Evora and surrounding area

February 17, Friday
Evora

Today was a bit rough – lack of sleep and a burgeoning cold made the day’s activities more taxing than expected.

We started with breakfast – thankfully there was more selection than bread here, though the coffee is not as good. We’re staying at the Solar Monafalim in the medieval walled city of Evora.

We staggered down to the buses and set off for Monseraz (monserazh), a rustic medieval walled village on a hilltop about 5km from Spain. We only spent an hour there, but it was windy and cold so we were happy to get back to the buses. Monseraz is right by a reservoir that was dammed up about 4 years ago – it is about 60% full so far, so it makes an interesting landscape of little islands with old abandoned structures and roads on them. The reservoir only flooded out one town, called Luz.

We visited Luz (loozh) next. It was redesigned by a notorious architect about 2km from the old flooded town and it completely lacks charm and warmth. It’s very modern, and photographs well, but I did not care for it. There were excellent views of the Alentejo countryside, full of cows, sheep, and wildflowers.

After that we went to Moura for lunch where we ended up in a restaurant that served rustic soups. We had the choice between Stone Soup (mixed meats, bones, garbanzo beans, and broth), Chorizo and beans (my choice, and excellent fart food), and shark soup.

On our way back to Evora, we stopped by a place whose name escapes me at the moment. It used to be a bishop’s holding, and had an interesting combination of terraces, reservoirs, aquaducts, and gardens.

On our way home, we stopped by a grocery store (Mercado – mercadoo) for provisions (wine, the regional ewe cheese, and cream crackers) so we could picnic at the hotel. After the picnic, by the fireplace in the parlor, off to bed. I’m sleeping in a trundle bed which is a pull-out drawer with similar proportions to a sleeping bag. It’s a very firm bed and I’m sleeping very well in it. Romey – I think the reason I can’t sleep at home is because our bed is too soft :( I’ve been sleeping like a champ here on beds of alarming firmness and lumpitude.

February 18, 2006
Evora

Woke, breakfasted, and set off for the day feeling much better than yesterday.

First stop was yet another hilltop medieval town called Estremoz (estremoozh). Charming as usual, excellent views as usual, chilly and windy as usual. *yawn* Well… it wasn’t boring at all, but it’s amazing to me how quickly it becomes normal.

Next stop was Villa Vicosa, where the dude who became the king of Portugal lived back in the day. The villa had an unremarkable, yet elegant renaissance façade and a clunky plaza out front. We were sneaky when we went in to go to the loo and got a look around the cloister gardens – they were excellent. There are lots of orange trees and lemon trees all over the place – I could certainly get used to this! One of our number has been known to pilfer the occasional orange off a public tree (names have been changed to protect the guilty).

We drove around a bit after that, admiring the spectacular countryside and ended up in *another* medieval walled city. Here, we had the first of our “drunk lunches” catered by a local restaurant for all of us. Here is a rundown of what we ate – hope you’re not hungry! All of this was consumed with generous lashings of the local Alentejo wine (it’s apparently an excellent year – the drought has been good for the wine). When I say “generous lashings” I mean that our table of 8 people had 5 bottles. I’m finding that the wine here doesn’t poison me the way wine in America does. In the U.S., after two glasses I’m anybody’s – here, well, it seems like I can just keep on glugging the stuff down with nary an ill effect.

Appetizers:
Bread
Stinky runny local ewe’s cheese – you’re always served this first in the restaurant, but this is the first time it has been runny. It’s outstanding, and I will miss it when we leave.
Shredded braised Rabbit in a vinegar and cilantro dressing
Fried pigs ears – Good, but very rich
Braised pig skin, I think. It was rubbery, and gray, like very chewy calamari. I didn’t eat much, but it was mild, fishy, and in a vinegar and cilantro dressing.
Roasted red peppers
Head Cheese (pork brain and bits terrine - quite good actually)

First course:
Shark soup with bread in the soup

Second course:
Pork loin? In a spicy orange sauce
Pork trotters – I couldn’t bring myself to try these, it was all bone, skin, fat, and gristle. Smelled nice though.
Pork ribs in an Alentejo barbecue dressing
Bread stuffing that tasted of chorizo and smoke.
Homemade potato crisps

Dessert:
A sort of rolled sopapilla – fried thin dough with Alentejo honey
Orange colored pie
Cream colored pie with local plums
Green melon

2nd Dessert:
Coffee – like espresso, but stronger.

3rd Dessert:
Grappa

This was all family style, so they’d bring out large dishes and we’d divvy it all up. We kept asking Pedro, our guide, what things were. When we asked him what the orange and cream colored pies were he pointed to one and said “Eggs and sugar”, then pointed to the other and said “Sugar and eggs”. The man’s a born comedian. Roman would like the food here, a large part of the cuisine is based on eggs.

After a stiff legged stagger back to the bus, we drove off to our next destination. We were all loaded so we were carrying on in rare form. Our professors promptly started snoring away at the front of the bus, much to our liquid hilarity.

The last stop was something called a Pasouda called Arraiolos. They’re a chain of very ritzy hotels through Portugal who consider it their duty to celebrate and uphold Portuguese cuisine and culture. This place was outstanding – in a beautiful valley of cork trees and sheep and pigs and cows (they alternate grazing them beneath the corks), below a medieval fortification on the hill. The hotel was recently redone with a very well done modern additions Details are here: http://www.pousadasofportugal.com/portugal/arraiolos.html Note that it’s pretty affordable in the off season (this *is* a five-star hotel after all).

Now, we’re back at the hotel having a light picnic of the food people have been ferreting away in their hotel rooms. Love you all, miss you all!

Xxoo J.