Monsaraz

We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. We decided on a route beginning with Estramoz. Driving towards this town we see a few cute looking towns with either lovely churches or interesting looking castles. The landscape is fairly dry and crops vary from olives to grapes. The vines are full of fruit - it would be great to be here for harvesting. 

Estremoz is set high up on a hill with a castle at the top. Ed is very brave as he dirives up narrow, winding streets and parks in very tight places. We have a brief look around but decide to press on. 

We head toward Borba for the town called Vila Vicosa. It has a nice church surrounded by the remains of an ancient wall. We have a short walk then drive into the town centre. We have a cake and a coffee(this is begining to become a ritual). 

The area is full of marble deposits and at each roundabout there is a lovely marble sculpure - some historical and pertaining to the area, some contemporary and either abstract or humourous. 

We head towards Monsaraz as the weather begins heating up. It is forty by the time we arrive. We decide to find somewhere cool for lunch. We stop at the tourist information centre and find the lady very helpful - most have not been helpful at all. She enjoys a chat and eventually find out she has family from Sydney arriving next week. We have lunch at the restaurant she recommended. Ed and I share Partridge with chestnuts- delicious! Mitchell and Sabrina have roast lamb and Joaquim have grilled lamb. Sabrina and Mitchell have icecream for dessert while I order a local cake seved with plum and split it. The cake was nice but the plum divine. The view from the restaurant is beautiful. 

We decide to visit the old castle remains but have to duck into a church half way down as we are burning. The church is cool and provides sanctuary from the heat. 

We continue on and enjoy the castle remains. They have part of it set up for concerts as it is shaped like an amphitheatre. Again the view is lovely, We are surrounded by water and we start talking about the pool at the hotel. We decide to head back.

The pool is just right. We enjoy a swim and a couple of drinks. We snooze in the sun and dry off before deciding to go back into Evora for dinner. 

Dinnner is at one of the oldest restaurants in the area - Fialho. The table is laid with lots of nibblies, which over half we send back. We graze on bread, mushrooms, chockpeas, olives, pigs ear and cheese. My meal is pork cheeks and the sauce is fantastic. Ed, teresa and sabrina eat roast lamb. Joaquim eats grilled lamb chops and Mitchell has his favourite Pork Alentejana ( pork with clams and chips). We are all stuffed after dinner and roll home. 

Ed and I are not tired so we visit the bar at the hotel and have a Mojito - excellente! 

Good night all.