Touring the Peninsula With Matt
Introduction
Book
Hotels in Spain
Book
Hotels in Portugal
Location
map for battles in Spain and Portugal
Portuguese
Battlefield Guides
Spanish
tours, suggestions, accommodation
By
Matthew Mahabadi
The
idea of visiting the sites of Wellington's battles in Spain and
Portugal grew out of my reading of the Sharpe books by Bernard
Cornwell.
I
wanted to see for myself some of the battle sites the real armies
of Wellington and Napoleon fought over. We had only two weeks in
which to do this; and because it was to be a family holiday, the
needs of my Grandparents; Derek and Judith, and my sister; Sara
had to be taken into account as well.
So
I concentrated on those sites that could be visited in short journey
spans, and that Bernard Cornwell described as being still recognisable.
Another useful guide was The Peninsular War, 1807 - 1814
by Michael Glover.
The
Itinerary
We
sailed from Plymouth to Santander, and then made for Viveiro on
the northern coast of Spain.
Although
this was to be mainly a rest stop in an over-long journey, we visited
the town and beach and saw some interesting historical and religious
sites, too.
Santiago
de Compostela was our first major stop. From there we made for Portugal:
first, to another rest stop, at Guimaraes.
As
well as having once been a capital of Portugal, it had also received
a fleeting visit from French troops on their second retreat from
that country in 1809.
We
then moved on to Coimbra, which provided a useful base from which
to visit the Bay of Figuera de Foz (Wellington's 1807 landing point),
and Bussaco (1810).
After
Coimbra, Almeida - a necessary "Wellington" visit in itself, but
also a good base from which to reconnoitre the battle sites of Fuentes
de Onoro, and Ciudad Rodrigo (1811).
Back
in Spain, Salamanca was on my list because the battle site to the
south of the city is still very much as it must have been in 1812.
Although
Segovia was meant as a rest stop, it had sights of its own to offer
(Roman aqueduct, Romanesque cathedral, Disney-esque castle and military
museum).
At
our Pamplona stop we had a fantastic hotel - but plenty of rain
too. The heavy rain stayed with us on our journey over the Pyrenees,
so that we saw nothing of Roncesvalles - a Pass fought over by Romans,
Arabs, French and Spanish, as well as being an important "sideshow"
on Wellington's march on Bayonne in 1813.
It
happened that we had started our itinerary by following the pilgrims'
route across northern Spain to Santiago; we finished our visit back
on that same route, at Roncesvalles.
So
there was more to our journey than Wellington's battle sites.
- Matt
Mahabadi
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