We settled for a few days at a camp site set in arable land close to the towns of Estremoz (the City of Marble) and Evoramonte. Local products included wine, cork and marble (second biggest producer after Italy and their Carrara marble). The camp site was run by Simon, a Dutchman – people from the Netherlands always seem to have great skill working abroad running businesses catering for Europeans.
Simon was true to type and he gave us an information sheet on the area, including bus timetables and restaurant recommendations. Fresh bread could be ordered for the next day and the site had a lovely little swimming pool.
Twice a week Simon offered a minibus run to visit the local farmers’ markets. Fellow guests included quite a few British – I keep a log of our travels and mark these entries “FOB” (Full Of Brits).This annotation is not always meant in a complimentary way.
The weather was warm and sunny 25° and it was due to get hotter over the next few days. We found a place to park in the dappled shade of an ancient cork oak tree with an uninterrupted view over farmland. The old oaks were full of enormous acorns, much larger than our English variety and they constantly fell from the tree peppering our truck as if there was a group of naughty boys hurling pebbles at us. In the quiet of the night it sounded quite alarming!
The cost of our stay was €22 per night
