Atop the hill is the castle, now the Pousada de Rainha Santa Isabel. The castle was built for the queen, who fed the poor. Myth has it that when the king asked what she had beneath her gown, the bread she held turned into roses; hence, she became a saint, Rainha Santa Isabel.

    Driving to the castle was a challenge, through narrow, winding cobbled streets. Walking down and up to the old city was good exercise. In town, a military barracks is next to a church, and a memorial to soldiers lost in conflicts stands nearby.

    Swallows fly throughout the city (one defecated on Dan; fortunately he carried a cleansing wipe). Their nests are above windows and doors and look like wasps’ nests.

    One square has a medieval whipping post, ringed by a compass.

    We swam laps in the pool before dinner, lay in the sun. Dinner was at A Cadeia, the old jail now converted to a fine restaurant. When renovating, they found that this might have been the city hall, with the jail on the lower level.

    From the window in our room, we watched the moonrise: a bright orange, full moon. The next morning was hazy, with sunrise obscured.

    Before leaving, we visited the Museu Municipal de Estremoz for an exhibit of black and white photographs, “Then and Now,” by Paul Kohl, a visiting professor at Nanyang Technological University/School of Art, Design and Media in Singapore. Throughout our journey we found the arts to be promoted despite (or perhaps because of) the economic downturn.