Our good friends Manuel, Viviene and Alice (1 year) arranged a great weekend getaway to west-central Portugal to the region of Alentejo. Some of you may remember Manuel, Viviene, and Alice as friends we met in Madison who now live in Brussels, but Manuel hails from Lisbon originally. Manuel happened to have a conference to attend in Lisbon during the first week of April, so they were able to extend their visit and spend a weekend with us showing us some sights, including the historic city of Evora, where we took a group photo in front of a temple ruin in the middle of the city.
Manuel
found us a great rural inn near the historic town of Monsaraz (the photo of the green hill topped by a village surrounded by "castle" walls ) from which we could walk easily up the hill to visit Monsaraz or to the local restaurant for delicious local specialities, the names of which are now escaping me (remind me, Manuel!), along with the wine for which the region is famous. Inside Monsaraz we found the bull-fight arena; no bullfights happened there while we were there, but we did find some of the equipment the bullfighters used to practice, and Ian polished up his bullfighting skills. We did find, in the neighboring village, a "running of the bulls" event at which local men taunted the bulls and the bulls chased the men, but no blood was shed or 
lives lost, we are happy to report. Needless to say, we all stayed safely in the stands!On our way bac to Lisbon, we detoured to Manuel and Viviene's favorite beach along the Atlantic coast, about 45 minutes west of Lisbon. while the weather in Alentejo and along our drive back had been cool and rainy, when we reached the coast the clouds parted miraculously and we were treated to an afternoon of gloriously warm sun. Ian and Alice frolicked in the waves, and we all took turns burying Ian in the sand. We bid farewell to our friends, expecting to see them next in Mozambique, and headed back to Lisbon on the local train.
