Episode 32

Episode 32
We drove away from Lisbon over a 17k long bridge across the estuary of the Tejo river, on a sunny afternoon after visiting several large shopping centres on the outskirts of the city in the vain hope of finding some gas cylinders to fit our little gas stove. In no other countries in Europe have we had any real problems finding a Primus or Coleman cylinder, or some other brand with the same fitting but it seems that ‘camping gaz’ has the monopoly here in Portugal as we have not been able to find any other brand. One person had suggested a particular large store and we spent a good deal of time looking for it and eventually locating it only to find that we couldn’t get them there either.
Now we headed south east towards Evora. Soon we were in amongst the cork wood trees. Yes, I finally worked out what they look like. It wasn’t difficult as you easily see where the bark as been stripped and the new bark is growing. On the first lot we passed the new bark was very dark, almost black with a reddish tinge, whilst the older bark high up on the smaller limbs is gray. We got out and had a close look at these trees. It seems that they belong to the oak family and are very similar to the Ilex oak we have been seeing all over the Iberian peninsular. They have an acorn that is almost identical, and the leaf is just a little less holly like. Mature trees reach about 8m high and all different shapes. Apparently these trees have a different feeding system to most other trees so that stripping their bark does not kill them.
Some of the trees have been stripped only up to the first fork, but other have been stripped along the thicker branches too. Looking at the base we could see that the cork was a good 50mm (2inches) thicker where it had not been stripped. When we broke off a small piece of that old gray stuff we found it to be a neutral pinkish shade on the inside, not quite the same shade as you see in the tiles, but then it hasn’t yet been treated with anything.
In souvenir shops we have seem lovely handbags made out of cork but I wouldn’t have thought that they would last very long, but I could be wrong. They have a similar feel to suede.
The grass grows quite well under the trees and we have seen sheep, some with lambs, cattle, and goats grazing in shady pasture. At this time of year the temperature is quite pleasant, chilly in the evenings and mornings but not too hot during the day but in summer when the heat is blistering it must be very good for the animals to be able to graze in such a shaded area.
Evora is quite a pleasant rural town with an old walled city that predates Roman times. Right on top of the hill, stands the remains of a Roman temple from the 1st century AD dedicated to Jupiter or Diana, depending on which piece of literature you read. This temple would have commanded a view all around at the time it was built but now it’s almost surrounded by churches and convents. In Moorish times it was used for public floggings and executions, and later a slaughter house, so it has had a varied career. Fourteen columns still stand though they are looking the worse for wear: In a convent that stands right beside the temple we saw a beautiful doorway, it is in a double horseshoe shape with thin twisted columns, a beautiful piece of workmanship; it opens into a small room with vaulted ceilings.
In another square we saw a small renaissance fountain, and lo and behold, in an electrical shop there we found gas cylinders to fit our stove. A brand we’d not come across before but who cares. The old boy in the shop must have thought Christmas had come early when we bought 3 of them. He spoke quite good English which isn’t all that surprising really as this is a very popular tourist town, not far from the Al Garve. There were or course plenty of churches to visit but we had a day off from Churches. An old aqueducto built of stone leads into the city. When we went for a look we saw that many of the arches have been blocked it and turned into houses. In a building that is now used by the local town council the remains of an old Roman baths has been found so we wandered in for a look; a big round stone pool with a ledge all the way round for seating and the bases of some stone walls and arches.
Near the town of Santiago do Cacem there are some more Roman ruins. There was a settlement here hundreds of years before the Romans came about 100BC, some ancient artefacts have been found from that earlier period. Most of the ruins date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. At the highest point of the settlement is the Temple, probably dedicated to Venus, and partly rebuilt, below that is the remains of the Forum and the remains of dwellings below that. Then in a gully there were two bath complexes one built at a later time to the other but they are side by side and have a common drainage system. Some lovely brick archways still intact can be seen here. Also a small single arch bridge across the gully: This settlement also had a hippodrome; it was on the flat land almost 1k away. It’s the only place on the Iberian peninsular to have had one and here they used to race both 2 wheeled and 4 wheeled ‘briga’ (a kind of chariot), thus the name of the settlement, Mirobriga:
When I look at these ruins and see the drainage system and the pipes they used to carry water through the houses and other accomplishments of this ancient civilization I often wonder what happened that all this knowledge and technology became lost for about 1000 years. The castles built in the 12th century don’t have as good drainage systems and under floor heating is only now becoming more accepted except for places like Korea where it has been used for God knows how long continuously. The glass too is another thing; what we have now is not that much better than what the Romans made: In some things we really haven’t progressed much at all.
