Today the drive could’ve been as simple as just crossing
over to Portugal and heading to Evora. Like I did, when entering Spain.
However I had my travel tool with me, and even Tim today chose to listen to the
book. Tim being my GPS voice for those who haven’t followed the earlier posts.
Lets say it started with breakfast and ended with it. Ok a
little more detail …
I usually had my phone to wake me up, but not today the 25th December, Christmas morning. I woke up to the sounds in my stomach, the sounds which
were with me the entire night. Screaming. ‘give me food’. I went down where a breakfast was laid,
it was the best I had so far. From a thigh of pig kept to be picked to the
fresh honey and cheese everything smelt nice. It was raining out and it felt
moist in my mouth. I am talking about the first bite of the croissant. Is'nt it
lovely? how beautiful the simplest of things taste when they are done perfect! Looking at the spread that morning, I thought I should eat it all. But the
first bite of that croissant is really what I remember. So, with the breakfast
done and the voices calmed down, I started my decent from the old town to
the Portuguese border.
The first town on the other side of the border was so
white that the sun light reflecting
from the walls nearly blinded me. It looked beautiful however. My aim
however was to visit the town of Monsaraz, where the population was 20, in
words, twenty!!
The road was much narrower and the drive much nicer, much
like the road to Pinhao. It did’nt have the river for company, but the fields
and the sheep grazing on them. It felt like spring in the middle of winter. Unlike in Spain where all small towns
have a by pass on the state highway, Portugal needs you to drive through them.
That is the best part, coz on the way you see so many characteristic towns and
if you are lucky then, even some people on the street. I don’t know if it was
for Christmas or these towns always feel empty. Only in people I mean not ever
in the way they make you feel.
If the towns on the way to Monsaraz felt empty, then
Monsaraz felt like a ghost town. The book had suggested that the vehicles, be parked
outside the town walls and the entrance was by foot through one of the five
gates. In old times there would be
the guards to accompany the entrances, now too they were there but only in
figures. As I entered and walked through the narrow pebbled streets, I saw the
whole town was filled with figures. The book has said that once the town had a
population of over 200, and now it had only 20, with the young going out to
find jobs. I wondered later was this decoration really for Christmas or to make
the old folks in the town feel that they have more faces to see than what they usually do.
It is true that tourism supports such towns but then not all
want to be a part of tourism, so the young leave and the old are left behind, I
would rather say they choose to be left alone, with their town. Very often when
one takes pictures of a monument or a town square, you wait for the appropriate
moment when it feels less crowded around or you have a clear view. In Monsaraz
there was no obstruction, there was just me and the figures, the streets and
the old church which stood there decorated and feeling rich for Christmas.
However as I roamed through the narrow streets there were
some inquisitive dogs who spoke to me, till their sound was cut by sounds of
plates being washed. It was a restaurant and I was hungry, only that the sheer
beauty of the emptiness didn’t make me realize that. Ah, I said to myself, so
this is where the town is. They were all having lunch. It seemed like this was
the only restaurant in town and they were all having lunch there. But there
were young people too! And then I realized they had come to see their parents
for Christmas and then the parents took them out for a Christmas lunch, the
town belonged to them after all.
The figures of Monsaraz
'Monsaraz' was a find, but it was for me. Coz I knew my senior
citizens wont be able to do what the towns old folks did.
It was a similar fear, Guadalupe before Caceres and liking
Guadalupe so much that Caceres just turned out to be a night stay. So, I thought to myself on the way to Evora
the Capital of Alentejo region in Portugal, ‘what if it disappoints me’ the big
town feel turns out to be a spoiler at times. Evora was never on my group
itinerary and I was only doing it as it was heavily recommended by the book,
and this is the only hope I went in with. The Lonely Planet recommends it so it
wont be that bad if not to my taste. But I forgot, I was in Portugal and here, as
I later realized even Lisbon seems to be a small town.
Evora was good, well more than that. I was glad that with
all the restaurants closed for Christmas I was not left with a 50 euro supplement
on dinner in some fancy restaurant but was nicely catered to by the staff of my
guest house. We spoke till they had to leave and I had to go to bed.
The breakfast next morning was the freshest I’ve ever had in
my entire travel life. I wont say more ..
The breakfast in Evora
I will not go to Monsaraz again or maybe even Evora. Because
it won’t happen in my group tour. Why? Because I cant tell my people to walk so
much, it’s a pity I know but then there are always some adjustments that can be
made without compromising the integrity of the tour and being true to the
country.
As I soon realized, the Atlantic coast would be the next
thing to blow their mind in Portugal!
Each road, that pass through the vineyards in Portugal is called as the 'rota de vinho' (route of the wine). If you ask me to pick any road
in the country I would name it 'rota de paraiso' (route of paradise).
Atlantic was next.
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