Arrived too early, an utter fail and a hidden gem – N2 Road Trip

After another peaceful night in Portugal we set off towards the next stop we had in mind, another short 10km drive, we arrived in Bemposta (N 39.355, W 8.14273) another excellent stop over directly on the N2.

Alas although the village has made a stunning park up, being it was such a short drive from our overnight in Abrantes it was still early in the day and I honestly couldn’t really see what we would do if we stopped at this point, nothing was jumping out at me.

So the joy of the N2 is that nothing is very far away, so we opted to plough on another few Km towards Montemor-o-Novo (N 38.6443, W 8.21086).

The ever changing landscapes are part of why this route is so captivating, we had been transported from mountain climbs into now lush farm lands

But fate was to play its part, we had seen on the reviews of the park up an odd note about easily being blocked in and couldn’t completely understand how as the area was massive for just 5 motorhomes.

Arriving at the busy bustling bullring in monte or-o-Novo things became apparent very quickly, the access to the parking was to be the problem, the dropped curb was set within one of the parking bays, which shock horror was occupied.

A jump out and walk around the bullring, did not allow me to spot any other forms of access, a quick check on our parking apps and another possibility came forward, but with lots of reviews saying the access road was tight, we gave that a miss also.

So this was to be chalked up for a visit another time.

Back on the N2 and the next stop, which to be fair on the surface didn’t offer much to see or do was Alcacovas (N 38.3912, W 8.14977).

A few twisty streets of typical Portugal nature, as in half falling down and other half in need of serious attention. but that’s just part of the charm.

Although what we did stumble upon was ‘Jardim das Conchinhas’

Sadly all locked up and no one around to gain any access, so we settled for a peak over the wall and reading the information boards.

It was part of the mansion of the Henriques, a wealthy Galician family that settled there around the 14th century.

The space visited was built later in the 18th century. It was there that they had their vegetable garden and a charming chapel.

The entire space is adorned with shells, ceramics and stones that form spectacular patterns.

So we retired to one of the local cafes for a much needed drink or two

Paul.