Castelo Branco - Elvas - São Domingos - Monte Gordo
Portugal 2020
So, it’s night outside. We escaped from the hotel with bedbugs. Where to go is unclear…. We can’t find another hotel (for any money...).
There are a couple of hotels, but they are completely out of our way and more than 200 km away. So we decide to just keep driving. We drive along dark deserted roads, sometimes passing through small sleepy towns bathed in the yellow light of street lamps.
Around 4 a.m. we turn off somewhere into a field and decide to get some sleep.
It’s cold outside; the thermometer shows 6 degrees. That means it will soon get cold in the car too. I curl up on the back seat, and Volchiy reclines the front seat. I cover myself with our beach towel — it gives a little warmth. We drift into short, broken sleep. We wake up, then fall asleep again for just a little while. We manage to doze for a couple of hours. We drink tea and eat yogurt.
Despite having slept very little, we feel strong enough to keep going. I really love everything that’s happening to us. This is a real adventure! (As Volchiy said at the end of the trip — just 35 euros (the price of the room with bedbugs) and so much pleasure).
For about another hour we drive in pitch darkness, and around 7 it starts to dawn, the sky turns pink, and we meet the sunrise on the outskirts of a small town..
Pre-dawn sky
At 8 a.m. we arrive in the town of Elvas. We leave the car in the parking lot right under the aqueduct and go for a walk through the still deserted town. There is something special about these few hours, right after sunrise, while everyone is still asleep. Some kind of serenity, calm. We are completely alone in the huge square near the aqueduct. It is tall, long, beautiful.
On the hill near the aqueduct there is an olive grove. We walk among the trees along the aqueduct. It’s just a pity that you can’t climb onto it and walk along the top.
Then we drive to the fort on the hill above the city. The fort is closed to visitors at such an early hour, and inside there is a guard walking around so that people like us don’t sneak in for free. Well, never mind. There is a beautiful view of the city from the hill. And we keep going.
A couple of hours later, we feel very sleepy again. The clouds have once again completely covered the sky. But it has become much warmer. We stop in a large parking lot near a gas station with a view of the castle and decide to try sleeping a little more. This time, we sleep better. I also settle into the front seat — it turns out to be much more comfortable that way. It’s not cold, and that makes sleeping much more comfortable.
We slept for about an hour, and the alarm woke us up — Volchy had a call with Vanya. But Vanya overslept too. Even an hour of sleep gives you a feeling of freshness again and makes you hungry again. As it turned out, parking near the gas station was a very good decision. First, there is a restroom at the gas station. And second, I ask the man in the café at the gas station to refill our supply of boiling water for tea. We make burritos again (they have become our daily lunch snack).
A snack with a view of the castle
A light rain begins. Such a good feeling inside from all this — a feeling of some kind of freedom. From the fact that it is quiet, warm, spacious all around, and we are driving wherever our eyes take us.
On the way, we stop near a grove of cork oaks. The trunk of the tree, where the bark has been stripped off, is a bright reddish-brown. On the ground lie acorns, almost the same as those of an ordinary oak. Volchy finds a couple of pieces of stripped bark on the ground. We take the smallest piece with us as a keepsake.
Cork oaks with bright trunks
The next stop is the abandoned Sao Domingos mine. After getting there, we realize once again that we are very sleepy. We decide to take a one-hour nap and then go for a walk. We park under a tree and fall asleep….
The Sao Domingos mine is one of the brightest impressions in Portugal. I probably have never seen such an explosion of colors anywhere else as here. The ground here is every color of the rainbow — from deep blue to bright red. Every meter I pick up a new extraordinary stone from the ground and excitedly say, “Look, look.”
Main Mine
It is interesting that mining was already carried out here during the times of the Roman Empire. The Romans mined gold and silver here. A great deal of time passed after the fall of the Roman Empire, when mining was resumed here in the mid-19th century, though this time copper was extracted. However, during the First World War, pyrite began to be mined here, from which sulfur, so important in those days, was obtained. The mine was closed in 1966.
Walking along the mine
The mine occupies a huge area. We walked a small part of it — went around the large open-pit mine. We drove to the far corners of the mine by car along a packed road. It’s insanely interesting here. The landscape is simply incredible, old crumbling buildings, a river the color of blood… I’m overwhelmed with delight. It feels like you’re inside some kind of game or on the stage of a big theater with colorful scenery.
Stones of amazing colors. Their hues reminded me of peacock tails.
A river with iron-red water. This is not Photoshop! :)
It was getting dark, and we drove on toward the coast, to the small town on the ocean shore, Monte Gordo. The hotel lived up to expectations — it’s beautiful here! How wonderful it is to flop down onto a fragrant bed with white linens….
Beautyyyy :)
For dinner, we drink Portuguese stout and eat salad. Life is good.
