Today was our second wine tasting on the tour. The place was about two hours from the hotel.  We took the A2 Highway out of Lisbon going the opposite direction of the morning rush-hour traffic. We passed over the Ponte 25 de Abril Bridge with breathtaking views of Lisbon and the Tagus river. The bridge is 2 km long (1 1/4 miles) and resembles the Golden Gate Bridge in the US.  We passed by several “stork condos” built on the power towers. Vera turned off the main highway onto a two-lane back country road passing olive tree orchards and fields of grape vines. When we turned onto the entrance road to the winery, I almost missed it since the marquee seemed to  blend into the countryside so well. The driveway appeared to go on forever around many hairpin turns.
The winery is in the Alentejo region and it was beautiful. As we entered the wine lounge at the Ervideira Winery, we were met by a nice young man who was to be our tour guide.   While on the tour, we passed a rack of motorized bicycles. Our guide said they were used by the guests to take picnics out to the fields. I'm sure we were all thinking that the day was way too hot for us to do this. After all, Portugal was having a heatwave!

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After listening to the unique process this vineyard uses and viewing all the machinery and barrels of wine, we went back into the tasting lounge. Our guide pointed out two bottles  of wine sitting on the shelf that were  bottled by the vineyard and very old, 1899 and 1928.  We sat at one of the tables where we were given water, snacks which turned into lunch, and two black wine glasses of different sizes. Each glass was filled with wine. The guide asked us to compare the two and figure out which one we liked better. It was a very interesting experiment. The only thing that we agreed upon was they were both white. Well it turned out that both the glasses had the exact same wine in them. The only difference in the taste was actually from the size of the glass, with the larger glass allowing more air to mix with the wine. I hadn't realized that air also affected white wine the way it does red wine. We tasted a few more of their wines before finishing up and heading out.  

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We headed out to check out the Cork Factory. Vera said we had lots of time before we had to be there so suggested we stop for ice cream. We all agreed this was a grand idea. She took us down some back country roads again, seeing the small towns and villages. After riding for about  ½  hour, Linda H. all of a sudden realized that her phone had stopped syncing with her watch. This could only mean one thing. Her phone was still back at the winery. She remembered leaving it in the bathroom.  Vera called the winery. They found it so we turned around to retrieve the phone. The ice cream would have to wait. ​
 Cortiçarte - Arte em Cortiça, the Cork Factory was a very interesting place. To enter the building you walked through a large work area. We were there mostly to shop, but you could see freshly harvested cork along with pallets of cork pieces ready to be shipped out. There were also large rolls of cork ready to be used for things such as purses, placemats, flooring, etc. While the rest of us were shopping in the cute little store, Linda C. got the rundown on how cork is processed. Vera did tell us that it starts with them “taking the dress off the tree”. This was quite evident at our last stop of the day. I had to look up exactly what type of tree is a cork tree and found it is from the beechwood family and is an evergreen oak tree.  
Next on our agenda was Evora, another UNESCO world heritage site. It was considered one of the most important Jewish communities in the country starting in the thirteenth century. Vera dropped us off at the park near the top of the city. We walked across a park to an overlook of the valley below. We then walked by the old Roman Temple and the Cathedral of Evora, one of the oldest and largest medieval cathedral in Portuagl that is still active. Heading down the designated street, we meet Vera. From there we walked through what had once been the Jewish Quarter  and the current shopping area passing by Graça Church and Convent.
The next place we entered was Church of São Francisco with the Catherdral of Bones.  Yes, I did say bones.  The pictures say it better.  I did feel a little creepy standing amongst all those bones, especially when I looked up and they were part of the decoration on the ceiling. 

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As we were leaving, Vera pointed out that the walls surrounded the area in ancient times. “They are classified as a National Monument in Portugal since 1922 and are part of the historic centre of Evora World Heritage Unesco.”

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Our last stop of the day took us to see Almendres Cromlech, the Stone Circle.   We had to travel the long way around  due to some of the roads being closed because of the fires.  Once there we walked along a long path through an Oak “Cork” Forrest.  We could see what Vera meant by “taking the trees dress off”.  This appeared to be a freshly harvested area.  The cork can only be harvested every 9 years starting when the tree is 25 years old.  Once the tree is “undressed” it is marked with the last digit if the year:  9 for 2019, 2 for 2022. 
We reached the stones and spent some time trying to see the ancient markings which were symbols of animals but they are only visible under certain lighting. I don’t think we were there at the right time as I didn’t see them.

This was a very interesting and long day.  We didn’t get back to the hotel until 7:30pm. Just wanting a quick bite to eat, we checked out the food option in the shopping mall next to the hotel.

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