21st Feb 2016
A late start, then a surprise
castle
If I have said this once, I
must have said it a hundred times – It never ceases to amaze me how surprise
things turn up just when you don’t expect them, and they turn out to be better
than anything you could have planned !
Well, it happened again today. Woke
up to a sunny but chilly morning in the most relaxing campsite we have been in
for a while, and with only about half a dozen other cars there, made it even
better. We weren’t sure whether we would
stay 2 days, so made a late start, but in the end decided to drive just 120 kms
north to a place called Evora which sounded pretty promising in the books. And since the Evora is also a model of Lotus,
I had to go there, didn’t I ? !! So we
eventually left about noon, and started wandering north. Nothing planned, so there was no hurry.
We hadn’t gone far up the
road when we passed though an area where there were lots more storks, although
this time a bit closer to the road so we could see them more clearly. They seem to nest in fairly confined areas –
You will see maybe 30 or 40 nests in a small area, and then you may not see any
more all day. Then you will find a whole
bunch more. These ones today were built
on telegraph poles, electrical pylons, living trees, dead trees stumps, and of
course on houses. And as mentioned
previously, most have chicks at the moment.
Later we arrived in Beja. We
were out of bread, and had made a couple of detours off the road into villages
searching for some, but being Sunday, most were shut up tight, and no one was
baking ! So we went into Beja which is a
bigger town, and found a Super Marché open, and went in. Not having being in many Portuguese
supermarkets, we went in just to buy bread, but it was so well stoked that we
decided to stock up on all sorts of goodies we were in need of. Saved us doing the big shop tomorrow – Which
is just as well as it turned out.
Had our lunch in the warm sun
outside the supermarket before heading on up the road. Then at about 3.30 we came past this little
town called Portel, which isn’t mentioned in any of our guidebooks, yet up on
the hill was this wonderful big castle.
So we did a quick U turn and went into the town – To find ourselves in
the most delightful little place with narrow cobbled streets, and a church with
steps sticking out into the street in one place ! We tried to find the Castle,
but ended up at some old and boarded up church,
before finally finding the
right lane and driving up this steep hill – Where we came into a small car park
with a big statue in the middle, and full of heavily laden orange trees, lots
of cars, and about 40 old men sitting around ! (I later found out the statue is of Nuno Alvares Pereira who was a Portuguese general of great success who had a decisive role in the 1383-1385 crisis that assured Portugal's independence from Castile. He later became a mystic, was beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1918 and was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.)
We got the last parking spot, said a few Bom Dias to all the men and
took a few photos of the man on horseback.
Meanwhile Janet was asking the old men about the orange trees, and a
couple of them ended up picking the “best ones” (so they said) for her ! Ho Hum.
Then we set off up the lane
to the castle – passing the church – At which point we realized what was going
on – There was a hearse outside the church !
Whoops – We were in the middle of a funeral ! So we went up to the castle, and enjoyed half
an hour up there. It was built in 1261
and although it has been changed a lot over the years, it is currently in a
fairly good but derelict condition – In other words they haven’t tried to do a
quick renovation on it – Instead the inside is much as it lay, while only the
walls are mostly all there. A very
interesting surprise along our route.
When we came back down into
the square, the funeral service seemed to be over because people were coming
out of the church, and with the narrow streets we realized if we got caught
behind the procession, we might be there for weeks ! So we quickly got in the car and escaped just
as the priest and the departed were coming out and being put in the hearse for
their last ride. Everyone was very nice and friendly though, so no offence
caused I don’t think.
Back on the road, and heading
for Evora. Lots of grape vines (Port ?),
lots of oranges, lots of olives, and lots of wide open fields with crops in
them. Obviously a very fertile part of
Portugal. We found a camp site about 2
kms outside of Evora, and as it looks like fine weather again tomorrow, we intend
to stay here for 2 nights, and go into the city by bus in the morning. Lots of Roman ruins and other similar things
to see in the town, which the books say is one of the finest in Portugal. We shall find out tomorrow !
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