Still raining … hm. Ah well. Four weeks are long, but not that long. We have to get going. The seven stork families and their clattering are still very enjoyable background sound to our packing up. Évora is next on our little itinerary. Known for a very well persevered roman temple and a lovely medieval walled old town. It is actually part of the Unesco heritage list.

We found a parking spot near the university within the wall – a good spot to explore on foot – strapped into our gear and faced the ongoing drizzle. It still turned out a pretty good location. Yet, there was a constant battle going for our moods between the grey wet drizzle from above and the picturesque sights right in front of us. We held on, mood wise, and Évora started to evoke other medieval old towns we have seen in the past. For me, it reminded me most of Avignon. Recent Carcassonne came to mind as well, although this was bigger and had a much more lived in feeling compared to the open air tourist attraction vibe of back then.

Lunch was a brilliant experience at an all vegetarian place trying to reinvent local traditional tastes in a vegetarian way. It was buffet style pay-by-weight and we both overstuffed our plate to make sure we can get a taste of everything.

On our way here, we passed a tantalising window display of an arrangement of pastries. All kinds of tarts, including the mandatory pastel de nata as well as a local treat. The time on our parking ticket ran out, and so we split up. I went to renew the ticket and Nina did some window shopping with Number 3. Once reunited, it was time to tackle the treats! We had one of everything as well and sat down in this barn of a café. It was clear that looks were not what they were going for, but the vibe (and the pastry) were great. We sat right next to grandpa in his break, sipping a coffee and getting a quick round of candy crush in.

It was still raining when we got on our way to Lisbon. After half an hour, we decided that arriving was more important than saving some money and we hopped on the toll motorway. Some tolls we wanted to pay anyway, to get a chance to cross into town over one of the two colossal bridges connecting the south shore with Lisbon proper.

Earlier today, we finally abandoned the idea to switch up accommodation from campground to cheap room. So we arrived at the dreaded Lisboa Camping & Bungalows – and the grey sky amplified everything that seems horrible about this place. Overpriced, under maintained and horribly noisy due to two motorways surrounding it. The things you can get away with for being the only camp in striking distance of the city centre. A white whale could opt for one of the camper parkings, but we cannot.

Town really has to make up for this … at least tomorrow should be the last of this weather.

Wroooommmm …. woooooosssshhhh … wrooooooommmmm ….

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