This morning we pack our bags before our 8am breakfast and are ready
to leave the convent behind when we all drive to town for the closing
talks of this morning. I find a new place to work in the only part of
the library open on a Saturday, which overlooks the old courtyard of
the archways. At noon Kit’s final talk is over and we disperse with
fond goodbyes, having made many new friends during our days here.
Off we go, southwest towards Vila Nova de Milfontes on the Alentejo
coast, where Oswaldo has reserved a tower room in a castle for our
last night in Portugal. We find ourselves in a long many-windowed
room, overlooking the Atlantic coast and with a sunny terrace, where
we set up a late lunch with food and wine which we had brought with
us. Later we head out in the car to explore the southern coast. We
turn off the main highway to rattle down a dirt road to the Furnas
beach, where the water is extremely cold, but the sand is still
pleasantly warm in the sun. We then drive alongside the coast on a
sandy track to find the next beach, when – whirrrr – the right front
wheel is buried in soft sand. We’re stuck!
overlooking the water. The owner is sitting on a camp chair enjoying
the view, sipping coffee from a thermos and reading a book on Druids,
when we arrive asking for help. Turns out he is a very tall German who
– lucky for us - acquired a pair of asphalt plaques in Iceland, when
his car kept sliding on the ice, and which he now lends us with a
shovel and recommendations to take care of the plaques, which had been
very expensive. Meanwhile a Portuguese guy has reached the stranded
car and is making signs, mainly to express that we’ll never get the
car out by ourselves, and offers to fetch ‘o carrinho’ to pull us
out. However, with a bit of digging and sheer willpower we do get the
car moving, hand back the tools (with a bottle of wine) to the reading
German and then try to find the way back, avoiding all loose-looking
sand. We pass a parked car in the otherwise deserted landscape and are
embarrassed to disturb a couple making love. We feel even worse, when,
a little later, we reach a dead end and are forced to pass the car
once again!
Back at the castle we ask the interesting looking owner, Da. Emma from
the Acores, for a restaurant recommendation. We had passed by the one
recommended by the guide book and were put off by the crowded lobster
tank and the sheer size of the place. She sends us to Tasca do Celso,
filled with satisfied diners, where we have traditional Alentejo
dishes, I elbow pasta cooked with garbanzo beans eaten with superbly
fried codfish cakes, and Oswaldo has rice cooked with ‘almejas’ a
local mussel, and shrimp. The waiter/owner recommends a white ‘Grous’
wine, which we happily share. Oswaldo cannot resist finishing with a
runny chocolate mousse.
When we return to the castle, the owner lets us in and we decide to
have a drink at the honor bar and join the German couple from the
other tower room in the living room. Then Emma joins us also and we
end the night chatting much as if we were all guests at a dinner
party, sipping port and sharing stories of our trips.
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