Setubal, south of Lisbon

Quite a journey from the marina at Leca da Palmeira. A couple of changes of train and much practising of Portuguese. Arrived in the grey evening light and also met on the train from Lisboa Oriente two young ladies just arriving in Setubal; so we made friendly noises. And arranged to meet ere long.
Helenita and Jose-Carlos live on the tenth floor of an apartment block close to the station. Splendid view across greenery and coloured rooftops to the mouth of the river. I can see the spot where we anchored Stroemhella last year with Roberta and Walter (who alas cannot join us this year).
Setubal, like many Portuguese ports, has ancient roots. We wandered round the windy cobbled streets and walked down to the riverside.
Not many tourists here. Maybe too early in the year.
High point was a visit to the Municipal Museum, where a retabel, formerly in a local monastery, has been rescued from damp and decay, cleaned and hung upon the walls. A glorious sight, paintings of rich detail and wondrous intricacy. And the most cuddly baby Jesus I have ever seen. A real baby.

The weather turned into summer, almost too hot for me, and encouraged me to buy a pair of cotton shorts, so here I am comfortable and cool (in all senses of the word).

The food here, especially Helenita's superb Brazilian cooking, is extremely delicious, and as you can see, contributing to an expansion of me! So the sooner I get back to practising Pilates, the better. Of course, I could always climb the ten stories of flights of stairs, but somehow I always find myself moving towards the lift (elevator).
We invited Priscilla and Charlotte, the young ladies we met on the train, to join us for supper. Sampling of muscatel de Setubol.

Today is a Portuguese national holiday commemorating a revolution but I still need to get the details straight. It's called the Carnation Revolution, of 1974.

When the midday heat diminishes we'll go out for a walk and see what's what. Last night the festive day was ushered in with a firework display down by the riverside.

Here a few pix of the river before the sun arrived.

In the above picture Helenita (with blue bag and reddish jacket) is walking at the edge of the river.




The photo on the right shows the view looking upstream towards the dockyard.

And here is a small reminder that the Vizigoths were here too!




This is the label from a packet of pastries...

Portugal is a country filled with historic memories.

I still need to find out about this revolution...