22 October 2022 - Back to the Stone Age

Miles driven today = 82

Total Miles to date = 2,555

As we drove out of Setubal this morning we passed the Estadio do Bonfim, home of Vitoria FC.  It's a compact looking stadium, athough it's reckoned to have a capacity of 18,000.  It's still strange though to think that Mourinho started out his managerial career in such relatively humble surroundings.

We headed east on the N10, which initially had a fairly good surface for Portuguese roads, although this gradually deteriorated as our journey continued. 

We made a brief stop at Lidl in Vendas Novas, which is home to an Artillery Regiment and has a selection of guns and cannon of varying ages distributed throughout the town. Then we skirted around the hilltop castle of Montemor O Novo.

A few kilometres before reaching Evora we took a right turn to the small village of Guadalupe.  The reason for our detour was because the area around Evora has the most concentrated number of Neolithic remains in the whole of Europe.  Guadalupe has 2 of these sites open to the public and there is another in the neighbouring village of Valverde.  There is also an interpretation centre so we had a chat with a very knowledgeable and helpful chap there.  He told us to read the info boards at the centre and then gave us instructions on the most sensible order to view the sites from both a logistical and chronological perspective.  He also confirmed to us that the track to see the first 2 sites was perfectly passable in our motorhome, contrary to rumours we had read that only 4 wheel drive vehicles are able to make the journey.

While we were in the centre a thunderstorm of monsoon proportions hit so we ran to the van and had lunch while the worst of it passed.  We then drove the 4km of rough, sandy track to the first of the sites whilst wondering whether it would be washed away by the time we returned.

The Cromleque dos Almendres is a group of approximately 100 "menhirs", or standing stones, of differing sizes.  They are arranged on a slope in an ellipsoidal pattern.

The Cromleque is reckoned to be circa 7,500 years old, so that's 2,000 years older than Stonehenge, and as such was created by some of the first humans to settle into an agricultural lifestyle in the area and leave behind the coastal hunter/gatherer ways of their ancestors.

It is also the biggest grouping of standing stones to be found anywhere on the Iberian Peninsular.

There are still some carvings which can be seen in the stones.  Most have been eroded away but you can clearly see some looped patterning in the large stone Lisa is standing next to in this photo.

All around the stones, and in some cases in between them, are Cork trees, where the bark of the trunk has been harvested to create wine corks and other products.

You could tell the trees which have been harvested recently as the exposed wood is a bright red colour.

A Cork Oak takes a minimum of 40 years to reach productivity so you never plant one to provide for your own prosperity, but for your children's and future generations.

On to the next Neolithic site.  This is the Menir dos Almendres.  A 4 metre high standing stone which is of a similar vintage to Stonehenge.  It is aligned with another stone nearby and the point where the sun rises on the summer solstice.

We moved on to Valverde.  The track to the third site was underwater in places and the overhanging trees scraped along the roof but we made it.

The dolmen of Zamujeiro is a huge burial chamber from the late Neolithic period, dating back to approximately 3,200 BC.  It is thought to have been in regular use for the entirety of the 3rd millennium BC.

Early burials were relatively simple but in later ones engraved plates were placed on the chest of the deceased and more than 100 of these have been unearthed from within the dolmen.

Nowadays the site is covered to protect it from the elements.

We drove on to Evora and have parked up for the night at the free aire, which is a short walk from the city wall.  It has 4 tiers, of which we are on the top one, furthest from the road and next to an olive grove so hopefully we will have a quiet night.  There's plenty to explore here and although it is raining again at the moment the forecast is looking considerably brighter for tomorrow and the next few days.

23 October 2022 - Evora