Author: simon

Bear with me here, but just imagine hand washing a pair of regular socks and hanging them on a line. 36 degrees and a breeze means they’re dry in an hour. Did I say it was hot????

Anyway, Estremoz is reputed to be well worth a trip, and we can confirm that – especially on a market day which adds a buzz to any town.

Castle/Palace was well worth it.

Apparently there is or was a plentiful supply of marble, which a lot of the town is built from.

And a wowee coffee machine (regrettably not working when we were there)

The Tile Museum

Not in the guidebook but we were alerted to it by a local woman to whom we got chatting over coffee. It’s the largest in Portugal and an interesting partnership between a large Portuguese wine producer and the local authority means there is a wine-tasting session as part of a visit. So here’s lots of pictures of tiles.

And that’s it for Evora and surrounds.

Here’s where we while away hot afternoons

and evenings

But first a mild niggle. “Do you take debit cards? Yes – but only those issued in Portugal! Why? No idea.”

First in a supermarket petrol station (where the supermarket does take all cards). Second on a museum. Hey ho.

Anyway, getting used to the heat and the rhythm of the day. Monsaraz is about an hour away, although a very easy drive, so set off early.

Quick detour to Mourao which is right on the Spanish border, but not a lot going on.

And that’s about it relaxing in the afternoon and a wander, an ice cream and a drink in Evora wathching the world go by.

Entrance to our little house:

Bit of a long one today. Unrelenting heat is, well, unrelenting. So planned an early start, and Eileen had put together a detailed agenda (which went pretty much to plan).

Roman Temple

Church (not the cathedral)

Yup – skulls and bones

Cathedral

Chapel of Bones

So an awful lot in a pretty small town, and then it got hot.

Not much to report today. Down south to Evora with a very easy drive.

And here, to sum up the rest of the day is a sentence that may well never have been written in human history:

“Here is a photo of a donkey and of a sardine shop”

Mornings are special.

And it’s a bit weird – we seem to be the only people in the entire compound – it’s soooo quiet.

Anyway, the heatwave means a gentle rhythm of morning sightseeing, lunch, swim and/or siesta and maybe out in the evening. Not exactly a stressful existence!

Tomar is nice enough as a small town.

Then went to suss out the 15th Century aqueduct for the Convent – amazing and nobody there.

Eileen was joined by a friend in the afternoon

Evening in Constancia about 15 minutes away. These Knights got everywhere, including this strategically placed castle in the river

Dinner (beef with kiwi, melon and orange, since you ask. No idea if it’s a Portuguese tradition or budding Masterchef but very good!).

It started with an early morning

And then the main event

And extremely photogenic as well as a peak experience.

Note how round their main chapel is below – apparently so the Knights could pray without getting off their horses.

And that was the work done for the day. So relaxation included lunch, swimming and sunsets. And it was only 32 degrees today …

Last walk round Porto.

Disappointing day but all things are relative! Picked up the hire car without bother (although there’s always something – nearly 6 months after we were there, seem to have a speeding fine from Sicily. Ho hum – but haven’t had the fine yet, just the administrative charge!).

Anyway, we’re on the move towards Tomar

And the guidebook says Coimbra is definitely worth a large detour – it was actually on our way, but wasn’t really even worth a small detour.

It’s a really old university town, with amazing buildings, but they were either closed for lunch or fully booked. Cafe was closed and they charged €1.50 to use the loo. But just look at the colour of that sky.

And it was 37 degrees. You may recall we came later to avoid the heat …..

House is great, though.

It’s been seriously hot today – over 30 which is unexpected. In my opinion early morning is the best.

So taking it slowly (tram comes in handy!) and enjoying the views.

Coffee, followed by beers

Lunch

And so on and so on.

– very touristy

– so much English spoken

– pretty cheap on the whole

– did I mention the hills

– surprising number of Americans here

– really nice feel to it, especially on warm evenings

Having concluded the hills are a bit, well, hilly we came up with another plan involving trams. They really don’t go fast (3 miles in about 20 minutes) but fun.

More bling – not really to our taste

And then much better a trundle along the river to the beach.

And then a decent view for lunch

Apparently one “delicacy” is a toasted cheese and steak sandwich in a Francesina sauce – an experience that was ok but probably never to be repeated!

Famous Harry Potter bookshop with a massive queue and an €8 entry fee (refundable if you buy a book) which we resisted.

Fabulous city, albeit as hilly as its reputation. But some great photos, starting first thing:

And some not so great …..

Main station first thing

and later on …

Stopped for a coffee

And some serious bling

Taxi wouldn’t take us home as it wasn’t far enough – probably true but seriously uphill in parts.

Bit more sightseeing later on

And ended up eating Korean (although we didn’t know what it was when we walked in, and hadn’t a clue what we ordered – it’s a longish story) for the first time which was great.

Knackered!