Had a bit of a disaster on the photo front for this update, the memory card on the camera developed a fault and thinking I had already downloaded the photos I reformatted it - DOH!!! There are a few that I managed to recover but they are few, very few, so I have added a link that goes to some photos I took last time we were in this area.
When you have spent so long with the caravan in one place it seems to take ages to pack everything into its travelling position, so “leaving Monday” soon turned into “leaving Tuesday” still we did not have that far to go, less than 300km around 3 hours to one of our favourite sites in Portugal - Camping Alentejo.
When we arrived the sun was shinning from a bright blue sky, the temperatures were in the mid twenties, people were swimming in the pool, it seems that spring has sprung - we hope.
One of our reasons for revisiting this old favourite was to meet up with an Aussie couple that we have met several times in another favourite of ours (and theirs) Little Henham Hall. The purpose of the meet was for them to give us some information about our proposed visit to Australia next year, (strange it’s been “next year” for the past five years) and for us to give them some information about what to see on this their very first visit to the Iberian Peninsular.
The next few days were equally warm and sunny - until Rosemarie and John arrived when the temperature dropped as a cold wind started to blow from the north. This set the pattern for the next couple of weeks - mainly blue sky but with a chilly wind, there was also plenty of rain but fortunately most of this fell at night.
We took R & J to many of the local sights of interest at one of our favourites - Castelo de Monsaraz where we watched the filming of an episode of the Portuguese version of Celebrity Master Chef. I doubt anyone will be surprised that we did not know any of the celebrities, after all we rarely know the ones on the UK version, neither were we surprised that the 12.30 dinner that all the villagers were invited to was still not cooked at 14.30.
A visit to the region would not be complete without a visit to the very macabre ossuary at Campo-Mayor but that was unfortunately closed so we went to the one at Evora.
The Chapel of Bones in Évora, Portugal, is part of the larger Royal Church of St. Francis, and was constructed by Franciscan monks in the late 16th century. Above the door is the chilling message “We bones that are here, for yours await”. When we were last here two desiccated bodies, one that of a very small child, were hanging from one of the walls. After centuries one had fallen so both are now laid in glass coffins.
After centuries hanging on the wall, at last a comfy glass coffin.
It seems that every time we stay at Seibo’s (Camping Alentejo’s Dutch owner) we discover something new to see, this time it was some cave art a few miles beyond Evora.
The Prehistoric Rock-Art Site of Escoural Cave is a structure known for its Paleolithic-era rock-art and funerary burial site, located in the Portuguese municipality of Montemor-o-Novo, in the civil parish of Santiago do Escoural. Entry to the cave is permitted only by prior arrangement, and with a guide.
Our visit was booked by Seibo just a few hours before our visit but the recommendation is booking at least one day ahead. Our guide was young, very enthusiastic and as there was just the four of us gave the whole tour in perfect English, the advertised as one hour stretching into 2.5 hours. A fascinating afternoon.
The one sadness about the two weeks with R & J was that we went out to two local restaurants, both of which we had been to before and at both of which we had enjoyed good local cuisine. This time the meals were, to be polite, uninspired.
We have had a super couple of weeks with Rosemarie and John but all things must come to an end and R & J are now moving further into southern Portugal while we are moving to the north.
After a false start, well, when we got up yesterday it was raining and when in mainland Europe we don’t move when it’s raining. So after another night at Seibo’s we have moved north to Parque de Campismo Baía Azul, right on the sea shore with extensive views over the bay, well, we will have when it stops raining.