Portugal: Who Knew

In a previous post I mentioned that the wife and I were about to embark on a river cruise to the country of Portugal. It's one of those countries that hasn't been on my radar for about, oh, sixty-eight years. To be totally honest I wasn't looking forward to flying across the Atlantic to some backward country loaded with donkeys, olives and wine. I envisioned women dressed in gypsy clothes and the men sitting out front of coffee shops smoking cigarettes all day long. The main reason I even hopped the plane was because we would be going with folks with whom we've travelled before so I thought it'd be fun.
Honestly, I'm not a tour person. I don't get a big charge out of putting on microphones and listening to a travel lady tell me about a painting on a church wall. I much prefer walking down cobblestone streets, looking in shop windows and people watching. I'm a minutiae person; useless trivia if you will. We visited a church in Lisbon that held in a crypt the remains of the first great explorer, Vasco da Gama. There was a sculpture of his life-like body on top. It was in this building that the King of Portugal, in 1755 on a Christmas morning, attended mass. The King never went to this church. Coincidentally, on this day an earthquake took place killing 40,000 Portuguese and the church was the only building in Lisbon left unharmed. Rod Serling could make a Twilight Zone out of this scenario.
All European cities have the poor. Is it okay if we call them beggars? Think about beggars in the US. They stand on busy street corners holding cardboard signs that read: "Will work for food" or "Homeless: Please help". I told a friend that at least European beggars have the common decency to perform for their Euros. They play violins, flutes, whatever for their alms. And obviously they don't lie about being out of work. It is their work.
As far as I can tell Portugal, ranking only behind Greece in poverty, raises four things and they do it very well: grapes for wine. For 120 miles on the Douro River all I saw were massive hills, some as high as a thousand feet, covered with grape vines. Cork is a big product for these people. Vendors are plentiful selling their cork wares. I'm a huge fan of olives. Portugal produces more olives than any other nation. Did you know that green olives are harvested in September? Black olives become so by letting them stay on the tree two more months. Then a bag is placed below the branches, a person climbs the tree and starts shaking until the bag is full. This seems like a medieval harvest and it most likely is but it works for the natives and that's good enough for me.
Finally, the nation of Portugal produces some very beautiful women. I've visited all of the Western European nations and for sheer beauty the Portuguese women take first place. Maybe it's because of the mountainous terrain and they do so much walking and bike riding. My friend said their bodies are so taut they could sit on a dime and tell you if it's heads or tails.
We visited a number of smaller communities but spent most of our time in Lisbon and the northwest port city of Porto. The wife and I went to mass in Porto. The kneelers were made of wood, no cushions. It was just like the old days for me. If you ever visit Portugal visit Porto. You'll kick yourself if you don't.
It was a nice trip but I think I'd rather stay in our country to site see. It's less expensive and for some reason I understand the language better.