This is a lovely town just across the Spain-Portugal border. The GPS tried to take us to a ferry, past the huge bridge that crosses the Rio Guadiana...a 30 minute detour. Crossing the border was no big deal without needing passports or fees needed. The town is very small and had a nice slow pace. This town's original developments had significant erosion problems, so it was totally redesigned and rebuilt in 1773. By the end of the 19th century, the town was huge for tuna and sardine canning. Presently, the center of town has the Praca Marques de Pombal plaza that is surrounded by pedestrian-friendly streets with tons of very nice shops. The main shopping is for cotton towels, table cloths, robes, shirts and all sorts of kitchen stuff. The kitchen things make total sense because their food is excellent! You would not have guessed that just crossing the border would make that much of a difference. It was a great relief from the not-so-great Spanish food we have encountered thus far. We had Arroz de Marisco (seafood rice) that was amazing. It was soup-ish, but mostly rice and seafood. Later we had ice cream (I got the kiwi flavor) and a caracao de cidade dessert. It was amazing. Shopping around we bought a table cloth, a summer robe for me, and a hand-made basket we are going to use to keep all of Paddle's toys and accessories together in the living room. It was a fun day.
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