Talk about History....

Just because it is Saturday, please don't think we were resting and relaxing. We were once again in class today learning the history of the area. We started the day with a visit to Old Town Villa Real. When we talk about history in our country it generally goes back to the 1700´s. Here when they talk about history they have to differentiate between before and after Christ. One of the places we visited today was a museum that opened in May. It documented an archaeological dig that took place over the last 15 years and uncovered the foundation of the original city walls, homes, and more. As we learn about the history we are gaining a great insight to the people and culture of this community.
This afternoon we took a trip to a local palace that you may have seen before. If you have ever seen Mateusse wine there is a palace on the label. We visited that palace, and learned that originally the wine was made there but the family fell on financial difficulty and to save the palace they sold the wine business. Today they are part of another label that is actually a cooperative of several small vineyards. The palace is also still a working palace, occupied three-quarters of the year by the Count and his wife. Although they live in a part of the palace that is not toured, they only use certain rooms that we saw for various special occasions.
We had the opportunity to take historic and scenic photos today and we hope you will enjoy them.
Currently everyone is packing up and getting ready to head to our home stays tonight. We will be returning to Villa Real on Tuesday and will take a couple of days to share our experiences with each other and our hosts.