Out and about this morning, on my way back from running along the river to the alameda and back, I finally located a proper padaria, aka a bread-shop. Perhaps I have just walked the wrong streets but it seems as though the old town has been filled with tourist related stuff: clothes shops, souvenir shops, bike hire places, shops selling crystals and dream catchers and other such stuff. There is a distinct dearth of small grocery stores and bread-shops. However, as I said, I may just have walked in the wrong places. No doubt in greater Ponte de Lima, beyond the old quarter, there are the usual everyday goods shops, mini-supermarkets and the like.
The closest I’ve found to a small supermarket near our b&b, Mercado Camões, has an oddly limited range of goods, not quite as depletes as some of shops my friend Dee and I stuck our noses into when we went to Havana but rather more limited than our local co-op store in Delph, that I often moan about. When I asked if they had milk on my first visit, I was directed to a large room at the back, which I had assumed was a store room from which shelves were normally restocked. But no, this was where wine and beer and soft drinks and milk were stacked up, not in any kind of display but haphazardly, rather as I remember one of the first Aldi stores in Oldham almost 40 years ago.
On the day we arrived here we made our first exploratory wander round the old town and located a delightful fruit and general grocery shop. It was small and crammed with tins and packets and jars - rice and dried pasta, cheese and honey and jam. We went in because the oranges on display outside looked so good. I had an odd, very tentative conversation in Portuguese with a young woman assistant who just kept talking and talking. The oranges were excellent, the best I’ve tasted all year, and I wanted more. Could I find the shop? No way! I must have exceeded my daily step goal just roaming the narrow old streets. Finally in the early evening we went out again and eventually located it, just as it was about to close.
It must be a special feature of old towns that the ancient, narrow streets look similar enough to each other to confuse outsiders. And this is apparently the oldest town in Portugal. There are old buildings that once were part of the fortifications. Impressive!
Santiago de Compostela in Galicia is equally confusing in its old quarter. We talked about Santiago de Compostela with the chap in the fruit shop yesterday evening. This was because Ponte de Lima is on the Camino de Santiago. Indeed, every morning so far I have seen steady numbers of pilgrims striding or trudging along with their backpacks, not excessive numbers but enough to be noticeable. They must set out early!
Now, scanning the headlines of the Guardian online I came across a kind of “who’s king?” moment:
“Royal courtiers privately put pressure on the Welsh Government to ensure that King Charles could not be prosecuted for rural crimes under a new law that ministers had drawn up, documents reveal.
The elected minister in the Welsh government who is its chief legal adviser was “not happy” that the king was to be given the special exemption from prosecution but agreed to it last year.
A Buckingham Palace official phoned the Welsh government to secure the assurance under an archaic custom that requires UK parliaments to obtain the consent of the monarch to draft bills before they can be implemented.”
It seems that his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, manipulated some laws in her own favour. Here’s a link to the whole article.
And then there’s Biden taking Israel’s side. But also, he’s been talking about the Julian Assange case apparently.
“Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the decade-long US push to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing a trove of American classified documents.
For years, Australia has called on the US to drop its prosecution against Assange, an Australian citizen who has fought American extradition efforts from prison in the UK. Asked about the request on Wednesday, as he hosted the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, for an official visit, Biden said: “We’re considering it.”
Biden’s comment is the latest indication that his administration may have cooled on the idea of putting Assange on trial, which could prove politically toxic in an election year. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration was exploring the possibility of allowing the WikiLeaks founder to cut a plea deal that would see him admit to a misdemeanor offense of mishandling classified documents in return for an early release.”
We’ll see where that goes.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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