Yesterday we walked into Olivera de Azemeis when the town just happened to hold their annual Mercado Antiga (Ancient Market). The place was bursting with people, almost all locals, enjoying hundreds of booths and musicians dressed in ancient garb. The music, wind, drums, accordian, voice and more, sounded a bit Irish and definitely Celtic. It was lovely to see how many ancient arts and crafts, including basketry, wood carving, embroidery, baking, etc, are still enthusiastically practised.

While there was food, drink and handicrafts for sale, there was little commercial feeling. Rather, as has been our consistent experience, people are friendly, kind and patient. (Patient with our attempts to speak Portuguese… a very difficult language…)