Pedro

I think I've posted a picture or two of that bridge before, maybe with the 1150 or XR, maybe not on this thread though. It is completely my favourite bridge, quite small but it's close to home and I ride through it to get over the Tejo River when going out on a big ride to the Alentejo via back roads. It was inaugurated in 1904 for railway use, back then at 840m it was considered the longest in the Iberian Peninsula for train use. In 1996 a new bridge (the ugly concrete one on the right) was built next to it, and it was then converted for road use in 2001. Funny, construction first started in 1901, the work converting it to road use was in 2001, a full century later.

I was going to take it while riding but the grid makes the bike slowly drift to the right a few inches at a time if I don’t touch the bars

I feel sorry for her having to have you drive her and whining all the way

All pictures or video of it imply you only hang off it though, and don’t ride it…

An over 40º ride through the Alentejo is always a nice adventure.

That looks so tempting! And easy terrain on the big bike too, not sandy How far do you figure are the hills in the distance? 30 or 40km? Apart from that, before this it seemed a properly cold and grim ride

a long term investment

like that specific cockney, yes

Yes, you do sound like you're John Wayne's deputy in an old western. In a nice way.

That guy doesn't sound like Pete at all, to me. I think you're focusing on the accent and not the guy's voice. That, or you all sound alike to me, which might not be wrong.

Rob Brydon sounds similar to you in short words like "Rob", "what", but to me that comedian does sound very much like you.

That guy is hilarious, and he sounds like Pete.

Funny enough, like most cars' auto boxes with the same up (forward) and down (back) buttons, it seems opposite of what is intuitive to me. On race cars it's pull back for up and push forward for down.

That's interesting, but there is one definitive chapel that is the blue roof room. The blue one is quite small, this bigger one is on a 90º to the other one but built maybe after, maybe as an addition to the original building. But then again it could be a canteen of sorts as this was quite the farm with probably a lot of workers. On thing the original text made sure was that it was to belong to a powerful family, but mandated to keep a church mass going daily, with some other obligations towards the church and the community, so providing proper meals and that kind of ambience could be the way of life there.\ Then the rich royals would probably gather after the hunts for a nice old fashioned Indian or Brazilian spice fueled orgy on the first floor

Thanks! I've done a couple of reports last year in which you really see the differences between north and south, and the countryside.

Too many to name, the guy looking at the inside of the barrel, or the police guy showing off in a room full of kids, I don't know... If there ever was well timed advice was the one guy that told her to put her tongue inside her mouth, as he clearly knew what was going to happen

They're not really Lara Croft, are they, those guys? What is the point of an abandoned sanatarium?

They were taken away from their owners during the revolution in an excuse by profiteers to give the people management of what was in the hands of “fascists”, all those people fled and the now "managers" ran everything into the grounds, farms, factories, rich houses, etc Then a few years later when they came back all the stuff wasn’t theirs anymore, and what was reclaimed is often stuck in a legal battle over heirs claiming against each other. The legal system being a joke, things get passed on from generation to generation in said legal system … It would be easier if it was to go for an organisation like you say, but I don’t see that working properly here. Maybe even better if sold for charity and used for businesses like small hotels, restaurants, etc, it would make a kickass brothel too!

This farm was operative in 1974, so all the damage happened since …

I don’t think so, the door was human sized and facing the entrance of the building, I suppose a barn would face the inside and be amongst the ones more in ruins. It could be a bigger church, though, I have no idea.

Ride safe, I’ve never seen those tires on a bike here in Portugal

Had a nice ride today, but didn't stop for pictures at all. The roads were the same old ones and the ones I hadn't posted before weren't very interesting. Anyway, getting home I stopped by an abandoned place with a scenic view to take pictures for you guys. Being an abandoned building I could ride into I figured it would appeal to the resident guy in search of old stuff. It's right on the edge of town where my place is, a few meters away from the road on a lovely dirt road that then leads into a forest. This is "Quinta da Marquesa", meaning the "Marchioness' Farm". It was built in the late 1500s or early 1600s and passed on by really very wealthy families, the Portugal's elite used to visit for hunting. As a lot of old and historic buildings and industry in Portugal, it ended up being wasted after the revolution on 25th April 1974, communists took over and tried to subvert it's workers to only ended up with translates in the testimonies as a "strong ass whooping" Legend says there are hidden passages and treasure hidden around the place... This picture is worthless, but over the door to the chapel there is a statement you can't read here, it translates from old Portuguese to something like: "D. Isabel de Castro, daughter of Fernão Teles, entails this estate of the Mascarenhas in the year of 1618 with the obligation of paying 30000 kings: 25000kings to a daily mass in Alcácer do Sal, 3000 for factory, and 2000kings for the goodwill of Alcácer, to be administered by the chapel: 18th June, 1621" Don't really know how to explain most of it but Castro, Teles, Mascarenhas, these are names of some of the richest and most powerful families of the old times, and the names of later owners continue to be impressive. Into the remains of the chapel: And outside Graffiti and a sad looking sofa in the only "Deliverance" room, for @XTreme´s delection This is all quite sad, a country should take care of it's historic buildings a lot better than this, real history went down here for centuries, now left to crumble apart. The "Mascarenhas", I think the first family that owned it, for example, used to rule Portuguese India. I took these pictures at around 8PM, and the light was getting pretty, so the GS posed a little on the surrounding trails before going home. First with the farm land in the background: And then just looking for a pretty picture: Heading home, I stopped by a place with a vantage point over the farm so you can see where it stands amongst the surrounding area. You can spot it in the left third of the picture, above the green dumpster for reference: