I had planned on running this morning through the vineyards but after all of last night's wine, I decided sleeping in sounded like a better plan. I did walk around the winery and take a couple more pictures. It was a lovely place to stay and I wish we had been able to stay a second night, but there is a lot more of Portugal to see!
Our first stop of the day was Sabugal. It was getting to be lunch time so we stopped and had some delicious francesinha which is bread, steak, ham, sausage, bread and sunny side up egg on top all covered in a sauce and surrounded by french-fries. It doesn't sound that great, but it was amazing. The town also had a castle that was unique because it has a tower that is constructed with 5 sides.
Our next stop was Sortelha. It was a beautifully preserved stone town. There was a village in that location prior to the romans and the walls and the castle were built in the 1200's so there is a wide range of ages of the structures, but it's all really old. We really enjoyed walking around and it was crazy because it seemed like we had the whole place to ourselves.
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| I love the castle with the wind turbines in the background. Such a cool old/new contrast. |
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| Cool street in the old town. |
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| Me being silly and enjoying the day. |
Next we went to a town called Monsanto. It is high up on a hill about 50k from the Spanish boarder. It is unique in that many of the buildings are built around and with enormous boulders as part of the structure. It is such a cool looking town. I wish we had more time to explore the nooks and crannies before it got dark, although the evening pictures turned out very nice. I think we might spend a little more time looking around tomorrow morning before we head out. The only disadvantage is that we had to park outside of the old town which meant that it was a long steep hike up to our B&B with luggage and Wren. It's a pretty wimpy complaint but it takes a fair amount of gear when traveling with Wren.
Monsanto was fortified by the knights Templar in the 1100's but the village is far older. There has been a village in this location since the stone ages. This makes it really hard to date the buildings since they have been modified, modernized and expanded over time. It's very safe to say that it is a very old town. Monstanto is one of the most unique places we have been and is beautiful and interesting. It is hard to do it justice with photos since the buildings are very close together, it is hard to show how they are built.
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| House built between two huge boulders. |
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| Boulder takes up half of the roof. |
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| Up at the castle above the town. |
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| Looking back down at the town from the castle up above. |
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| Lovely view of the town as its getting dark. |
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| Jeff and Wren exploring. |
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| I love the plants growing around the town. The added color was lovely. |
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| Last picture before it got too dark. I'd love to see what the inside looks like with that huge boulder in the middle of the house. |
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| I almost missed this one. We are staying in the historic town in this building. The door on the right is ours. This is definitely the oldest place we have ever stayed. |
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