After a quick and early breakfast, we left the chilly Atlantic coast and headed inland for the warmth of southern Spain. We found ourselves driving on many brand new and deserted multilane highways over long expensive bridges to get around to the east side of Lisbon. Eventually tired of the multilane highways, we decided to try out some back roads for the last third of our journey to see the real Portugal. We found many cork tree farms and eucalyptus plantations and explored a few. We also made the obligatory stops for Portugal espresso coffees and custard pastries a few times.
By midday, we arrived at our destination for the night. It was the beautiful town of Évora. Évora is another UNESCO World Heritage Site surrounded by medieval walls and containing many narrow cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and even Roman ruins. Not a place to even think about driving a campervan, we instead explored the tiny laneways for the for rest of day on foot. The Roman ruins were my first and were amazing to see and think about the builders thousands of years ago. We managed to get on top of the highest cathedral for a good look around the city and surrounding countryside. A very beautiful place.
Before heading back to our campsite, we had a crazy dinner with wacky waiters at a weird restaurant in the walled city. So far, I have not been too impressed with Portuguese cooking: Big on meat, not so big on vegetables. The meat always brought out very undercooked as well, seemingly being merely blanched before being served.
19,000 steps later, I was back in my tent at our campsite – which was a hike in itself outside of the walled city.
