Albergaria do Calvario Évora

... the hilarity of Spainish and Portugese bathrooms. They are a source of amusement on this trip. In our hotel room in Evora our bathroom consisted of a sink, a basin on the floor and a shower head. That is correct, there was no toilet and to take a shower you shut the bathroom door and let the water spray everywhere while you stand in the tiny basin. The next most amusing bathroom was in Albufeira, Portugal. First, the shower had windows that you could open to ...

So with nothing to do in Beja, we all caught the bus to Evora, famous for a chapel that is made completely of human bones. The whole town only took a few hours to see and the chapel was CREE-PY, yes, made of the bones of 5,000 people! After seeing the chapel, Anna and I wandered around town and found a small cafe to sit, read, and sip port in. We were watching the time and checking the bus schedule to make sure ...

Soon after our last entry, we crossed the border into Portugal. Not far from the border lies the town of Viana do Castelo, our destination. We arrived prepared to camp. Our expectations were not high after our Pamplona eurotrash campsite. However, we were pleasantly surprised. We arrived to find a campsite filled with old growth pine trees, sand, wind-surfers, and kite boarders. Needless to say, they were there for the beach that was at the doorstep of the ...

... and they show movies on the trips too. but tonight marks my last night here in portugal. i've been roped into doing the pubcrawl at the hostel tonight, so yet another interesting flight lies ahead. speaking of which, the air traffic controller's strike has apparently been called off! (i'm actually kinda disappointed about that).

... 7 - 10 years until the next harvest. The trees - we noticed - had markings on them - I believe this may relate to the harvest years. The soil is very dry and sandy. We have three Cork trees planted on our new lot in Costa Rica and I was amazed at how they did through the dry season - with absolutely no water. I think now I understand why. Passing through a grape producing area we also marveled at how things grow - although it is November and that may have ...

... and others were quite chipped, i wondered if they would be replacing these any time soon.... Before we left Evora the next day we saw the main cathedral and cloisters and also saw a palace and chapel. The palace was more like an old extravagant home, but the chapel attached was really pretty. Floor to ceiling painted tiles, which are quite a national feature in Portugal, and gold trimmings ...

... s and was around 8 K's long. It was also built up to 31 metres in height. It was no Roman aqueduct but still impressive. It was time to move on. I chucked it in reverse and this huge **** off lamp post jumped out from nowhere. There was a mighty loud noise. We had no insurance. **** IT. We jumped out. Now I don't know if these French cars are built like a brick shithouse, or that these Portuguese lightposts are made of rubber, but there was only a scratch. I gave my pants a ...

Hola a todos! Posiblemente este puede ser el ultimo post de este diario de viajes, hace tiempo que no lo actualizo, muchas cosas que contar, pero muy poco tiempo para hacerlo. Dejenme contarles un poco de todo, es muy poco tiempo asi que no me exigan demasiada coherencia cronologica. En Praga, dormimos en un hostel con 16 personas, al llegar a Berlin nos encontramos en un hostel en el que podian dormir 8 personas (y no estaba lleno como el de Praga), asi que pensamos que teniamos ...

Weds. morning we all piled into the folks' rental car -- a silver Benz. Ahhhh, just like the (not necessarily) good ol' time of family car trips, complete with frequent urination stops, disagreements on music choices and arguing over how we are lost. Jet lag has really hit me hard. Even though I've taken a Sonata and a prescription antihistamine that causes drowsiness, I've only managed about one hour of sleep. We drove ...

... Evora was easy enough. Finding our hotel...not so easy. What's with us today and this relentless hide & seek driving? It took an hour driving around in Evora to find our hotel. We were in the right area the whole time...circling the place because it wasn't labeled, nor were the streets. It was way too appropriate when U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" came on the radio. So, simply posh, little room #207 at Solar Monfalim...high stucco'd walls and a ...