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This Woman Was Here

A Do-It-Yourselfer's Life Journey

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Monthly Archives: November 2019

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Portugal, day 1 Evora

Once again, I found a an amazing deal through Travelzoo and Portugal Vacatons, airfare from ny to Lisbon, rental car, and 8 nights of hotels for $800. The airfare alone would cost more than that. We had a late flight out of JFK, 11:30, but TAP, Portugal’s airline was comfortable and the staff friendly. We ere met at arrivals by a representative of Visacar and driven to their office. We have a Peugeot 280, small but adequate for our 4 carryon bags. Luckily, we did not check bags, which would have cost us (not included in the ticket) and wouldn’t have fit in the trunk. The car did have GPS, which was helpful. The streets signs are clearly marked and there was little traffic, which made getting out of Lisbon easy.

The drive to Evora took about an hour and twenty minutes through beautiful gold fields dotted with olive green cork trees stripped of their lower bark. The old city center of Evora is a warren of narrow cobbled streets with ancient white buildings decorated with yellow ochre trim. Our hotel, the Olive, is a modern one in the middle of the old city.

View from roof of hotel

After unloading our luggage, we headed off to explore the town center, still surrounded by its medeival walls. We headed for a restaurant recommended by the girl at the front desk, but it was closed because we had missed the lunch hour. Ravenous, we found a cafe open right across from the Church of SAo Francisco and sat outside enjoying the lovely sunny, cool weather and tapas of cheese, chorizo and pancetta along with a bottle of red wine.

Next we explored the church with its distinctive ice cream shaped turrets and many ornate altars. Only part of the original Gothic church and cloisters from 1376 remain, but a new church was built over the old under several kings, reaching the height of its glory in the late 16th century.

The Chapel of Bones, located around the side of the church, has an entrance fee of 5E for Adults and 3.50 for seniors. When the graveyard grew too small in the 16th century, hundreds of bodies were dug up and the bones were used architecturally in the chapel to remind men of their mortality.

I have never seen bones used as artistic decoration before.

Just up from San Francisco was another lovely church. Like Venice, Evora  is filthywithchurches.

Wandering the streets of Evora was a pleasure.

The Prada do Geraldo is the main square of the city. It is lined with 16th century gothic buildings and with tiny cobbles streets leading down the hill on all sides. We got marvelously lost exploring the old city, where no two streets are parallel and one may wind you outside the city walls with no quick way back in.

In our lostness, we stumbled onto a courtyard with cork sculptures  that show the shape of the cork bark as it is cut from the trees.

We made our way back to the hotel exhausted but happy with our discovery of Evora. Love isn’t winding cobbles streets and ancient buildings.

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Evora, day 2

We began with a delicious breakfast at the hotel,fresh fruit, flaky pastries, European coffee, all wonderful. We wandered up the hill, this time with a better idea where we were going and found the Roman temple right away.

Behind the temple is the Cathedral Se, built in the late 1600s.

We  began by climbing the spiral stone staircase to the roof, with beautiful views of the surrounding area.

Next we visited the cloisters, also with a rooftop view.

Then we visited the choir above the cathedral.

The cathedral has the oldest organs in Europe. It also has one of the few statues of the virgin pregnant.

We also visited the treasury with lots of religious art featuring finely worked silver from the new world. After that we wandered back to the Pradca do Giralso (Ok, getting a little lost on the way). We managed to find a cork shop where the guys bought cork hats.

 

Then we made our way downhill to the restaurant outside the city walls we missed yesterday, Vino Vo’s. After a melted cheese appetizer, I had wild boar with chestnuts, unbelievably delicious.

 

 

 

 

After lunch we stopped at St Balse Hermitage church from the 15th century. Then  we drove out tot the Almendras Cromelich(about 20 min out of town) neolithic standing stones started in 6,000 BC and in use until 3,000BC. It was at the end of an unbelievably rutted dirt road, but worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the stones have designs in them (very difficult to make out).

We also stopped to see the single standing stone menhir, which was abou 15  feet high.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were surrounded by fields of cork trees, beautiful in the late light.


We had dinner at the hotel, which was amazingly good. The dogfish and coriander soup and the braised lamb shank were both spectacular.

