Day 44. Monday 21 April.

We could have been in rural NSW (around Yass/Gundagai) for much of today’s journey. After leaving the Algarve the landscape became rolling hills, green, eucalypts as well as carobs and olives, then there were orchards (unsure what) and some fields with sheep and cattle.This is Portugal’s bread basket. And very few castles! It was the road to Évoramonte, about 300 km north of Tavira, and about 120 km east of Lisbon.

Out in good order, then realized we’d left our rubbish behind so back we trekked to gather it up. Our stay was terrific: T frequently commented ’this is heaven’. 

Coffee at Ourique and a stretch, enjoying being in a real working town – we were pretty much the only tourists. And as a bonus, the Chinese bazaar had the vital threads for T to start a needle project!  At the pastaleria we eyed off a small selection of sweet treats (may be Easter Monday was the reason for such limited choice). The waitress at the bar didn’t want to stop cleaning the fridge to serve us despite T going behind the counter and calling ‘hola’ several times, but we caught some tv footage of the passing of Pope Francis (and thought of the next conclave moves). Ended up at a booth at the station: the espressos for 80 cents were excellent! 

Picnic lunch was at Beja where we firstly did a stock up at Aldi. Tonight will be a real treat: beef! Poor Doris can’t handle the sidesteps: she kept trying  to get us to ‘return to route’.

A good road and then heavy rain at times. But the directions worked, Doris was happy and the rain eased for long enough to get our gear inside. We’re at a quaint cottage on several levels, 20kms from the UNESCO town Evora (yes a wall, castle and numerous churches…we’ll explore tomorrow) and D needs to ‘pull his head in’ moving between rooms.T has started stitching and pulling out (the usual routine).

Dinner. Beef stew, with carrots and Brussels sprouts, accompanied by a potato and turnip mash.