Dinner Time, Mum!

Everywhere you go in the Alentejo and all of Portugal, probably, buildings are decorated with these azulejo (tile) panels - often religious motifs, or hunting scenes, but some lovely ones of normal rural life.

This one is on a neighbour's house and shows the ceifeiras (reapers) wearing their traditional clothing - boots, pleated skirts tied and pinned up to make trousers, and straw hats in the summer (black ones in winter) over a scarf to protect from the fierce sun. We've seen them dressed much like this as we've travelled round.

We've also seen old photos of these clay pots containing their dinner being heated up round a fire - sandwiches are not considered a proper meal here, even today.