That Wasn't There Last Time We Looked!
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡Day 5 ~ 19 May ~ Alqueva Lake
This morning we're off to Luz, a village relocated from its original location now underwater!It's a couple of hours following our GPS route and it's very pleasant and relaxing but there's not much to photograph or write about on the way.
Here we are: again the only kid on the block.
There's a lot of very shallow water here, so it's a long walk from the pontoon to land. We measure it as about 800 metres!
The last part of the boardwalk is through a semi-submerged stand of trees. When the lake levels are lower, this is probably dry land.
Our first sight of the village as we approach. The strange chimneys look almost like the helmets of armoured mediaeval knights
The streets are empty: it's a complete ghost town.
On the edge of the village, there's a church and a museum.
The museum is mostly underground so there's little of it to be seen, and being a Monday, as is common in Portugal it's closed.
Only the stork is resident today.
From what we read, the museum is worth a visit, so we might try coming back another day.
We return to the boat and continue further up the lake, heading to the small town of Mourão and its castle.
Well that's interesting. It's a castle-shaped buoy in the middle of the lake. What does it mean? Well thanks to the wonders of technology, we can zoom in on a sign...
No English, but we have yet more technology: Google Translate!
Actually, Google's translation is a bit clunky, let's see what we can find elsewhere... Gosh, there's Portuguese-edition Wikipedia, there's Brazilian TripAdvisor, there's nothing obvious in English anywhere. Don't confuse it with the the similarly named but completely different castle of Lousã which is much better documented.
So anyway, I shall summarize from various fragments: Lousa Castle is an ancient fortified settlement or military camp, occupied from about the first century BC to the first AD, spanning the end of the Iron Age and the beginning of the Roman era. It was designated a national monument in 1970 and has been partially excavated by archaeologists, but is now covered in protective concrete to preserve it from the lake waters.
Nothing else of significance until we find ourselves parked up at another otherwise empty pontoon. We haven't actually seen another boat on the lake since the dam yesterday.
From the boat, the bustling metropolis lies ahead. Maybe.
Actually, there is more of a proper road, but we are taking a slightly scenic detour.
Ah, there's the castle above the town.
And we've arrived.
Straight on to the castle. It looks very well preserved, and apparently the preservation is genuine, it's not all been rebuilt for the tourists.
There's not so much left inside, though, it's mainly the walls and gatehouse that survive, as well as the church which is still largely intact.
Safety precautions are somewhat minimal.
But even Amanda isn't too worried. It's all in surprisingly good condition.
We can't see, so we're guessing slightly, but we think this is the right direction towards the boat.
The church is one of the few remaining intact, or mostly intact buildings, but it's closed. There are some hints on the web that it might occasionally be possible to visit, but certainly not today and not for many years as best I can tell.
What is the meaning of the furry cross? Probably that the church doesn't employ a cleaner.
Tibetan Buddhists spin prayer wheels, Dervishes whirl, but I'm pretty sure that swinging has never been part of accepted Christian liturgical practice. Still, it's right outside the church so maybe it has theological significance of which I am unaware.
We have a stroll around the town, and again, it seems pretty but deserted. We saw a couple of other castle visitors, but that's been virtually our only sight of people.
There is, of course, no sign of a bakery.
I guess we can't go this way.
Clearly my GPS map is a bit out of date.
Actually, we know the lake level is very high now, so it looks like the road might well be exposed at other times.
Another boat!!!
A rare sighting indeed. They're passing our mooring, heading toward the beach where presumably they'll pull their dinghy out of the water and vanish.
The end of another peaceful and pleasant day.
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