06/19/2024
Our 37-mile loop out of Evora on Day 6 of my Ciclismo Classico Portugal bike tour was pretty much a casual, mostly flat recovery ride through terrain that resembled what we had seen the day before. But the two spectacular attraction stops pretty much made up for it!
First, we had a tour of a cork factory, where piles of the huge tree’s stripped bark were stacked up inside the warehouse. Our tour guide showed us how the bark pieces are trimmed, flattened with a press, then converted into wine corks–and at least a hundred other products that I had never suspected. There were chairs, table, purses, wall hangings, and even the trimmings are ground up and made into sound-absorbing wall board. Nothing is wasted. He told us how the first crop of cork bark in a young tree can be removed at nine years of age, but it takes three or so harvests before the tree develops the think bark that’s really useful. If you plant cork trees on your land, the benefits won’t be for you. They will be for your grandchildren because it will take that long before the tree becomes profitable.
Then it was back on the road where we passed forests of cork trees and herds of charging bulls (fortunately on the other side of the fences from us) to the Fita Preta Winery, which lived up to every stereotype you could ever imagine of a European winery. The main building dates from the 14th century, and we enjoyed an amazing gourmet lunch in the winery’s courtyard. That was followed by a tour of the huge facility built in a converted farm estate. Ancient stone walls lined with wooden casks led to a more modern building full of the up-to-date equipment that produces the company’s internationally known wines.
Then it was back to Evora and another local gourmet restaurant dinner. Another great day!
(Photos shot with Panasonic Lumix ZS200D and iPhone 15 Pro.)
https://ciclismoclassico.com/tours/bike-across-portugal/
