Portugal 8 - Big, ugly, brutal and utilitarian , Elvas has left the building
September 22nd 2015 It was just a few hours drive in the blazing sunshine over the border into Portugal. We left the highly colourful soils and found yellow as far as the eye could see. Fields after fields. A few green trees livened up the scene but not by much. Some olive trees and the odd orange or lemon grove. We saw sheep and cows with enormous horns. Ugly things they were too. We were heading for Elvas. Parking
... read more 
Following its heyday as a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction of Lisbon in a 1755 earthquake, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars, and the independence in 1822 of Brazil a... ... read more 
