A very bleak day, when we came across a flock of sheep on the road. Driving through the countryside was certainly interesting.

Hope you can see the sheep through the rain !

Obidos
Thanks for the comments 3WG and also Anne T. Good to know that all is well and that you are enjoying our entries. Also happy to hear that Lyla is receiving the news and she is ok.
Last night´s dinner at our hotel was to die for - lamb rack and VEGETABLES for Judy and duck and VEGETABLES for Brian, preceded by home-made warm bread rolls and a special melted mixture of herbs with goat, cow, and sheep cheeses. Fabulous - can´t wait for tonight to choose another two dishes! We did not want dessert, but the chef/waiter George brought us a special rich chocolate dessert with toffee which was difficult to resist.
Today we set out on an adventure with our trusty FIAT and Gladys. Drove south about 1 hour to Sintra, where we FINALLY found a parking space and walked to the Sintra National Palace where we inspected the various rooms which date from early 13th Century. One ceiling is covered with repetitive paintings of swans. Another was painted with magpies, which is supposedly a cheeky decoration to represent the court gossip about the king´s advances towards one of the ladies in waiting! When the queen caught him red-handed, he responded "por bem", which means "for good", and these words are painted on the scroll held in the beak of each magpie painted on the ceiling. Sintra was a very pretty city, with great views of some fairytale type castles and steeples. Lonely Planet describes the city as "icing sugar palaces where Lord of the Rings meets Sleeping Beauty".
From Sintra, we took a much less travelled "green road", following the coastline north towards Peniche. Some of the route was even on a "white road", with narrow winding streets. The route seemed to be comprised of one village joining another, although occasionally there was open countryside viewed through the very heavy thunderstorms which arrived this afternoon. Roads were very wet, with deep gutters filled with water running across the road. At one stage, we were held up by a car in front, and were puzzled until a very large flock of sheep was herded across the road by a man and followed up by a woman (presumably husband and wife) The sheep were very wet indeed. Later, we saw the same scene with a herd of sleek black goats being shepherded home. It was great to see the real countryside of Portugal, and we are liking the country more and more each day.

This is one of the Gates into the walled city of Obidos. Note the four old guys on the right having a sip of some local port and watching the world go by.

The arched doorway on the left is the entry to the main street

The policemen in Obidos sure have a great environment in which to work. The safety and security everywhere appears to be well managed.

At Obidos, just arrived, sitting on our private balcony enjoying the flowers and the view. This is a lovely town, and we will have fun exploring the streets, museums, castle, and the Wall.

As mentioned earlier on the Blog, a cork tree cannot be stripped of bark until it is 25 years old, and then only every 9 years. This is a recently stripped tree, showing the very bright red ochre colour after the bark has been removed.

Obidos
Today we left in very heavy rain to drive to Obidos. The further we travelled, the clearer it became, and now the sun is shining brightly from a blue sky. We have chosen to avoid the freeways so we can savour the countryside, travelling more slowly and passing through countless pretty little towns. The surroundings have become greener as we moved further north, with wonderful views of rolling countryside and plantations of cork trees, eucalypts, maize, apples, pears, and olives. There were also countless very large Plane Trees along the roadside which are very tall and impressive, forming a shady arch over the roadway.
The leaves of deciduous plants are beginning to change colour for autumn, particularly the elms and grape vines, and other trees such as silver birch are beginning to lose their leaves already.
Have not yet mentioned the large range of objects made from cork (presumably for the tourists). There are the usual place mats and bottle corks, but also handbags, purses, sugar bowls with lids, mens´ hats, slippers, drink holders, toys, etc. It is surprising how the cork can be moulded into shapes to create 3D objects.
A Ham and Cheese sandwich or roll seems to be all one can find for breakfast and lunch when on the road (as today), so we are looking forward to a real meal this evening. Our hotel here in Obidos is probably going to be the best of the trip - the people are really friendly, the room and bathroom are lovely with a private balcony overlooking the outside restaurant and across to the high City Wall. The "main" street is as to be expected only a footpath with pedestrians, although vehicles are allowed if "carrying animals" (at least that is our best attempt at translation) . It has been very easy to access an Internet Cafe in every city so far - not expensive and located only a short walk from each hotel. Hopefully this will continue for the remainder of the trip. Today the Internet is free as a promotion of IT throughout Portugal because the local people find it too expensive. Strange, because at least the tourists should pay to help cover the costs.
This place has a special feel about it, and will let you know more in due course.