Barragem Santa Clara

After much discussion with Manuel over the fixing of the car, we realized we'd be without a car for the day tomorrow. Our host had left a suggestion to check out a nearby reservoir, Barragem Santa Clara, so off we went through the cork forests again to find it.

There are no facilities and no "beach" to speak of, but we did find a spot with some caravans parked and it seemed as likely a spot as any to swim. It was hot and rocky and there was not a single person in the entire 400km wide lake. I didn't even know if it was ok to go in - the signs are in Portuguese and seem to prohibit all kinds of things, so we decided to ask. One of the nice British caravaners replied to our query, "eh, it's Portugal, you can pretty much do whatever you want." It was a hot and sunny day and we had a great swim.

How nearly uninhabited this region is! As many people live in London as do all of Portugal and no where is this more evident than in the Alentejo.