Wednesday 30 September 2026 – It was rather nice not to have the imperative of getting up in time to hand our bags over for collection, so we took things fairly easy; also, the rain hadn’t cleared from the previous day. As we went to our leisurely breakfast, we could see people walking the walls of the Fortaleza dressed for inclement weather – and we couldn’t see much beyond that through the mist and rain!

However, it’s not in our Jane’s nature to be utterly lazy, so when the rain stopped we went out for a short walk, which is pretty much the only kind you’ll get if you stay within the Fortaleza. The most important thing was to get a selo from the Tourist Office. Unsurprisingly, the stamp has the Fortaleza as its motif; and the tourist office has on its wall an overview of the fortifications

which was very much an appetiser for me, as I wanted to see if I could get some decent aerial photos and/or footage with the drone. In going to the tourist office, we passed an elegant and beautiful church

dedicated to the elegant and beautifully-named Saint, erm, Stephen. It’s a Romanesque number which had been reconstructed in neoclassical style in 1792. Inside

there appeared to be a surprising number of Eucharistic Thrones – two to be precise.

We treated ourselves to coffee and pastries at the (rather crowded and claustrophobic) café in the main square. In fairness it was crowded because all the outside seating was soaking wet from the earlier rain…

The cafe had a rather nice set of azulejos at the far end.

Then we headed back through the crowded streets to our hotel. As well as being on the Caminho, the town is clearly and quite reasonably a popular tourist destination, and there were coach tours aplenty unloading punters while we were in the Tourist Office. We took the opportunity to get some more photos of the fortifications visible from the environs of the hotel.

Then, as Jane relaxed in our room, I headed out with the drone to see what I could capture. The Fortaleza is one kilometre from end to end, if you include the actual earthworks and fortifications; the maximum range I am allowed to send the drone out is 500m, so it should theoretically be possible to capture images all the way round if you stand somewhere reasonably central; and we’d identified a quiet spot on the walls near the middle of the Forteleza which looked promising. And so it proved; I came back with some stills and video and was reasonably happy with them. I spent an hour or so tinkering with them, during which time the weather improved somewhat, so I went out again and had another go. I took a few stills, but this is the one I like most.

If you have five minutes to spare, then you might like to watch the video that I was able to capture; it’s a 360° fly-round and I hope it gives a good impression of the imposing scale of the fortifications, as well as showing that the Fortaleza is really two fortifications, with the lower one protecting the higher one from a landside attack.

I really was delighted to have got the stills and video; it’s a wonderful location for this kind of video and makes it worthwhile having brought the drone with me.

Thus satisfied, we went to the hotel bar for a drink and a snack lunch and the improved weather gave us a good view over the river Minho and the border with Spain to Tui, through which we’ll be walking tomorrow.

Why they named the town after a travel company is anyone’s guess*, but the place has an awe-inspiring cathedral,

which I hope we’ll be able to visit as we walk through the town.

jane discovered that we’d missed something of pith and moment, a Roman milestone, which was just outside St. Stephens Church, so we went back out.

According to its infoboard it was adapted as a pillory after being transferred from its original location in 1860. The inscription reads “TI(berius) CLAUDIUS. CAESAR AUG(gustus) GERMANICUS / PONTIFEX. MAX(imus). IMP(erator) V / CO(n)S(ul) III, TRIB(unicia) POTEST(ate), / III, P(ater) P(atriae) BRACA(ra) / XLII”. Its original purpose was to mark 42 (Roman) miles from Braga to Tui and was built by Emperor Claudius when he made improvements to Via IV of the Antonine Itinerary.

We also visited the Bom Jesus Church, outside which is a statue of São Teotónio, who was the first Portuguese Saint and after whom our Pousada is named.

We returned to the hotel for the rest of the day, during which time the weather really brightened up,

which augurs well for resuming the walking thing tomorrow.

Because tomorrow is October 1st – new month, new country, new language, new time zone. We will cross into Spain (one hour ahead of Portugal) to complete our journey to Santiago de Compostela – seven more stages and 120km to go. Tui is the Caminho Português equivalent of Sarría on the Camino Francés – the 100km point, walking from which qualifies one for a Compostela. Three years ago, I found the crowds and and the babble on the walk from Sarría very difficult to adjust to; it will be interesting to see how these final kilometres of the Português are by comparison.

 

* Any fule kno there is no connection between the travel outfit owned by the German company Touristik Union International – TUI – and the Spanish town of the coincidentally identical name.