We are back from our little holiday to sunny Portugal. It was nice to see Sandra's family and spend some time taking in the sights. We were based at Sandra's parents home in Moura, in the Alentejo region which is about 3 hours from Lisbon.
The weather was pretty hot and dry (thankfully) the temperature topped out at 36° C and only became humid in the last couple of days we were there.
The highlights of the trip were an afternoon in Monsarraz; a hilltop village near the Spanish border complete with cobbled streets and whitewashed cottages. The views of the surrounding countryside were fantastic and we stayed there until the sun had set.
We took a couple of days away from Moura to visit Marvo which is similar in some ways to Monsarraz but bigger in size and much higher in terms of altitude. Within the Serra de So Mamede from the Castle walls were views to Portugal on one side and Spain on the other, you could see for miles and miles. But don't take my word for it check out the photos for yourself
The only fly in the oinment was getting charged by the car rental company (who shall remain nameless for the time being) for a cigarette burn in the seat of the car that we didn't do! (None of us smoke!) Man I was so angry. Still I'm sure this is a common occurence; it's a good ruse to make money. The cars are checked out in a dark underground car park so if you miss anything it's down to you. I found several things they had missed on the outside of the car but I missed the hole in the seat. They charged me €357, and I bet they won't put an new seat in that car! Don't worry I'm going to complain and not stop sending letters until I get a result. They will soon learn that I have the tenacity of shit clinging to a blanket!
Anyway it's good to be back and I'm back to work tomorrow and looking forward to it, no really.