Evora and Monsaraz - 15 May

Good night sleep had. Off for breakfast to the sister hotel around the corner. Very flash. A full day tour ahead. Picked up right on time by Adrian for our private tour of Evora and Monsaraz. It cost extra but turned out to be well worth it. It is about 1 1/2 hour drive to our first destination so Adrian gave us lots of good information about the area. Thankfully we were headed away from the city as once again the traffic into Lisbon was horrendous. Passed lots and lots of cork oak trees. Cork production amounts to about 50% of the world's cork production. There are 2 main wine producing areas and Portuguese wines are now winning European awards, but more on that later. I was struck by the amount of stork's nests on many of the power poles.

We arrived at Evora and were able to go into the church of Sao Francisco. It was fairly plain on the outside, but quite magnificent inside.

Only traces of the Gothic church and part of the cloister built in 1376 remain from the original convent.The king at the time wanted to build a palace on church grounds so the monks gave him the part of the convent next to the church, but in exchange Afonso V started construction of a new church over the old church. By the time it was finished in the 16th century, it as known as the Convent of Gold. As we were going past the remains of the original convent, Adrian pointed out the sign for the Knights of the Templars and then indicated the stone over the grave of one of the Knights. I'm intrigued with the history of the Templar Knights (not the Dan Brown version) so really felt like we were stepping back in time at that very spot.

The chapel of Bones which is beside the church, was built in the 17th century at the initiative of three Franciscan monks, so that locals could reflect on the transience of life and to get a clear allegory of death. More than five thousand bones and skulls adorn its walls, ceiling and columns of this chapel, all sourced from the city's cemeteries.

Next Adrian took us for a wander around Evora. Lots of hilly, cobblestoned, narrow streets, but very pretty. Once again we found ourselves looking at Roman ruins. That mob really did get around. I asked Adrian why the rooster appeared to be important as it appears on so many souvenirs. His version was very different to others I had looked up so suffice to say that I'm going with following. The meaning of the Portugal Rooster symbol, known as the Galo de Barcelos, is deeply rooted in Portuguese folklore and symbolizes luck, happiness, and prosperity.

Adrian told us about the special pastry (Hugo told us about it yesterday as well) that we should try so as we had free time to wander around on our own, we decided to taste test a queljada for ourselves. It is some type of cheese mix filling that was okay, but nothing spectacular. The coffee was good though so that made me happy.

Our next stop was Monsaraz. It was a lovely dtive up into the hills. Vines growing all over the place, next to cork oak trees and fields with cattle. Views from the top were amazing. In the distance we could see Spain. We wandered through the old fort and into the bull ring. There are still some active bull rings in Portugal today, but thankfully not many. Monsaraz only has about 50 people living here or nearby and they are nearly all generational families. There are some small shops and one in particular caught our eye with local artisans' produce. We have bought some olive oil which rather than be infused with different herbs, etc has the lemon or basil or chilli crushed with the olives at the same time.

Adrian had recommended a restaurant for us to have lunch (there are only about three of them so there wasn't a huge choice. We couldn't read the menu and the waiter didn't speak much English but we thought we were ordering soup and lamb. He did understand dry white wine though. The sheep cheese starter was delicious!

Time for another quick walk around and more great scenery.

It was then time for our wine tasting experience. 5 other people joined us. Transpires that had we not had a private tour and opted for the group tour, we would have spent the day with the 2 Americans and 3 Canadians (from Montreal). It is at this stage I am very pleased of our private tour choice as the Canadian fellow was a pain in the bum. He knew everything about wine (not) and regaled us with his opinion on each wine tasted. Eventually he fessed up and said he only drinks about 12 glasses of wine a year. Give me strength... I usually expect the Americans to be the loud know-alls, and Canadians as their polite neighbours, but not this time. Nor when I think about it, yesterday, as the solo Canadian woman who would only have been in her 30s insisted in sitting up front with Hugo as she gets car sick (so why book an effing small group van tour?)and then pushed past everyone when we were in line to go through the Pena palace. Canadians in Portugal are not good ambassadors. Back to the travel blog.. The wines were generally very good but not really worth writing home about. When the 2 dessert wines were being offered, I declined, so instead was offered a special vintage Sauvignon Blanc. It was very smooth but not worth the 30 Euros asking price. By the way, the tasting room epwas the original school house ehich had the blackboard up the frint and the alphabet and notes plastered around the wall.

Time to head back to Lisbon after a lovely day. Good scenery along the way, and even saw the aquaduct which although no longer active, remains standing as a testament to the great architects and engineers of the past. The main bridge we travelled over reminded both of us of the Golden Gate bridge. Adrian told us that the same architect who designed the GG bridge, designed the Lisbon one! It was going to be about a 2 hour drive but once we got closer to the city, the one way streets, road closures and traffic lights added at least half an hour more. But back to the hotel we arrived and bid a fond farewell to Adrian.

Time to settle in for the evening. Once again, neither of us want dinner, so it is left over wine from last night and the last of the chips. Another vegetarian meal which we both enjoyed. Good night.