Woke up early with the intention of hitting the highway, but realizing we needed breakfast and groceries, we found ourselves making another visit back inside the walled city of Évora. This time we drove and parked just outside the gates.
All stocked up, we got out of town and headed for Spain – making a stop along the way in the tiny village of Vendinha. We picked up that almost every town has a central square with free-flowing drinking water, so we filled up our jugs for the next day’s supply. We also discovered wine is very cheap – and doesn’t seem to cause migraines, so we were making sure we always had a bottle for meals.
After more coffee stops along the way, we pulled into the small village of Mourão for a homemade lunch and a bit of a snoop. Another gorgeous little-cobblestoned town with a castle on a hill overlooking the area. It seems every town has a castle of varying upkeep dating back to medieval battles between Spain, Portugal, and Moroccans.
Not being sure on the cost of entry to the Castelo de Mourão, we decided to just sneak up and walk around the perimeter to see what it was like for free. When we got around to the front, we discovered it was wide open for anyone to explore with medieval spiral staircases that led us up to the tops of the towers and castle walls. It was full of grazing sheep and had the usual church inside – which was still being used by the community. It was a very cool and unexpected find.
After we satisfied ourselves with the town of Mourão, we crossed into Spain. Expecting to find some sort of passport control, we simply saw a sign marking the country boundary instead.
