Day 12 Evora

The day started with bacon and eggs, an unusual breakfast in Europe. It’s a refreshing change after mostly bread, ham, and cheese. Although, most places have served plenty of fruits. The Tourist Information center had a walking audio tour for two Euros which seemed worthwhile. It directed us through the normal array of churches, squares, and Roman ruins. The weirdest though was Church of St. Francis and the Chapel of Bones. To quote Rick Steves, “Inside the macabre chapel, bones line the walls, and 5,000 skulls stare blankly at you from walls and arches”. It was not a very comfortable place to be. The tour however, was interesting. After taking the audio phones back to the tourist office we went to the local pastry shop and had espresso and a few interesting sweets. Since we intended to skip lunch I also had another batch of roasted chestnuts. I’m OD’ing on the damn things. It was an extremely pleasant day so afterwards; we took a walk around the wall and through the gardens (peacocks everywhere) before enjoying a relaxing afternoon at an outdoor café and just people watching. It really is very inexpensive over here; a bottle of wine, a bowl of olives, a hunk of cheese, and a loaf of bread cost nine Euros (12 dollars).

It took awhile, but after another lively discussion we came to tentative agreement on our itinerary for the rest of the trip: two days at Tavira on the south coast, two days at Salema, one day somewhere close to Lisbon, and then return the car and spend the last three days in Lisbon. We then made reservations for the next two days at a Poussda near Tavira. Of course, things will probably change.

We had too much cheese and bread to be very hungry for dinner, instead something lighter in the hotel bar sounded better. Sylvia had a ham and cheese sandwich (sande misto) and I thought I’d try their hamburger; which when served didn’t seem much like a hamburger. It was ground veal, didn’t come with a roll or bread, and had a fried egg on top. It was good though, and it came with French fries. The fries over here are made with real potatoes and are crispier, and tastier than what we get at home. After dinner and after the soccer match on TV we were glad to call it a day. Tomorrow we leave for Tavira and I don’t know when I’ll be able to get back on the internet.