Where's Billo?: Vila Vicosa

Vila Vicosa is on the eastern edge of Portugal and was the historic seat of the Dukes of Braganca. Confusingly the actual town of Braganca is in the north of the country. When the house of Braganca ascended to the throne 300-400 years ago the town became the country retreat of the royals until they were overthrown in the early 1900s. The Ducal Palace here became one of the royal palaces (there were also palaces in Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra - its a nice life). The tour of the palace was amazing, not for anything really famous I can tell you about but more for the access you got to every room and the fact it was perfectly preserved. What was interesting was the number of different places around Europe and the world that the furniture, ceramics and glassware had came from, conversely most of the tapestries were from Arraiolos (50km up the road - they are the best in the world though) and most of the paintings seem to have been done by the King himself. Also the size of the copper pots in the kitchen - enough to cook half a dozen wild pigs!Unfortunately just seeing the sights wasn't enough for two South African ladies who despite the signs clearly saying the tour was in Portuguese decided they wanted more explained in English. So "Who painted that?" "Which king was he?" slowed the tour down. I wonder if it really made a difference? They managed to show their complete ignorance at the end "So did you have to learn your Portuguese when you came here or did you start learning it in Brazil?" Bry was very happy she'd left her Springboks jumper at home.