I am astounded by the duration of the storm(s). There has been thunder and lightning off and on (mostly on for the second half of our ride yesterday) for over 24 hours. Through the night, whenever I woke I saw flashes and heard rumbles. In the evening, there had been multiple power outages but the longest lasted just a few minutes.
Until now, I thought thunderstorms lasted for an hour, maybe two, cleared the air, and the sun came out again. Not here! (And not in Vancouver either, really. There you can get rain for days on end and maybe once or twice a year you see lightning or hear thunder and it never lasts long—unless you have a panicked pet.)
We hadn’t seen the town last night; we just walked to find a restaurant during a lull in the rain. The meal wasn’t memorable but one of the servers asked us where we were from. “Canada.” Toronto? “No, Vancouver.” Have you ever been to Nepal, where I am from? “I have,” I said. Did you go to Pokhara? “Yes, but probably before you were born.” When? “1986.” He was four, then, he said, and I wonder if he’d been among the flocks of children that surrounded any foreigner in that time and place.
In the morning, we woke to clear sunny skies. I insisted that we go see the castle after breakfast and Al agreed, though I could tell he was itching to get on his bike. It was interesting, free to visit, and the exhibits were well done, though the informative signs in the castle were only in Portuguese.
Part of the city wall (?) but not part of thr castle.
Just outside the castle, a statue of Ibn Qasi, warrior, conquerer of Mértola, and Islamic equivalent of a saint. See https://historiaislamica.com/pt/ibn-qasi-santo-guerreiro-muculmano-de-portugal/
Looking the other way, downstream. It’s the same river we saw in Alcoutim, the Guadiana, but this section does not form the border with Spain (as it does both upstream and downstream).
More unique was the life-sized replica of an Islamic house from the second half of the 12th century. The info boards here were in Portuguese and English.
The replica is of house #2, the lower one on the right side of the site plan.
Al feeling like a giant in the salon. The alcove contains a small platform bed, which would apparently be used by the owner of the house. Other residents would place mats on the floor.
Then it was time to put on the riding kit, pack our bikes, lube the chains (which already had some rust on the chains from yesterday, and start our ride to Serpa.
The back of our hotel, Hotel Museu. We had the room with the large balcony. When Al registered, he was surprised that it was 70€ rather than the ~50€ I’d mentioned (which would have been a standard room). He was asked if he wanted a river or city view and chose river view. It was really nice having the big room, though, considering how wet we were.
It’s called Hotel Museu because it contains this little “museum” of the old foundations found during excavation for construction. I doubt you could build anywhere in Mértola without exposing something. The light is from a glass floor in the lobby.
The first 20 km or so were generally eastward and there was a headwind. By the time we turned north, the wind had moved too and we had a tailwind for the rest of the ride.
We took photos of each other riding towards this cut on a short diversion to Corvos.
Shortly before rejoining thr main road at Moreanes. I kept thinking my bike had developed a creak but it was frogs in the flooded ditches. We also noticed that the pine trees were planted in neat rows and cared for. These are not the same type we saw tapped for sap (and no taps) but what do they harvest?
Unfortunately, from Moreanes onward, the road surface was deteriorated. It was like the asphalt had been a thin layer applied over gravel or perhaps cobbles, but it was in dire need of a redo. At least the road surface under the water on the road yesterday had been nice and smooth.
A short break by the reservoir just before Minas de São Domingos
After the turn north at Mina de São Domingos, we saw herds of sheep and cows in pastures and pigs running across the road.
Al was well ahead of me when a large pig ran across the road a short distance in front of him and causing a driver travelling fast in the opposite direction to slam on the brakes. I think I was at the same location when I saw 3 not-so-large pigs approaching the road as a small van was passing me. They ran out in front of the van, the driver hit the brakes and the horn, and one pig ran back. The van stopped a short distance ahead and the third pig dashed across to join its companions.
The rest of the ride was uneventful but enjoyable, especially with the sunshine and tailwind. We found our way to Hotel Beatriz, based on reports from CycleBlazers who passed this way before us.
The young woman who checked us in spoke no English (a first so far) but was a proficient user of her translation app. Although we were an hour ahead of the posted check-in time, she let us in our room early after warning us that the floor was still wet from its washing.
Settled in, we soon headed out for beer and a snack since we hadn’t eaten since the breakfast buffet. We foond our way to a cervejaria that Al had read had good beer. It did. It also had a very noisy interior thanks to a bare concrete vaulted ceiling. But better than sitting outside among the smokers. Afterward, we went to check out the castle but were too late to go inside. We will try again tomorrow morning and try to see the aqueduct too.
One thing we noticed in Serpa was that this town is lively on a Saturday afternoon. We didn’t see any other obvious tourists but we saw a Scout troop in the Praça near our hotel and many young adults in the cervejaria and at other similar places. As we walked back to our hotel, we passed a bar with a live band playing to a full house.
For dinner, we went to a highly-rated (on Google) pizzeria. It was busy both with diners and takeaway. All locals, as far as we could tell. The pizzas were “very Portuguese” in Al’s words and the desserts afterward (tiramisu for him, coffee mousse for me) were excellent.
Pizza Atlantica. Not at all what I expected. Yes, those are two whole “tiger shrimp” and there’s a third smaller whole shrimp buried beneath other things. Plus a few cleaned shrimp, scallops, and clams with and without shells. And imitation(?) crab. Apparently there was some cheese too, and definitely plenty of garlic.
