Europe 2021: World's Shortest International Bridge

Europe 2021:

World's Shortest International Bridge

As much as I enjoy visiting the world's most iconic locations like the Eiffel Tower or the Amazon, I am equally amused (sometimes more so) with novelty attractions like the "world's biggest ball of twine". While driving through central Portugal, we took a short detour to visit a rather short bridge. It's called El Marco, and it connects the small village of Varzea Grande in Portugal with the neighboring Spanish village of El Marco in Extremadura. 

Nel making a 'run for the border'.

There's a bridge that connects two small islands in the Saint Lawrence River that belong to Canada and the US that claims to be the shortest international bridge at 32 feet. This border bridge in El Marco is a mere 10 feet across. It's not a tourist attraction...at all. It used to just be a makeshift bridge that the villagers had made with planks and trees until the EU decided to fund the current bridge in 2008. The villages are extremely small, and there's really nowhere to park if you wanted to visit it. If it became popular, two cars would probably create a traffic jam. 

No border can keep me from my love. (Unless that border is covered with pickles, then I'll miss you honey. Enjoy Portugal.)
  

There's really no reason to go here, unless you're just easily amused like we are. We drove up, found the bridge, played around for about 15 minutes, and then headed on our way. 

Europe 2021: Crato

Europe 2021:

Crato

Crato is a small town in central Portugal with a population of maybe 3,000. There's nothing remarkable here, with the exception of a rather unique place to stay - Pousada Mosteiro do Crato. What this place used to be was the ancient Santa Maria de Flor da Rosa Monastery, which dates back to the 1500's. Today it's a five-star hotel and spa with with an outdoor pool and renowned restaurant in the middle of nowhere. 

I used to not pay much attention in these travel blogs to our accommodations, but if you take the all-in approach on a vacation like we do, where you stay can be as interesting as where you go...or in this case even more so.

A large part of the appeal are the rooms. You're sleeping in a place that at different points in its existence has been a convent, a castle, a palace, and now your hotel room. Our suite had different chambers with big wooden doors between them and lots of the original stone walls that give the place amazing character.  

Checked the pool, but it was extremely cold. That didn't stop the usual Speedo-sporting Europeans from enjoying it.

This picture was taken from our window. Sadly, lamb was very prevalent on the menu that evening.

They seemed to be having a wedding, but we still aren't sure if it was real or if the hotel was just shooting some promotional footage.

A lot of the areas in the place are still original and to purpose. You walk past this chamber on the way to the front desk.

The grounds were interesting. There is some limited parking, but there aren't a lot of rooms so it probably never gets too crowded. We asked about the spa, and they said "sure - we'll turn it on for you and here's a key". It was kind of weird. It was a little below ground and dark but we had the place to ourselves so we hit the jacuzzi for an hour or so.

Rather than venturing into any nearby towns, we ate every meal at the small, but quite nice on-site restaurant. 

For some reason on this trip, Branelle decided she was a rock climber. The results were predictable, with a few skinned knees but no serious injuries. Nel can be a bit accident prone without alcohol. A few glasses of wine helps her dancing but not her rock climbing abilities...or judgement. 

This was a really cool place to stay and an enjoyable stop on our way out of Portugal. Pousada are extremely unique and there are a number of them in the country. In Spain, they are referred to as Parador, as you will see in future posts.