Monsaraz to Évora

November 19, 2024

We woke to a socked-in village on top of a hill.

We had asked for breakfast at 8:30, the earliest time offered. At first, we weren’t sure we’d get anything but, at 8:20, the owner’s wife parked out front and came in with groceries. Breakfast was okay for 7.50€ each, especially considering there were no other options.

Just outside the door of our guesthouse when we left.

In the photo above, the mist is just, almost, starting to lift. You can see the old fellow from next door sitting on the cornerstone of the building across the street, looking at the square. Yesterday, he and his cronies were sitting in the sun just outside the town wall and watching the restoration work on the church exterior (which involved a creaky tower crane).

It was a chilly descent from the hilltop and the mist finally lifted (or we escaped it) just as we got to Corval. As we rode through Corval, a small village strung out along the road, there were many businesses with “olario” in their names. I later looked up the word; olario means pottery in Portuguese. I also later saw mention of “colourful and affordable pottery made in the village of Corval” in Rick Steves’ description of a shop in Évora.

The day’s ride was mostly on quiet roads through pleasant vistas of olives, vines, and harvested fields. It was near Reguengos de Monsaraz that we saw our first signs requesting motorists to “respect cyclists” and give them 1.5 metres space when passing. So far, these two have been the only such signs I’ve noticed in Portugal, though there have been a few others warning of the possibility of cyclists on the road.

After the little village of Montoito, we came across olive harvesting right by the road. We had seen other orchards being harvested but this was the first close enough to photograph or video. This was machine harvesting; the manual harvesting I saw the other day was too far away.

First a tall machine travels along a row of trees and shakes the olives free to fall into its hoppers.

Then the harvesting machine empties into a bigger truck. (Sorry, accidentally inserted this video twice!)

Emptying olives into a truck to be transported to a processing facility.

The best part of the ride was the pleasant stretch of road from Montoito until joining EM 534.

Then we came around a corner to see Castelo de Valongo

From the info sign: [Castelo de Valongo] … was constructed in the middle of the 13th century on older foundations… The castle keep, situated in the northern corner, was rebuilt in the 16th century, in the Manueline period. The medieval tower on the western side conserves vestiges of gothic architecture and has, as part of it, a curious ‘cube’ with Arabic inscriptions.”

The road got busier as we approached Évora, where we managed to find our hotel in the old town without too much trouble. At first, they wanted us to leave our bikes in a patio area open to the street, but since the room they offered us had a large private terrace, we asked and were permitted to carefully carry our bikes up and through to stash them there.

Next up, refreshments! We were both hungry but it was an awkward time for a meal so beer and a tábua suited us perfectly.

That was just an early appetizer. Later, we found a restaurant for dinner and ordered a “seafood rice” dish for 2. It could have fed at least 3 or maybe 4, but we did our best. And then we ordered dessert—one each. Al ordered what I now know is siricaia, the same as we had shared at lunch yesterday but much bigger. i ordered the “cream cake” that had been in the glass-fronted fridge in my line of sight throughout our meal. It too was huge. And yes, we polished off both.

My “cream cake”. The slice was as big as it looks.

We waddled back to our hotel.

Heart

Comment

Link

Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 747 km (464 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	10
Comment on this entry	Comment	0