Greg and Laurel's Travels: General Impressions So Far

We traveled by train from Lisbon to Évora.

Successfully managed to get on the correct train on time.

Évora is inland, and much warmer than Lisbon. No longer near the sea, the cuisine has changed to meat. This laid back day has given us time to reflect on what we have seen and learned, so sharing.

Cod - Bacalhau (dried salted cod) is the unofficial national dish of Portugal. There are wonderful local fresh fish and shellfish here that are highlighted

on menus and prepared fabulously, yet cod is always on every menu and in family celebrations. All cod is imported, dried and salted. We've had cod cakes for snacks and cod as a main course. No matter how much the Portuguese celebrate this dish, we are not on board.

Dried Cod

Pastries and Bread - Portuguese eat 5 meals a day, breakfast, coffee and pastry around 11 am (aka the Hobbit's elevenses), lunch 1-2pm, savory pastry or small snacks and wine 5 pm, dinner 8 pm. They are VERY good at making pastries and bread. Pastelarias are every where, and many cities have a signature pastry.

The Bread Basket at our Table each Morning

A Pastelaria Window

Cork - Portugal is the world's largest producer and exporter of cork. Cork trees live 200-300 years. Cork is the bark of the tree. They strip the first bark off the tree when it is 20-30 years old. Bark can be stripped every 9 years. The first two times the cork is stripped it is no good and has no value. Therefore it takes a minimum of 38 years from the time the tree is planted to see a profit. It is illegal in Portugal to cut a cork tree down.

There are no screw tops or plastic " corks" on wine bottles in Portugal. No self respecting person would be caught dead serving wine that didn't have a real cork.

Cork Bark

Cork Trees

The Oldest Continuously Operating Bookstore in the World - According to the Guinness World Record that bookstore is Bertrand Bookshop, in Lisbon, which began in 1732 and has been in operation ever since.