CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
334 km from Évora to Évora, about 3 h 59 of riding. The stops in between: Fortlet of São Domingos, Alcantarilla Bridge and back through Fortlet of São Domingos. It crosses from Portugal into Spain - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Évora was Roman, Moorish, then Portuguese, and the centre of the city is a three-layered cake of all of them. The walled historic centre, a UNESCO site since 1986, is small enough to cross on foot in ten minutes, but it holds a Roman temple, a Gothic cathedral, a Renaissance aqueduct and a chapel decorated with human bones.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Évora write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Évora is where the day begins. Next is Fortlet of São Domingos.
Elvas is a border town, and borders create walls. The town of Elvas, in the Alentejo, faces Spain across a short stretch of plain, with the Spanish fortress city of Badajoz only seventeen kilometres away, and for centuries the two countries glared at each other from behind stone. Portugal built what became the largest bulwarked dry-ditch fortification system in the world, and in 2012 the Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications were inscribed on the World Heritage list. The little Fort of Sao Domingos is one of the smaller pieces in this puzzle, a fortlet set on the edge of the plain that strengthened the defence of the town.
Read the complete Fortlet of São Domingos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Fortlet of São Domingos comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is Alcantarilla Bridge.
Mérida was founded by the Romans in 25 BC as Augusta Emerita, a city for veterans of the Cantabrian wars, and it grew into the capital of the province of Lusitania. Few places in Spain carry their Roman past so openly. The small Alcantarilla bridge on the edge of town is one piece of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, listed by UNESCO in 1993, and its name, from the Arabic for little bridge, tells you how many hands this landscape has passed through. It is a quiet, unassuming structure, and that is a good reason to start here before you tackle the big sights.
Read the complete Alcantarilla Bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 166 km into the recorded legs you reach Alcantarilla Bridge. Next is back through Fortlet of São Domingos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortlet of São Domingos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fortlet of São Domingos, late in the day. Next is Historic Centre of Évora.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Évora write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Historic Centre of Évora. That is the ride.
Historic Centre of Évora → Fortlet of São Domingos is 82 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fortlet of São Domingos → Alcantarilla Bridge is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Alcantarilla Bridge → back through Fortlet of São Domingos is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Fortlet of São Domingos → Historic Centre of Évora is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.