Here we are, two intrepid travelers, on the "Wild Coast" of Portugal. We saw the western most point of Europe which is in line with NY City. They joke that on a really clear day you can see the Statue of Liberty. Bought my first souvenir in the town of Cascais. Portugal is the producer of cork to the world and the rooster is a very important symbol so my first souv (for my son-in-law who collects corks) is a wine cork with a rooster on top. Here's the rooster story as it was told to us: Hundreds of years ago a handsome young man stopped in his travels to spend the night at a local inn. A barmaid there became enamored of him but when he (being a virtuous man) spurned her advances, she tried to get revenge by taking some silver from the dining room and planting it in his luggage while he slept. In the morning when it was discovered that the silver was missing the barmaid pointed the finger at the young man. Of course the silver was found in his luggage, he was accused and hauled off to the magistrate. By this time the magistrate was sitting down to his midday meal which included a roast rooster. (I don't know how they knew it was a rooster. Since they like to leave the heads on fish, maybe they left the comb on the rooster.) Anyway, he was about to cut into the rooster when the young man, loudly protesting his innocence, was brought to him. The dubious magistrate asked the VYM if he could prove his innocence to which he replied. "This will prove my innocence. When you cut into that rooster it will stand up and crow." The magistrate stabbed, the rooster stood up and crowed (I'm not sure about you but that would put me off chicken for a long time.) and the virtuous young man was proved innocent. And that's why the rooster is important in Portugal. I have no idea what happened to the barmaid.
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