All aboard

 There are 46 on this tour, so I’m not even going to try to describe them all. Suffice it to say, there are the obligatory Amrikan families. 

There are also a surprising number of Canadian families.

A mum, dad and daughter from Trinidad, a couple from Australia, and a few singles. One lady is a school principal from Dublin, another has retired to Florida.

Surprisingly, there are two sets of twins onboard. Lucky they didn’t join us in Germany. Apparently scientists in Germany once had quite the fascination with twins. 

As we leave the area, we see a cork processing factory, to see a statue depicting the work, as well as piles of the peeled bark waiting to be processed.

As we know, cork starts life as bark on the cork oak tree. It is carefully peeled every 9-years, weighted for months to flatten, then boiled. Bottle stopper corks are then punched out of these sheets. 

Leftover material is then granulated and further processed into almost fabric-thin sheets, which are much stronger and more flexible than any cork you have found floating in your wine. 

As a result, they make bags, hats, shoes and whatever else they can think of. 

I could make some shit up, but…

… no, I got nothing. 

We stopped to stretch our legs in a hilltop village called Castelo de Vide. Cute village with more steep alleyways. People who live on hills have no excuse to be unfit. 

I wish I could park my car in the foyer. 

If I had a foyer. 

And of course, there’s the obligatory castle on the hill. 

Near town is an old bridge, built by the Roman’s. Still in use today. 

Why somebody decided to paint the edges white escapes me. Won’t tampering with it affect its resale value as an authentic collectible?