for me, of course. Not a huge fish fan. But someone else may have challenged himself to eat cod everyday. 

After lunch we visited the castle and paço. No waiting at lunchtime. Then we skedaddled south, to spend a few nights camping...