The Unmentionables of Portugal

Barnacles for dinner. An X-ray for fifty-eight euros. Wine cheaper than a Coke. Portugal is the most physical culture I've been in — people touch, and hug, and stand close. At a small café I over-ordered petiscos — the Portuguese answer to tapas — and the owner talked me down to two-thirds of it, promising she'd cook more if I was still hungry. When I said yes to wine but couldn't say which, her husband lined up four glasses and poured four samples at four price points. That same openness hangs over the street here. In Porto the washing goes out where everyone can see it — unmentionables and all.

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