Evora

One of the best days we have had so far. We are travelling North, moving away from the beautiful South Western corner of the country where the coast is spectacular and heading towards the Spanish border. First up was a little coffee stop in the sleepy village of Portel, overlooked by castle walls. Very very quiet, but still to have a proper coffee since Paris. Never mind, the tarts compensate big time. 

We travelled on to our overnight destination, the medieval township of Evora and were hit by the first proper rain we have seen. The locals think it is the end of the world, apparently it just does not rain here at this time of the year. 

Michele bought a cork bag from a shop that only sells cork products, if there is flood they will be able to salvage all of their stock. Cork, concrete, sardines and wind power are Portugal's big contributions to the world, the cork products are truly amazing. One of the mind boggling things we saw on the Evora tour was the bone chapel. The chapel walls are made from the bones and skulls that were uncovered when they excavated outside the city walls. It was a mass grave left over from the plague where they just tossed bodies over the walls. The local guide told us the inscription you see when you enter says something like " the next bones here may be yours.." then added a subtle "nice." 

One thing I've noticed is that the Portugeuse have irony. Our tour guide Pedro is genuinely funny and has brilliant English, with all (almost) it's subtlety. When talking about Portugeuse bull tackling he said " the rest of the world does not have the monopoly on lunatics." His description of this was priceless.The town also has a Roman temple and is famous for its chicken pies, but they sold out very quickly and we missed the boat. Our hotel was incorporated into the city walls and was one of the best I have ever been in. The story of Geraldo the Indescribable (or something like that) who won the city back from the moors by cracking onto the prince's daughter then beheading them both tickled me. The coffee was good in the hotel too, by the way.

The afternoon trip was to Monseraz, a walled city on the Spanish border perched on a hill. Fantastic. Red wine, cheese, bread and the most magnificent views you could imagine. Once a year they run the Bulls here and I would love to see it. The bull running is just the way they manage to get the Bulls into the ring - they unload them off the back of a truck then they chase someone through the narrow streets into a pen, then into the ring. What a ring in Monseraz! It is the highest point of the town from where you can see for a hundred kilometres all around. A great town this. 

Our dinner last night was accompanied by plenty of local red and good company. Met a man from California who has broken into self published writing and is spending the next month writing in Lisbon. Very jealous.