Portugal Continued....

We entered Portugal at the northern border towns between Verin and Feces (yes fecesJ, although I am sure it’s pronounced differently here. I was a little disappointed we weren’t stopped by any border control to stamp our passports but most importantly we knew we were there. We were enjoying the mountain scenery with elderly people strolling about up and down the roads when I rolled down my window to enjoy the breeze. Shortly after rolling down the window we noticed the distinct smell of gasoline and how it continued to follow us as we drove down the narrow windy road. I was getting a little nervous that we may have yet another problem when Tob finally said in a fowl tone “I bet that guy didn’t put our gas cap back on.” Sure enough we stopped when we were able to and found out he was indeed right. No gas cap and gasoline leaking down the side of our camper van. After a few moments of exchanging words we decided it was best that I just didn’t talk and that is exactly what I did the entire 200km back to Spain. We drove all the way back to the gas station and were lucky enough to get it back even though it was about 10 hours later. So we wasted ½ a tank of gas and were back right where we started. That night we contemplated even going back into Portugal since we didn’t have a guide book or an ingles/portugese dictionary and would have to wing it. However winging it is what we do so the next morning we were on the road via a different route into Portugal for a 2nd attempt at this country.

We drove to a town called Aveiro on the Atlantic coast and parked “Fantastic” for a couple days while we enjoyed evening walks, learned a little Portuguese, played soccer in the sand, swam in the ocean (well the kids did anyway),ate ice cream and wore shorts for the whole day (because it was WARM) . It was relaxing and much needed as we had been in the camper driving and under stress the past couple of days.

While staying at the campground we got a dose of doing a what doing a whole load of laundry by hand was like and close to 1 ½ hours later we finally had it wrung out enough to put it all in the one working dryer.

After a couple days in Aveiro we headed down towards Evora. Not having a guide book or any idea where things are in Portugal we were trying to go where we were recommended by friends and to a few places we learned about on the internet. While driving to Evora we drove past and stopped at a monstrously huge Monastery in Batalha. It was a great find. We walked through the Cathedral and looked at tombs of the kings buried there in the 15th century. It was getting dark and we had already been there an hour so we didn’t pay to go in the monastery/museum portion of it but I am sure it would have been impressive. We did however hit the supermercado on the way out and bought some grapes and chestnuts. It’s chestnut season here and they have festivals with chestnuts and they sell them so they must be good right? Uh, wrong. I bought .42kg of Chestnuts (castanha’s) and peeled them tasting the most bitter nut I have ever tasted. Tob and the kids felt equally as dissatisfied with these nuts as I and wondered what to do with the rest. For now they are in a bag tucked away.

We ended up driving pretty late that night parking behind a small gas station where it sounded like people were having drag car races all through the night. We got up early and drove to Evora. The scenery was pretty along the way but Portugal hasn’t impressed me as much as Spain has. However there have been a ton of Olive and Orange orchards along with hillsides and mountain sides of grape vines. Once in Evora we parked outside a Roman aquaduct and entered the part of town surrounded by castle walls. Once inside we went to Evora museum which happened to be free because it’s Sunday J The museum had numerous coats of armor displayed and paintings from the 14th and 15th centuries. After spending a couple hours in there we tried to go to the chapel of bones but unfortunately it was closed for the day. Most things are closed Sundays or open only a few hours. We walked around within the castle walls and then outside to a park where the kids enjoyed playing for an hour or so and Tob and I drinking café. It’s been a relaxing day and there is still much to explore so we will probably stay tonight in Evora and finish exploring this city tomorrow before heading back to Espanha. We have 4 more days with “Fantastic” and then we can compare it to the rest of our trip with a car rental/hotels and hostals.