March 24, 2012
Rest day
Évora
I'm due a day off - a rest day - as it's been a few weeks since leaving home and there's only been one place - near La Cathdrale back in Morocco - where I spent two nights somewhere.
As my Évora hostel is nice and costs just 16 euros a night, it seems as good a place as any for a break. Anyway, I have a few things to do. It's a cloudy day and I take my camera with me, fitted with a fixed 50mm lens, and think about taking black and white photos in mind.
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Évora is a UNESCO Heritage Site, but I don't like the idea of doing whatever the regular tourist trail is here and instead simply take photos of things that catch my eye as I make my way to the market.
There are many nice old doors in the centre near the market - marked Mercado Municipal on my street map. This's where the hostel manager says I'll find a shoe repair guy - my SPD sandals are coming apart and need fixing properly. One got glued in Morocco by a hotel guy, but the other is also starting to show signs of falling apart.
The indoor market is actually just down the street, about 10 minutes' walk away from the hostel and is a new building and it's eas to locate the shoe repair guy, who says he'll have my sandals fixed in 20 minutes.
As it's now gone noon, lunch is top priority and there's a simple cafe in the market which is full of men, who I guess work nearby. It's not a touristy place and my beef stew gets washed down with a milky coffee. The bill comes to 5 euros: not bad.
From the market, I make my way to the bus station which isn't far away - about 10 minutes on foot - because I wanted to get a ride north, what with the road coming into Évora being a negative cycling experience. Besides, the countryside for about 100 km is rolling and not too dramatic.
The supervisor at the bus station tells me that putting my bike on a bus shouldn't be a problem, but that he won't be here on Sunday - tomorrow. The woman in the ticket office says there's just one departure to Porthalegre and it leaves at 1:30 PM. While at the bus station, I decide to have something sweet in the cafe.
The shoe repair guy charges me two euros, which is pretty decent. I leave them outside the bedroom door of he hostal as they whiff quite a bit! (It's a two-bed dorm).
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