Welcome to our weekly Photographic Friday, where this week I take you on a diverse journey from Portugal’s west coast darling, Costa Nova to a couple of Spain’s Most Beautiful Villages. The contrast is stark and as always, the photos tell their own story, without words.

1. Costa Nova, Portugal

One of our highlights and biggest draws on the central west region of Portugal is the stripped pyjama town of Costa Nova. This is a relatively new town in comparison to others in Portugal that have Roman roots. Costa Nova evolved through the fishermen who worked the lagoon waters back in the mid 1800s. They built the Palheiros houses, often with stilts to protect them from the sand storms, to store their fishing equipment. The stripes were to help them navigate back in bad weather. When the fishermen realised that the beach was starting to attract beach lovers, they started to rent out their houses to holiday makers. To this day, new houses still maintain the tradition of the stripes.

The beautiful stretch of white gold sands stretch for what seems like miles and with the Passidiços boardwalks, you can walk easily from Costa Nova to Barra at the mouth of the river. The storm we endured left a haze in the air, which I think actually gives some of the shots a moody feeling. Let me know what you think, as they are not the archetypal sharp images photographers expect.

2. Cuidad Rodrigo, Spain

With some sadness, it was time for us to leave Costa Nova and Portugal. So with a big push heading off through the middle of the country we had Cuidad Rodrigo in our sights. We had decided, well I had decided than rather than blast our way up to Bilbao for our ferry, that we would take in an alternative route, with the Los Pueblos màs Bonitos de Espagne as our guide. And our first stop was the 12th century citadel of Cuidad Rodrigo. Not far from the busy motorway, we found ourselves an Aire five minutes from the old town and off I went exploring. With flocks of nesting storks, honey-coloured buildings and cobbled alleyways, this place had a lovely feel to it. The views were spectacular and it is easy to see why they chose this place as a medieval home. The first weekend in March is the date for their Carnaval de Torro and so the Plaza Major had been converted into a bullring in readiness for their celebrations. I’m glad that we finally got to explore, even if the Aire wasn’t the most peaceful we’ve ever stayed at.

3. Ampudia, Castilla y Leon

Our next station stop was Ampudia another of Spain’s prettiest villages, and just by driving through we could see why. It reminded us so much of French villages we know so well like Fourcès and Mirepoix in the south west. A medieval town shadowed by the most incredible castle that despite its 13th century roots has been renovated to its current grand status. With a free Aire the town we called this beautiful place home. Sadly the light in the town streets did not lend itself to photography, so I hope you will indulge me with a few less than perfect shots.

4. Frías near Burgos

With another big push, we took our leave of Ampudia and after the flat plains of the area south of Palencia, we finally saw mountains. What a welcome respite they were to the eyes. Frías is a medieval hilltop town that overlooks the valley of the Ebro river. Its impressive 12th century castle, church and medieval houses that cling to the sides of the rock face are quite magnificent. It is considered to be the smallest city in Spain having been given the title in 1435. It takes its name aptly from the unforgiving temperature of the waters that flow through this mountainous region and is infamous for its battles. It is a beautiful town that come the spring 2025 will have a 40 pitch Aire available for us explorers. What a joy this place was.

5. Abstracts that I loved

As always I finish this week’s Photographic Friday with some shots that sit easily on their own for the contextual nature and story telling. It of course involves people and somethings just things that caught my eye. I hope you like them as much as I do.

So that brings us to the end of this week’s peek at our travels through my camera lens. It’s good to be back in the groove with a new SD card and charged batteries and a sense of wanting to take pictures again. I would love to hear if you are enjoying these shots that only ever appear here and not on FB or Instagram. Until next week, when we celebrate our 9th Anniversary on the road. Kx