July 13, 2014
MARVÃO to MONSANTO - 179km
Casa do Chafariz €45 ($61) double without breakfast


Osaka Artist

We could see an Asian gentleman working behind an artist's easel in the square below our breakfast window. "I'll bet he is from Japan", I guessed. He reminded us of the scores of Japanese retirees we saw, who had their tripod mounted telephoto cameras set up along the Oirase River in Aomori Japan and were capturing the blazing fall colors around the majestic Towada, when we lived in Japan. Dave suggested that I ask first but I knew. "Atsui desu ne", I said, to get his attention. He looked up with a startled expression, "So Desu.." Yes, he is from Osaka. He came here for five days to draw. And three years ago he had come to Portugal to draw in Monsaraz.
  
"How do you know about this wonderful place," I asked. "Oh, it is all the Japaneses guidebooks," he replied.

 
Santo da Pinha

We were getting ready to leave Marvão when Jorge told us there was a great view point on the way out of town. He suggested we follow road signs for Santo da Pinha. We did and found a path to the small church there. It had clear views to Marvão castle above the wide valley and also over another famous village, Castelo de Vide. 

We continued on another fantastic drive through rolling hillsides covered in cork trees, occasionally fields of wheat and vineyards.


Tangled to Death

We continued northward until Castelo Branco, the largest city in this part of Portugal. We turned east so we could drive through the newly established Parque Natural do Tejo Internacionale. 
 
On our way, I suddenly spotted a young stork desperately tangled in yarn, dangling below his nest. We entered a small dirt road leading to a farm to get close to it. No one was about. Once in a while, the bird flopped his enormous wings in an attempt to free itself. Dave got out his clothes line and tied a stick to it to give it some weight and hopefully it would get stuck on strategic place to bring down the nest and stork. It proved harder than we thought. Dave almost threw out his shoulder. Once, he did get the grappling hook like stick caught in the wire bound nest. He pulled and rocked the nest. But the nest was in a wire frame and wouldn't budge. The line snapped. He tried over and over again without luck. Finally, after an hour, we reluctantly gave up and left the poor bird to die.  

Parque Natural do Tejo Internacionale is in an isolated dry hilly area spanning the Portuguese and Spanish borders. We made our way to a rugged high point and made avocado and garlic sandwiches for lunch. Yum.
 
 
One of the Oldest Settlements in Portugal

Driving north again, we stopped to take a closer look at the historic Roman village of Idanha-a-Velha dating to 16 AD. It is hidden in a remote a valley between olive orchards. The story on this one goes that the plague rolled through here in the 15th century and wiped out most the population. The survivors founded Idanha-a-Nova and left the old city buildings to goat herders and future generations. We enjoyed roaming around the ruins and ramparts. The village has a colorful past. 
 

Stony Monsanto
 
We decided to spend the night in yet another castle village, Monsanto. The rooms we found through the booking.com app were few and high priced. LP recommends Casa do Chafariz and we called directly. A man answered and he handed the phone to a lady when he heard Dave speaking in English. The woman didn't speak English either and Dave tried out his Spanish on her. They seemed to understand each other but there was still uncertainty. Then, the phone was handed to someone else who relayed the English and Portuguese back and forth. It seemed this English/Portuguese speaker was a third party who just happened to be standing there. We managed to make a booking. They'd be expecting us within an hour. 
 
We zigzagged our way up to the village and drove as far as we could to a small church where a few locals sat on the wall in the shade. One of the ladies approached us and mimed a phone call, "did we just call her?". 
 

Casa do Chafariz 
 
We followed her 20 meters up a narrow street to her lovely home where she showed us to our spacious room. Granite boulders protruded out of one wall creating a romantic sitting nook. 
 
The roomy fire-engine-red tiled bathroom with keyhole shaped bidet and toilet contrasted the rustic style of the bedroom and sitting area. We certainly didn't expect to land a place in this off the beaten track village with so much pizzazz. 

 
Climb Every Mountain

We had had a pretty intense day, I was ready to kick back and relax while Dave wanted to hike to the castle, high above Montsanto.
 
The narrow cobblestone street continues on through the village until a trail that leads the rest of the way to the Castle. I planted myself behind a glass of wine in a little cafe the lady of the house had recommended while Dave did his hike. 

The lively little cafe was THE place where locals congregate. Plates were piled high with small snails and appeared to be the snack of choice. They were expertly skewered out of their shells with tooth-picks and munched like peanuts or popcorn. Beer or wine kept conversation flowing. 
 
Dave got back after an hour or so and took care of my bill. He laughed when he came out, "that was a 50¢ glass of wine". 
 

Special dinner at Adega Típica "O Cruzeiro"
 
Finding a place for dinner was problematic. Snack bar food was served at the places in the center. No soup. No salads. A dinner place near the entry of town was recommended, Adega Típica "O Cruzeiro". It was further down the mountain than we wanted to walk but it turned out to be worth it. It has sleek modern décor in sharp contrast to its medieval setting. Food was delicious. We split one main plate, salad and appetizers. Plenty and plenty delicious.