Friday, February 12, 2016

Today it rained all day, non stop, a torrential down pour. And we drove through Portugals highest mountains. The rain meant that we didn’t have much in the way of views but the rain was pouring off the mountains in sheets. It was magnificent and impressive to see.

Tonight we are staying in the only Parador in Portugal. It has only been a Parador since October. It is in an 18th century manor house with beautiful gardens. Even though it was still raining we went for a walk in the gardens.

We had a marvelous dinner. Duke had pork and I had octopus.

Dessert was perfect. My cake was still warm from the oven.

After dinner we played pool in the basement.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

We had an absolutely wonderful drive today from Vila Viçosa to Marvão today. We meandered and stuck to the back roads. We saw lots of sheep and beautiful mountain scenery. Initially we went to Elvas where they have a massive 7 km long aqueduct that was finished in 1622!

We went down to see the cistern.

This is the view from the Pousada where we are staying

Marvão is my favorite place in Portugal so far.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Before we left the Pousada in Estremoz this morning we asked the receptionist to unlock the castle tower so we could climb it. It was windy, foggy and raining but very fun!

First thing we went in search of megaliths, the stones or ptrehistoric structures built around 5000 to 7500 years ago. The countrysidealong the way and the cows are beautiful.

It wouldn’t be a Duke and Marion road trip if we didn’t find a dirt road. Today we were successful!

These standing stones are Cromeleque dos Almendres.

To get there we went through lots of cork trees. You can see how they have stripped the bark off the lower part of the trees.

The towns in this region are called the marble towns because the marble they quarry and export is of such high quality and there is so much of it.

It is used all over the place. Even in retaining walls along the road.

Tonight we are staying in a the Pousada de Avila Viçosa a monastery founded in the 16th century.

Duke is standing outside the door to our room. The door may be small but the room is big.

We ate in the Pousada tonight. Duke had pork and I had veal. The veal is the meat covered in a white sauce. They brought it to the table on a sizzling platter.

After dinner we played pool. Duke won.

Today we rented a car and left Lisbon. The traffic was light and the countryside was beautiful. Tonight we are staying in our first Pousada in a castle originally built in the 13th century in the town of Estremoz.

After we got to the Pousada the fog and rain came in which made for some great pictures. That is the hotel

We had dinner at a restaurant called A Cadeia right next to the hotel. The building was built in the 1500s and was at one point the town jail.

I had grilled venison medallions served with a combination of grapes, asparagus, chestnuts and pomegrahnate.

Duke had pork and clams.

For desert we had a traditional local desert called water pudding.

Almost every meal on this trip has been great but this meal was exceptional

Monday, February 8, 2016

Today we went back over to the Belém district where we went on Saturday. We visited the modern art museum, Museu Coleçâo Berardo.

Then we went back to Pastéis de Belém for coffee and their yummy warm custard tarts.

For dinner we went back to Funil where we ate our first night in Lisbon. We started with vegetable soup. Duke had Bacalhau Rice. And I had steak and potatoes in a garlic sauce with an egg on top. We had their chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet for desert.

Tomorrow we rent a car and leave Lisbon.