Woke up to a knock on the door and upon answering, found the Easter Bunny had found us, even in Castelo Branco, Portugal.

  
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After a breakfast of coffee and chocolate, we left town at 8:15 a.m. Nicest day for weather yet (25 C.) Crossed the River Tagus at Vila Velha, with miles and miles of rolling, well-ordered orchards along the way. Lots of storks and cork trees.

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Into Portelegre and discovered Carole and Merv had left a camera lens back in our quaint little pension, 81 km. away. What to do? Tried to phone but to no avail. Up to the Policia station to try and recruit some help in phoning. After some fancy sign language on Merv's part, the constabulary phoned, the lens was there and thank you so much.

    
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Back to Castelo Branco and our pension from the previous night, retrieved the lens and had a nice lunch. To make up for lost time, we drove east and entered Spain at Segura.

    
    
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A tremendous shock to the system. Finally, excellent roads and worlds different. Vast grass plains with lots of ranching. Beautiful countryside; towns very neat and defined. Speed limits are observed and seat belts mandatory. Hit our destination of Mirada, 200 km. north of Sevilla, at 5 p.m. Found a hotel on the outskirts, then downtown for a stroll. No Spanish money! Tried a couple of bank machines but no luck. Plastic until tomorrow.

      
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Found an open restaurant and had chicken soup (no raw egg yolks in this one) with a tortillia like I've never seen. Very good. Back to the hotel and off to bed by 10:30 p.m. Lost one hour coming to Spain.

P.S. Restaurants don't open until 9 p.m. and there is a very visible police presence. Much more evident order here than in Portugal. Regardless, nice to be in Spain. People dress much better and the women are more attractive.