Santarém

My first impressions of Santarém were not very favourable. I had the idea of It being a smaller city, but It covers a wide área and our hostal was quite a distance from the centre. Three nights we had here, and It wasn’t clear what we could with that time.

We walked to the centre and found nice places to be by the river, and a restaurant serving regional dishes, including one (Maniçoba) where they have to cook the manioc leaves for days to remove the toxins. I’m still here to tell the story so they must have done It right.

The first full day we dedicated to exploring the centre and looking for another hotel not so far from the port for our final night. There was, naturally, some mapping to be done as we walked around. Outside of the centre there were areas with few amenities mapped.

The haze from the fires comes and goes in the city, with the wind. But at times the smell of smoke is very strong, and the pollution gets to your eyes and throat. Glad I don’t live here, Madrid ‘s traffic pollution is seriously unhealthy but not as bad as this.