Day 64. Saturday 10 May.

Saturday Surprises: Ahead of a little excursion to somewhere, plans were locked in for the next accommodation. There is a two hour return boat ride on the Douro, starting at Pinhao (about 90 mins from here), so bookings are made for next Thursday, with two nights in a new abode nearby. Not homeless yet and the train strike will not bother us.

Today’s excursion: T said, ‘let’s keep it short and close’; Amarante sounded about right.

It was more than right: a beautiful town on a serious river, a Roman bridge, spectacular church, adjoining convent and lovely main street and central square

The red carpet led into the convent and signage indicated something serious was on.

Well, it was actually the weekend celebrating Sao Goncalo (the annual event that delivers a rush to the dentist). From all over Portugal sweet treat bakers gather with their stalls in the convent, each region has a specialty, and all the vast offerings will be sold by Monday! Apparently thousands of folk will pass through the convent courtyard tomorrow and there’ll be fireworks tomorrow night. Lucky we were unaware and jagged the quiet today.

T noticed the ‘what is not seen is not sinful’ biscuit (pitos de Santa Luzia….) and the very pleasant young man at this stall, aided by D’s google translator app, answered our questions. When T asked if this was the reason Portugal has so many dentists, he said something about health insurance not covering dental, hence dentistry is a well paid job. No worries re our insurance, so we enjoyed the pitos (T had thought about making an adapted version, since we don’t have pumpkin for the filling but a sauna this evening seems a better option). 

And at another stall, the contents of this box were bought.

Who’d believe that these naughty offerings are conventual???(and hopefully consensual). Yesterday,  Aida had referred to Portugal’s very low birth rate…maybe these biscuits are not up to scratch any more, or maybe folk are more worried about their dental bills.

Having sweetened up, we drifted the old town shopping street (now mostly open, as it had passed the ‘closed for lunch’ time of 2pm (we hadn’t cottoned on earlier). T spotted a fabric shop! A real one and finally succumbed to a small purchase.

The threatening black skies did not eventuate, so all in all an excellent outing. But just in case the skies do not hold, a little more roadwork has been done. The slate is so lovely.

Arriving home it was time to fire up that sauna to finish a super Saturday. And it was a Super Saturday Sauna, finished off in front of a warming fire.

Dinner: An old friend: Chorizo, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, herbs ‘stew’ plus some steamed broccoli.