Day 46. Wednesday 23 April.

Our plan was to revisit Cromeleque dos Almendres but decided to avoid Evora by driving via Arraiolos, which meant we could also track down some of the things it is known for: the circular Castelo de Arraiolos and Ingreja da Misericordia de Arraiolos, and artisan products, principally the Arraiolos carpets which are woven/ embroidered with wool of varied colours on a jute or cotton canvas.

Had a terrific coffee, shared an empada and a Portuguese tart, and then a wander looking for the Interpretative Centre. On the way, T just happened to come across a fabric store. D hung around a couple of doors down and had a relaxed conversation with the shopkeeper, who had excellent English. She was delighted at the good weather today, after continuous rain, and spoke of the high temperatures to come. D remarked that he was from Australia and knew a little about heat, at which she remarked ‘Ah yes, the Crocodile Dundee hat!’ D pointed out it was made in Italy, which she dismissed with a flick of her wrist.

It was 1200 by now, so when we found the museum that would tells us all about the rugs it was shut, we assume for early siesta, as there were no timings on the building, nor on the brochure extolling the town’s treasures. So we wandered back down through this lovely town (yes, cobblestones) and headed for the rocks.

We’d been informed about the poor condition of the dirt road (goat track definitely applies: Oh for the Ranger!), parking a bit short and then walking, so chose a shaded spot. First menhir was down a wobbly dirt, deeply indented track, but at least it was only 350 metres. The information board said it’s location was linked to the equinox and possibly aligned with the stones.

We’d passed through plantations, groupings and single cork trees on our drives. An information board told us they were a highly protected resource, and managed by experts. Each tree is ‘cropped’ when mature, the next crop not being for 9 to 15 years, all closely managed. The bark is only taken from the main trunk, at a height three times the diameter. When the bark is taken, a single digit number is painted on the trunk indicating the year: for example, 2023 would be just 3. We didn’t notice too many trees that might be ready for the next cropping: there was one that seemed to have bark renewed with a 7, presumably 2017, that is, 8 years ago.

Then a slow climb along a rough road/track to the 100 rocks (positioned 7000 years ago) in a horseshoe pattern and some with engravings (not visible to untrained eyes) marking a serious change from hunter/gatherer society to sedentary/pastoral.We wondered about the process involved in positioning such huge boulders at that time: slaves? equipment? How did pre-historic humans have the time/energy/technology to engage in the task? And what did it all mean?

Returning to the car was much easier, all downhill and in a cool breeze. Dinner? A pasta dish, that probably needs more than tomatoes and half a can kidney beans, so where’s the closest supermarket other than Evora? Arraiolos! Prawns and anchovies added to tomato/onion sauce should do. And projecting to the next main meal, a piece of pork loin was chosen, with gestures to the butcher to cut it in half…but gestures didn’t ’cut it’…ended up with wafer-thin slices of pork loin! But T has a plan.

Dinner. Pasta with prawns and anchovies in an onion, tomato and herbs sauce., with a side salad.