From Pinhão To Lamego Via The Police
I am, admittedly, a bit obsessive about checking my belongings – is the wallet still there? Is my phone safe? The bad side of doing this is that it’s obvious now that an adept pickpocket watches such things and therefore knows exactly where to pounce. The good side is, I knew within seconds that my wallet was gone, quickly enough to cancel the debit and credit cards before the scoundrel could do any damage.
Plus of course, we didn’t have everything in one place, so the disaster of a stolen wallet is not total. We lost a handful of euros and those two cards, but our other cards and cash were elsewhere. And at least we thwarted his or her attempts to use the debit card – which started, by the way, within just a few minutes of the felony being committed. The real pain, as well as the inconvenience of losing two of our methods of payment, is that my driving licence was in the darned wallet too, and we have rental cars in our plans. That could be a problem, potentially big enough to cause significant replanning. We sense a challenge coming.
Anyway, cue an hour with a jovial and helpful policeman who takes all the details, tells us not to let it spoil our opinion of his country (it hasn’t) and proceeds to recommend a local delicacy for each of our planned destinations, most of them looking like they have an astronomical calorie count. Our final opinion on having my wallet stolen? Ten out of ten for resourcefulness in avoiding disaster, minus several million for letting it happen in the first place. We move on.
Porto’s old tram
For our last Porto experience we catch the oldest tram in town, a wooden rig dating from the 1920s which runs trolley bus style along rails and overhead cables, out to the city’s beach resort corner of Foz do Douro. Sun worshippers soak up the day next to the crashing waves of the Atlantic, beachfront restaurants serve up good quality seafood and charge outrageous prices for their beer. Nice tram though.
Finally leaving Porto on a bus bound inland, we commence our next journey, a kind of loop around northern towns which on paper looks illogical but, believe us, we have reasons why it works for us. As bus journeys go this one is pretty spectacular, across the sweeping hills of Alto Douro, crossing numerous rivers on incredibly high viaducts which speak of well targeted investment, until two hours later we drop down the mountain and pull into our next destination, the historical town of Lamego.
Our blogging friend Jo at stillrestlessjo has been of enormous assistance in helping us plan our Portugal itinerary, and it was one of Jo’s phrases which put this town in our sights. “Lamego is definitely worth a visit”, she advised, “to see a piece of the real Portugal”. The real Portugal. That sold it in three words. And Jo isn’t wrong, this little town is right up our boulevard.
After the hospitality of Luis in Pinhão, our next host Antonio is equally accommodating, driving down to pick us up from the bus station and eager to explain the history of his large house. A former wine chateau subsequently bought by a diamond dealer from Angola, the property fell into disrepair after the dealer died and the family sold much of the adjoining land. Then empty for 30 years whilst the town grew around it, Antonio, who had lived within 200 metres of the house as a child, bought it at a knockdown price and now owns the house he’d dreamed of owning since boyhood. Nice story.
The B&B which Antonio has created affords terrific views across the town from its once grand terraces and, giving it a little taste of the offbeat, the guest rooms are housed in what was once the wine cellar, rustic original walls and all.
Lamego is one of Portugal’s historic cities, predating Roman occupation and passing through periods of both Christian and Muslim faiths before seeing its most significant event when, in 1139, Afonso Henriques was declared Portugal’s first King in this very town. Lamego’s magnificent cathedral, disproportionately grand for a small town, was in its original form built by the new King.
The cathedral, grand as it is, is by no means the only evidence of Lamego’s rich history, with clues at various points throughout the historic centre of the town. Roman ruins, a castle with keep and cistern (cistern unfortunately closed for repairs when we visited), elaborate baroque architecture and gleaming white statues representing everything from bishops to the four seasons decorate the streets.
Most striking of all though is the Nossa Senhora dos Remedios (Our Lady Of Remedies), reached by a climb of almost 700 steps and looking back along the tree lined main street from its position on high. Though a bit of a challenge in the heat of the day, the climb is attractively punctuated by terraces filled with statuary and fountains of healing spring water. Pilgrims still seek out its healing qualities to this day: as we climb the steps, many are pausing to drink from the various spouts.
