After our tour of the ruins at Milreu we decided to look up a local spot for lunch.
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Restaurante Belo Sol |
When we left the ruins we headed into the town of Estoi proper and along its main street which is very narrow. We visited Estoi many years ago to see the ruins but they were closed. At that time we found the Palace as it is called. It is literally an old palace that has been turned into a hotel. Absolutely gorgeous. However, I didn't have a clue and perhaps because I was beginning to tire after the trip here I was getting a little impatient.
In any case we turned off one street; then another; then another and finally M spotted a parking lot. It turned out to be a good area to park and conveniently had a restaurant right beside it.
The restaurante Belo Sol turned out to be a Portuguese enclave. It is a fact that the coast is very English and virtually everyone (most maids excepted) speak english. However, once you fall back from the coast the towns are real Portuguese and that is the working language. So if you are a simple tourist everything will be in english, but if you are curious and want to explore the country you must be prepared to know some of the language or struggle. They are great people so it's really no problem but you have to accept your limitations.
The restaurant was extremely busy with at least 50 patrons. We waited a while for the waitress to come and we had to exchange some signals when we learned she didn't speak English. Of course the menu was Portuguese only unlike the coast where they are in at least four languages. She suggested bread and olives and we quickly indicated that would be fine and I ordered my old standby Galao that every waitress knows. Then we had to peruse the menu while she retrieved the couvert and between the waitress and us we ended up with what you see below. Grilled pork, poached egg, rice and chips.
She didn't charge us for the couvert and only one euro for the galao. Total 21 euros and some FUN. Another little adventure for the memory book.
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The poached egg was a nice touch. |
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