It’s cold again today! Windy, overcast, a few spots of rain on the horizon. It reminds us that we’re getting well into the fall - November is only a week away. It’s supposed to start warming up again tomorrow, and the sun will return. Today though, we wait around the day room until 11 and then bundle up for a brisk ride, happy that it’s a favorable one - not too hilly, and with a good tailwind to push us south.
We don’t make any significant stops along the way, because it’s too chilly. Even our lunch stop is rushed. We reach Elvas by mid afternoon and check into our apartment, which looks like a fine place to hang out for the next two nights. As does Elvas, a UNESCO world heritage site packed with attractions.
We’ll look at the town tomorrow though, leaving the bikes behind to explore it on foot. For now, I’ll just put my feet up in this spacious, comfortable apartment, enjoy a glass from the complementary bottle of vinho tinto from nearby Estremoz, and catch up with the journal. See you tomorrow.
The view from our hotel window this morning. Grey, windy, cold.
Portugal’s streets are so interesting! The cobblestone sidewalks, even with all their curbs and obstacles, were a much better riding surface than the street. It was only like this for the first half mile though, until we reached the edge of town.
I was confused by the word Quinta, which we’ve seen often as a name here but means fifth in Portuguese. It is also the term for a wine producing estate, and for a classification system for rating Portuguese wine grapes.
At Arronches, we changed our ride plan. We had meant to continue southeast to Campo Maior, but suddenly this road is a narrow, scary truck route. Instead, we took this direct road south through Santa Eulalia, which was beautiful.
Looking east to Spain, where it appears that rain is falling on the plain. Now that we’re out of the mountainous country around Marvao (the Alte Alentejo), it feels like we’re back in Extremadura again.
Our first view or remarkable Elvas, girded by the largest bulwarked fortification system in the world. So what’s a bulwarked fortification, anyway? I’ll have to look it up.
