June 6 Porto to Evora
- Plan on leaving at 9
- Leave at 10
- We all walk our bags to the parking garage
- We pay and somehow get a discount, something to do with our Airbnb but maybe a mistake
- We leave with Shaina navigating
- Much easier getting out of Porto than coming in, maybe not rush hour
- Stop for gas
- Remember gas cap is on right, not left as we are used to
- Now instead of just black/diesel and green/gas, there is black, yellow, teal, and green
- Black and yellow appear to be diesel
- Ernie chooses cheapest between green and teal and hopes for the best
- On the way to Evora we stop at some Roman and Celtic ruins ...Conimbriga
- Rain is threatening the entire time we are here
- Beautiful mosaic floors in unbelievably good condition, Roman walls, lots of baths, they must have been very dirty.
- The ruins went on and on in all directions and I don't think we missed any
- Very impressive for anyone interested in the ancient
- Rain starts just as we finish the ruins
- After their small museum, it is time for Meia leite and our sandwiches so I can wake up for driving
- An interesting toilet light - stays on about 2 seconds then turns off and you are in the dark. Move a little and it turns back on for another 2 seconds. And on and on.
- Drive in rain but I have the wiper thing down
- Stop for gas at Tangerina brand
- This time: the pumps are black, black (2 types of diesel), green, green (2 types gaslina)
- Eco green cost more than regular green and this station is more expensive than last station which wasn't Tangerina
- We get cheapest green
- Shaina announces we did less than 5000 steps (when and where, I have no idea)
- So highway signs are as follows - Blue is lowest speed for lane indicated, red is max speed for all lanes. Each lane can have its own lowest speed.
- As we approach Evora we see a sign "Forevora McDonald's" and McDrive as in Thru
- Enter Evora, see our hotel (Moov) as passing it. Park on one-way narrow street.
- Check-in and get directions to go around the block and back to the garage we just missed.
- Yeah right. Like going around the block in Evora is easy. Maybe for a SmartCar
- As I make the first right and Shaina and Mo are cringing (Ernie is at the hotel), I see all the scrape marks on the building walls
- The next turn is worse and the next even worse if that is possible
- I don't even know if these roads are one or two way but a person could not even pass us
- I have no idea how the car arrived at the parking garage unscratched.
- If we had seen it in the first place, we would not be driving these streets.
- I now know the secret for when we return with Judy and Haim
- We take the elevator from floor -1 up to our positive floor. Strange counting system.
- Recuperate then walk around a little then decide we need food.
- We are looking for the recommended restaurant, Repas.
- Ernie, Shaina and Mo are navigating.
- It's up ahead and ahead and ahead and around and back and back and there it is and it is closed for a private party.
- Now 8:00pm we randomly find another place just as rain starts, Evora Taste
- So hungry, we break the rule and have the bread and tuna pate
- Green wine of the day is 2 Euros
- House Red wine is 2 Euros
- Ernie goes pricey and gets the Reserve red for 4 Euros
- The placemats are made with glued ground up cork but the menus are real cork
- We eat delicious tapas - mushroom, shrimp, cheese...
- Dessert is a version of cheesecake and wafer cake
- Raining so hard we just sit and wait it out, or at least wait out the worst of it
- Head back to hotel and call it a night