Monsanto

Monsanto Cottage Door 

The houses of Monsanto seem to emerge from the rocks – it’s like stepping back into the middle ages. We stayed overnight at a village below and walked up to the ‘sacred mountain’ where we found an ancient stone city topped by a castle, a church and many rock carved graves. Doors peeped out of the rocks, pigs lolled around inside their stone pens, and chickens scratched in the dust. What a strange and magical place. 

View over the top

Piggywinkle

rock cut graves

Not a bad view (and I don't mean 'of me')

Storms, Ghosts and a Wax Limb Oddysey

Oil Vats below kitchen at Convent of Christ

It’s official. Hugo hates storms! If there was a prize for the world’s most shaky dog Hugo would have won by a mile. We arrived in Tomar in central Portugal and had been on a long walk around town (where I purchased yet another Fado album, this time by Ana Moura  - fabulous by the way) and we hunkered down for the night when this almighty storm came out of nowhere. Massive lightning followed by huge cracks of thunder preceded the extreme shivering of one terrified dog. Luckily it didn’t last too long and the next day was fine enough for our explore around the Convent of Christ at the top of the hill. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site and quite stunning, from it’s gigantic oil vats in the kitchen to it’s OTT Charola painted with saints, demons and all you can imagine of a religious bent.

Convent of Christ Charola

That's what I call a Dining Room - Convent of Christ

Fatima stalls

anyone for a wax limb?

We’d had a couple of days spent checking out a medieval village called Marvao and a prehistory musem in Macao. Marvao, similar to Monsaraz, had amazing views but we didn’t stay due to a gigantic French van parking so close to us that we could barely open our doors. We were safe from overly proximatous Frenchmen in Macao as we were the only ones there and spent the day having a tour of the museum by a very enthusiastic archaeologist called George. It was he who suggested Tomar for the convent and the Foz Coa Valley for more prehistoric art.

Exterior View - Convent of Christ

We’re heading up there now after a flying visit to Fatima for some wax limbs and a few glow-in-the-dark virgins, and a night at Monsanto, one of our favourite places so far. We’re pretty sure Hugo is psychic as he was barking and growling madly at the door of an empty chapel in Monsanto – obviously had seen a ghost – or perhaps a rat – who knows.

Marvao

The Phallic Stones of Monsaraz

Belhoa menhir (not photo shopped)

Well I do believe that ancient Portuguese people were fond of a giant phallus. The many megalithic sites around Monsaraz have a strong fertility theme. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Lover's Rock is a place where young ladies stand with their back to the rock and throw stones with their left hand (on Easter Monday. The number of times it takes before a stone lands on the top is the number of years they wait till they marry. 

Enthusiastic throwing at Lover's Rock

See what I mean

Phallic stone of Outeiro

Graham in action

Drama in Monsaraz

‘Tranquilio, tranquilo’. It’s not often Graham needs to be calmed down by a Spaniard.

Dickie has just been violated.

Why do people travelling in convoy feel the need to park exactly next to each other? Feeling relaxed while looking out over the expanse of the Alentejo, Graham remarks ‘that van’s a bit close!’ as it tries to park between his friend and us. BANG!! I race to the door in a fit of panic and trip while trying to stop Hugo from dashing out, bashing my ear in the process. Mr Fluffy jumps out to a chuckling Spanish woman who finds it very amusing that her husband has reversed into Dickie, luckily just into our bike-rack. The Spanish chap feigns ignorance, presumably totally deaf to the noise it made when he hit us. There are numerous pieces of tape holding his van together at the back, supposedly where he has reversed into other unsuspecting vans.

Luckily all is well and we can remain tranquilo after all.

Evora Stones and the Chapel of Bones

We have been looking forward to the area around Evora for a while now. It’s a great place for megaaaaaalith (sat nav speak) watching and it didn’t disappoint. We found the major sites of Almendres (a large stone circle) and Zambujeiro (a poorly reconstructed burial chamber with 6 metre high walls) and another very impressive one, the Cromeleque de Vale Maria do Meio which was our favourite as we just happened upon it by mistake.

Vale Maria do Meio

Menhir of Almendres

Zambujeiro

Almendres stone

Almendres stone circle

Almendres was a magical place especially as we found a 5 euro note as we were leaving. Perhaps the elves (or Portuguese equivalent) may have been thanking us for the figs we left for them at the base of the stones. The find was spent on some rather tasty pastis de nata at the café de Sao Miguel in Evora, and I splashed some of my own cash on a new pair of sunnies thanks to the superior skills of the salesman in the glasses shop.

rock booty

Pillar in the Cappella dos Ossos

The city itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site but we couldn’t help feeling it has been rather badly hit by the recession. The streets were dirty and the sites were a little shabby but an interesting place all the same. The Chapel of Bones was particularly interesting if a little gruesome. Over 5,000 monks bones line the walls and normally there are a couple of mummified bodies hanging from the sides but they were off for restoration when we visited.

