Alentejo day trip - Portugal Diary

Up for breakfast for 9.  It's so peaceful here with no traffic allowed within the walls of the village.  There are good car parks half way up the hill for those visitors coming.  The streets are cobbled and it's like stepping back in time living here...  Breakfast was ok, not as good as at Monte do Cardal, but that was an exceptional place.  Decided we needed to get a pharmacy for sun tan lotion that I forgot to pack and also some gel for insect bites as I got bitten badly 6 times on my arms and one on back when walking the Fisherman's Trail on Monday.  Because of where they are I'm irritating them in bed and they are weeping - yuk - I never usually get bitten!!  As we drove to the nearest big town Remedios do Monsaraz about 15 mins drive away we saw one of the stork nests at the side of the road and there was a stopping bit so we could get some really good close up shots (not this one as its from phone).  There were two babies in the nest and Mum was keeping a good eye on us.  Dad must have been out getting food.    I find them fascinating, especially seeing them fly.

We got on our way, crossing the long bridge over the Alqueva water, which is one of the largest dams and artificial lake in Western Europe to the town of Mourao, a little sleepy town with a castle on the hill (another one) not as pretty as Monsaraz but the views again were wonderful as was the walk inside the castle and in the fields round it were lots of Poppy's and other wild flowers of every colour.  We stopped off for a coffee in a little cafe sitting outside in the town square and watched the stork nesting in the church nearby warning off a crow by banging her large beak together .  It's so cheap in this region of Portugal - 2 coffees were 1 euro.!

Next on the agenda was a visit to the museum to learn about the Village of Luz which is now sitting at the bottom of the Dam!  They rebuilt the village further uphill and we passed through it but it had no character, just rows of little Portugese style bungalows.  We sat at the church at the museum outside the new Luz overlooking the lake and watched around 5 storks flying overhead and a mother netting in this church keeping a cheeky gull at bay.  

We drove on through olive and cork meadows with empty roads only an occasional local flying past us.  I was very impressed with the quality of the roads - much better than I would have expected for this relatively remote part of Portugal.  I heard that they have had EU grants to repair them.  Next stop was the actual Alqueva Dam which was quite magnificent with a large sign along the side saying 'on a clear day you can see forever'. Nice.  There were massive fish swimming around eating the bugs, and again, it was just us there...  I like that.

By this time we were famished to stopped in a village can't remember the name but there was no English spoken so we ended up with a salad and a desser that we could point to and that was fine.

We got home to Monsaraz just as the day trippers were leaving and we had a nice wander around the village popping into some nice craft shops that had been closed yesterday.  One of them was owned by a Canadian lady who had come here 20 years ago with her French husband.  Then we went for coffee and cake made by local ladies to a shop and cafe owned by Thierry, a Parisian guy who came here around 5 years ago.  When he saw my disgusting weeping bites he ran over the road with his scissors and cut off half a bit of a plant which was aloe Vera and said to put the liquid on them and will heal without scars.  He popped it into a bag and said it will smell horrendous but will do the trick...  It's seems to have worked!  Next as we were sitting outside his shop the most magical horse and rider was clip clopping down the cobbled street.  It was a Palomino, with a flowing white mane and tail and I just stood and gaped!  Then took pictures!!  He stood for photos and then trotted off.  Beautiful.....  Wandered up the ramparts of the Castle for more stunning views and then back to Casa Pinto to get freshened up for our evening meal.  We went to a proper Portugese restaurant where mama is cooking behind the counter of the restaurant and we had delicious lamb and potatoes.  Back to pack up and an early night as travelling back to Lisbon tomorrow - no weird music thankfully....