Across Portugal and Spain

Sculpture (seriously) at the Camping Lisboa

campground, in Monsanto Parque, Lisbon;

a cool place, the nicest municipal campground

we have seen so far

Our campsite at Camping Lisboa

Driving across Portugal; enlarge this: below you can see the

cork trees (a variety of oak), the bark (that is, the cork) stripped

on the lower trunks; further up, a variety of pine, almost

umbrella-shaped, I have never seen before; and further

above, the green rolling hills, dotted with trees; it is a

beautiful countryside; northern (coastal) Spain is mostly

Eucalyptus trees, sometimes dense forests of them,

sometimes very large, with some pine and oak and others

A non-touristy hill-top castle and town

Solar panels, miles-long, in Spain

And a truly engaging way of disguising a cell tower

Alert readers will recall that a) our Roadtrek RS Adventurous camper van is not winter-worthy; and b) we have had to pay a lot of attention to, and even alter our itinerary in view of, the weather.  Add in the fact that Europe is suffering, in December and January, some historic cold weather. We spent another day or so in Lisbon, mostly doing chores and such, and getting the oil changed ($700, again), and then the weather in Spain broke or appeared to break for a few days of temperatures (night-time) well above freezing. So we made a dash for Spain, first Toledo, then Madrid, then El Escorial, then Segovia, then Avila....