Évora

Set off early (too for me, not enough for John) for Évora which we reached after 60km, hot and very ready for lunch. Évora was quite beautiful but quite a let down too, with too many tourists and too many cars.. Campsite was expensive and dusty but we rested well there a couple of days.

   

Dutch barge

Too many places, can't catch up with blog.. Before heading off to Évora, John wanted a sail on Sem-Fim, a Dutch barge(?) moored on the Alqueva lake. So we zoomed down to the Centro Nautico, saw indeed a Dutch barge,slightly smaller than ours and booked a trip (20 euros each!). John was disappointed because there was no wind and we motored all the way. Nonetheless, had an interesting talk with the Portuguese/Dutch owner Tiago, a lovely cool swim on a deserted sandy island and welcome bread, olives, cheese and drinks. And a peaceful night by the lake.

Monsaraz

From the castle ruins on top of Mourão we could see Monsaraz, our next destination, on the other side of the Alqueva dam (or old river Guadiana).

Only 17km. But we nearly died of exhaustion and heat stroke! Had to go up this hill on our bottom gear, resting 5 or 6 time and cooking in 40 degrees..fantastic views though and finding at the top a medieval wall and tiny clustered white washed houses connected by a series if interconnected cobbled alleyways, some if them nearly too steep to walk on..

Temperature soared and all we could do was to spend the afternoon in the swimming pool. It was still so hot that we left in search of a camp spot much too late.. We cycled over the bridge:dogs, we cycled back near the shore of the lake:gypsies, we cycled back through the village to the other side:horses and more gypsies. By 9, it was too dark to pitch the tent so we cycled to the restaurant we had lunch at (young owners couldn't speak English nor French but were ever so friendly) and asked for a place for the night. A man on a moped came shortly and showed us the way to his hotel, the Casa Esquivel where we spent a wonderful restful night in a bed, had a long shower and were served breakfast! Bliss!

Back to reality and the heat and on our way to Monsaraz

Mourão

35 km from Moura, another town with nearly the same name. It's because if the Moors. Town founded by Arabs in the 9th century. Special moorish chimneys everywhere

Left early,again. It's a question of survival, especially as we ve been told temperature forecast is 40 degrees and we are in the sunniest region of Portugal.

Last night had to tie tent to tandem and fence post, ground was so hard! We found this little flat secluded place just off the road. We were quite tired and most fields seemed to have cows so we thought we would be safe. Glad to say we were! Ants were the only bother.

Cycled to Mourão in the heat indeed even though it was only 10am and John did his party trick again: I was panting and sweating and pedalling hard on a seemingly flat road. Thought I was really getting old or that my cough had definitely weakened me..after half an hour or so I happened to look at Johns handlebars: he had left the drum brake on!! No wonder we were struggling!

In Mourão's lovely gardens now where wifi is generously provided, waiting for heat to subside then head off towards some water for a dip (unless John wants to go to another museum)

A typical meal

Gazpacho (cold tomato soup, sounds dreadful but it is absolutely delicious, refreshing and nourishing at the same time.

Served with grilled fish (sardines?), olives, bread, local (most drinkable) wine. John had carapau a bras (fish and chips really), horse mackerel with tasty potatoes 

Moura

Up early again, John fretting we will have to cycle in the middle of the day (which we haven't done, he is asleep on a shady bench, I am in the cool of the tourist office..), said goodbye to all the lovely people we met at campsite and off in the fresh morning. But the best plans never guarantee success.. 1) We followed faithfully the signs to Moura, but we suddenly found ourselves on a motorway (no cycles allowed of course) 2) when we eventually found the road, it was closed due to road works 8km away 3) someone encouraged us to still take it explaining we could carry the tandem around the works 4) 8km on, the road was indeed closed. We bypassed it as planned

But found an abyss: the road stopped completely over a small river! Fortunately the road workers found our arrival most amusing and carried the tandem across for us!

As we cycled on the ground became more fertile, even irrigated at times, and we passed mainly olive groves, but also sunflower and onion fields and vineyards.

Moura was a fascinating little town but despite a few signs dotted here and there we never found the tourist office! All the churches were closed as so were the museums. But we found the Moorish quarter, 3 narrow streets with typical Alentenjo chimneys