Today we had an unexpected fun day! We started with an enormous breakfast. Reason was that we had to indicate in advance on a sheet what we wanted to eat. However, we had no idea how big the portions would be. Ultimately, they turned out to be quite large so we would not be hungry at lunch time.
Visit of the Burel Factory
At 11am, we had an appointment for a guided visit of the Burel factory where they still weaved traditional fabrics. We were a little too early for the tour so we decided to have already a look of the little shop. Wow, they sold so many nice things. From scarves to blankets, shoes, handbags and jackets…
The patterns were really beautiful, we immediately found our liking. We just had to remember that we did not have a lot of extra room in our bags :-).
During the tour we saw the 19th century machines that turned the wool into fabric. The patterns came from earlier times while now colour had been added where in the past it was only the colour of the wool.
The factory now employed 34 people and their largest customer was Japan. For the first time in years they had a stock due to Covid of course. This was perfect for us, since we could stroll through the warehouse and indicate the items that we would like to purchase. We had chosen two plaids for our new sofa (that we still had to order).
Drive around the Serra da Estrela
Then we continue the road to Torre, the highest point on the Portuguese mainland. The road towards Torre was very picturesque but contained many hairpin bends.
We enjoyed a Sangria and a kind of fried empanada with pork on the terrace. The empanada was a specialty of the region. It was very tasty by the way.
Then we drove past a few reservoirs/lakes after which we decided to turn around to see the landscape from the other direction. The views were really enchanting.
Before returning to the hotel, we went for a drink on a terrace in Manteigas. Then a quick snack at the hotel followed by a little siesta and dinner at the hotel.
