Magical Monsanto, Portugal April 10-11, 2019

April 13, 2019

Magical Monsanto, Portugal April 10-11, 2019

Leaving Sevilla we drive to Monsanto, Portugal, a small hill town in eastern Portugal near the Spanish border. Google maps takes us right to very near our place but we are on medieval narrow roads with whole points that are barely wider than our car so we are unsure, but on our second attempt we navigate it with inches to spare and arrive at "the Cave". This is our only accommodation that doesn't have a kitchen...basically it literally is a cave that was outfitted with a bed, small desk, and small bathroom with a shower made for small people only (that works for us..wouldn't work for a lot of people). The setting is magnificent! The owner Antonio lives next door, and shows us around and then offers to drive us to a local inexpensive restaurant where he often eats for dinner. We do a brief tour of the area and then have dinner. We paid for his dinner too, and with table wine, water and three dinners including salad and a dessert (some local dessert, very delicious) it cost a whopping 26 Euros! Antonio is a fascinating guy and he talks almost non stop about the area, his life philosophy, politics, etc. He is the first person we have met in Europe who "likes" Trump (he thinks he's crazy, but says the US economy is strong...Portugal's "welfare state, modeled after Swedens) is falling apart according to Antonio. His pension is already cut in half...he's buying cheap properties in Portugal and renovating them to provide him an income for when he retires. He bough the cave for $7500 Euros and sunk $15,000 Euros into it to make his airbnb. We spent much of our full day here, walking around Monsanto and heading up to the Castle ruins at the top of the hill. Only a few other tourists here (literally perhaps ten other people or so), and it really is a beautiful town in a beautiful region. We had a late picnic lunch on Antonio's little porch, and the drove to a nearby town, Penha Garcia, for another town walk and castle visit, and them over to Id Na Hana (sp?), an area of Roman ruins. Dinner in Monsanto at a restaurant with a great view that night. Antonio made us coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice with oranges from hi orange tree our two mornings here. Donna was ready to move to Monsanto, and apparently a small group of expats (mainly Brits I think) are doing just that...cheap real estate, nice climate beautiful and very laid back area. A really wonderful visit!