Along the way all through Portugal we have seen old windmills, all a similar round dumpy shape, painted white with a black roof, and with the frame for the sails but none with sails up and working. Here, just a short distance from the ruins we saw another, and although it didn’t have the sails unfurled they were there, just all rolled up. The elderly man who greeted us and showed us around said that it wasn’t working because there was no wind; perhaps it’s too calm at this time of year here but other places we have seen them there has been plenty of wind. This is certainly a working mill, it is used to grind maize now, for what purpose I can’t say but probably for stock feed I should think. We climbed up inside and saw the mechanism and the mill stones and even some bags of corn awaiting the wind that will provide the energy to grind it.
At Sines we reached the coast again; though the guide book says this is the ugliest town in Portugal because of the oil refineries we didn’t find it too back. It’s not a large town and it faces a nice south facing bay with a small port full of fishing boats and a large marina full of expensive pleasure craft. Like most of the better towns the houses are all white washed plaster with orange terra cotta roofs and they look quite pretty as they tumble down the hill sides towards the bright blue of the sea below, and a deep blue sky above. In most of the towns the streets and gardens are full of citrus trees loaded with ripe fruit. Mostly they are a small orange that are quite nice to eat but there are also some lemons too. We had picked and eaten a lot of oranges from those street trees.
Further south near Porto do Covo there are some lovely beaches but the surf in huge and the beach steeply shelving so I think it would be quite a dangerous place to take a dip. I did go for a paddle and found it a degree or two warmer that further north, still needs to get a couple more degrees warmer before it will seriously temp me in for a swim.
Heading towards the south western corner of the country we passed through an area of large vegetable farms with fields of cabbages, or something like a cabbage that doesn’t get a hard dense heart. We have seen a lot of them in the shops but I don’t know what they are called. Also large strawberry farms with berries growing in the fields and hydroponically in plastic green houses.
Also in this area in amongst the eucalypt forest there are wattle trees and many are just beginning to flower. Further north I had often seen the wattle but none in flower. Some of the eucalypts are heavily in bud too and I have seen a few with small white flowers. There are some very pale pink flowering fruit trees that I think might be pomegranate trees beginning to bloom and the white flowering deciduous trees that I think are probably almonds as I read that it flowers in January in this area.
As we neared the south the coast got very rugged with high cliffs and tiny coves with sandy beaches. Many of these coves had jagged sea stacks just separated from the cliffs and in one place we saw where the gaps between the stacks had been cemented and closed in to form, not so much a safe harbour but an area of calmer water at the bottom of a boat ramp so that the boats could be launched and retrieved easier and safer. All the small fishing boats were up on dry land well clear of the high tide.
On the most south westerly corner of Europe at Cabot Sao Vincente there is an old lighthouse, there was once a fort too but not any more. Whereas at Fortaleza just a few mile away there is some of the old fort built by Henry the Navigator in the 15th century still standing. This is the most western part of the Al Garve and we have hit the tourist areas and despite the fact that it is winter and there is only a tiny fraction of the number that you get in the summer there is still plenty of them. About 20 motorhomes were lined up in just one car park, God knows what it must be like in the summer when there is at least 10 times more tourists than now.
Lagos is rather a pleasant small town at this time of year with a population of around 20,000, but in summer that swells to a massive 200,000, and I just can’t imagine it. There are big blocks of apartments that are empty at this time of year. To wander around the narrow streets now is quite pleasant but I would not like to do so in the summer. We saw the old slave market building; it was used as such up till sometime in the 18th century I read. One of the main narrow streets was being dug up and we could see some old stone walls in the holes so we asked a girl we saw and she told us that the street was being dug to replace some pipes and that her group of archaeologists has been called in because ancient foundations had been found. Since then they have found some old Roman walls and medieval walls, Roman pottery and other bits and pieces. They think that one building they found is where the Romans used to make a fish paste.
