Portugal – Spain Border Road Trip

Today we traveled from Lisbon Portugal and going to cross the border to enter Spain to reach our end destination at Seville. Portugal and Spain are both parts of the European Union, so we are free to travel from one to the other. We don’t have to come down for passport stamping at all.  Portuguese roads are generally good, we experience good highways and toll roads. Driver drive on the right which is different from the Commonwealth countries.

Portugal Energy Plant

Portuguese Villages

I enjoyed the scenery of Portuguese Hilltop villages with their main crops such as cereals, (wheat, barley, corn, and rice), potatoes, grapes, olive, and tomatoes.

Portugal’s National Tree

Cork products are one of the top souvenirs to bring back from Portugal. Glad that I have the opportunity to see the cork tree farm during my tour in Portugal-Spain. In fact, Portugal is the world’s largest cork producer.

The good thing is the cork trees aren’t cut down or damaged when the cork is harvested, you will notice the skin has two different colors (below picture) due to stripping. Stripping is the process of extracting the bark of the cork tree.

There are many things made from cork, if you stumbled across a gift shop in Portugal, you will find products made from cork include hats, shoes, handbags, wallets and many more. And yes, don’t forget about the wine bottle stoppers.

Wine Bottle Cork

Coaster with Rooster of Barcelos Print

Rooster of Barcelos is another icon to represent Portugal. It can be seen almost everywhere especially in gift shops. It is believed the rooster is a symbol of faith and bring in good luck.

Gifts Shop and Snack Bar

We have a break in the highway and went in to take a look at the restaurant and gifts shop.  The gifts shop here offers interesting souvenirs for travelers to bring back home as it is near the border of Spain.

Some of the local Portuguese cookies with traditional flavor.

Honey in a cute bottle.

Spice & Seasoning Products

I spotted piri-piri, it is hot I know and tasted in Sintra Portugal. It was the Portuguese exploration of the African coast, beginning in the 1400s, that sparked their huge love affair with the small hot pepper, Piri-Piri.

Olives

Not surprising to find olive in the bottles but it is hard to bring home, I would prefer to have olive in a can. It is safer to put into the check-in luggage for cans.

Ginja Alcohol

I spotted Ginja in Lisbon and learn that it is Portuguese alcohol made by infusing ginja berries, a type of sour cherry.  It is a type of traditional alcohol consumes in Lisbon.

Fish in Cans

It is kind of a tradition for Portugal, the canned fish, from sardines to mackerel & from tuna to anchovy. I love the cute packaging and I suggest these are great for souvenirs too.

Cigarette vending machine

Self Serve Restaurant

There is a small self-serve restaurant next to the gifts shop. Selection of wine, beer, soft drinks and snacks are available.

After a quick break, we continued our journey to Spain.

Grazing sheep in Olive farm

We have entered Andalusia autonomous region in Spain. We spotted countless of olive farms in Spain road trip. The country produces almost half of the world’s olive oil, more than three times as much as Italy, Greece and Tunisia. Andalusia of Spain was the major olive oil supplier for the Roman Empire back then according to archaeological evidence. This is the place for olive trees for thousands of years ago.

Final thoughts:

Glad to have spotted the olive trees and Cork trees during our road trip in Portugal and Spain. Both trees look similar if you look from afar but the olive trees are usually shorter and smaller when compared to cork trees.