Monday is our last full day in Portugal. We are headed to Marvao, which I have been told by several people is their favorite town in Portugal. It is another scorching hot day. As we approach Marvao, we enter a hillier area than we have seen in the Alentejo so far, climbing higher and higher until we reach the gate at the base of the village. We wonder whether we have to park here, but we see cars going through the walls and we keep going. It turns out we can drive all the way up to the castle at the top of the town. There are very few cars, which is a good thing because the streets are steep and narrow.

This remote hilltop is one of the most spectacular sites we have visited in Portugal or anywhere else. The castle at the top of the rocky hill has views in all directions and sheer cliffs dropping off to the sides. Invaders from Spain would be seen coming long before they had time to do any damage. There are beautiful formal gardens that contrast with the severe military fortress. I take photos while Alan climbs around on the castle walls.

We find a café for cold drinks and sandwiches and sit in the shade of palm trees admiring the view. After some more photos we head back down the hill. Our next goal is the ruins of a Roman city at Ammaia. There is a small museum displaying archeological finds from the site. After touring the museum we head out to the ruins of the city gate. At this point I find I am completely baked. We figure it is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (it is about 38 degrees Celsius according to the thermometer in our car) and I am incapable of touring and enjoying what I see. I find a rock and sit in the shade. Alan is hot but he is OK with that, so he continues on through the site and sees the ruins of the city’s forum and temple farther back from the road. It is a shame, because I love puttering around among old stones, but I am done for this day.

We go back to the car and continue in air conditioned comfort. I start feeling more human. We drive to nearby Castelo de Vide but do not get out and explore. This is a really attractive spa town with mineral springs. Alan does get out and fill a couple of bottles of water from one of the fountains found throughout the town. We both drink, because it is hot and we are thirsty, and because we are happy to get any extra curative benefits the waters can confer.

We drive around the town a bit, trying to identify the old Jewish quarter where a sizable Jewish population settled after fleeing the Spanish inquisition in 1492. We read that the narrowest, steepest streets were considered the least desirable part of the town, and that that is where the Jewish quarter was located. We feel we must have found it because the streets could hardly be any steeper or narrower than the ones on which we find ourselves driving. After looking for a gentler way down from the castle, we hold our breath and head down a street that looks too steep to navigate safely. We do make it to the bottom without incident, and I note that across the street there is an establishment named Café Kamikaze. We picture people sitting there and watching hapless tourists come hurtling out of the street and commenting, “There goes another one.”

We do not press our luck. We head back to Terena and arrive in time to go out for supper.

Our last dinner in Portugal is at the Adega dos Ramalhos in nearby Alandroal. We sit in the cellar surrounded by enormous old wooden wine barrels. I savor the local cheese and ham that are served as starters, regretting that we will soon be in a place where these things are unavailable. For a main course, I am hoping for something other than pork. Our first couple of nights in Portugal I had ordered pork because I wanted it, and the past three nights there had been no other choices on the menu. I had enjoyed it all, but I am ready for something else. I order ensopada do borrego, a flavorful lamb stew. Alan orders picanha, which turns out to be beef of very high quality, served from a skewer like the Brazilian barbecue restaurant we frequent closer to home. Everything is delicious.

Tuesday morning we enjoy a final sumptuous breakfast at the Casa de Terena and say our good-byes to Hazel. We are hoping to stay in touch with her, since she is planning to visit New York in several months to attend an art exhibition in which works by her grandfather will be exhibited.

We drive back to Lisbon and return our car at the airport, catch our flight to London and our connecting flight to Boston, and are home twenty or so hours after our day began, tired but full of happy memories. On this trip, as is more and more frequently the case, my best memories are of the people I have met along the way, the connections I have made with people and the fascinating ways in which our worlds are interwoven.

Lovely! (I empathize so much with the experience you had with the heat--I do not do well when it's too hot, it must be my Canadian blood. Summer in Florence was akin to summer in a humid oven.)

Although I do know your impressions of those you met have stayed with you, you did a wonderful job of articulating with the written word the beauty of your surroundings and the day-to-day "scenes" you experienced on this trip. Brava! And thank you once again.

BC

Definitely suitable for family website - The street is named QUEENSWAY after Queen Victoria who rode here as a Princess.

Warning about the mens Loo in Portobello Road.
There are small holes drilled in the wall between the partions.
My husband noticed this and stuck a bit of paper over the hole - only to have an object pushed through to remove it while he was in there. Sick dudes.

Nikki, it's never too late to correct a mistake and I did one when I referred to you Bolos do Chile is in Metro Station Anjos. In fact it is in the green line, but in Metro Station Arroios. My apologizes to every readers.
Everythng else is perfect and delicious in your report, except this detail.

Lobo, thanks for the correction! I wish there were an edit function on Fodor's so I could change the original paragraph. But I hope anyone sufficiently motivated to seek out a bakery at midnight will be able to find it.