PT RR - Surprise Group * November 23

Another year has ended. I've no idea how many postcards I've sent and received during 2023 but that's not important but I'm sure it was a good amount of them.  I liked most of them, some not so much, some were repeated, others were completely new.  

When it comes to postcards from this RR in Portuguese, these were the last to arrive but there are a few missing and at least 3 of my cards didn't make it to their destinations.

 

Foto: Rui Mateus

When I get a new card with elderlies, chances are that it has been sent by Tiago. My guess was right.

Mértola, located on the banks of the Guadiana, is traditionally a land of fishermen. In older times, several families subsisted on what the river provided, and fishing activity was very important for the small local economy. Today, despite the number of fishermen being much smaller, it is still possible to see the hustle and bustle of launching nets in the Guadiana. - in: https://www.visitmertola.pt

 

 I've a thing for towers and I love to climb them, the higher the better. This is not the highest I've ever climbed but it's the highest castle tower in Portugal and I've climbed it a few years ago. 

Beja Castle, namely its Keep, is the city's best-known and most emblematic monument. It is a Gothic fortress, whose construction began in the 13th century, shortly after the Christian conquest of the city, lasting through the 14th and, possibly, 15th centuries.
The imposing Keep, almost forty meters high, is considered by some experts to be a masterpiece of European Gothic military architecture.

The card was sent by Eric.

 

Foto: A. Dias

Serra da Estrela is a mountain in my region and every now and the I send cards from there but I'm not used to get Serra da Estrela cards. When I got this card I even thought "did I send a card to myself?" I didn't send a card to myself but in October I've sent a similar card to Nídia. 

There are fantastic places in the mountain, Torre - Tower must be one of the least interesting but one of the most iconic.

Torre is the highest point in Serra da Estrela and also in mainland Portugal, and the second highest in Portugal. Torre has the unusual feature of being a top accessible by a paved road, at the end of which there is a roundabout with a symbolic monument. Altitude at this location is 1993 meters and it is said, although this is not confirmed, that King John VI of Portugal would have ordered a stone monument to be erected here at the beginning of the 19th century, in order to complete the altitude until reaching 2000 meters. Precisely at the highest point, a trig point of the same name was built, which marks the highest point of Serra da Estrela.