Day 45. Tuesday 22 April.

While ‘walk-ins’ at a hairdresser might be familiar, ‘walk-ins’ at the the dentist are a bit unusual. But Dr Maria Isabel Gonzales – Isabel – in Evora handled this with a pleasant efficiency today as D’s troublesome tooth (months old) flared this morning. 

Earlier, having found a parking spot and entered the walled city, it was no surprise that T ‘happened upon’ a fabric shop where she engaged with the owners – two brothers- and chat was about the decline in all forms of hand sewing (people too busy on their screens, was their take).

Not too long later, while T ordered the espressos in the central square, unbeknownst to her D was googling dentists and T consumed both caffeine hits while D went in search of the dentist supposedly ‘nearby’. Oh dear! No sign of the business listed on maps. Tourist office staff suggested a clinic just around the left corner, but it didn’t handle treatments, it just undertook investigations to create ‘plans’ for the whole mouth. More googling located a dentist within a few kms, re-opening of course, after siesta/ lunch. We wondered how many days and nights would D have to wait for an actual treatment??

Ambling in Evora, we could have been back in Spanish territory with the super-narrow curved streets, the cathedral, a very impressive aqueduct, Roman temple ruins, multiple churches, tour groups, folk of various languages drinking/dining in the SUNSHINE.

At Sao Francisco a cabinet of figurines drew T’s eye. Hundreds of tiny figurines, human, animal, vegetable & celestial had gathered to announce the birth of a very special child. It was pure delight after the so many grand/grandiose representations of the Biblical characters we’ve encountered.

After 90 minutes of siesta ambling (cobblestones do nothing for problem teeth) D navigated to and presented at the Nutridente clinic desk. Yes, Dr Isabel would see him…. just wait please…and after the check-up of a young boy, D was in the chair. An X-Ray delivered good news (tooth not cracked…) probably a sinus- root-related issue that can be aggravated by cobblestones! Scripts written and D sent on his way for a very modest fee. So, if it’s to be no more cobblestones, where does that put us?

With renewed energy after the dentist, the Peugeot took us back into rural mode, finding the site of Cromeleque dos Almendres, a horseshoe circuit of stones (2000 yrs older than Stonehenge)…we’ll come back to walk the site. And on an interpretive sign detailing local fauna was the picture of a creature we’d seen slithering/ scuttling across the road yesterday..(of course) it was an Egyptian mongoose! We’d been startled by this guy, with long body and tail (T had been puzzled saying,’ it looks like an otter!) Sure does.

On our return we sought out a Farmacia to get D’s script filled. Headed for Azaruja, but we think Doris may have become an insurgent, as she sent us down a one way street. Fortunately we didn’t meet anyone coming the other way until right at the end: the local woman merely raised a slightly amused quizzical eyebrow, no doubt thinking ‘bloody tourists’ in Portuguese.

Dinner: Does T need to use the zuzzer to blend last night’s leftover beef/gravy/B sprouts? No, cobblestones are not that vicious. And tomorrow is sunshine guaranteed.