Hi,
Here’s a surprise for you. We went to Castelo de Montemor-o-Velho this week. Yeah, that’s right. Third time is the charm! Well, not just the charm (which it was), but this third visit found us walking around the remaining parts of the castle. It is a very, very large castle. I’m sure we could have walked all the way around the outside of the castle and all the way around the inside of the castle in one visit, but who wants that? This way we got to enjoy the castle, not simply speed through it.
And if you ask me, I say we saved the best till last. Sure, I enjoyed walking around the inside of the castle before and watching Chris and the dogs walk on the ramparts like I did the first two times, but this time was the cherry on top. Yes, we walked around the outside of the castle (the other half) and inside the castle (the other half), and we found the back door and…get this…we found the escalator! Woot!
I had heard rumors of an escalator that runs from the town below up to the castle on the hill, but I was a little leery. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking that surely this was a snipe hunt for tourists. I did not want to be the one to ask the green-grocer where the bottom of the escalator to the castle started. I pictured him sending me off on a wild goose chase and laughing as he watched me toddle away. But, no. It is real. And it was working when I saw it. Just a moving set of stairs dropped on the side of the hill, gleaming brilliantly in the afternoon sun, carrying visitors from the parking lot below up to the castle above. Honestly, I thought I would never see an outdoor escalator, and I am thrilled to be proved wrong.
We didn’t ride it. We had parked at the top, like we did all the other times. I don’t even know where I would park down below in order to ride the escalator up to the castle. Maybe I’ll find that and get a picture of the bottom side of the escalator one day. If so, I’ll let you know.
Nola
PS – We won’t be getting out anywhere this coming week (by ‘we’, I mean me and the dogs). Chris is having to pop over to Atlanta for a week, so until he gets back, we will just be laying around watching movies and eating bonbons. If you want to say hello while he is there, give him a call. I’m sure he could find time in his busy schedule to catch up with ya’ll.