21 October 2022 - Setubal

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 2,473

We had pretty much made our minds up before we went to bed last night that we would stay another night here at the Ecoparque so we paid up another €11.10 before we cycled into Setubal this morning.

Having found our way to the huge Livramento Market we chained our bikes up outside and made our way in.  We'd read great things about this place and it didn't disappoint.  It had all the hustle and bustle of an authentic market with a majority of the produce sourced locally.

There was an excellent selection of fish stalls, all fresh off the boat.

The Portuguese call these "swordfish" and they are in season at the moment.  They come in both black and silver varieties and are about 3 feet long from snout to tail.

There was a phenominal choice of fresh fruit and veg, all of which seemed very reasonably priced when sold by the kilo.

Oranges and nuts are obviously in season at the moment.

As are all sorts of different types of pepper.

Herbs & Spices.

Having done a complete circuit of all the stalls we headed off to see what else Setubal has to offer.  The central avenue has an array of fountains and sculptures.

We found our way to the Tourist Info Centre but I have no idea what the significance of the big cat on the roof was.  The lady inside had great English and although her primary objective was to flog us some of the local goodies they had on display we learnt a lot about the local wines and cheeses produced here.

This was the Culture House.  We didn't go in.  I just liked the colour.

The Praca de Bocage.

It started raining heavily so we sheltered for a bit and then headed to the Museum at the Convent of Jesus.  They usually charge you €3 for the privilege but there is building work going on and some of the paintings which are usually on display are currently out on loan so they let us in for free!

This is the "High Choir Room".  The nuns in the convent lived a life of isolation but when services were being held in the adjoining church they participated in this room and the central doors, which are covered in pictures of assorted Saints, were opened to allow them to hear the services.

This is a close up of one of the Reliquaries.  The Saints represented here all have an oval hole in their chest which was supposed to contain relics (usually bone fragments) of the relevant Saint.

This grisly article is the mummified remains of a young girl aged between 18 and 24 months.  She is supposedly the  daughter of one Jorge de Lencastre (1481-1550) who was Master of the Order of Santiago.

Elsewhere in the convent are exhibitions of art both religeous and non-religeous.

The cloisters include a well where the nuns would perform their ablutions to cleanse themselves.

Lunchtime!  We had been looking forward to this.  We had a list of all the restaurants in Setubal who were participating in the Salmonete (red mullet) festival.  So we headed for one down near the harbour.  People were queueing out the door but there was another nearby, just off Jose Mourinho Avenue.  The Salmonete was part of a set menu so as well as 3 fish each we got bread and olives, fish soup, veg, salad, dessert, a bottle of wine and coffee all for €20 each!  Once again we were absolutely stuffed.  They say you should never get between a Portuguese man and his lunch.  Frankly you can't.  There isn't room!

We decided to walk off some of our lunch by taking a stroll around the harbour.  It's basically one of two harbours in the town which are in addition to the main port a little further upstream.  There was an interesting selection of painted dolphins on display.

We noticed there were 3 tall ships in the harbour so we went for a closer look.  

They were basically crewed by youngsters doing their gap year and they were allowing people on board for a snoop around so we climbed the gangplank of the Norwegian ship Sorlandet for a mooch.

Back on the bikes and our final stop before we headed back to the van was the Fort of St Filipe, which sits high on the hilltop overlooking the town so the E assist on the bikes was used to the max.

This is the main atrium from where a stepped ramp leads up to the battlements.

Off to one side is the Baroque style Chapel of St Filipe.  The blue and white tiles which cover the entire  interior depict scenes from the life of the Saint and are dated 1736.

There are great views over Setubal and the Sado Estuary from the fort.  We sheltered there from another downpour before making our way back to the van.  

We liked The Special One's home town and we're glad we decided to stop off.  Tomorrow we head inland for a change of scenery in and around Evora.

22 October 2022 - Back to the Stone Age