Lamego was to become a wealthy trading centre as the vineyards began to flourish, and still looks to be a well heeled town today. In spite of what appears to be a recent explosion in the building of apartment blocks, including several on the land sold by the diamond merchant’s family, the historic centre retains a huge amount of charm.
It’s been a lovely short stay here. Summer is definitely arriving, temperatures are creeping up and the chilly evening wind along the Douro has already blown itself into memory. Chilled vinho verde is as refreshing as porto tonico in the afternoon sun and is our new go-to 5 o’clock tipple.
Antonio displays kindness again as he delivers our backpacks to the bus station to allow us more time to explore his lovely town unencumbered. After Pinhão and Lamego, we are becoming enchanted by these rural northern towns; after Luis, Pedro and Antonio we are pretty taken with the people, too. Apart from the little shit who nicked my wallet.
53 Comments
Suzanne@PictureRetirement
I Googled Nossa Senhora dos Remedios, and while not exact, there are many similarities with the Bom Jesus in Braga. Glad you got to experience this little town, but sorry about the robbery. That sucks. Even when you do everything right, they still manage to get you.
Phil & Michaela
You’re spot on, Suzanne. The church at Lamego was based on Bom Jesus, as were several others around the world, apparently. We’ve now visited Bom Jesus too, will be in our next post 😀
ANDYYY
Sounds fab sis (except for that little shit) Xx
Phil & Michaela
The world is full of em, Andy!
restlessjo
First of all, many thanks for the shout out, but bloody awful luck with the pick pocket. A lot of years ago the same thing happened to me, while waiting for the tram to Belem in Lisbon. A plain clothes officer actually saw it happen, in my case, and stopped and boarded the tram and hauled me off to the police station to prosecute. High speed through Lisbon with the siren blaring and 3 hours wasted at the police station. Cities, hey?
Your host sounds a lovely guy. We stayed in one of the best apartments ever in Lamego, (with free cakes!) but we had to enlist the help of several locals to find it. In the evening we struggled to find somewhere to eat (off season) and ended up in a tiny place with 3 old lads who were determined to include us in their conversation. Neither of us knew what the others were talking about but it didn’t seem to matter. Luckily we hadn’t far to stagger home.
I hope you can manage to sort out the rest of your trip. Flixbus and Rede Express both work pretty well here, but what a bummer! xx
Phil & Michaela
Ha, good story Jo despite its origins! Lamego was full of eateries at lunchtime, yet nearly devoid at night, so maybe some things haven’t changed much. The buses are OK so far but we need a bit more freedom later on. We’re working on several solutions. We’re heading south in the morning, but everywhere has been beautiful so far!.. loving it…
Christie
Lamego looks like a wonderful town, it looks like you had a great time, despite the unfortunate event.
It reminds me of a similar event I experienced in Lisbon (which is much worse than all of Portugal combined I think), they managed to open my backpack and stole a case with 2 pairs of glasses in it. Not that they could use my progressive eyeglasses..
Phil & Michaela
Ugh. If my glasses were stolen, I’d have to abort and go home. But yes Lamego, and all of the other northern towns we’ve visited, have been really lovely. That’s the bigger memory, not the bad bit 😀
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
You can find little shits who nick wallets the world over, unfortunately. Ugh. One thing I always do is to keep my driving licence in a different location from the credit card with another location for the debit card. M does the same. I also sometimes wear a money belt with fake money in it – this worked one time when I was visiting S. Africa. When I arrived back at my hotel it was completely empty and I hadn’t noticed a thing, but everything else was fine and in their places. The fakes (they were the kind used in schools) were immediately recognisable to anyone giving even a cursory glance, but that’s not possible for the light fingered. You were fortunate to have cancelled before the thief was able to do any real damage, thankfully. Cheers.
