Go East,Young Man(Elvis Presley) - East into the Hinterland of Portugal

---

---

Saturday morning and the weather is going to be fine for our drive into the hinterland.

We had thought about trying to see some of those sites in Lisbon that we missed because of the rain yesterday but we have some sights to see in Evora and as we are having just one night there we have decided that getting there is more important.

Mila and Thunder escorted us to the car as we packed up. Fearsome though they may be in size they haven’t been a problem to have around and in fact probably made us feel more secure.

Gina had worked a route that would take us across the back of Lisbon city and through the suburbs. Had this been in Auckland it would have had to be a slow trip on SH 1 but here they have carved motorways in gullies with acres of housing apartments both sides and we are able to whip along at 100kph getting to the 17km, yes that is right 17km, long Vasco de Gama bridge that carries traffic over the Targus River which is more like an inland sea in that it is so wide.

The bridge was completed in 1998 and is the longest in Europe and is made up of a 0.8km cable stayed bridge and the rest is a series of viaducts. Travelling at 120kph we are over it in pretty quick time.

Now the countryside really starts to change from the coastal plain that we have mainly travelled over during the last 10 days or so, as we take the N4 due east.

What started to appear on both sides of the road were evenly tall trees that had had the bark removed from the ground up to about 1 to 2 metres.

We took a stop on the straight road which very little traffic this Saturday morning.

It became clear that the trees were cork trees. Acres and acres of them as far as the eye could see on the flat plain on both sides of the road. We now understand why they still use corks exclusively in wine bottles! A little reading revealed that Portugal produces 49% of the entire world’s cork production. They are a slow growing tree and the cork can only be taken off the tree every 9 years!

There weren’t many towns on this road east to Evora but Vendas Novas appeared on the GPS at just the right time for lunch

A sleepy little town where basically all the buildings seemed to line the N4 and we watched out for a panderia which we spotted not long before the commercial part of the town came to an end.

The guy serving seemed to love trying his English on us and was quick to point out that he understood us perfectly. We bought a frankfurter roll and a large pastry filled with cream and custard, so big that one was enough for the two of us.

We found the local gardens and as it was just a bit chilly still at 17C we sat in the car and had lunch.

The AP6 toll road towards Spain ran close to the N4 for much of the way but there was far more to see from the N4 which we persevered with all the way to the hotel which was just a couple of kilometres short of the walled city of Evora.

Our impression of the drive from Lisbon was just how sparse the population was in the eastern parts away from Lisbon city. Perhaps there is just no room for people amongst the acres of cork trees!

We checked into the hotel we had booked for the night which had a small terrace facing east which meant we would get an early sunrise.

A quick trip into the nearby supermarket and then we drove on to the city and found a park in one of the numerous car parks outside the city walls.

Evora has UNESCO status due principally to the Roman Corinthian Temple which dates back to the first century AD but also has other numerous aged buildings that are now well preserved.

The city is in fact a lot older than the examples of Roman history that are evident and its history goes back over two millennia.

Another of the well preserved sites is that of the aqueduct built between 1531-37, which runs for several kilometres out into the countryside and was of course constructed to bring water to the population that grew in the city over various times in its history.

The aqueduct is so well preserved that in more recent years houses have been built in the arches in the town area.

We went inside the Church of St Francis but somehow missed the Chapel of Bones, which might have been for the best, considering the chapel is completely adorned with human skulls and bones. It was built in the 16^th century during a time known in these parts as the Counter-Reformation and the monk that built the church wanted to throw out a challenge to his fellows. Seems like there might have been a better alternative to get ones point across.

Time was getting on in the day and being a bit ‘cathedralled out’ for now we merely inspected the entrance way to the Cathedral of Evora built from 1280 to 1340.Actually the entrance way has the most history as far as the cathedral is concerned with its statues of the Apostles from 1335 very well preserved.

We had kept an eye open for somewhere to have dinner but as a few spots of rain started to fall we decided to have dinner back at the hotel and save ourselves from getting wet just in case the rain did fall in greater volume.

A quiet drink on the terrace passed time until dinner started at 7.30pm.Although the restaurant faced west the cloud in that part of the sky was too great to invoke a sunset of any note.

With a couple of the options Gretchen might have had from the menu ‘off the menu ‘we both had grilled pork loins with a salad and chips which was very tasty and a huge meal. There was a local vintage on the wine list which we ordered and that complemented the meal just nicely.

As the evening drew on we were ‘entertained’ by the arrival of a birthday party group as they settled into what looked like might be a late night for them.

Tomorrow it is back to the coast as we head ever further south in what is a country that is longer than what it appears!

PS.the Elvis song is so obscure not even an Elvis fan would know it.But you can watch all 2 minutes on YouTube just for a bit of reminiscing.

---