Alcoudim – 1 – (Travel Sketches Portugal 2009)

Last year, as we left Castro Marim , we went on into the Algarve, towards Faro, the very tourist part of Portugal. This year, leaving Castro Marim we decided to go straight up towards the North,  more or less along the Spanish border. We had some problems with our motor home “The Boomobile”, and had totally lost our electric autonomy, meaning that we were forced to spend quite a lot of our time in camp sites, feeding our beast with mains power. Unfortunately the camp sites are not very frequent in this part of Portugal but on the map I spotted one in Spain, quite close to the Portuguese border, and just the right distance away from Castro Marim. We headed there, with the intention to cross the border river (Guadiana) by Alcoudim.

Well, bad decision with respect to camp sites! What I hadn’t planned, was that there was no bridge there to cross the river! Neither there, nor further down or up! We were quite fed up, but on the other hand,  Alcoudim was such a beautiful little town that we very much enjoyed our day there. Without electricity, but well, the days were light and long… and candle light by dinner is soooo romantic!

Anyway, the above sketch is a view  of the river Guadiana, and of the Spanish town in front of Alcoudim. And with no bridge over a long distance, no wonder that the towns  in that border zone are in fact harbours, for sailing boats and Guadiana cruises.