Tuesday 15th May
Last night was our second night in Evora and we were given free tickets for a glass of wine at the Patio Cafeteria so after ordering a snack which consisted of 6 slices of salami about the size of a 20 cent piece and charged 4 Euros we decided we had paid for the free wine and the view as well. We moved on to another restaurant where Gary Gary
We set off well rested this morning even though the church bells in the square were chiming every thirty minutes and we heard the last of the drunks walking home at 4am as we were in the centre of the village. We then went to pick up our hire car and to our amazement we found rice biscuits in a supermarket across the car hire so we stocked up and hit the road and it took Gary a couple of hours to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road.
Our first destination was Monsaraz a fortress medieval village perched high up on a hill facing the Spanish border. With Gary
Monteraz was our first stop for the day was once again an incredible mediaeval village built high on a hill facing the Spanish border separated by the biggest artificial lake in Europe and surrounded by farms where you feel like you have stepped back 2,000 years. The region is also famous for its pottery and rugs made on handlooms. We stopped to have morning tea and sat in a coffee shop which had magnificent views and chatted to a Dutch couple who had also just spent 2 nights in Evora. After the nicest cappuccino we set of to discover even more and more beautiful scenery. We drove through so many beautiful sights today it is nearly impossible to put words to them all, they were so unique but the pictures will tell the story.
We tried to avoid all the larger towns and it was all going well until the nav man decided to take us into the centre of a town called Elvas another larger town with a Fortress village. It took us over the fortress wall and around bends where I had to fold in our side mirrors with such a small car only to find the car didn’t have any guts in first gear on the hill. We were nearly going backwards but eventually turned off the nav man and used our own radar. Gary
From there we drove to another stunning village called Terena. The buildings were white-washed with bright blue trimmings and I could swear that I was on the Greek Islands
After a days leisurely driving with stops and starts and about 300 kilometres driving we ended up at our destination which totally blew us away even more. It is a town called Castelo de Vide. I am going to quote from the lonely planet book here because what they describe is exactly what we saw and felt. High up in the lush rolling countryside, it has dazzling white houses, flower lined lanes with elderly ladies crocheting on their front steps with children playing in the cobble stone streets. They were so friendly and we just walked around the narrow streets and climbed between the ancient walls of the fortress village taking in the even more awesome views. You will love the pictures. We are totally exhausted now after seeing such incredible sites and eating great food we are ready to fall asleep. We ended up in a hotel that we weren’t looking for but the lady who spoke little English didn’t want to let us go to the place we were looking for so we decided the room was so lovely we took it. Tomorrow we are driving to even higher landscapes so who knows what we might find. For now good night until I can get some internet to send off the photos.
Love Chel and Gary xxWe took so many photos but here are just some to wet your appetite! I will label them later as we are ready to go again on a beautiful sunny morning!
good morning (my morning) must have got 2 blogs today. Nothing came yesterday. Anyhow, it all looks so beautiful again. Just love the photos. Have been thinking about the driving "on the wrong side of the road".xxxmuxxx
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