Zambujeira do Mar

From Evora we drove down to the coast of Alentejo, to the small village of Zambujeira do Mar.  This last stop on our Portugal adventure is a departure: it's neither old nor historic.  But what a lovely spot.  The town is relatively new: a collection of whitewashed houses perched above a pretty beach.  I'm sure it's very busy in the summer, but now it's very quiet and peaceful.  After arriving we spent some time exploring around, then brought some wine and cheese out to a coastal trail and enjoyed the sunset from a bluff over the water.

There is a network of coastal trails in this section of Portugal: the Rota Vicentina.  There is a slightly inland trail, the Historical Way, which runs for 263 km near the coast, a Fisherman's Trail which is 226 km hugging the coast, and then a number of loop trails taking off from various towns in the region.  The Fisherman's trail passes through Zambujeira do Mar and we decided to walk a stretch of the trail southward from town.  What a treat.  The coast is made up of high rocky headlands with small coves and beaches (many inaccessible from land) interspersed.  As Oregonians we're accustomed to a beautiful and dramatic coastline; this area blew us away.

Zambujeira do Mar

At one point the trail passed a fenced area with these large critters, plus a herd of mountain goats, and even a couple of zebras.

Wish we had more time to hike and explore here.  Tomorrow we drive back up to Lisbon, return the rental car, spend a night in an airport hotel, and fly home the following morning.

On to Évora

After leaving Marvao we spent several hours exploring some of the megalithic sites in that area.  Finding some of them was a bit of an adventure as they were mostly not near the small back roads.  Each site is a small grouping of large stones (how did they move and stack them?), and each had an entrance on the east side.

The surrounding country

Evora is a bustling city (larger and busier than we generally choose to visit) but with a beautiful cathedral and some fascinating museums.

Valentine's Day dinner

Cathedral's cloister

Reliquary

Roman ruins

A fascinating and somewhat unique museum is the Chapel of Bones in the old Convent and Church of Saint Francis. The chapel was constructed in the 17th century from the bones of thousands of former residents of the convent.  An inscription above the entrance reads “We bones that are here, for yours we wait.”

And a couple of street scenes in Evora.

Three days around Marvão

After Lousã we spent three days in and around the small hilltop town of Marvão, in the eastern mountains very close to the Spanish border.

On the drive down we stopped in Penela to tour the 11th century castle there.  The castle keep is small but well restored.

After a night in Marvao we took a morning trip to the nearby town of Castelo de Vide, which has yet another hilltop castle.  It also has a museum on the site of the synagogue in the old Jewish quarter, which was active from the 14th century.

In the afternoon we returned to tour the museum and castle in Marvao.  Marvao is on top of the highest hill in this region of Portugal and the castle is spread over a large area at one end of the village.  We spent quite a bit of time exploring the castle area and walking the walls which (in what seems to be the Portuguese tradition for tourist sites) have large drop-offs and no railings.

Inside the castle's cistern

The next day we set off to hike a loop trail starting from the nearby village of Galegos.  This was a beautiful and mellow outing through rolling granitic ranchland.  We were walking through a mix of cork oak trees, olive groves, and grazing sheep (with the occasional cow thrown in).  Cork can be harvested every nine years; many of the trees were marked with the year of their last harvest.  The harvest involves cutting around the whole circumference of the tree and then peeling off the bark.

Marvao in the distance

Stepping stones to cross the creek

As we passed through one small village on our loop hike a trail marker sign was pointing 180 degrees off.  Once we figured out what had happened we were a full mile in the wrong direction; with the detour we ended up just under ten miles for the day.  But such beautiful walking.