The interesting town of Mertola, Portugal

Well, we're working on a very weak cellular internet 2G signal, but at least we have internet. Sort of. But, it's working...so let's see how this goes.

We packed up yesterday morning, ready to move a little further south towards Faro. We pick up Helen and Tony at the airport there on Tuesday morning.

Made arrangements with Glen and Steve to meet them at the little village of Ameixial where there was supposed to be two different free RV parking areas...both with free electrical hookups.

We stopped at the town of Mertola and it looked like a place we wanted to see. Glen and Steve had already carried on ahead, and the rain was holding off, so we parked Louis and went for a walk.

The town of Mertola, Portugal.

Look! There's a castle!

And, there's a nice free RV parking area by the river. 

What a nice little town. If we hadn't made arrangements with Glen and Steve, we probably would have stopped here for the night. There is just too much to see! And, lots of hiking trails in the area too. But, the rain wouldn't have made for a good visit. Instead, we went up to the castle where there was an interesting archaeological site.

The remains of an Islamic village from the 12th century.

Interesting cemetery.

Looking back at town...and notice that there is another RV parking area.

Ruth, at the tunnel.

During excavation, they uncovered an almost perfectly preserved tunnel that dates back to the 4th century.

And the remains of beautiful Meditteranean mosaics, also from the 4th century.

The columns and mosaics, with a depiction at the end of what they thought it looked like at the time.

And it was all free. Including the castle. The only thing that cost was a 2 euro charge to go up to the top of the tower at the castle.

Ruth, and the view from the castle.

Well, I'm afraid that it's taking far too long for photos to upload, so we'll have to make do with that for now.

We made our way back to Louis just as it was starting to spit with rain. As we drove, it rained on and off for the rest of the trip. We only did about 75 kms (47 miles) but it was on a twisty windy bumpy road, so it felt like a lot longer than that.

Oh...have to show you one more pic. Ruth spotted a few deer in a field by the road, and I pulled over to try to get a shot of them....

Made it to the little village of Ameixial where Glen and Steve were already parked up. By this time it was raining fairly hard and we found a spot to park up. I figured I'd wait until the rain settled down before going out and getting us level and hooking up the free electricity. But the rain never stopped. Eventually, it was getting cool enough in Louis that I just bit the bullet and went out and did it all in the rain.

So, it was a wet and rainy afternoon and evening. Watched a movie, and made it over to Glen and Steve's for a few rounds of euchre after dinner.

Lots of rain again overnight, but it's not raining right now so we're going to try and walk around the village before it starts up again as it's supposed to do!

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