The Roman Temple sits next to a church and several dozen used condoms sat next to Dickie in the carpark. Thank god Hugo did not develop a taste for the rubbery remnants. He tends to eat anything he finds on the ground, especially if it once resided in the colon of a cat or fox.

Temple of Jupiter Evora

several dead monks

wall of bones

Yesterday we stumbled upon Escoural cave. It is closed unless you make an appointment and we were lucky enough to time it just as a group arrived. After donning some extremely attractive headgear we entered the cave to view some 5000 - 6000 year old cave art. We sat on the shaman’s seat where he would have sat to carve a set of horses in motion, and saw a skull protruding from the soil along with an urn, both of which were too fragile to remove. Our friendly guide blew us a kiss as we left – a little bit of icing on our daily cake. Finally, after much pfaffing about, we found the chapel of Sao Brissos which has been built around a group of dolmen.

dolmen used as walls to chapel

Dolmen Chapel at Sao Brissos

Pre Hard Hat at Escoural

Next, on to Monsaraz.

Chewing the Treat

It’s never a great idea to get your figs mixed up with your dog treats.

The kindly market stallholder in Alcacer do Sal handed me a few figs to ‘try before I buy’. Placing an item in my mouth I felt that the crumbly texture was not reminiscent of the humble dried fruit. Eewww! Unwittingly I had placed the doggy treat within my mouth by mistake. DO NOT try this at home. I had to cover my oral displeasure as I did not want the chap to think I was reacting to his delicious figs so, with slight of hand, I removed the offending object and quickly replaced it with the delicious fruit. Thrilled with my ecstatic reaction, he offered Mr Fluffy a swig of his ginger liqueur which he had, rather worryingly, secreted in the glove compartment of his van.

The Algarve is lovely with beautiful beaches and fantastic weather but we felt that as soon as we ventured inland the people became friendlier and the atmosphere more chilled out – less touristy. In Melides, where we stopped to pop into a market, a chap knocked on Dickie’s window. He wanted to tell us how much he liked English people and what a great time he had working for Mr Richards in Bristol. ‘Did we know him?’ After happily showing us his goosebumps, which he proudly stated was his physical reaction to seeing an English couple, he strode off with a whimsical expression and I felt that, in a small way, we had made his day.

the boys chewing the fat

The trip had started well and became even more pleasant when we pulled up at our lakeside venue.  Graham’s magician friend JJ (who we had previously found in Silves) was parked in the van next door. Mr F enjoyed helping JJ clean the roof of his van and we spent a couple of days sitting in the sun and testing Hugo off the lead which went pretty well until a car, dog or person came into view. He’s a very naughty dog. Now off to Evora for some very big stones.

Sagres, Stones and Terrible Hair Days

Boca do Rio

Carrapateira

The area around Sagres - the pointy bit at the bottom left hand corner of Portugal - is totally stunning. The wildflowers make a colorful frecklage across the fields, the beaches are soft and sandy, and the warmth is making my pits damp. It's around 27 degrees to day and we've spent the last few days at Carrapateira, Boca do Rio, and Sagres itself. We first visited here in the winter of 2009, came back in the winter of 2010 (when G managed a massive brandy hangover from substantial measures at the Last Chance Saloon), and now we are back again. This time the sun is shining even if the wind is still a little on the 'terrible hair day' scale, and the Last Chance is a slightly pricier Chiringuito.

Is this a wild orchid?

By the beach

sideways terrible hair day

sideways stone

We've even managed a few standing stones, most of which are now 'lying down' stones unfortunately, but we did manage to find one which has maintained its erect stance. We visited the 'Interpretation Centre' in Vila Do Bispo and they were extremely helpful, giving us a map of the megaaaaaaliths, and a personalised tour around their very small displays. Map in hand, we followed the Ruta de Monoliths, and found some stones which had seen better days but it was interesting none the less. It is a place where mandrakes grow but being terrible at flora identification we weren't sure if we recognised any.

No longer standing stone

sideways flowers

Hugo has developed a real love of beaches and is even putting his feet in the water of his on accord - occasionally. He has a great time whizzing around like a mad thing then passes out for hours in Dickie. I'm not sure why some of my pics have ended up sideways - sorry about that folks. Heading off northwards tomorrow for some hot mountain action.