Never called ahead, so door locked, but directed round the corner three doors down on the right, to the man in the pots'n'pans shop. Jose: que cavalheiro. Obrigadinho. Just a two-day trip from Lisbon with my flatmate, visiting the marvellous frontier castles of Marvao & Castelo de Vide. We had the run of the roost of this rambling old house, all to ourselves. The corkwood crib scene was a bit spooky: the baby in the manger had voodoo-dolly pins in it. (Maybe just my warped imagination.) Character, but well maintained. Great kitchen for breakfast (Jose brought fresh rolls in the morning.) Comfy dorm, towels & toiletries, clean loos, ok shower, big courtyard for chilling, WiFi fine, though connection in the dorm was iffy. A great affordable base. I mentioned the stand-out villages, but Portalegre's a pleasant & goodhearted town in itself. Didn't manage to fit in the highly rated Tapestry Museum, but hey-ho. 7.30am Redes Expresso bus from Lisbon calls at Portalegre 11.15am. From there, Castelo de Vide takes 20mins, Marvao a further 15mins. Return from Marvao 3.50pm, Castelo 4.05pm, Portalegre 4.25pm, thence onwards back to Lisbon for 8.15pm. This made it a dawdle, considering the distance from Lisbon to Spain, to comfortably take in the sights, with 4 hours in each village on consecutive days. Only 6 berths at the inn, though, so book ahead in tourist season.…