Some Portugal photos

Not to get your hopes up; the photos from Portugal still aren't ready and online yet. So, in lieu of photos of Portugal, I thought I'd post photos of things I bought in Portugal. They are all of pieces of ceramics, which is a well-known product of Portugal and a typical thing for tourists to load up on to take home, even though it's bulky and fragile. We went to a great shop in Almancil called Sesil that had all types of pottery in all types of painted designs (and a kind store owner to boot). I think all of it was handpainted by various artists as well. All of us were wandering around the store for quite some time looking for things to bring home (except O, he didn't have much interest in the whole thing). In the end I kept my spending in check, and stuck to things that would be easy to bring back (though I really wanted this simple blue pot that only cost 10 euros. O convinced me I could get something like it at home. I have yet to see if this is true).




I got these two small tealight holders... The fish seemed to make them a bit more Portuguese. The top one is for O and I, the bottom one I'm sending to my parents.



I felt like this mug was a way to bring a bit of sunny Portugal back to usually-gray Amsterdam. I got to use it already for tea when I was sick last week (I don't drink tea very often). (Speaking of tea, I had some last night that was sooo good, and I'm not that big of a tea fan. It was Bengal Spice from Celestial Seasonings. Spicy, yet sweet. I have to get me some.)



This one I just couldn't resist becaue it was so cute. It's now hanging on the wall in the kitchen, and I suppose can be used under hot pans. The shop also had cheese boards by this same artist, with cows and ewes and rams, but since we never buy cheese, I didn't think it was very practical to get. Still, I like this one.

One other thing we brought back was a small bottle of orange liquor. I'm not sure what to do with it, but it's in a pretty stoppered bottle that I can use after it's empty.