 

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Evora to Portimao, day 3

After a lovely breakfast, we drove toward Mertola, another medieval walled hill  town. Again, the streets were well marked and an hour and a half later, we found a parking place on the main cobbled street of Mertola and climbed up to the castle that dominates the skyline. The white church just beneath it, Matriz, had been a mosque during the Islamic period and was converted to a church after the knights of Santiago reconquered the city from the Moors in 1238.

The castle, which dates back to the 13th century was built on Moorish foundations, which were built on the Roman forum. The archeological site sits below the fort,

with a cemetery just beside it.

The city sits atop a river that allowed it to ship goods to the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

After another hour on tiny back roads through parched, brown, seemingly uninhabitable landscape, we decided to take the super highway, A2, to Portimao on the Alvgarve coast. An hour and a half later with the help of our GPS voice, we arrived at Vitor’s Plaza, our home for the next four nights. We had no idea that we had apartment suites, with a living room, kitchen, patio, and bedroom.

Once gain we missed the lunch hour but the woman at the desk found one restaurant open in the next town, Alvor, Ababuja Alvor. We made our way there and were not disappointed. We had the best calamari appetizer ever, followed by one of my favorite dishes so far, bacalao (dried codfish)  Ababuja ( with cream and potatoes).


Dorota and Steve had fried cuttlefish and clams, also wonderful, and Jim had grilled cuttlefish. All were very fresh and tender.

After diner, we found a local grocery store and stocked up on supplies for the next several days. Exhausted after a long day driving, we collapsed early.

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Algarve, day 4

We began by exploring the closest beach, Praia Tres Castelos.  It is very built up on the top of the cliff, much like Miami Beach, but below the cliff, the beach is beautiful and makes you forget you are in a densely populated area.

At the end of the beach we found a cave with a large hole in the top, much the famous Bengali Cave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we found the cliff tip walk called the Seven Hanging Valleys coastal walk.. We walked from the Club Atlantico (we typed it into our gps and it took us ther through tiny back roads) where we parked beside the road, and walked east, with the lighthouse behind us toward Bengali Caves.

Bengali cave

All in all,it was a wonderful day.

 

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Sagres and coastal cruise from Lagos

Today we drove to the southwestern most point in Europe, Ponta de Sagres lighthouse. Sagres is a major surfing destination, and at the first beach we stopped at, we found parking lots full of surfers in vans waxing this boards and heading down to the beach to wait for the big waves to arrive. Unfortunately, none did while we were there.

On our way to the lighthouse, we happened upon this old fort (Forto do Beliche), which looked like it was ready to fall into the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We drove to the end of the peninsula to the lighthouse, with rough waves on the northern coast but relatively calm seas on the south coast (only 50 yards away).


A very dramatic landscape that can be extreemely windy and rough (as seen from th postcard we bought).

The plant life is quite interesting and a number of birds nest on the 75m high cliffs including garnets, shearwaters, peregrin falcons, great skuas, and blue rock thrushes.

We found the Lagos Town beach, Mareta, which also had surfers lined up waiting for waves.

Our next adventure was a boat cruise along the Lagos coastline. We had signed up for a 3.5 hour tour with lunch but were told it wa too rough for the long cruise and they suggested the 1.5 hour tour, which turned out to be perfect since it was windy and cold. On the way out of the harbor, we passed a replica of one of the old boats that was used to cross the Atlantic, the Good Hope.

The coastline was spectacular, much more eroded than the coast further east and full of caves, blow holes, arches and standing flower pots.

Our boat captain took us through arches I couldn’t believe we could fit through.

Seeing the cliffs from the sea is worth it, and I would recommend everyone do it.

We had parked next to the new Lagos train station, but the old one was charming.

 

We saw people walking on top of the cliffs by the lighthouse so we decided to explore the cliff walk next at Ponta da Piedade.

They have installed boardwalks along the cliffs to protect the plants and nesting birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water is aqua blue and the sights are breathtaking.

I thought we had seen our most spectacular scenery yesterday, but today topped it.

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Algarve west coast, Monchique, Silves, day 5

We began by driving west to the Vicentina coast and drove to the Carrapateira walking trail, a huge wind-sweat beach and headland with high cliffs.

