Today I went to Faro, a town a little further down the coast, to join some fellow travelers in stuffing ourselves silly on the specialties of the region. Sali, our guide, has devised a tour starting in the central market, which unlike many fresh markets, appeared to be completely devoid of tourists - this is where the locals shop. Sali seemed to know everyone in the market and had organized several stops for bites of this and that with an emphasis on regional specialties. We were all pretty much stuffed by the time we left the market... before sitting down to lunch... and then coffee and cake. I came back and immediately took a nap.
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| we started by tasting three different local cheeses, all delicious. |
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| these razor clams made another appearance at lunch. |
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| this octopus did not. |
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| local jams: strawberry basil; apricot with tarragon and lemongrass; tomato. The tomato jam was especially delicious. |
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| no food tour in Portugal would be complete without pasteis de nata. |
After all that, plus a few other tidbits, we sat down to lunch.
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| sauteed pickled carrots, olives, bread, and dried fish. |
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| main course: sautted clams, rice with razor clams, pollenta with clams and shrimp. |
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| from left: Sali, our guide, Sophie, Mackenzie, Jen, Jessica, John, and Annalise. |
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| After lunch we stopped for a treat in a pastry shop, and while we didn't try these marzipan treats, they were so cute, I had to take a picture. |
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| And then, because we might have still had a millimeter of space left in our stomachs, we stopped for espresso and orange cake. |
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