Arraiolos

Christina's visit was a non-stop adventure and we took every opportunity to explore and see the sites. The first town we visited was Arraiolos, which is known for their hand made rugs. Arraiolos also marked our first castle visit in Portugal. Of course we also checked out the local playground.

National Kid's Day

Recently, Christina visited and we had many fun adventures while she was here. Her visit coincided with National Kid's Day. Oh my, they do it up in Evora! There were many fabulous events around the city, mostly in the children's park, including, tile painting, balloon animals, horse rides, and pinwheel making. It was a great event that we were sad we couldn't spend more time at, but we had more adventures to pursue!

More fun in the (small) city

We have been enjoying our time in Evora and getting to know the city quite well. It's actually a quite small city - Maddie can walk from one end to the other and back. I'm taking Portuguese lessons from two different college girls in town, which is doing quite a bit to help us get around and feel comfortable. In all, we're starting to feel more at home in the city and are loving the history, culture, and warm weather!

 Flowers in the public garden

 Cafe kids!

 Fountain in the public square

 Playing King and Queen in the public gardens

 The Temple Diana 

 Temple Diana Park

 The back side of the Temple Diana

City Life

We have been enjoying spending our days walking around and exploring the city, visiting cafes, going to the playground, checking out the historical sites and generally seeing what the city has to offer. It's hard to believe that we've already been here a month - the time is going by so quickly!

The Howell men at the Cafe.

The Howell ladies.

Guinea Pigs and fowl for sale at the open market in Estremoz.

Meat and cheese for sale at the market in Estremoz.

The Temple Diana

In front of a Cathedral

Cathedral steps close up

Every adventure ends with a trip to the playground!

Minhirs

On Friday, we took our first out of town adventure and went to see some minhirs. It's akin to the Stonehenge of Portugal. We took a picnic and enjoyed walking around the standing stones. Along the way, we saw a lot of sheep, some goats, and a local farmer plowing his field. We also saw our first cork trees (it's the main export from the area). In all, it was a really fun adventure and I'm sure we'll go back.

The Public Fountain

We recently discovered a public fountain near the Town Hall that is perfect for kids to play in on hot days. As there have been no shortage of hot days here lately, Maddie and Otis were keen to enjoy it!

Dance Festival

This weekend there was a dance festival in the town square and it was quite interesting to see. While there were numerous hip hop groups, we were most interested in seeing the traditional dancers. It was a lot of fun.

Snacks in the square 

The musicians 

Cute kids dancing