N 38.442162 W 7.379270 - MONSARAZ - free parking

I meant to tell you that when we left Mértola we entered into Iberian Lynx territory . I had my camera at the ready but, needless to say, we didn't see any.

There was also something else that I'd forgotten to put in but I've forgotten what it was!

Today, we drove to Reguengos de Monsaraz to find the Aire de Services. This is behind the Bombeiros Voluntários (fire station). You have to pay 3.5€ to use the services. You can stay there overnight with electricity for 5€.

Off I wandered to find a fireman, I went in through the nearest opening and wandered amongst all of their vehicles and eventually I found the front entrance. Got the key from a very nice man, we did what we'd gone there to do and I returned the key.

We set off again for Monsaraz but this time we decided we didn't fancy anymore hill climbing so we carried on down to the lake. We very nearly went in it! Mike got so carried away he missed the little turn into the parking area and we suddenly realised that the road had turned into a slipway for boats and had disappeared under water!

The only space under a tree was already occupied by some German people who'd parked off the parking area . That left us the car park which was okay but no shade and it was so hot!

We got out our table and chairs, I cooked some potatoes and made salad in the van and Mike cooked a couple of Salmon steaks that had been intended for last night's dinner but we'd been too tired to eat. This is lovely, we thought, until we started to get bombarded by some nasty looking black flying thing and some slightly less nasty looking things wo seemed to want to join us for lunch.

The lake is the Baragem do Alqueva and is vast. We had a quick walk around where we were parked but it was just so hot we decided we couldn't stay there for the night as our mozzie door net was broken. We moved back to Monsaraz and have parked alongside the road, the parking up by the city walls looked full.

We did do some hill climbing when it got cooler and we did reach the city but didn't manage all of it. It's certainly the best of the Moorish places we've been to so far and the views are stunning. It's well worth a visit although I don't know if we will go back up there tomorrow for further exploration.

We spent a good hour or more outside talking to our French neighbours this evening so we got to practice some of our French once again.

Church bells are striking midnight, they have a nice tone but are rather discordant as if one or two have cracks in them.

Today, we've been travelling through wine and olive country, a big difference from the scrubland we'd been travelling through.