Loule

Ah, the best laid plans.  I set out for Loule this morning especially to return to the Emida de Nossa Denhora da Conceicao, and having checked its open hours online, I was bummed to see that orange sign on the right door.  Although the left door sign confirmed open hours Tuesday-Saturday 10am -12:30 pm, the right door sign said they were closed until January 10.  This little church is covered in 18th century blue tiles that tell a unique story of Mary from birth, her presentation to the temple, her marriage to Joseph, being pregnant with Jesus, giving birth to Jesus, a panel of Jesus' circumcision, and finally the 3 kings' adoration of baby Jesus.  I have great pictures and memories of going there three years ago and I'll just revisit those (I think I posted a couple of pictures in my old blog, pourchewgal.blogspot.com, in a post entitled Babies or you can look the church up online).

Fortunately, Loule has charming streets and many fun things to explore.  I walked through the market,  and noted that the nearby hospital had an exhibit on the traditional procession of the Sovereign Mother at Easter, the original Carnival in Loule (which, since the early 1900s has raised money to support the hospital and the poor) and the hospital chapel.  The procession display included banners and garments and a wooden rectangular board that had a swinging knocker to be sounded while the march was underway.  I didn't take a picture of it and I can't find anything online that describes it, but the docent demonstrated and it's a powerful call to come join or witness the religious march.  The carved and gilded wooden altar in the chapel included cherubs and fruits (figs, pomegranates) of the region.  

I walked through the market, which hosts crowds on Saturdays, but was pretty quiet today.  And I was happy to get coffee in a 1929 Brazilian-inspired coffee shop, Cafe Calcinha.  The restored cafe has an art deco vibe and the coffee and cake were fine (I read a review online that said you'd go there for the ambience, not because the food was anything special -- maybe so, but it was lovely).  The history of the cafe includes a divided dining room to separate the upper class from the poor, apparently with the barrier remaining in place until the 1960s.  There's a lot to unpack in the history of Portugal, nothing is just what it seems on the surface.  

The shopping street that goes down the hill from the market has a lot of shoe stores, but, sadly, they are pretty touristy and inexplicably low on shoes over size 38.  I don't get quite what that's about!  Nonetheless, it's a beautiful place for a stroll and ends in a church, the tiny St Francis Church, which has beautiful gilded wood carvings with cherubs.  It also has 3 panels of blue tiles, but they've got chairs piled in front of them and other things in the way, so I didn't get to examine them closely.  

 When I'd meandered through town, I was making my way back to my car and found a bench near the market to try another quickie watercolor city sketch.  I was determined to keep it loose and the wind blew my sketchbook around and knocked my paint off the bench, so thanks wind!  

On my way back to my apartment from Loule, I stopped at The Waterdog, a bar in Armacao de Pera, a beach town that is very built up with 6-12 story apartment buildings.  I went there to have a beer in honor of my neighbors' Portuguese Water Dog, named Tavira, who is a very rambunctious puppy who likes to tackle/play with my dog at home.  I've seen a fair number of dogs out with their owners, especially on the trail, but not any water dogs so far.

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