Sunday, August 30th Porto to Évora

Our very small Porto Hotel room was practical and quiet. We left the air conditioning on most of the night. Ear plugs come in handy! The unusual shower works perfectly in that the water drains right under the sink. The location was IDEAL. Close to everything we wanted to see and to the subway station. It is a blue sky super hot start to the morning in Porto.

We decided not to have the hotel breakfast which cost 4Euro each. We walked down our block to a very simple coffee shop kinda place. Good service and friendly staff. For a tea, freshly squeezed orange juice and our two pastries below we paid 5.20Euros. Cheap cost for a decent start to the morning.

Lana's breakfast choice. Chocolate and vanilla inside of a flaky pastry. Quite the sugar hit, per Lana.

Randy's selection for breakfast: layer of chocolate on the outside, pastry light and fluffy with edges that were dipped in a pastry creme? Tasty, but even for me this was a huge hit of sugar.

Today is our long drive from northwestern Portugal (Porto) to southeastern Portugal (Évora). I think you can see from the map below is quite a long distance and two totally different regions.

We pulled in for a rest/eating break about two hours into our drive just south of Fátima. We didn't drive into Fátima, but it has quite a history for Christians. Check out the link within the name. This was our first rest stop of our trip and maybe the last. The washrooms were pretty disgusting and the toilet was asian style. No toilet paper or paper towels. We did find a concrete picnic table and ate quickly. Really no lunch today. The grounds were pretty grubby as well. 

On our trip about 30 minutes outside of Évora we came onto this scene where the trees create a tunnel.

We make it to our Moov Hotel Évora (Yeh! No GPS drama) at 14:30 to temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius. This heat and dryness is much like our BC Okanagan. The trip took a little more than four hours. This has been and will be the longest consecutive drive of our trip. Part of our drive was on some country roads. Fun for me to drive fast on winding roads that are not on steep hills. The countryside is much flatter around here (Alentejo region) and more wide open. We love the occasional rolling hills and open scenery.

Many cork trees as we drive closer to Évora (pronounced eh vor ah). This is the area of the world that produces cork for wine bottles. We are hoping to see the farmers stripping the trees while on our travels in the Alentejo.

The hotel desk clerk was very helpful. We get the passcode for our room (no key) and for the underground garage entrance. A really tight turn after the gate goes up and then down into the parking area. Very tight parking spots. Daily parking 5Euro. Elevator to the room. As well, she gives us directions to a self-serve laundry which isn't too far away. Doing our laundry is our number one priority on arrival.

Moov Hotel Évora

We have our laundry in two bags. We had 'scheduled' to do our laundry while at Quinta do Vallado, but their in-hotel prices were outrageous! As an example, they wanted 4Euro per piece of underwear. We decided to defer to another place for laundering our dirty clothes. While it is not too fun doing laundry while travelling, it means we can pack less clothes. We try to launder 1/2 way through our trips. By now, we are running short on a few things.

Hop in the car and find the Intermarché store about seven minutes later. This is like a Super Walmart. Huge place with many services besides the supermarket. Quickly, we locate the laundry area. See below.  ;-)

This is exactly what we were looking for! 

 While the instructions are in Portugese, the Laundry Point machine where you deposit your money can be in English. Pretty straight forward though. Lana isn't aware that the laundry detergent is automatically dispensed when you turn on the washing machine so needs to return her purchase to "Retorno" for a refund. 

 OK, according to this sign dogs are not allowed to do their laundry here!  LOL

Lana disappears in the huge store to explore what they offer. Please see her blog for "Supermarket Adventures in Évora". We only paid 5Euro for our load of washing and then 2Euro for the dryer for 20 minutes. We both feel pretty good that we have done our laundry and are ready for the next number of days of adventure in the Alentejo region.

Back to our room and eventually got an opportunity to Skype with Renée, Stephen and Georgia. Good to catch up and see everyone. The weather hasn't been good in Vancouver. Here it has been extraordinary. After Skype, Lana has a good nap and then we are ready to head for dinner.

Our target for diner is Restaurante Café Alentejo for authentic regional cuisine. Recommended in the NY Times article and in our Lonely Planet guide. We arrive around 19:15 and the place is closed, but you can see inside and the staff are having dinner. We find out from the newsstand across the lane that they open at 19:30. We hang around Praça do Giraldo just across the street.

Praça do Giraldo with a number of restaurants serving customers in the plaza.

 Asian influence found most places in Portugal.

By 19:30 we are the first customers to arrive at Restaurante Café Alentejo. They ask if we have reservations. Usually, a good sign. We are handed one menu only - very consistent in Portugal.
After being seated, very quickly they bring the usual appetizers such as bread, olives, some chick peas. Remember, if you eat anything (including bread/butter) you will be charged. This place has a beautiful interior, arches, stone columns and marble top tables. Fairly classy.

While service could be improved, the food itself was awesome! In addition, I asked for a glass of their house red and it was a very generous pour and excellent. The wine was from Alentejo; smooth, beautiful nose, tasty and full-bodied. Huge portions of food.

Menu on outside window.

Appetizer of Pica-Pau de Porco Alentejano (regional pork dish). This was an awesome dish. Pork was juicy and flavourful. Wow, we will have this again.

 Potato chips paired with the Pica-Pau.

 Rabo de Boi Estufado em Vinho Tinto (stewed oxtail in red wine sauce). The oxtail meat just fell off the bone. Very tasty!

 Bochechas Assadas no Forno com Batatinhas (pork cheeks baked with small potatos in olive oil). The pork was tender and delicious.

Lana found this sign in the window and the word "Titbits" is pretty funny! This might be a potential breakfast place this week. 

Such a beautiful night. The heat of the afternoon is gone and the gentle breeze helps cool the night. Easy walk back to our hotel. Another great day and we are looking forward to five full days in the Alentejo region using Évora as our base. Total walking today is only 4.2 kms.