Happy Meal

We spent roughly 189 days living in an apartment in the city center of Tavira. With everything packed up and and ready to move just outside the city center, we didn’t have much in the fridge. Maybe the chef was feeling a bit spunky when he created this masterpiece. I just kinda feel like it was the perfect last meal. Onward to new adventures.

Castelo Branco

Barely in the new place, and we are off to Castelo Branco as promised in my Detour Ahead blog post. Because we drove, we took time to stop at roadside rest stops. The first one had this photo spot, and it was double sided!

Let’s Explore

The town of Castelo Branco literally means White Castle but the origins of the name is unknown. The name of the town evolved from “Moncarche” to “Castelo Branco de Moncarchino” and back to Castelo Branco. Ok enough pretending to know about this town’s history. It is time to go exploring. It was a hot day and we covered a lot of ground. The scribble at the top of the map illustrates our time in Jardim do Paço. We’ll get to that in a bit.

There was a lot to see and we had a day to see it. I had to stop and take a picture of that Penguin restaurant sign, we are Shiny Penguin after all. Here are some other random pictures and if you’d like to see the video version, check out this 💎 highlight reel.

Castelo dos Templários

The castle in Castelo Branco is a medieval fortress. It’s also called the Castelo dos Templários because it was originally built by the Knights Templar in the 13th century, shortly after the Christian Reconquista pushed the Moors south. It is mostly in ruins but has impressive views, giving similar vibes as Castelo de Tavira. Castelo Branco’s Castle was part of Tagus Line, the defensive network established by the Portuguese monarchy along the Tagus River valley during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

OK I had to look at that up. Here is our picture at the selfie spot, first in the wrong way then the right way. Then here is part of the castle and that view I talked about.

Portados Quinhentistas

During our wandering through narrow streets of the city, we came across a sign telling us about 15th Century Doors. We better pay attention, and luckily we found a few.

This door is believed to have been the old Synagogue of Castelo Branco’s Ancient Jewry.

The green door shows non-original stonework. The window on its side was probably added later.

The porch is emblematic for its beautiful decoration with the typical Manueline curve and counter-curve. 

Cargaleiro Museum

As luck would have it, we stayed in the Cargaleiro room, and behind our headboard was an art piece that the artist painted directly on the wall. That was pretty neat so after my AIMA appointment, we visited the museum. Impressed, I decided to try to find a piece of his work to put up in the new apartment. Not having 68.000€ laying around, I’ll go with a plan B.

Bordado Museum

Here is my plan B. Castelo Branco is also known for bordado (embroidery). The bordado museum was lovely, and I picked up a small embroidered piece for 40€. The painéis de bordado I had my eye was 800€, still a bit much for a spontaneous purchase (although this hand-stitched items were definitely worth the price). I found a local artist, Augusta Gonçalves, who had some smaller panels that I will frame and hang in the new apartment.

Art Walk

Have you ever been walking through a neighborhood of abandoned homes and thought it could use a bit of spiffying up? We came upon such as neighborhood and they had Esboços Urbanos (urban sketches) placed over doors and windows. What a great idea. We also found a cute little area which had a beautiful gigantic mural and painted cans.

Jardim do Paço Episcopal

Everyone told us we had to go see the garden while we were in Castelo Branco. They were right. The sculpted and terraced garden was absolutely fantastic — see 💎 highlight reel. This garden featured a hidden water feature called Giochi d’acqua similar to those integrated into Italian gardens in the mid-16th century. They are meant to surprise the visitors and we were quite perplexed when we encountered Escadaria dos Reis (The King’s Stairway) that was only passable if you were willing to go through dancing water, or waited for the feature to turn off.

Always Look Down

You never know what you might miss if you don’t look down. Look at all this fabulous tile! The tiled eyeglasses was in front of an optometry store, the house was next to a realtor’s office, and the clock was at a jeweler. What if they moved locations? I couldn’t figure if there was a store beside the Hello Kitty — but isn’t it cute?!

Food

Monday is a difficult day to go to to eat because a lot of restaurant owners take that day off. We walked to a couple of closed restaurants before wandering into this one filled with locals. Totally different language experience in this part of Portugal, far fewer people spoke any English. We both tried ordering and each time we were told they were out of that item. We ended up with some steak, pork, and a lot of side dishes. It was a fun experience!