I captured the castle

I climbed to the castle of Evoramonte last week one lovely May morning with my friend Helga. It starts out nice and mild, wonderful smells in the air, birds in the sky, and then 8km later I am dying in the brutal Portuguese sun, panting my way back to the Herdade da Marmeleira. Helga was not phased at all. She would have survived well back around the time when this current castle was built in 1531, although the city walls are much much older. I might have perished from the heat, or spent most of my days in the kitchen, cooking for the ancient kings.
We went all the way to the roof for a great view of the Alentejo countryside where they have recently installed at least three cellphone towers! It looks bizarre to have them on a 16th century castle, but I am sure it bankrolls much of the town which has about 700 inhabitants.