Phil & Michaela
Clever move. One of our ruses is to lock the bags with nothing valuable in them, with visible padlocks. Know what though…I never carry my driving licence, but on this occasion we’d travelled into the valley without our backpacks, which we left in Porto….so instead of the basics, I carried my full wallet, which I hardly ever do. Typical huh?!
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
Unfortunately yes. Sigh.
Heyjude
You are having a great time by the looks of it, bar the pickpocket! It could have been worse, you might like to read what happened to us in Namibia. Then again you might not!
https://traveltalk.me.uk/2013/02/25/windhoek-warning/
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
Wow! That’s an awful experience. At least you weren’t more seriously harmed.
Phil & Michaela
Yes that’s true. And at least we didn’t have everything in one place.
Heyjude
Thanks Lynette. It certainly spoiled the end of our holiday.
Phil & Michaela
I remember…passport n all. I’ll read it again though! Yep, some lovely towns here…
Heyjude
Fortunately not the passports, but phones and cameras.
Phil & Michaela
Oh, my error, I really thought I remembered reading you’d had your passport taken
Heyjude
Thankfully that’s never happened to me.
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderersl
This looks like a great town to visit. Can you send us the contact for your accommodations with Antonio?
Sorry to hear about your pick pocket. When traveling we leave our valuables locked in our luggage and wire locked in our accommodations, and use a fake, give it up wallet, and only carry cash in one pocket and one credit card in another. Its our phones we are most concerned with.
Great post.
Phil & Michaela
We have our protection plans too – just that this time we were on a 3-day trip without our main backpacks, so things were carried differently from usual. Typical!
Phil & Michaela
Oh yes, Antonio’s place is Casa Companhia.
Eha Carr
What an unfortunate happening – spoken out of utter ignorance > is there really no way you could get a replacement license? Thru’ the Embassy or Consulate for instance? How on earth can you manage for the rest of the journey unable to rent a car and drive yourselves at times? This must happen to travellers every day> loss or theft! Needless to say, the beauties of Lamego were totally unknown to me . . . am learning history and appreciating the same . . . thanks . . . and, yes, I have always been a checker and double-checker re my bag and purse also, but, but . . .
Phil & Michaela
Yes, I’ve ordered a replacement licence on line, but of course they will only mail it to my home address, so the next challenge is how to get it sent out here. We’re working on that one! Really lovely towns though, each one has been really rewarding.
Helen Devries
What a lovely place to visit, though I must admit that after seven hundred steps I would be in need of a remedy!
Rotten luck about the pickpocket….as you say it would be the one time that you carried your full wallet…sod’s law.
Phil & Michaela
Yep, it is exactly that, but at least all the important stuff was spread around so the loss was limited. These northern towns are very picturesque, really lovely
gsilvosatrekpix
Getting our pockets picked of our valuables was always our fear when we were traveling. True, constant vigilance is, unfortunately, also a giveaway to the location of valuables. Great story about Lamego.
Phil & Michaela
Typical that we get “done” when our stuff is not in its normal places. I wouldn’t normally have the wallet where it was. Ah well, could’ve been worse.
Monkey's Tale
Oh no! We keep our stuff in multiple hidden spots too so if one is stolen, all is not lost. Lamego is lovely isn’t it? We actually liked its staircase better than the more famous Braga, probably because of the azulejos and fewer people.
Phil & Michaela
Yes, definitely quieter. We’ve visited Braga as well since this post (well, yesterday actually), beautiful but considerably more popular.
Toonsarah
Lamego does indeed look worth visiting, but then I wouldn’t expect Jo to recommend anywhere that wasn’t!
A bummer about the pickpocket though. Chris sends his sympathy too, having had the same experience last year in Paris. As to the driving license, when he forgot (yes really!) to take his to California we were able to persuade the car hire company to accept a photo. So we got our neighbour, who has a key, to pop in and photograph it and WhatsApp it to me. If you have one being posted out to your home, might something like that be feasible for you?
