On Thursday August 8 we drove with friends to Vila do Conde about 45 minutes south of here for an Arts & Crafts fair which Pat had discovered. The fair will be there for two weeks. It is located in a beautiful downtown park with trees, lawn, and fountains, and everything was clean and neat as a pin. It was arranged in four long aisles of booths. There were dozens of booths, all representing towns and villages in the north Portugal region, with their regional specialty crafts on display. There were embroidery, metal work, art and household ceramics, basket weaving, wood carving, leather work, paintings, fabrics, paper manufacture, papier-mâché and more. Themes ranged from serious Catholic carvings to whimsical cartoon-like ceramic dolls and marionettes. The crowd was light, and there was a sense of peace and happiness among everyone. We had some dinner there too, sandes mistas (mixed sandwiches) of chewy bread, local soft cheese, and thin slices of Iberian ham. We found several items we loved and brought them home to help feather the nest with handmade Portuguese artisan products.
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Artistic woodwork
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Sheet metal forming
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Booths and fairgoers
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Basket weaving
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Lace-making class
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Wood mosaics
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Furniture using wood mosaics
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Stringed instruments
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Little people & sculptured faces
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Glass blowing
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Pat and friends also went to a medieval fair the following day, one of the largest in the Iberian peninsula. It was in Santa Maria da Feira, a small town a bit south of Porto an hour and a half from here, in a wooded park at the foot of the town's castle. She is an old hand at renaissance fairs, having worked them for a few years. This one was colorful and had many authentic-looking immersive exhibits showing medieval life.
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Falconry was big in those days
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 Kids' castle
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Medieval life
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A nearby church
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And here is the royal procession
August is a terrible month around here, besides just being too damn hot. Most of Europe shuts down and goes on vacation. That means you can't get anything done requiring local help, and the country is flooded with French (and other) vacationers. Roads, grocery stores, attractions, and festivals are jammed. We have to just shrug and go along with it, and try to do our shopping in the fringe hours. We're becoming grumpy locals.
(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done. Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)