On the hill top in Silves there is the lovely red stone walls of the old castle that was built by the Moors, the stone almost glows when seen from a distance with the light at the right angle; it has many towers: Almost nothing of the interior is left but it has had two Moorish palaces at different times and it had large cisterns for water and granaries. Some of the foundations of these things can still be seen. Possibly not for much longer though as there is a lot of construction going on inside the walls; not quite sure what they are building but the sign says something about improving tourist infrastructure, so I expect it’s an excuse to increase the entrance fee that is very reasonable at present. With 8000 visitors a day in the summer I expect the one toilet is a little overworked at times.
Sancho 1 besieged the castle in the 12th century: The occupants withstood the siege for several months until their water and grain ran out. Sancho there negotiated a surrender agreement but apparently his army didn’t honour it and most of the moors were killed. But it wasn’t for another 50 years or so, into the 13th century before the Christians again took control of this region.
In some of the hills here the wattles are almost in full bloom and between there yellow blossom and the smell of the eucalypt (gum) trees you would dam near think that you were in Australia; the clear blue skies and warm days only add to the picture. Have also seen silky oaks (grevillea robusta) and callistemons growing in various places.
Another rather nice town on the coast is Tavira. It also has an old castle, well, the outer walls of one anyway with a tower from which you can get a nice view over the town and along the salt marshes that are separated from the ocean by low lying sandy islands. It has an old medieval bridge that is not really as good as the old roman bridges we have seen. A tuna fishing fleet is based here too.
Just near the castle in the old water tower in the old town is a ‘camera obscura’ and we went and had a look. We had not been to one before though there used to be one at Picnic Point in Toowoomba, so I don’t know if you are familiar with how they work, I wasn’t. This one we visited is inside the old water tank and in the centre of the top is a lens and mirrors. The picture is projected in colour onto a large round disc in the centre of the room that we can move around so that as the camera moves around the 360˚ of the horizon we can move around inside and always see the picture from the bottom upward. The girl who was operating the camera was from Uruguay. As she moved it around she pointed out all the different places of interest around the town. We thought it was quite good.
These low lying off shore islands are nature reserves but that seems to mean very little as one we visited was very well populated. This was near Faro, and we could drive across the bridge to it though there wasn’t far you could drive once you got there. The car parks were nearly full at this time of year; don’t think you would ever find a parking spot in the summer. We walked along the boardwalk towards the eastern end of the island. It was a bit cool and breezy but pleasant and there were lots of people kite surfing up this end of the island so we went to watch them; they were all wearing wet suits, the water was dam cold.
All along the way we walked there were houses and shanties on small allotments. I doubt that there is any organised sanitation like sewerage and I saw no sign of septic systems. Nearly every one, tin shanty or smart house, had a satellite dish on the roof. Some had chickens, one had geese, most had cats and dogs too. The only way any nature was reserved was some fencing off of some of the sand dunes to let the grass grow. There was also a no fishing sign but we did see people who had collected buckets full of little shell fish.
I have now decided that it is only the almond trees that are in bloom. We stopped and looked at several and they seem to vary in shade from almost pure white through pale pink to a fairly bright pink. Perhaps they are slightly different species but all the flowers look the same shape and they have the most beautiful perfume.
Spring is in the air here and the storks are beginning to mate. They love to nest on top of the electricity poles, though we have seen one on a crane and a few on old buildings. They are very clever the way that they can balance a large nest on top of a pole with no more than 150mm (6inch) diameter. Mostly they are in pairs with just a few already sitting on eggs by the looks of it. We did see one lone chap do some sort of dance, don’t know if it was meant to attract a mate, if so it didn’t work.
One last thing I will mention about Portugal before we leave there. They certainly know how to build dams. All over the country there are dams both large and small, a great many of them have hydro electric stations attached. Most of them at this time of year are well below full but should fill within the next couple of months if they get the usual winter/early spring rains, but that of course, is in the lap of the Gods, or perhaps being Portugal I should say the Virgin Mary as it seems to be her who is the subject of all their devotion..
Having crossed back into Spain we saw many huge orange groves, including large areas that have been planted within the last year or so, all on raised beds with drip irrigation. In the same area too are large place green houses. Many of these have strawberries both in the ground and hydroponic, other have some other fruit of vegetable I have not been able to get a good enough look at to recognize, and many have cherry trees that are in full bloom. Have seen these in the open too as well as those under plastic. We are fairly certain that these bright pink flowering trees are cherry as they are pruned differently to those that I know are almonds. With the wattles and gum trees in flower too the local bees must be working overtime.
© Lynette Regan 30th January 2008