Looking north

Looking south

There is a 5.7 k circular trail along the coast, but with winds close to 35mph, we only did a small portion of it.

Then we headed north and inland to Monchique, driving through rich green mountains and valleys with terraced fields. Monchique is an artsy small town. We had lunch in a sunny cafe ( piri piri chicken and fresh sardines) before exploring the town.

 

Our last stop was in Silves, which was once the Moorish capital of the Algarve before knights on their way to the holy lands retook the area from the Moors. The castle is one of the best preserved in the region and dates back to the 900s under Moorish rule. It is red sandstone.

 

 

 

 

 

Cistern

 

Beside the fort is a rather austere 12th century cathedral where many of the knights who were killed in the battle foe Silves are buried.

The town of Silves is charming, with tiny cobbled streets and old houses.

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Lisbon

We arrived in Lisbon in the early afternoon at the Hotel Azores Lisbon, a lovely modern hotel above the old town. We found a local restaurant for lunch and then picked up a hop on and off bus and toured Belém and most of the old city.

Aqueduct

Lisbon is a large city and we were glad not to be trying to walk from one end of the city to another. It was too late in the day and we were too tired to stop at any of the Belém monuments so we went back to our hotel and had a nice meal there, roast duck and wild mushroom risotto.

The next day, Thursday, we headed out early to take the metro downtown to pick up a walking tour at the Praça Luís de Camoes. The metro was right outside our hotel but the metro machines were hard to figure out. Luckily, two very kind Lisbon folks took time to help us buy metro tickets. We took the Chill Out Lisbon tour which was much smaller than one of the other tours that met in the same square.. I can’t imagine a better tour.. our tour guide, Emily, was a PhD student and knew her history backwards and forwards and presented it all in a very entertaining fashion.

We learned so much about the three thousand year history of Lisbon starting with the Phonicians to the Moors (the two largest influences on the language and culture).

We learned that the 1755 earthquake destroyed 80% of Lisbon and how the city was rebuilt by the Marquis of Pombal while the king camped in an elaborate tent outside of town for the rest of his life. We learned about the dictatorship that ruled the country from 1926 to 74 and was overthrown in a bloodless revolution known as the carnation revolution because the soldiers put carnations in their guns and refused to fire on the people. We also learned that over one million young people left the country after the 2008 economic crisis because there was no work.

Medieval spike building from 16th century

The tour took us to five of the older neighborhoods. Rain was predicted, so we were prepared. We had showers on and off during the 3 hour tour, but the sun kept coming out.

My favorite neighborhood was the Alfama, 1200 years old, originally settled by the Moors, but latter during the Inqusition, it became the Jewish ghetto. It stretches from the King George castle down to the sea. It is all uphill. Our guide says it is still a neighborhood where people know one another. It is charming with its narrow cobbled streets and restaurants.

 

It’s also the area to hear fado, Portuguese blues. We planned to come back tonight but never made it.

 

After the tour, we walked up to St George castle ( and saw window musicians on the way up).

We had a wonderful lunch in a restaurant Emily recommended, O Satellite. Dorota got her grilled octopus and I got to try pork with clams Alentejo.

 

 

After lunch we rode the famous 28 tram down to the sea (with three kids hanging on to the outside of the tram) We picked up a tram to Belém, but the automatic reader wouldn’t read our tickets, so we got off ( a mistake because we were legal) and walked about three miles toward Belém only to realize everything would be closed by the time we got there.

street art on our long walk

We caught a yellow bus back to our hotel. The hop on and off yellow bus wasn’t a good idea because they don’t have enough stops and the audio didn’t work well. The walking tour was fantastic, however.

 

 

 

 

On our last day, we were determined to see the monuments in Belem, so we took the yellow bus back down to Belem. We saw the Tower of Belem (once a prison) and the monument to the discoverers.

The San Jeronimo Monastery had very long lines to get in, so we enjoyed the maritime museum and took pictures of the outside.

 

 

 

 

 

We returned our rental car in the nick of time and caught our 5 pm flight back to New York, where we enjoyed more good food and a visit to MOMA.