22 October Over the border without a bump Seville to evora

Across the border to Portugal without a bump or a passport check, but taking the slow road.
From Spain to Portugal is a seamless seque- no toll gate, no armed soldiers, nothing. All I noticed was a clock on the motorway which seemed to be an hour behind. Our hotel in Evora confirmed my suspicion- Portugal is an hour behind Spain. This must be very difficult for the people who live in Portugal because it is cheaper, and work in Spain. And how do the residents of Rio de Onor cope, as the border passes right through the centre of town?
We were glad of the extra hour as the trip had taken us through tiny white villages and towns, and along smooth country roads, instead of the fast motorways? Why? Because we were using a GPS for the first time, and had not altered the program from ‘scenic pedestrian’ to fast motorway over 120kph’. We stopped for lunch in a village off the beaten track, and re-read the instructions. From then on our GPS now named Maria led us patiently back to the motorway and speedily up to the ancient Roman walls of Evora, in Portugal.
Evora is a world heritage site- apart from its beauty as a hill town, it has intact examples of every kind of architecture, from Roman walls and temples, to Moslem houses and mosques, built over and around by Christians using Norman, Gothic, Renaissance, baroque, and Manueline styles. A perfect city wall surrounds the town of 14000 inhabitants. Huge gateways hide gardens, courtyards and the swimming pool of the rich, much needed in summers of 40 degrees plus.
Right now in late October it is 23 degrees, the sun making the whitewashed and marble and stone buildings gleam with a golden autumn light. The University students walk around in long black gowns, a remnant from the Jesuit days, little children clatter up the cobbled streets to school, and the elderly congregate in the village square, the Placa de Gironimo, to read the publicly displayed death lists and eat chestnuts freshly grilled by local growers.
We took a historical tour this morning, through the longest cathedral in Portugal, complete with 15th century organ built from Brazilian wood, soon after Christopher Columbus visited Brazil, and brought back news of its gold and treasures. Our beautiful local guide showed us such a complexity of history and domination of Romans by Moslems, Moslems and Jews by Christians, that I became quite dizzy.
I retreated to our 16th century hotel, where the semi tiled walls are half a metre thick, and the ceilings are of arched brick, and lay down for a bit.
After nearly 3 weeks on the road, I intend to adopt the local custom of a siesta in the afternoons, and not try to see absolutely everything, even though it is all so fascinating. We went out to dinner last night, intending to listen to fado singing, but the heat and the travel caught up with us, and we staggered home up the cobble streets at 9.30pm, as the locals were just going out to dinner!.