James Gaston

25 Oct - Castelo de Vide

Evora - 27 Oct

Marvao to Evora
26 Oct 2015 Marvao to Evora 26 Oct 2015 Evora, Portugal

We were off to our next-to-last stop, Evora. I'd read that it was an old walled city, medium sized, with a university. I expected Grenada without the mountains.

Evora is southwest of Marvao but since we picked up the car in Spain we had to return it to Spain. If we left it in Portugal we'd incur a 600€ drop off fee; that's not a typo, it's a hell of a fee that I didn't see mentioned in the original quote. So our first leg is to drive to Badajoz. The rainy drive took us back via windy 2-lane roads and a tree-covered countryside. And it was uneventful except for being waved over by a Portuguese policeman on a short stretch of interstate at the Spanish-Portuguese border. Turns out the Opel's Spanish license plates identified me as a possible tourist and therefore a source of information for a tourist opinion survey. My opinion: don't have a cop pull me over for a survey.

Speaking of driving, I encountered many "velocidade controlada" signs, typically where there are likely pedestrians. It's a special speed limit sign. Adjacent to the sign is a radar gun. If the radar detects a speeder it triggers a stoplight a short distance ahead. The stoplight turns red in both directions so everyone shares the punishment. Running a red light carries a hefty fine, heftier than a speeding ticket.

Badajoz is a good-sized city that doesn't look to be a tourist destination. We dropped off the rental car, walked to the bus station, and then took the bus to Elvas followed by another bus to Evora.

Evora is a town where restaurants close on Monday. Except one, an Italian on the other side of town. It was good and along the way we got a view of the town's old aqueduct.

Evora

Badajoz estación de autobuses

Portugal just had an election

Vila Bolm

Marble quarry

Taken from bus through reflect-y windows but shows where Portugese marble comes from.

Marble quarry

Taken from bus through reflect-y windows but shows where Portugese marble comes from.

Marble quarry

Taken from bus through reflect-y windows but shows where Portugese marble comes from.

Main square

25 Oct - Castelo de Vide

Evora - 27 Oct