Stuff...

6-24-10 “Made from typical autochthonous grapes…” Hell, I don’t know how to pronounce that, much less what it means, but it was written on the bottle of wine I drank last night. That was at dinner where I got charged .60 Euros for butter, 1.50 for a little pate’, and .65 for the bread they put on my table. I still haven’t got used to paying extra for the little stuff they put on your table, even though you didn’t order it.  They also put bottles of olive oil and vinegar on the table but didn’t charge me for that. I dunno.

Sometimes I head down a road just because it look interesting, not knowing what’s there or why I’m going. Sometimes it surprises me. Like yesterday. It was getting late in the day and I needed to find a place to stay. The ride out of Setubal was a lot of fun with twisties right next to the sea. I passed up Sesimbra and headed out towards Cabo Espichel. There’s no surf, but I figured I might find an interesting surf break anyway. It was a lot farther than I thought and it became obvious that there weren’t going to be any hotels out there. The landscape was pretty barren, all low shrubs and no trees. I was about ready to turn around when I went over a rise and saw a lighthouse off in the distance and an amazing majestic structure near it. Hmmm. As I rode up to it, an old shepherd moved his flock off the road so I could get by. I parked my bike and walked up to see an old church with two long buildings facing it, creating a long courtyard. The buildings were all closed up and deserted. It was eerie. I thought of Sergio Leone and his spaghetti westerns and the place would have made a perfect set for the final showdown. The wind was blowing, the sun was low, and the sea was just behind the church below sheer cliffs that were several hundred feet high. Desolate and spooky.  To add to the strangeness, there was a chapel with a hershey’s kiss roof not far away with a marker that said dinosaur tracks could be seen going from the beach up the cliff.