Évora - Day 4

590 Kilometers - 367 Miles

Woke up with the roosters this morning.  Unfortunately, the lady who ran the pension didn't.  I hung around making noise and calling out, "Hola," for about thirty minutes.  I didn't know the room rate...didn't even ask last night when I pulled in.  I figured if I got a nice room at a hotel in Santlanda for 30 Euros this couldn't be more.  Since I didn't know the rate I finally left two 20 Euro notes on the bedside table with the keys and fired Betsy up heading south to Lisbon.

The room didn't compare favorably to the room in Santlander, but the view definitely did.  And getting on the road early: worth the difference.














Thought I'd check out a sleepy little seaside village so I pulled into Espinho, Portugal.  After running nice roads all the way down, this place still has the bricks they paved the street with somewhere around 1620.  Betsy did not like the rough ride.  For that matter, neither did I.  A quick, "hello, this is the beach," and we're outta here.

Evidently, there is some huge, read HUGE, playoff game today here in Portugal.  It's in Lisbon and it seems the entire world is in the rest stops and service areas.  You have never seen so many police.  Each rest area has between 10-15 patrolling around.  I asked a young cop why there were so many of them today and he stated because of the championship game.  They are there to keep the rival supporters from beating the crap out of each other if they happen to meet coming out of the toilets, I guess.  Wow, now there's something to get all excited about, isn't it?


Anyway, this group who parked next to me at a road stop appeared pretty typical:  all decked out and supporting their team.

I arrived in Lisbon about 2:00pm local time.  I rode around quite a bit and found the governor's palace.

Kilroy (Betsy) was here.









I have a friend, Susanna, from Portugal, and one of the nicest people I've ever known.  I would never wish to hurt her feelings but I gotta tell you, Lisbon needs a bath...and some pressure washing...and some paint...and just a sort of all-around facelift, I guess.  I was not impressed.  I was going to stay here for at least a day, but I couldn't get outta there fast enough.  Turning Betsy south on the A2...we work our way south and east.  The terrain starts looking a whole heck of a lot like Texas.

Does this scene look as familiar to you as it does to me?



Susanna tells me Portugal is all about the food so I decided to stop for the night early and see if I could give it a try.  I pulled into a great historic town named Évora.

Tons of history here.  Starting with a temple built by the Romans in the 1st Century.  Get that?  The 1st century.  Jesus was in all probability walking the planet when this thing was built.  I find that absolutely amazing.  Thought it deserved the b/w look that conjures up age because of all the old black and white newsreels we've seen.

Across the street a nice little park.

At the end of the park, you are looking out over the city.

Looking down from that vantage point you see this.  I thought it pretty neat.

I thought the symbolism here unique.  The towers showing between the ancient Roman pillars, and that of the church steeple to the right belong to the gothic age.  The light colored building between the ruin and the church belong to the late 18th-early 19th century.  Three distinctly different periods and architecture in one place.







The church from the front.

I like to pay attention to some of the old stuff that hasn't been conserved, or bought, or pawed over.  Walking down the street from the church I spied this old wall with gate and statuary work above.  Obviously just part of the building and I thought it was neat.

Especially when I realized it was built thirty-four years before the French and Indian wars of early America.

If you enlarge the picture you will note the dates below the two "bottle" or "urn" looking pieces.

A little further down the street a square.

This sign was hanging over a doorway at the square.  Isn't that great!  A chorale society in operation for over 160 years.  (And the Eagles couldn't stay together for fifteen.)

The other side of the square, complete with a bandstand for concerts.  They were playing a tape of some great blues tunes while I was there.

I decided to have a beer so I sat at a table under the tent structure you see there.  A waiter, obviously thinking he'd make no money off a single customer pointedly ignored me on three successive trips back and forth getting beverages for others who came up after me.  I left without getting my beer.

Hoping to test the cuisine at Susanna's recommendation, I walked the streets looking at various places and decided upon one which appeared quite traditional.  It was.  To the point, it didn't open until 7:30 pm (that's actually about 1/2 hour earlier than most...what is it with these folks?)

Anyway, I had some time to kill so now I really wanted that beer.  There was a nice little stand near the Roman ruins so I got a beer there and sat down to watch the folks and enjoy the end of the day.  It was quite nice, but, given I was on Betsy I didn't want to overdo it so, after one, I began walking around again.

After several twists and turns, I found myself back at the square adjacent to the tent where I was unable to get a beer.  A nice young lady was waiting some tables, the young man who had so pointedly ignored me was, at that moment, back at the supporting bar across the street.

The young lady stopped by my table immediately and I ordered another beer.  She obligingly took my order and promptly got me my beer.  After sipping it rather lazily it was time to go to my restaurant for my Portuguese meal.   I asked the young lady for the check and, upon getting it saw I owed her 2.50€.  I had ascertained she spoke good English when I was served.  So I put a 10€ note on the tray and, when she came to collect for the beer, I told her about her co-worked pointedly ignoring me.  I then told her to tell him she got his tip.  Upon realizing I was leaving the change from the 10€ she laughed and said she'd be happy to do that. (Revenge is a soup best tasted cold.)

I then went to my restaurant and ordered the lamb.  I can't give you their name for the dish.  It was too long for my old memory, but I'd ascertained it was lamb and you know how I love lamb.

First, let me explain that by showing up at 7:30 I had the place to myself.  This also meant I had the chef and service staff to myself.  That ain't all bad.

We begin with some cheese and locally grown olives.  Both were great.

We add a nice white wine and some Spanish proscuitto and, not shown here, some great fresh bread.

A little salad, some frites (potatos) and the lamb with rice, radish, and cherry tomato garnish.



This ranked right up there with the best meals I've ever had...anywhere...and for any amount.

Susanna was right: it's about the food.