Phil & Michaela
Well, we have photos of all of our documents on our phones for this very reason, so attempting to use a photo DL will be our first option. At the same time, the guy who checks on our house has now confirmed that all cards and the licence have arrived, so our next challenge is to find how and where he can securely send them to us. One way or another we’ll solve the puzzle!
Toonsarah
Good luck!
The Flask Half Full
Ugh, major bummer on the pickpocket. I’m an obsessive “checker” as well: phone, wallet, passport, phone, wallet, passport. But this is where I think women have a slight advantage as I always carry a small cross-body bag (with cut-proof straps) when we travel. It’s literally strapped to my chest like a bomb. May not look very chic, but it gives me some peace of mind.
Nossa Senhora dos Remedios (which looks absolutely incredible) was on our list for our last trip to Portugal, but we simply ran out of time. I enjoyed Portugal enough to return, so “next time”. Cheers!
Phil & Michaela
Lamego is such a lovely town, so well worth scheduling in, next time
The Flask Half Full
Oh! Did you find any of your “treasures”? The Ginjinha, Licor Beirão, and Singeverga?
Phil & Michaela
Not those yet but where we are currently, ginja mariquinhas is THE drink…
wetanddustyroads
Argh, being a victim of pickpocketing is such a pain in the …! I hope you find at least a way to get your driver’s license soon. Yep, wise to follow Jo’s recommendations – Lamego looks picture perfect (and authentically Portuguese 😉).
Phil & Michaela
Yeah a bummer. But we’re working on the solutions!
grandmisadventures
Whew, so glad the run in with the police was of a helpful and jovial nature. I’m sorry though about your wallet- but glad that you didn’t loose everything in one swipe. This area is just lovely all around. But those stairs are incredible!
Phil & Michaela
Beautiful places! Kind of knew we’d get something like that one day…and the disaster wasn’t total, huh.
WanderingCanadians
Sorry to hear that your wallet was stolen, but glad to hear they didn’t get much money. It’s too bad your licence was in there though. Lamego looks lovely.
Phil & Michaela
Lovely places, bummer of an experience!
Annie Berger
You’ve had bad luck with pickpocketers, Phil. Sorry to hear they struck again. After Steven read your post, he recounted his own experiences with them /thieves: in Athens, Sevilla, and Valparaiso if that’s any solace!
Had never heard of those northern Portuguese cities before. Happy that you were informed well!
.
Phil & Michaela
It’s been a really lovely run through these places, Annie. Great towns and cities and gorgeous scenery between l
MrsWayfarer
Oh no, I am sorry that happened to you! Luckily your quick thinking saved you from having that pickpocket get more.
Phil & Michaela
Annoying for sure!
Alison
Bad luck about your wallet and well done on noticing straight away. What a stealth ninja he was. What another lovely town. Vino verde is one of my favourite wines
Phil & Michaela
Oh the wines… as if this area wasn’t beautiful enough anyway, there’s all of these wonderful wines!
leightontravels
Ah the old stolen wallet scenario. Amazingly, this has only ever happened to me once in all my travels. I was pretty young (18-19) and it was on the island of Tenerife. I pretty much knew what was happening, but was too drunk to do anything about it / care. Sorry to hear that you came across a skilled set of hands, but luckily your mind was quicker in succeeding to limit further damage. How fabulous that you got an insider’s tip and that Lamego lived up to those expectations. It all looks gorgeous and that sunset at the end is nothing short of spectacular.
Phil & Michaela
Deceptively, it’s a sunrise disguised as a sunset 😃. Stupid to get pickpocketed, should have known better, but I guess it was gonna happen one day on our travels. Ah well.
Lookoom
It must not have been easy to be interested in Lamego with the theft at the back of your mind and the problems ahead.
Phil & Michaela
Yep, was a constant niggle, but cancelling the debit and credit cards before they could do any damage made it a bit easier.