Evora – 10 April 2023

Greetings from Evora, Portugal where we drove to the campsite around 5 o’clock this afternoon. Evora is a medieval town with a history that goes back much further. Tomorrow we will walk to the center and look around.

Last Saturday we took a long walk to a nearby lake, Lagoa de Ervedeira. We walked right through the, planted, forest consisting of Eucalyptus trees. Older aerial photographs of the area show that this area was barren not so long ago and that is certainly no longer the case. I scared Lisa a lot by telling her about the runner in Italy who was killed by a bear in the woods. On the way we passed through a small town with a beautiful church. The lake was beautiful and is frequently visited by the locals. We walked around it and took a shortcut back to the campsite. All in all I walked more than 11 km where it became quite warm in the sun later in the day.

On Easter Sunday we had breakfast with eggs and toast and the campsite manager also came to bring something. Lisa then went for a run and when she came back I went cycling for an hour in the area. Then I put the bikes on the back of the car for our departure on Monday.

It was by far the cheapest campsite where we have been and nevertheless excellently managed.

We were in the camper well before 9 o’clock and drove to Nazare to watch the high waves. Well there were none and the village is also almost inaccessible for cars and certainly for campers with all kinds of one-way streets. Eventually we drove a bit more south and got a good view of Nazare.

Then we drove to Fatima, about 50 km away. Because I don’t feel like the highway, we drove through small villages and on winding roads and we really saw something of Portugal. Fatima is named after Mary (a bit crooked but yes) and the story goes that she appeared in 1917 for 3 shepherd children. This appearance has repeated itself several times. Of the three children, 2 died of the Spanish Flu and 1 became very old and did not die until 2005. Lisa, who has a Catholic background, wanted to see this and so we walked around the square in the smell of burning candles.

There is not much to say about the drive to Evora. We drove on fine roads and through beautiful forests and are here on a reasonable campsite near the center which we will visit tomorrow. I had a nice adventure in Fatima with filling up the LPG tank. Despite all the filling nipples (3 pieces plus the Dutchone) the Portuguese LPG filling nipple did not fit. Fortunately, there was a pretty Portuguese employee who came up with a solution!