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.