On Wednesday, October 16th we arrived at the Douro Suites, our hotel in the Douro River Valley. It was a very small and wonderful place to stay with a killer view from our room.
They allowed us to eat in the dining room, but normally they deliver dinner in the above picnic baskets.
Another pretty day followed, but we opted to go to the large hotel next to us and get massages. It was time.
The next day was cloudy and sometimes rainy, but off we went anyway. We didn’t get that far as the views were covered in fog and not any better than at our hotel. We did drive through the town of Paco and took the picture because that is the name of our good friend’s dog — except this one did have a sedilla….so pacho.
We really enjoyed the Douro River Valley, but it was time to head south. It was another long (4 hour) drive to the city of Evora. Our first stop was at the Cathedral of Évora, a massive Gothic structure begun in the 12th century.
More of those beautiful blue tiles!
We next went to the Chapel of Bones next door– spooky! Bones Chapel is one of the most popular monuments in Evora. We can even say it is one of its trademarks. Located on 1º de maio square, it is part of the also popular St Francis Church (Igreja de São Francisco).
The chapel was built in the 17th century on the initiative of three Franciscan friars. Their goal: to convey the message of temporariness and fragility of human life. This message clearly comes across to visitors of Bones Chapel right at its entrance through the sign “We bones that are here, for yours we wait”. In fact, it shows Baroque’s men macabre taste for necrophilia.
We were running out of time, so we did not go past the Temple of Diana, but I want to include a stock photo picture so your visit is complete. We would have liked it! Well, that was not as easy as I thought. If you want to see it, just google it — lots of pix online 🙂
We headed to our stop for that night at the Convento do Espinheiro. The history and origin of the Convento do Espinheiro is linked to a legend that tells of the apparition of an image of the Virgin on a thorn bush, around 1400. In 1412, a chapel was built in honour of Our Lady and given the growing importance of this place as a pilgrimage site, in 1458, during the reign of D. Afonso V, the church was founded and later the convent, which was populated by monks of the Order of St. Jerome.
And more pics the next morning. It really was a beautiful place!
So then we were off for another 2+ hours to reach the Algarve, the southern coast of Portugal that is filled with all its beaches. The weather there is, reputedly, most always sunny and mild. It definitely was during our stay, but a little too cool for Texans in the pools or beach!!
Our hotel, the Algarve Dome Hotel, was great — the room was wonderful, the view great and there were three pools — one unheated (where the kids played), one heated (sorta) and the last one with a sand beach (the bottom was concrete but it was all covered with sand –pretty neat idea!).
On the afternoon that we arrived we did lie out by the pool. That night we went to an Indian restaurant that I had read great things about, Natraj Indian Tandoori. It truly was wonderful; we had the best Rogan Josh there that I have ever had!!!
We had signed up to take a cruise along the coast on the next day. It was so pretty.
It was great going into a cave — and one with an opening at the top! Our boat was too large to go very far, but it was still fun.
And the drinks were fun as well….
We went back to the Indian restaurant again that night — so good! But John really didn’t want his picture taken again — I cropped out the part you shouldn’t see!!!!
On our last day there we were just lazy; I think we were worn out from going so hard and we needed to pack everything that we would not need on our last night at the Lisbon airport. We needed a little “down time”.
We drove to the Melia Lisbon Airport, spent the night and had a noonish departure the next day — a nice and easy agenda!
Loved the trip and loved telling you all about it.
Beth
