Lucinda has the traditional breakfast fare for me, fresh squeezed orange juice she apologizes for having to put sugar in, as the oranges are a tad tart.  She heats up these really good little tart shaped pies, that are custard like and simply delicious.  Lucinda is making fresh bread today, it is Saturday and I see her kneeling on the floor kneading dough in a huge bowl.   She explains it is easier.  Her son is coming (the name sake to my room,) and she has invited friends, they are going to make traditional cabbage and meat soup, baked bread in a huge clay fired oven, feast and socialize.  She shows me the downstairs where there is another kitchen, the old-fashioned kind.  It has a huge adobe/clay style oven she is starting a fire with wood and brush, after if heats up sufficiently and the coals turn white she will bake the bread.  On the other side is the cook stove area, there is a huge pot hanging from a cast iron hook.  Lucinda tells me this is how her mother always cooked, now she has hooked up a large two burner propane unit they use for industrial size pots.  She has invited me to stay and join them and when I find it will be two hours I feel I must go…. I later realize I should have, as the rain continues all day long and when I get to my next destination, I wind up staying inside for a couple of hours.  I make a lunch with some supplies I have bought and am off.
Lee, my GPS bud winds me thru some small mountain towns where the road goes between buildings and homes close to the road and then the road has had some serious work and is half dirt!  I am in the forest, then brushy area and nary a soul as I wonder if Lee has made a mistake.  After a half hour or so, I do hit larger towns and a once again in civilization.
I hit a major motorway and fear a charge coming but when I exit after what I am sure will be close to 10€, nothing.  Not sure why it kept saying .93€ & 2.12€ at intervals on the road, I added it up!!!  I drive into nowhere it seems.   It rains and rains and rains.  I was also told I should go south past Lisbon and only briefly thought of it, glad I didn’t as when I get to my destination I see an unusual tornado has struck the south coast and they have one life lost and at least four injured at that time.   It is historic as the last tornado was in the early 1900’s.  Our planets weather is truly changing.  It is scary and I just hope the collective consciousness we are all comprised of takes notice and we continue to make serious changes.  My vacation escape does not escape everything.
After a few hours in Quinta Paraiso, my 18€ toprural destination, I decide I have to get out and explore before it gets darker!  Dusk is knocking and I’ve spent a couple of hours indoor listening to an English movie!  In Portugal if a program on TV is in english, they use Portuguese subtitles, they don’t just dub over the language.  Which sucks me in!  It seems there is also a bit more English spoken, even if broken.   Renee Zuewillger is an adorable Bridgette Jones.  When I looked on the Internet, (since  my host has put me next to the server and I get it in my room), I see it claims there are no sights to see near Alagoa, this can’t be true.  I need to get out so start towards town.  Alagoa is the village next to Quinta Paraiso and I think of having dinner there, but decided since I had sandwiches and snacked enough, I skip it.   It is the type of small town they look at you as you pass, a foreign oddity. and soon see a sign to ‘Flor de Rosa’ and drive there.   It seems you don’t have to go far to see another fortified anything, castle, wall, monument.   It is a 12 kilometer drive thru the plains of nowhere (it seems).  It is dark now and lit up nicely, open for anyone to walk into and the display is in both Portuguese and English.   It is the The Monastery of Santa Maria de Flor da Rosa , also called the Monastery of the Order of the Hospital of Flor da Rosa, in the parish of Flor da Rosa , municipality of Crato, district Portalegre in Portugal .
Considered the most important example of a monastery fortified existing in the Iberian peninsula.
Another quaint small town that has gone to sleep as I see no one in the streets.
Tony, the hosts shares a shot of his sweet homemade wine and I relax for the evening.