To Serpa, Portugal

July 2, 2023

I had another six miles from Monsaraz that isn't on this map. RWGPS wasn't working properly, so I closed that ride and started it again at this point. The plus to my annoyance was getting to see two castles from the same location!

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I have to brag right from the start - today I could see two castles at once! Here I've gone from listing how many castles/bridges/aqueducts we see in a day, to upping my game. I happened to stop at mile 7.7, just over the long bridge on River Guadiana. I looked to the left - a castle in Mourao. To the right - there was the castle at Monsaraz. I wish they both would have fit in one photo. I spent time while riding, thinking of the people who lived back in those times and if they visited back and forth. Perhaps they were enemies, and not friends?

We skipped the included breakfast this morning to get on the road earlier. We were rolling at 8:15. It was not exactly as early as I'd like. We had to get down off of this steep hill. It was more fun once we got off of the cobblestones. We saw two road bike riders out for their morning spin. Today is Sunday. We saw little traffic the entire day. Is it because of the day of the week, or are we still/again in unpopulated territory? Whatever it is, we loved it!

Jacinto said the view the entire day was olive trees. I pointed out that we did have quite a few water features - plus the four castles and the aqueduct. We rode through several small towns. All were buttoned up tight. There were the typical little old men sitting outside. That was a constant.

We were seriously out of food after scavenging for breakfast. The grocery in the first small town was closed because it's Sunday. There was a big grocery at mile 30, but we agreed to stop at a gas station for ice. The laugh is on ice. The first gas station was closed also. The second one didn't have ice. We finally got ice at the grocery. Twenty miles of ice is gold to me. I don't know how I would survive the heat without it. We've had a couple of days with no ice, and I'm noticeably less perky.

Today didn't have any serious ups and downs, just small ones. I did quite well. It was a little longer in miles, but I felt fine when we got to town. I keep asking Jacinto how his knee is doing and I think for him, it's all a distant memory and now I'm bugging him asking. I'm not going to ask any more. He has a tan line from the KT tape. I wonder how long that will take to fade.

I did have an unsettling experience. I'm sure it was my imagination, but . . . I had stopped for a bush break and was just getting back on the bike, when a car came up behind me and honked. OK. Maybe I was a little in the way. They drove past very slowly, and then stopped at a pullout ahead. That puts me on alert. There's a bushy haired man with a fedora hat (semi common here) I give a brisk 'bem dia', and keep riding. He responds, but I don't understand what he says. Then the man drives past me slowly, and drives in front of me at slightly better than bicycle pace, for a fair distance. Now I'm not liking this at all. He stops once more. We exchange greetings once more. There's no other traffic at all. He passes me again. This time to disappear. Whew. Good. Wait, a mile or so down the road, there he is again. Out of his car this time, picking olives (?) from the tree across the road. He yells at me again, but who knows what he said. At this point I try to call Jacinto and see how close he is. The phone doesn't ring. I send a text instead. Now the car passes me. Slowly. Heck. The next place he stops is at a bridge over the river, he is out of the car, standing in front, and as I pass, he makes a come here motion with his arm, and then a swimming motion. I wave, smile, say something about swimming in Spanish, and keep going.

Finally, Jacinto has seen my texts, and is stopped. We stay together after that. We haven't seen a different car the whole time. I usually love deserted roads! Guess what? Here he comes back from the other direction, waving widely. I'm glad Jacinto is right there in front of me. I'm sure he was a perfectly nice man, out for a Sunday drive, and was happy to see that odd bicycle. I was happy to see his taillights. Just in case - his license plate was 67 21 PM, and he was driving an old beat up silver Renault!

We had a .8 mile, 167 foot climb to Serpa (don't you love computers that let you know how you are going to suffer?). We did not get lost going to our lodging. Jacinto found us an open restaurant down the street. Hurray! We thought we would be too late. We passed the lodging and kept going. I ordered some sort of beef dish. The waiter spoke a little English and said it was blackened beef. I think he meant grilled. It was excellent. I don't know what the cut was, but it was very tender. Of course it was served with fries. When this trip is done, I don't need to eat fries for at least a year. We did ask for ketchup, and they had some. We ate lunch so late, that's dinner. I took some of my meat to go. They had given me three generous pieces.

Then we back tracked to the lodging. It was on regular paver type cobblestones. I can ride those, even uphill. Jacinto had two beers, he decided to walk. I had gotten an email from the Hotel Beatriz about remote check in, but the scan part was empty. We tried calling. We had no common language. She spoke Portuguese, Jacinto spoke Spanish. There was enough cross over that the lady finally figured out we were in front of the apartments across the street and not at the hotel. She came outside and waved at us. Hurray! We are out of the 100 degree heat and in our air conditioned room. We are outside of the castle walls. Plebeians!

Tomorrow there is some sort of breakfast at 8. We didn't buy many groceries when we stopped, because we thought we'd get stuff at the store adjacent to the hotel. They are closed. Of course. So, we are a captive audience for the breakfast. Tomorrow is a shorter, easier day. That's just fine with me. It's 7 PM. Can I go to sleep now?