We are in Evora, our last stop in Portugal – heading to Seville in Spain tomorrow. 

 Spent 2 days camping in Lisboa (Lisbon) – 1 day exploring Lisbon itself and 1 day in Sintra which is in the hills above Lisbon, 40 minutes by train.  Quite picturesque with huge gardens filled with established trees and a surreal mixture of history and fantasy with extravagant villas and palaces. We visited the Pena Palace which was built in the 1800’s and looks like a miss-matched fairy-tale castle.  It was built on the site of an old monastery and was dressed beautifully inside.  Next we trooped down the hill (very thankful that we’d spent the Euros bussing to the top) and explored the Moorish castle – a military fort dating back to the 8^th century.  Lots of very steep stairs – Good workout to combat all the cheap red wine that we keep consuming.  Spectacular views – you could see the enemy coming for miles.  Wouldn’t pass “osh’ in NZ though.

Today we cycled into Evora and went to the “Capela Dos Ossos (chapel of bones) They used over 5000 bones and skulls to build the walls and they represent that life is fleeting.  The saying over the door translates to ‘We that are here, await yours’. 

Very hot today not that we are complaining.